Upcoming Changes

Starting next month, I am going to change the frequency and format of my newsletter. In April 2020, shortly after the pandemic began, I increased the frequency of Edinger’s Insights to weekly. The pace of change and the dramatic impact on leaders, their businesses, and their personal lives required increased communication and value. Overall, the shift was well received and not a week goes by without a number of you commenting on what you liked or disagreed with - I valued both equally.

I’ve enjoyed sharing my thoughts on a variety of topics each week, but I intend to dive deeper into the topics I write about. If you have suggestions, please reply to this message with them. I welcome your feedback. Moving ahead, the newsletter will offer a more comprehensive look into one topic each month. I’ll still include space for additional thoughts or ideas to share that don’t require fuller exploration.

A new format will give me the opportunity to share with you more focused insights, tips, and strategies. And of course, I’d hate for either of us to get bored with this.

Stay tuned for this to start in April.

Remember, you can still browse the entire archive on my website. Each newsletter highlighted by the title of the lead article. About 10 years worth of them!

Vacation Reflections

There is no market for a consultant about “how to take a vacation” and I would starve if that were my focus. But in every client engagement, the topic comes up as executives take a break. I’ve written plenty about this and you can see my HBR articles below.

I was just on spring vacation with my family and have a few more thoughts to share. Unlike the holiday break at the end of the year, which is frequently overrun with additional activities and responsibilities, spring break tends to have a more relaxed pace. Here are some reflections that may resonate or be of use to you.

• Balancing the preference for active and passive is different for all of us, but the key to an enjoyable vacation. Like many of you, I am not great at being “chill.” I absolutely love having the space to do nothing. To sit at the beach or the pool, or to just look at the mountains. But if I have too much of that, I begin to feel restless. Finding the right equilibrium of “chill” and “go-see-do” is one of the overlooked considerations of pleasurable time away from work.
• I once heard that family vacations are more about family dynamics than they are vacations. I can’t recall the quotation exactly so I couldn’t provide attribution, but I find this to be very true. You frequently spend more time together on a vacation than any other time. The vacation is like the background to what's happening between everyone in the same way a TV show about characters in a hospital or law firm isn’t really about surgeries or court cases.
• On vacations with our children. This was the last spring break we will have with my older daughter before she leaves for college. While we talked about her joining us for future vacations, I realized that her schedule, her preferences, and her interests will now determine if she comes with us. This was an emotional topic for me.
• We all need to get away. The pandemic shrunk the environment most of us live in over the last couple of years. A new setting, regardless of where it is, provides you with a different view. And maybe a new perspective.

Here are more of my thoughts on how to get the most out of your vacation time and return re-energized in these Harvard Business Review articles:

Don’t Obsess Over Getting Everything Done Before a Vacation

Read This Before You Head Out on Vacation

The Professional’s Guide to a Stress-Free Vacation.