Resting Like a Leader: A Decade-In CEO's Sabbatical Story

In this episode of The Sharpen Podcast, David Ellis sits down with Dan Cooper, who has run Acumen for the past decade, to unpack what happened when Dan took a full month off — no email, no meetings, no communication with his team at all. Together, they trace the three reasons Dan decided to step away (a decade of grinding, turning 50, and wanting to test how far his leadership team had come), and the systems he built to actually make it possible.

The conversation digs into the tension every high-performing leader feels between doing and resting: the fear of unhooking, the awkwardness of boredom on day nine, and the humility required to come back and not grab the reins again. Dan shares what he learned about his marriage, his kids, his team's ability to lead without him, and his own identity once the business was stripped away for thirty days.

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Why Dan calls it a "sabbatical" and not a vacation and why the distinction matters
How to actually set up your business so you can disconnect for a month without it falling apart
Why rest is part of the job description at the executive level, not a break from it
How giving your team real decision-making authority (not just tasks) changes how they lead
Why boredom took nine or ten days to arrive and why that's the point
How a month away forces you to confront how much of your identity is wrapped up in your business
Why Dan believes rest should scale with responsibility: the bigger the stakes, the more rest you need

Acumen

Acumen is designed for CEOs and Owners who want to sharpen their edge and grow their companies. It’s a Platform For Growth: You. Your Company. Your Equity. Your Profit. Your Culture. Your People. Your Leadership. Your Impact. If where you’re at today isn’t good enough, and you thrive when pushed to new heights, then Acumen could be a fit for you.

Learn more about Acumen and our Peer Advisory Teams

Connect with Dan Cooper on LinkedIn

beetu.be

beetu.be helps B2B businesses scale by finding “market resonance” and building predictable inbound client acquisition machines without the usual marketing fluff. Over the last few years, we’ve worked with 300+ companies to turn strategy into real, measurable growth.

Learn more about beetu.be

Connect with David Ellis on LinkedIn

Practical Takeaways for CEOs and Leaders

Don't try to unplug cold, build a real plan first, including a pre-sabbatical, mid-sabbatical, and post-sabbatical check-in with a coach or mentor
Set up an email triage system before you go: a personal-only folder you check, and someone trusted sorting everything else into "needs to know" and "needs a decision"
Write an out-of-office message that's honest about being fully off the grid, it sets expectations and gives your team permission to act without you
Don't set a goal to "achieve" something during your time off, the point is rest, not a strategic overhaul
Start smaller if a month feels impossible: take your longest vacation ever, then add a week, then add another
When you return, resist the urge to reclaim every decision your team made, let the authority they gained during your absence stick
Treat a sabbatical as a real stress test of your business: if it can't run without you for a month, that's information worth having now

Key Topics & Timestamps

0:20 — Why Dan decided to take a full month off after a decade of running Acumen
0:58 — The three real reasons behind the sabbatical, plus the one he almost didn't admit: he was just tired
3:00 — Building the protocol: hiring a "Sherpa" and setting a vision focused on rest, not achievement
5:08 — What the days actually looked like: no alarms, no plans, more silence and family time
8:46 — The tactical setup: the out-of-office message, the email folder system, and handing the team real authority
17:23 — The parable of the talents: what his team did with the autonomy he left behind
25:04 — His advice to other leaders: don't try to take the whole month at once, just add a week to your longest vacation