Phil and the Kitchen Table
The short answer
Phil, a peer CEO, came to me at 310 pounds with a business that had started losing money. We made his wife a co-author of the food plan. Eighteen months later he had lost 100 pounds, revenue was up 22 percent, and he worked shorter weeks with time for his kids.
Phil came to me at 310 pounds.
He was a peer, a CEO running a company with about $110 million in revenue. He was stressed out, sedentary, and severely overweight, with high blood pressure. His business had dropped $11 million in revenue and started losing money. He was working so much that when he did have time with his kids, he had nothing left to give them.
Where was the problem hiding?
At his own kitchen table. Phil and his wife were stuck in what I call a doom loop. She loved him, and she showed it by cooking big, extravagant meals to spoil him. He loved her, so he ate every bite rather than disappoint her. Neither of them was doing anything wrong, and together they had gotten him to 310 pounds. It's one of the hardest traps to see, because it's built out of love.
So I sat down in their kitchen with both of them and got blunt. Then I made his wife the co-author of the food plan. That one move turned the person who had been feeding the problem into his strongest ally, and it gave the two of them a shared cause. She was still taking care of him. She was just doing it with a different menu.
What changed in eighteen months?
Phil lost 100 pounds in 18 months, with no medications, only exercise and food. His blood pressure issues went away. He became active and confident, with solid boundaries he'd never had before.
The business changed with him. Revenue climbed 22 percent and the company was making much more money. He moved to working 8 to 2, Monday through Thursday, which gave him time for his kids and his nonprofit. Not long after, he sold the business.
Why does a body fix reach the business?
I can't tell you exactly which change drove which result. I think Phil got his energy back, and that energy showed up at work and at home, because he finally had something left at the end of the day.
It fits a chain I teach. The body is where energy comes from, energy drives performance, and performance makes room for the life you actually want. Phil came to me with a weight problem and a business problem, and it turned out to be one problem. I wrote about how that chain works in Energy Drives Performance Drives Meaning.
Phil's story is on my proof page because it's the clearest case I have of all three legs moving together. His body and his business turned around together, and the boundaries gave him his life back.
The other lesson is about the people closest to you. Most men try to change their health alone, often against the habits of the people they live with. Phil's turnaround started the day his wife joined the plan.
Who at your kitchen table should be in on your plan?
~b