Retire Often Why the Best Leaders Take Halftime Seriously: with Jillian Johnsrud

Retire Often Why the Best Leaders Take Halftime Seriously: with Jillian Johnsrud

From The H2 Leadership Podcast by H2 Leadership

May 14, 2026 · 42 min · Episode 519

About this episode

Jillian Johnsrud discusses the importance of taking mini retirements for leaders to avoid burnout and improve long-term success.

Jillian Johnsrud has taken thirteen mini retirements (sabbaticals) over the last twenty years. She's raised five kids (three adopted), built and renovated rental properties that changed her family's financial trajectory, and coached hundreds of leaders through their own sabbaticals. Her new book Retire Often might be the most practical and philosophically rich thing written on the subject. She joins Alan Briggs for a conversation about something most leaders get wrong: the assumption that caring about your work means never stepping away from it. Who this episode is for If you're a leader who runs hard and assumes the operation falls apart without you. If you've watched peers burn out and quietly wondered when it's coming for you. If you're caught between a 60-year-old generation that grinds and a 25-year-old generation that won't, and you're trying to figure out a third way. If your identity is so wrapped up in what you do that you're not sure what's underneath it. This one is for you. What you'll take away The halftime analogy that reframes extended rest as competitive strategy, not indulgence, and why the leaders running sprints through their break aren't the ones winning long…

People in this episode

Host: Alan Briggs

Guest: Jillian Johnsrud

Topics covered

  • leadership
  • sabbaticals
  • work-life balance
  • burnout
  • mini retirements

Keywords

  • leadership
  • sabbaticals
  • mini retirements
  • burnout
  • work-life balance
  • Jillian Johnsrud
  • Retire Often

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Retire Often

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