Introducing Fit to Lead
The accelerating pace of technological change, geopolitical and economic challenges, plus increasing employee and customer expectations, mean leaders must reflect on what effective leadership really looks like.
Gone are the days when effective leadership was based on strategic know-how and technical expertise. Today, successful leaders must adopt a rounded approach to ensure success for themselves, their companies, and stakeholders to build legacies that last.
Fit to Lead isn’t how far or fast a leader can run, whether you use a mindfulness app, or have a direct debit to a charity. It is a rallying cry for leaders everywhere to embrace a fresh approach where physical resilience, mental agility, and ethical awareness unite to drive enduring success and positive change.
Fit to Lead promotes a balanced approach to leadership, rooted in three fundamental pillars of fitness and embodied in the Babble Ride Across Britain:
Physical
Physical fitness goes beyond the development of strength and stamina and includes resilience, determination and perseverance. It builds a positive outlook, discipline, longevity, and underpins a person’s cognitive capabilities – benefitting both the leader and the team. Examples include team sports, individual exercise and endurance races.
Mental
Mental fitness is more than intellect and is distinct from mental health. It’s the ability to create space for innovative thinking, and to find moments for retreat and reflection, away from the dopamine fix of always-on leadership, actively cultivating a brain primed for the rigours and demands of leadership. Examples include meditation, time outside or exercise.
Ethical Fitness
Ethical fitness means having a strong moral compass, and a degree of selflessness, as you consider your business’s values and how it operates. This enables leaders to drive change, and foster trust in their teams, customers, partners and wider society. Examples include donating a proportion of profit to charity, pro-bono work and values-based procurement policies.
Babble Ride Across Britain
More than just a bike ride
Babble is the proud title partner of the Babble Ride Across Britain, a nine-day cycling challenge from Land’s End to John O’Groats. This adventure demands all three pillars of modern leadership – physical performance, mental endurance, and the ethical drive to push yourself to the limits to raise money for good causes.
This year, we’re partnering with the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and have committed to fundraise £250k to support them in their goal of A World Free of MND.
“While findings in this study show a clear move towards a more balanced three-pillar approach to leadership, business leaders cannot regress in the current climate. By embracing the opportunity to feel better, stronger and happier, they will be armed with the skills to weather any potential storm.
I have found that if you publicly commit to the three pillars then you will be far more convincing as a ‘three-pillar’ role model.
It’s a virtuous circle. The fitter I become, across all three pillars, the better leader I will be – not just for the business and our teams, but for everyone we can impact in the widest sense, the charities we support, the communities we serve and the planet itself.”
- Matt Parker, Babble CEO
Download the
Fit to Lead report
Fit to Lead is a no-nonsense framework, centred around three straightforward but critical aspects of leadership ‘fitness’ – physical, mental and ethical.
But, what does this mean in practicality? We asked 500 British business leaders about their approach to Fit to Lead and found that 76% want to dedicate more time to promoting mental, physical and ethical fitness. Learn about why they want to make this change and how they’re doing it in our report.
The ethical edge
There is an increasing expectation that leaders leverage their positions to create positive change and to develop their ethical ‘muscle’.
At its most obvious level, ethical fitness centres on becoming a force for good. It’s about doing the right thing.
Our research shows that leaders are more than aware of this need to develop a strong moral compass, with 82% saying they use their role to “drive positive societal change”.
Around three-quarters of business leaders believe that investing in their ethical fitness:
Get Fit to Lead
Whilst the idea of Fit to Lead was inspired by the Babble Ride Across Britain, this idea is not about how many miles a leader can cycle or if they meditate. It’s about a balanced, all-inclusive style of leadership that’s prepared for today’s challenges.
