8 Reasons Every Future Leader Should Consider Taking a Sabbatical

When I started sabbatical at the beginning of this year, I didn't know just how transformative it would be for my personal growth, career ambitions, and my understanding of what it means to be a leader. In a world that often values relentless productivity, the idea of stepping away might seem counterintuitive. But it’s precisely that break—those moments of rest, reflection, and exploration—that offers the deepest kind of growth, the kind every future leader needs.

Here are seven reasons why every future leader should consider taking a sabbatical:

1. Rediscover the Value of Rest

As leaders, we’re often caught up in a cycle of high expectations, constant demands, and endless to-do lists. A sabbatical creates a much-needed space for deep rest, something our souls crave but seldom find. During my sabbatical, I rediscovered what it means to fully rest—without guilt, without worrying about productivity. It gave me time to pause, reflect, and truly understand how rest is not only beneficial but essential to sustainable leadership. A well-rested leader is one who brings clarity, vision, and empathy to their work.

2. Step Outside Your Bubble and Gain New Perspectives

Leadership can be lonely and sometimes myopic, with its narrow focus on business results and organizational goals. By stepping outside that bubble, you get to experience the world from a different vantage point. Whether it's traveling, volunteering, or simply exploring interests beyond work, a sabbatical widens your horizons. For me, visiting seven countries during my time away opened my eyes to the diversity of human experiences, which deepened my empathy and renewed my commitment to making a global impact. Seeing how other people live, create, and lead helped me understand my place in a much larger picture—something I want to bring back to my work in strategy and leadership.

3. Reconnect with Your Values

In the busyness of leading teams and achieving results, it’s easy to lose touch with the values that initially inspired us. A sabbatical offers the time and space to reconnect with those values and understand what truly matters. During my time away, I am reflecting deeply on my purpose, my faith, and how I could align my career with a greater sense of meaning. This reconnection has allowed me to approach leadership with more authenticity and passion, ensuring that my decisions are guided by a strong foundation of what I truly believe in.

4. Create Vision with Clarity

A crucial part of leading is being able to envision a future worth working towards, not only for yourself but for your team and organization. Taking time away provided me with the opportunity to create that vision with clarity and purpose. It’s not easy to envision the future when we’re constantly putting out fires and addressing the immediate needs of today. My sabbatical allowed me to slow down enough to articulate a vision that feels true to who I am, and it made me realize the importance of intentional space for visioning in any leader’s life. It also reminded me that a vision created from a place of rest is often more authentic and sustainable.

5. Embrace Fear and Growth

A sabbatical isn’t just about relaxation—it also comes with uncertainty and challenges, like stepping away from a stable career path or leaving behind the familiar. Embracing the fear that comes with such a decision is a powerful opportunity for growth. Facing fears about stepping away, traveling to unfamiliar places, or simply slowing down showed me that growth often happens outside our comfort zones.

The courage to take that leap translates into leadership, where embracing risks and uncertainties is part of driving positive change.

6. Learn New Skills and Expand in Fresh Ways

A sabbatical is also a time for professional and personal development in ways that are difficult to achieve when caught up in the everyday grind. Some things are best learned when you step away and return with fresh eyes, rather than trying to juggle everything at once.

During my sabbatical, I had the opportunity to complete the Everest Base Camp trek—a 12-day journey that brought immense personal meaning and growth. There is no way I could have squeezed that trek into six weekends; that’s not how such experiences work. It required undivided attention, and the transformation that came with it was profound. Achieving that goal helped me live from a more centered and grateful place, a mindset that influences my leadership every day.

7. Integrate Your Life Lessons

Taking time to thoughtfully consider all the experiences I had leading up to my sabbatical as well as the experiences in my sabbatical have been invaluable. The insights I’m gaining aren’t just fleeting moments; they are lessons that I am integrating into my life and leadership style.

This integration has helped me feel more anchored and grounded, and I’m able to bring a holistic perspective to my decision-making processes.

Whether it’s navigating complex challenges, fostering team dynamics, or making strategic choices, the lessons from your time away will become woven into the fabric of how you lead.

8. Model the Kind of Leader You Want for Your Leaders To Be

As someone who’s passionate about helping people grow into their potential, I recognize that the best leaders are those who model the lives they encourage others to lead. By taking a sabbatical, you can be an example of what it looks like to honour your humanity, embrace curiosity, and trust in a bigger plan for your life. So much of leadership is about creating cultures that are more human, more generous, and more compassionate.

How can we, as leaders, expect our teams to care for their well-being if we are unwilling to do the same for ourselves? My time away taught me that stepping back is not a sign of weakness, but of strength—because it takes courage to choose wholeness over constant activity.

Taking a sabbatical may feel like an unconventional choice in our culture of hustle, but the benefits are profound and lasting. If you’re a future leader—or anyone seeking to make a real difference in the world—I encourage you to consider it.

Taking the time to renew, reflect, and grow will not only make you a better leader, but a better version of yourself. And that’s the kind of change our world needs right now.