Inspiration Series: Eric Reiners

This one is very special to me, because in all this series, Eric is the first person I’m featuring who has been my direct leader. Eric is the person who taught me through his actions the difference between a manager and a leader. He is also the person who taught me the importance of work-life balance, appropriate stakeholder communications, and intrinsic motivation.

When I was moved under Eric in a re-org, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My team hadn’t had many interactions with his previous org, as we were all consultants and rather isolated within the company. I was also quite senior, having been consulting in this space for many years. I had been through a lot of managers who tried to implement strict time tracking (down to the minute) or ticketing workflows where every task is documented in extreme detail, and I had a bit of dread going into our first conversation, fearing that he would try to bring software development practices into customer-facing consulting.

What I found when we had our first one on one was the polar opposite of my expectations. When I launched into updates of what I was working on, expecting criticism or prompts for more detail to understand exactly how I was spending every minute of my time, he [gently] cut me off. He asked me, “Are you telling me this because you need me to act, or are you just venting?” It caught me off guard, because of the implicit trust his question conveyed. Up until then, I had been taught through actions that I needed to prove myself trustworthy to be allowed to manage my work independently. I was taught that documenting my efforts to a level that every minute of my time was accounted for was the only way to demonstrate that I was doing my job. With one simple question, Eric showed me that he trusted my assessment of my workload, and that while he was available to step in if needed, he would not do so unless asked. If only we had this conversation before my first managerial role, I may not have spent so many years actively avoiding people leadership! From this one interaction, I realised that I had a tendency to be overbearing and micromanage my team, because that was the only methodology that had been modeled for me.

He also taught me about the importance of work-life balance. In my first consulting role, the majority of my compensation came from my bonus, which was based solely on the number of billable hours I worked. My managers and teammates showed me that I could easily work two or even three engagements at a time, on-site with one client during the days, doing remote external testing at night, and writing my reports during plane rides, over the weekends, or instead of sleeping. If I wasn’t working 90+ hours a week, then I just wasn’t trying hard enough, and I wouldn’t be given the choice assignments. In this role, I had been trying to avoid burning out, so I had asked my previous manager what he felt was an acceptable amount of time off, given that we had moved to an unlimited PTO model. His answer was not very helpful, saying only, “Take however much time you need to maintain an acceptable quality of life.” What I really wanted to know was how much time off I could take without being penalised for it, and this response still made me feel like that answer was, “None.”

Eric gave me a number, saying that he made it his goal to take at least 20 days off each year, and then he reaffirmed that by actually taking his time off. When he was out of office, he was truly out. I never once saw him responding to emails or chatting in Slack. With a tangible target in mind, I stopped feeling guilty about taking off 2-3 days each quarter, and started taking full-week holidays at least few times a year. I felt like I was being given permission to stay off Slack and email, and for the first time ever, I returned from a holiday truly feeling refreshed and ready to get back to work. That year, I logged 22 full days of PTO, and I did not work through a single one of them, yet I had one of my most productive and impactful years since joining the company.

Every time we spoke, I also felt that Eric was truly present. He was never answering other calls or responding to email during our one on ones. That time was for us, and he made it his priority. He made me feel valued simply by dedicating 30 minutes to checking in with me and seeing how I was doing. He took the time to get to know me as a human, and opened up about his life enough to show me that what we did at the office was not all there was to our lives. I got to hear all about his yoga practice, and shared in his experiences remodeling a campground into a wellness retreat. He encouraged my love of craft beer and my desire to turn that passion into a business. Years later, after I had already moved on to another company and role, he reinforced this message once again by leaving his executive leadership role to become an executive coach. I’m still not sure if he realised how much he had been applying this to his teams already, but seeing him wholly pursuing his passion reignited that flame in me.

Because of Eric, I decided to venture back into people leadership, as scary as it was. I still held onto all the negative feedback I’d received from my managers and my teams previously, just waiting to hear it again. Instead, I had multiple team members say that I was the best leader they’ve ever worked for. That was actually harder for me to hear than any of the negative things. It felt impossible and ingenuine, until it finally clicked; Eric was the best leader I’ve ever worked for, and by practicing what he taught me, I was giving others that same experience.

In the past year, I have found myself slipping away from these fundamental lessons that made me the leader I am today. With increasing pressure from my leaders, I started sacrificing my work-life balance. I went back to responding to emails and Slack at all hours of the day and night. I found myself moving one on ones more and more frequently, and I was distracted during these conversations. This was the expectation being modeled for me by my leader, and as a result, I was establishing that same expectation for my team. Looking back at the last year, I hate who I have become, and I can only imagine that my team’s sentiments have shifted, as well.

So, with two weeks remaining in 2025, I’m going to publicly voice my resolution for 2026: I am going to embody that leader Eric taught me to be. I am going to prioritise my work-life balance, and show my team that they need to do so, as well, in order to be effective. I am going to trust and empower my teams to find that intrinsic motivation to fuel their state of flow, knowing that their success keeps me in flow, too. And yes, Eric, I’m going to get back to making some darn good beer, too!