energy: where's yours leaking?

In the heart of London, beneath the bustling streets of the Square Mile and the quiet residential rows of Kensington, a silent crisis flows. For the 2023–2024 reporting year, Thames Water reported losing approximately 570 million litres of water every single day.

To put that into perspective, that is just under 150 litres per property, lost to aging Victorian infrastructure. These 19th-century cast-iron pipes are brittle, struggling to bear the weight of modern traffic and the demands of a 21st-century city. But here is the most striking part: 95% of these leaks are underground. They aren’t dramatic bursts flooding the high street; they are invisible, detectable only through acoustic sensors.

As leaders, we often operate exactly like London’s water network. We focus on the "burst pipes", the obvious crises, the missed targets, or the difficult HR interventions, while remaining completely oblivious to the massive, invisible energy leaks occurring beneath the surface of our daily lives.

The Cost of Unmanaged Energy

Energy is the most precious currency of leadership. It dictates our ability to think strategically, regulate our emotions, and inspire those around us. Yet, many of us treat our energy as an infinite resource until the moment we hit a wall.

Unmanaged energy is just like those underground leaks. It is "invisible" because it is often unconscious. We might notice we feel "off" after a particularly challenging day or a disturbed night’s sleep, but these are just the surface symptoms. The real depletion happens in the subtle, daily interactions and environments that we’ve become numb to.  When I work with leaders on performance and resilience, we will often conduct a Personal Energy Audit. This isn't about time management, it’s about managing the fuel that makes time useful.

Energy Builders vs. Energy Sappers

Before we can fix the leaks, we must identify them. An energy audit begins with a simple realisation: everything in your life is either an Energy Builder (enhancing your capacity) or an Energy Sapper (depleting your stores).

Most leaders are experts at identifying "work" as a sapper, but that is too broad. To truly find the leaks, we must look deeper into the four specific categories of our "infrastructure."

1. People

We have all experienced people who are "builders" or "sappers." Some people leave us feeling inspired, challenged in a healthy way, or supported. Others leave us feeling emotionally hollowed out.

• The Leak: Are you spending a disproportionate amount of time managing a single "high-sapping" individual? Are you neglecting the "builders" in your network who replenish your perspective?

2. Our Environment

Just as London’s pipes are pressured by modern traffic, our environment is pressured by our physical and digital surroundings.

• The Leak: Is your workspace a site of constant interruption? Does your digital environment, the endless pings and the "always-on" culture, act as a constant acoustic hum that drains your focus? Often, we have become so used to a cluttered or chaotic environment that we no longer realise how much energy it takes to tune it out.

3. Thinking Patterns (The Internal Victorian Infrastructure)

Sometimes, the leak is within the "pipes" themselves, our habits of mind. Victorian-era pipes crack because they are no longer fit for purpose. Similarly, leadership mindsets that served us ten years ago (like the need to be the smartest person in the room or the inability to delegate) may be causing internal friction today.

• The Leak: Perfectionism, ruminating on past mistakes, or the "invisible" energy spent worrying about things outside of your control are the equivalent of high-pressure cracks in your system.

4. Physical Foundations

We cannot ignore the "smart meters" of our own bodies.

• The Leak: Are you ignoring the subtle signs of depletion—the brain fog, the irritability, or the reliance on caffeine—until a "burst" occurs in the form of burnout or illness?

Conducting Your Own Audit

If 95% of leaks are invisible, how do we find them? We need the leadership equivalent of an acoustic sensor.  Over the next week, I encourage you to keep a high-level log of your energy levels. At the end of each day, ask yourself:

1. Where did the energy go? Which interaction or task felt like it was "cracking the pipes"?

2. Where was the pressure highest? Was it a specific person or a specific environment?

3. What built the reservoir? What moment made me feel more capable than when I started?

Conclusion

London’s water problem is a massive engineering challenge that requires digging up the past to secure the future. I see this often as I ride my bike around London as Thames Water are looking to replace the infrastructure.  It takes time and resources. One site I ride by regularly has taken well over a year to complete.  Your leadership energy is no different. You cannot afford to lose 150 litres of "potential" every day to invisible leaks. You need to invest in updating for life in the 2020s.

By consciously auditing your energy builders and sappers, you move from being a leader who is simply "getting through the day" to one who is intentionally managing their most vital resource. Don't wait for a burst pipe to start paying attention to what’s happening beneath the surface.

As always, I am interested in how you get on.