Think about the most important leadership skills you were ever taught. Strategy. Execution. Communication. Now consider what was almost certainly missing — learning to lose with grace, saying no without guilt, and sitting in silence long enough to discover what is actually driving you.

In this episode of BizBlend, former hospital CEO and CPA Bret Kolman shares what 30 years of healthcare leadership, and seven years of intentional sabbaticals three times a year, taught him about the real foundation of resilient leadership. Sixty hours of fasting. Forty hours of silence. And a practice that began with two people around a campfire and has now touched over 600.

This is not a conversation about slowing down. It is a conversation about building the inner capacity to stay in — for the long run.

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Bret Kolman is a CPA, former hospital CEO, author of Wisdom That Leads to Soul Rest, and founder of Sabbatical Taker LLC. He spent over three decades in healthcare leadership, including as CEO of Centerpoint Medical Center in Kansas City, and as CFO for eight years before that. For the past seven years, he has practised intentional sabbaticals three times annually — 60 hours of fasting, 40 hours of silence — and has hosted over 31 such retreats with more than 600 participants. He is based in the United States.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Most leaders don't realise how tired they actually are until they fully stop. Just as someone averaging six hours of sleep a night will suddenly sleep for twelve when given the space, the depth of depletion only becomes visible in stillness. Bret distinguishes between burnout — which he sees as primarily emotional — and what he calls being "soul-spent": giving yourself out so completely to others that you must actively refill.
Sabbaticals do not have to be a year long, or even a month. Bret's model is three intentional pauses per year, each roughly 60 to 70 hours, requiring only one or two days of vacation. The key is scheduling them far in advance, treating them as non-negotiable, and protecting them the way you would protect a major client meeting.
Your pain is trying to tell you something. Masking it — through alcohol, scrolling, overwork, or constant stimulation — only delays the message. Leaders who lean into their discomfort, rather than around it, consistently come out with more clarity, more creativity, and stronger relationships than those who keep pushing through.
Chronic fear, uncertainty, and doubt — what Bret calls FUD — operate like slow erosion on a leader's energy and decision-making. The problem is not acute fear, which is healthy and useful. The problem is the amygdala running in survival mode 24 hours a day, flooding the body with cortisol and adrenaline that were designed for short bursts, not long careers.
The red car theory explains why gratitude practice works. When you buy a red truck, you suddenly see red trucks everywhere — not because they multiplied, but because your attention trained itself to find them. A daily gratitude journal works the same way: your subconscious begins scanning for positive evidence all day, because it knows you'll need it that evening. The result is a measurable shift in attitude, energy, and how people respond to you.
A sabbatical is not escapism — it is maintenance. It is the investment that makes everything else sustainable. You can either choose the pause, or life will eventually choose it for you through illness, breakdown, or forced stop. Intentional rest is not the opposite of high performance; it is its prerequisite.

CONNECT WITH THE GUEST:

Website & Resources: www.sabbaticalTaker.com

Book: Wisdom That Leads to Soul Rest — available on Amazon and via his website

EPISODE CHAPTERS:

[00:00] Intro — The leadership skills business school never taught you

[06:00] Meet Bret Kolman — CPA, former hospital CEO, and the man who took 31 sabbaticals

[08:00] What 30 Years in Healthcare Leadership Taught Him — When working harder stops being the answer

[09:45] The First Sabbatical — An audio tape, a campfire, and 40 hours of silence that changed everything

[12:00] From Two People to 600 — How a personal practice became a movement, and then a book

[14:00] Soul-Spent vs. Burned Out — Why the distinction matters, and how to know which one you are

[16:30] The Mini Sabbatical Model — Three times a year, 60 to 70 hours, one day of vacation: the practical framework

[18:00] The Natural Ebb and Flow — Why the universe, the ocean, and your own cells all require pause

[22:00] FUD — Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt — How chronic stress hormones quietly destroy leadership capacity

[25:30] The Red Car Theory and Gratitude — The neuroscience behind why writing five positive things each evening rewires your brain

[29:00] The Pause Has to Be Chosen — Why busy leaders must schedule stillness before life forces it on them

[32:00] Present, Not Perfect — Being fully engaged in the moment as the ultimate leadership discipline

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