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Staying Power 185

will push you to make things happen . . . It would be pretty cool if
merely by staying in regular contact with us, you could get rich. It
sounds crazy, but there’s a good chance that would work.”11

BALANCE PERFORMANCE WITH RECOVERY

Sustained, world-class performance in any field requires what Jim
Loehr, renowned performance psychologist and co-founder of the
Human Performance Institute, calls oscillation, the balancing of in-
tense periods of focus and effort with intermittent periods of recov-
ery and development. Over several decades, Dr. Loehr and his
partners have closely examined the behavior of peak performers
across sports, business, medicine, law enforcement, and other fields.12
Virtuoso musicians, champion tennis players, and high-performing
technologists all display a similar back-and-forth pattern of intense
effort and recovery. The same is true of the best entrepreneurs. Any
talented founder can run hard and bring his or her “A” game for a few
weeks or a few months, but leaders who display strong venture lead-
ership over the longer term find ways to care for themselves and their
loved ones, recharge their batteries, and sharpen their skills and
knowledge.

Sustaining your effectiveness as a founder will require punctuat-
ing your work with adequate time for recovery, practice, and play. A
simple (but often ignored) example is in the area of self-care. Many
frazzled entrepreneurs don’t allow themselves enough sleep, exercise,
or nutrition. They envision themselves as tough, stoic warriors,
whereas, in fact, their health and intellect are fading fast. Personally,
I have yet to find a more reliable way to replenish my strength, mind,
and mood than to engage in regular exercise, but each founder will
need to find his or her own rhythm and approach for staying sharp
and increasing capacity.

If you don’t take time for recovery, chances are good that your
mind and body will do it for you. In early 2010, Mark Williams noticed
that Modality’s top software developer, a brilliant technologist and the
indispensable backbone of the firm’s innovation and development ef-
forts, was not performing up to his own historical standards. The be-

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