Why I Wrote This (and Why You Might Want to Read It).

A few years ago, I found myself preaching responsibility, ethics, and sustainability to CEOs, boards, and startup founders, while missing birthdays, delaying doctor's appointments, and skipping lunch with Linda. I was writing about values with a mouth full of cold pizza, while my calendar looked like a battlefield.

That's when it hit me: social responsibility doesn't begin with your ESG policy. It begins with your calendar.

• Not with grand declarations.
• Not with your latest sustainability report.

But with what and who, you allocate time to, every day.

If you want a responsible company, you need a responsible agenda. And yes, that starts with yours.

The Calendar Is the Hidden Constitution of Your Company

Every company has a written code of ethics.

But the real code—the one people actually follow—is unwritten and brutally honest: your calendar.

• If you spend 10 hours a week with clients, 0 with your staff, you’re declaring what matters.
• If team meetings are rushed but investor decks take a week, your priorities are clear.
• If you never allocate time for your own rest, your people learn that exhaustion is a virtue.

Let me be direct: your schedule is your culture in disguise. It's the behavioral constitution that everyone reads, even if you never publish it.

A Story from My Own Life: The Uncomfortable Mirror

In 2021, I was mentoring a young entrepreneur. Brilliant mind. Messy business. When I asked her for her calendar, she hesitated. She pulled out her phone, showed me 72 color-coded blocks, and said, “I feel like I’m always behind.”

So I did something I hadn’t done in a long time. I pulled out my own. It looked exactly the same. Meetings layered on meetings. No white space. No reflection time. No family time. No real strategy. Just reaction.

It was sobering.

I wasn’t mentoring her.

She was mirroring me.

From that moment on, I made a rule: if I don’t have time for ethics, growth, or my loved ones, my system is broken. Period.

Numbers Matter: Here’s What I Track Now

Every quarter, I run a “Responsibility Audit” on my own calendar. You can do it too. Just ask:

1. How many hours did I spend on people development?

   My benchmark: at least 15% of total time.

2. How much time did I reserve for listening instead of talking?

   I now block 1 hour a week for unstructured 1:1s, with no agenda.

3. Did I honor my body and mind?

   Yes, I literally track sleep, movement, and unbroken focus blocks.

4. How often did I make room for strategic silence?

   No phone. No notes. Just thinking time. Every leader needs this. So does every citizen.

5. What was sacrificed and why?

   Responsibility means owning the trade-offs.

This isn’t micromanagement. It’s self-governance. It’s accountability in the most literal sense: the ability to account for your own time.

Let’s Redefine Social Responsibility: From Policy to Practice

Social responsibility is often outsourced to the CSR department. That’s a mistake. Because if your leadership is irresponsible with time, no ESG framework will fix the damage.

Here’s what I believe:

• If you over-schedule, you under-serve.
• If you never reflect, your strategy will regress to noise.
• If your time doesn’t align with your values, neither will your company.

In the end, your calendar is a tool of justice. It can reveal imbalances. It can restore dignity. Or it can reinforce inequality and exhaustion.

Which path you choose depends on what you intentionally put into it.

If You’re Just Starting: Some Friendly Advice

1. Start with one hour a week of protected, value-driven time. Use it to mentor, reflect, or simply listen.
2. Block white space. Don’t fill every gap. The best decisions come from emptiness, not urgency.
3. Let others see your structure. Share your calendar philosophy with your team. Make transparency a norm.
4. Include time for doubt. You can’t lead well if you don’t make time to question your own assumptions.
5. Rest is a form of leadership. Treat it like a board meeting.

Time Is Not Just Yours

Your calendar doesn’t only shape your life. It affects your team’s energy, your company’s culture, and, if you’re a founder, your entire ecosystem.

So the next time you look at your week ahead, ask yourself this:

If a young entrepreneur mirrored this calendar… would I be proud?

That’s where social responsibility begins.

And that’s exactly where we all still have time to improve.