How Ageas Federal Life Insurance MD & CEO stays mentally, physically fit

I don't think there is anything called work-life balance; it is only work-life integration, says Vignesh Shahane

In the last few years, the debate on worklife has swung between how much is healthy and how much is necessary. Should a workweek be 70-hour-long or is a four-day office routine more productive? Should we give work our all or seek work-life balance?

While there is no one right answer to these questions, the general consensus is that work and wellness have to go hand in hand. Incidents such as Zerodha Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nithin Kamath suffering a stroke only reiterate this reality. 

In an email interview with Aathira Varier, Vignesh Shahane, managing director and chief executive officer, Ageas Federal Life Insurance, says the focus needs to be on work-life integration rather than work-life balance. Edited excerpts:
 

 

Given your intense and demanding schedule, how do you maintain work-life balance and deal with stress?

As CEO, I am less stressed than I was before. Now that I am CEO, I have 10-12 earnest and hardworking reportees who do the heavy lifting for me – although I do have to make decisions that affect the company, employees and livelihoods. In terms of stress, I have been the CEO for 10-12 years; I think my life is more structured and I can plan it better now. In fact, in my last role, when I was reporting to the CEO, my life was more stressful because of so much travel and all kinds of pressures.  Today, I have somebody else taking all the pressure from me. 

I don’t think there is anything called work-life balance, it is only work-life integration. There is no fixed time [when] you can be in office and you leave office. I do some personal work during office hours and also bring work home. I don't believe in demarcating and putting them in separate buckets. 

What do you do specifically for your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing?

I've always been conscious of physical fitness. I played for Bombay (Mumbai) in the Ranji Trophy when I was 30 or 35 years old. I was always conscious about exercise. I am very careful about what I eat, how much I drink. I've stopped smoking altogether. I think after a certain age, you cannot keep running marathons and keep working five hours in the gym. You have to be careful about diet. Diet plays an important role and so does rest. It is just about a sense of well-being, a sense of health, a sense of feeling good, and that can be achieved by either running or going to the gym or even going for a morning walk or things like yoga.

Also, what are the things that you do not do for precisely this reason? It would be great if you could give some examples of how you incorporate wellness in your routine.

See, first of all, I don't look at stress as stress. I think stress is the reason why I got this job. Pressure is the reason why we are where we are. If there is no stress, if there is no pressure, then there will be no Vignesh required. It is because of stressful situations and pressure moments that a CEO is required; this is part of the job.  So, sometimes stress is a privilege. It is something you look forward to as it means things are not moving and you are not making your presence felt.

If there was no pressure, then there would be no job. I don't overly think and stress myself about anything.  That's the way I am, and I'm lucky to be that way. But I honestly think that stress and pressure should not be viewed negatively. They should be viewed as an opportunity to emerge stronger.