Leadership is about more than just ambition and hard work, it requires stamina, judgment, courage, and care. As workloads intensify, responsibilities grow, and pace accelerates, the question many leaders face is not only where to go next, but how they can sustain meaningful impact.

That is why Mindr’s 2025 virtual thought leadership series, the Leaders’ Lounge, explored leadership through the lens of athletics. Athletic training offers a powerful and universal framework for leadership development: Progress is non-linear, growth happens through repetition, and long-term performance depends as much on recovery as it does on effort. Across four conversations, we examined how leaders can train, rather than strain, for the long game.

Mindr’s 2025 Leaders’ Lounge Events

• Endurance – How to stay adaptable and balance ambition and resilience
  with Indhira Arrington, Partner & Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Ares Management
  
  
• Speed – Why leaders should prioritize speed
  with Pooja Jesrani, Flight Director, NASA
  
  
• Strength – Leadership as a muscle: How to get your reps in
  with Lauren Guthrie, Chief Belonging and Talent Officer, VF Corporation
  
  
• Recovery – Powering performance by respecting recovery
  with Marcus Felder, Managing Director, Blackstone

What We Learned, Together

While each conversation focused on a distinct athletic principle, several themes emerged consistently across the series:

• Leadership is trained through practice, not perfected through titles.
  Whether building endurance, acting with speed, or strengthening decision-making, leadership is a skill that is developed through repetition—small, intentional actions taken consistently over time. Being proactive, creating opportunities, and having the discipline to show up will take us far.
  
  
• Clarity enables confidence.
  From defining personal KPIs to identifying non-negotiables in high-stakes moments, the most effective leaders are grounded in clear priorities, both for themselves and their teams, that guide action under pressure.
  
  
• Resilience is sustained by community.
  No leader succeeds alone. Across every session, speakers emphasized the importance of investing in relationships early, managing up, seeking feedback, and building networks of trust long in the moments of calm before the storm.
  
  
• Growth often lives just beyond comfort.
  Saying “yes,” leaning into fear, and reframing challenges as opportunities were recurring reflections, reminding us that progress requires both courage and curiosity.
  
  
• Recovery is not the opposite of performance, it is a prerequisite.
  The series reinforced that rest, reflection, and recalibration are not indulgences. They are leadership skills that protect judgment, energy, and long-term impact for everyone on the team. And acknowledging that while balance may often feel impossible, adaptable integration can be the key to setting and respecting boundaries while remaining ambitious. 

The metaphor of athletics offered a shared language that transcended roles, industries, and career stages. It reminded us that there are times to push, to sprint, to build strength, and to pause. Progress is rarely linear, and setbacks are not failures, they are valuable experiences that help us continue strengthening our leadership muscle.

By grounding leadership development in this framework, this year's Leaders’ Lounge series encouraged participants to move toward a more sustainable growth mindset, one that values longevity as much as achievement.

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If you’re curious about joining future Leaders’ Lounge events, reach out to getstarted@mindrglobal.com.