A Health Crisis Reframed My Leadership

By Vidhu Monga | Chartered Managers Canada

In January 2024, I experienced a heart attack that interrupted my life and career with a clarity I had not previously allowed myself to see. Like many leaders, I operated at a pace that became normal simply because it was familiar. I was deeply committed to my work, fully engaged at home, and confident that I was balancing both effectively. The crisis did not reveal that I had mismanaged these responsibilities. It revealed how much of my life was running on momentum rather than intention.

During recovery, I found myself observing more than acting. That stillness created a vantage point I had never occupied as a leader. Instead of driving decisions, I watched how people managed uncertainty. Instead of filling gaps, I saw how others naturally stepped into them when given space and trust. I saw how teams adapted, how they communicated when they felt safe, and how they solved problems when they were not reacting to external urgency created by me.

At home, I witnessed a strength and stability that I had always felt but rarely examined closely. My wife guided our family through unpredictability with calm, competence, and grace. This was not a realization that I had fallen short. It was a recognition that strong partnerships often function so seamlessly that their strength becomes invisible. When routines run well, we stop noticing them. When a pause forces us to look, the value becomes unmistakable. Appreciation deepens, not because something has changed, but because awareness has.

The same awareness carried into my professional life. Before the heart attack, I believed that availability signaled strong leadership. I made myself accessible, responded quickly, and stayed closely involved in every major initiative. My intentions were good. The impact was mixed. Constant responsiveness created a subtle but persistent sense of urgency even when none was required. It shaped a culture where speed overshadowed reflection and where effort was too often interpreted as impact.

When I returned to work with a clearer mind, I began to notice how much of our pace was habitual rather than strategic. Teams moved quickly because I moved quickly. Decisions piled up because I reacted instead of stepping back. In the past, I equated this rhythm with effectiveness. What I now saw was that it limited the team’s capacity to anticipate, prioritize, and think deeply. Leadership is not defined by how quickly you act. It is defined by how clearly you see and how carefully you shape the environment others must operate within.

This shift in perspective forced me to reconsider several long-standing assumptions that many leaders carry without ever articulating.

The first is the belief that personal well being is separate from professional performance. In reality, the two are inseparable. Leaders who operate in a state of quiet depletion influence their teams in ways they rarely notice. Energy moves through an organization even when it is unspoken. A strained leader creates strain around them whereas a grounded leader can create stability even in high pressure environments. When decision making becomes reactive because a leader is tired, overwhelmed, or simply out of balance, teams absorb that reactivity as a norm.

Physical and emotional well being are not personal luxuries, they are leadership responsibilities. When leaders model sustainable performance, they create a culture where people can do their best work without sacrificing their health or long-term commitment. When leaders ignore those fundamentals, no amount of operational excellence can fully compensate for the erosion that eventually follows.

The second assumption is that availability is synonymous with support. What I learned is that presence is more valuable than accessibility. Presence requires intentionality. It means showing up with clarity, listening without distraction, and creating space for thoughtful dialogue. It means being deliberate about when you intervene and when you allow capability to emerge in others.

When leaders are constantly accessible, their attention fragments. Fragmented attention weakens decision making, increases reactivity, and reduces the quality of engagement people feel when they do have access to you. Teams benefit far more from a leader who can sit with a problem, ask good questions, and provide perspective than from one who can answer messages at all hours and jumps into every conversation.

This is not an argument for detachment. It is an argument for choosing where leadership actually adds value, and where it unintentionally replaces thinking, ownership, and creativity in others.

The third assumption concerns recognition. Leaders often tie appreciation to performance outcomes because performance is measurable. Yet people contribute in ways that cannot be captured in any dashboard. Initiative, resilience, collaboration, adaptability, and quiet problem solving all influence outcomes, even when they are invisible to formal measurement.

When leaders acknowledge the full scope of contribution, they build trust. They communicate that people matter not only when they deliver results but also when they demonstrate character, effort, learning, and teamwork. At home and at work, appreciation is not a motivational tactic. It is infrastructure. It holds relationships together under pressure and allows people to give more than they otherwise would.

Finally, the experience challenged a belief that is almost universally held in leadership culture: that vulnerability compromises authority. In practice, I found the opposite to be true. When leaders are open about challenges and honest about limits, it builds a climate of trust and transparency. It encourages teams to surface concerns early, collaborate more effectively, and treat mistakes as opportunities to learn rather than as failures to be hidden.

Strength without vulnerability can create distance but strength with vulnerability creates connection. When people feel safe to speak, they behave responsibly, creatively, and ethically. When they feel they must perform invulnerability, they behave cautiously, defensively, and unimaginatively. The long-term health of a team is shaped far more by psychological safety than by any operational procedure.

Looking back, the heart attack did not fundamentally change my values. It brought them into sharper focus. It made me more intentional about how I spend my time, how I direct my attention, and how I engage with the people who rely on me. It reminded me that leadership is not defined by endurance or visibility. It is defined by the environment you create and the clarity you bring to the people you serve.

These lessons came quickly because the crisis forced them into view, but they do not require a crisis to adopt. Leaders do not need a dramatic event to reassess their approach. They need space to pause and the willingness to look at their habits with honesty. They need the courage to question assumptions that have gone unexamined simply because they have gone unquestioned for years.

For those who have not yet experienced a wake-up call, some practical applications can help bring these ideas into daily practice.

• First, create deliberate pauses in your work rhythm. This can be as simple as a daily reflection on what actually matters, or a weekly review of where your time went and what impact it created. Pausing is not inactivity. It is decision making with depth.
• Second, practice presence. When you enter conversations, whether with your team or your family, treat those moments as finite and valuable. Put aside competing tasks. Ask the question you would ask if you were fully attentive. Listen for what is unsaid as much as what is spoken.
• Third, expand how you recognize contribution. Make it a habit to name behaviors as well as outcomes. When people feel seen in ways that metrics cannot capture, loyalty and engagement rise in ways no incentive program can replicate.
• Fourth, model vulnerability in appropriate ways. Share when you are uncertain. Explain your reasoning when the path is not yet clear. Ask for input. When people see that effective leadership is not the absence of doubt but the presence of integrity, they imitate it.
• Finally, treat your health as part of your leadership practice rather than something separate from it. You will serve people better when you are present, steady, and capable. No team benefits from a leader who sacrifices themselves in the name of commitment.

The impact of this realignment is felt at work and at home. Teams respond to clarity. Families respond to presence. Leaders respond to purpose. Most importantly, these shifts are felt long before a wake-up call arrives.

Every leader is capable of this kind of growth. It does not require extraordinary circumstances. It requires honesty, intention, and the humility to recognize that how we lead is shaped as much by how we live as by what we do.

About the Author:

Vidhu Monga is the Senior Director of Supply Chain Fulfillment at Staples Canada, responsible for leading national  fulfillment, reverse logistics and 3PL operations that support the company’s omnichannel growth and customer experience across the country. With more than 15 years of experience in supply chain and operations leadership, including 11 years with Amazon, he brings deep expertise in scaling complex networks, driving operational excellence, and delivering results in high-velocity retail and e-commerce environments. Vidhu holds an MBA in Operations and Leadership and is known for his people-first leadership philosophy, strong financial discipline, and focus on building resilient, high-performing teams. Beyond his professional work, he is a husband and father of two, and his leadership perspective has been shaped by personal experiences that reinforced the importance of balance, purpose, and long-term sustainability in both business and life.