????在上月舉行的沃頓領導力研討會上，德勤（Deloitte）的人才開發總管比爾?佩爾斯特隆重推出該公司新建的領導力學校：德勤大學。該校位于德州Westlake，簡稱為“DFit”的健身房面積1.2萬平方英尺，是這座耗資3億美元的設施中的重要建筑。

????DFit不僅僅是一個便利設施，它在培訓計劃中也起到關鍵作用。某些面向頂級高管的計劃要求參加者清晨6點就起床到體育館鍛煉，然后再開始領導力培訓。“就是想讓他們出點汗，”佩爾斯特說，還要讓他們學習出差時的鍛煉技巧。最初，頭頭腦腦們會抱怨太早就被叫醒了，但在計劃結束之后的反饋中，大多數人認為健身項目絕對應該保留。

????好吧，人們在開動腦筋前喜歡到健身器械上活動活動，但健身是否真的能讓人成為更好的領導？確實有這方面的正面證據。下面是一個極端的例子：根據作家兼企業家查爾斯?加西亞所著的《白宮大佬領導經驗談》（Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows）一書，戴維?彼得雷烏斯將軍（現任中央情報局局長）聲稱身體強健是優秀領導的最重要品質。彼得雷烏斯將軍當時是駐伊拉克的多國聯軍部隊總司令，他帶領部下每天進行75分鐘的強化鍛煉，包括俯臥撐、引體向上和沖刺，目的是為了讓他們沖破體能極限。我們大多數人恐怕都不能承受這樣的嚴酷訓練。

????不過即使不在彼得雷烏斯將軍手下訓練，我們也能受益于他的戰略，那就是通過共度難關來培養團隊精神和堅毅品質。領導者通常就會在這樣的嚴峻形勢下脫穎而出。這也是大學招生委員會熟知的法則：比如說，如果你想申請羅德獎學金（該獎學金享譽世界，獲獎者得到在牛津大學學習機會，其中包括美國前總統克林頓——譯注），運動員的經歷就會給你加分。一個人運動生涯表明他有足夠的精力和紀律去克服困難，取得成功。

????那是因為運動在挑戰個人體能極限的同時，還能揭示人的真實面目。任何人在空調辦公室里都會顯得鎮定自若，但是如果一個人在大汗淋漓、乳酸水平飆升的時候還能保持團隊精神，他肯定不是一般人。這樣的人往往能在公司下一次面臨危機時帶領大家從容應對。

????但大多數人都沒有時間或者體力去堅持每天的基本訓練。即便如此，只要保持簡單的經常性鍛煉就能幫助我們培養良好的領導品質。根據美國著名的醫學中心梅奧診所（Mayo Clinic）的研究，每周三天、每天30分鐘的鍛煉就會導致在體內和大腦釋放化學物質，幫助提升免疫系統活力，還能防止某些抑郁癥狀，保持清晰思考和勝任工作的能力。越來越多的研究表明，鍛煉確實能幫助人體生長新的腦細胞，增強記憶，還可能延緩老年癡呆癥之類疾病的癥狀。

????“在我們這個職業服務領域，加班加點是家常便飯，”佩爾斯特說。“我們也經常出差。如果在這樣的工作安排下還能抽出時間來鍛煉，那你肯定具備長期抗壓工作的能力。”

????軟件公司SAS的領導課程效仿了人類績效研究所（Human Performance Institute）的“公司運動員（Corporate Athlete）”培訓計劃。該課程名為“高效領導力及精力（Leadership and Energy for Performance）”，簡稱LE4P。90天強化培訓的目的就是讓學員學會如何調節個人精力，實現高效領導。最初這項計劃僅面向頂級高管，現在也慢慢向下延伸。目前約有50名SAS員工已經完成該課程，很多學員還成為了熱心的倡導者。

????他們看起來精力充沛，強健的身體起到很大作用，作為SAS人才管理和領導力培養團隊的一員，克里斯?滕斯托爾說：“在鍛煉的當天，他們效率更高，注意力更集中。”而另一個好處是，“他們在鍛煉中不斷突破自我，然后把那種韌勁也帶到工作當中。”

????At a Wharton leadership conference last month, Deloitte's managing principal of talent development, Bill Pelster, was showing off his company's new leadership school in Westlake, Texas, called Deloitte University. A key piece of real estate on the $300 million facility, he said, is DU's 12,000 square-foot fitness room, called "DFit" for short.

????DFit is not just an amenity. It plays a key role in Deloitte's training programs, Pelster says. Some of the university's programs for top executives require participants to wake up at 6:00 in the morning and hit the gym before starting the leadership training part of the itinerary. "The intent is to get them into a good sweat," Pelster says, and also expose them to techniques for working out when they travel. At first, the leaders might complain about the early wake-up call, but most of them say, in their feedback after the program, that the fitness portion should definitely stay.

????So people enjoy hitting up the elliptical before working their grey matter, but does exercise actually make people better leaders? There's evidence that it does.

????It's an extreme example, but General David Petraeus (who currently heads the CIA) reportedly said that physical fitness was the most important trait for good leadership, according to author and entrepreneur Charles Garcia's Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows. Granted, Petraeus, who was then the commanding general of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, led his troops through a 75-minute daily regimen of push-ups, pull-ups, and wind sprints designed to push the group beyond the point of exhaustion. Most of us could not keep up with that routine.

????But you don't have to train under Petraeus to benefit from his strategy, which is to cultivate teamwork and toughness by putting people through a rough situation together. Leaders tend to emerge from such situations. It's something that admissions committees have known for a long time -- if you want to be a Rhode's Scholar, for example, athletic experience is a mark in your favor. Having played sports is a good indicator that an applicant has enough energy and discipline to hack it.

????But most of us don't have the time or brute strength to go through a basic training routine every morning. Even so, the simple act of scheduling regular workouts can help develop good leadership traits. According to the Mayo Clinic, 30 minutes of exercise a day for three days a week will release chemicals in the body and brain to help boost the immune system and stave off some effects of depression, certainly a drain on a person's ability to think clearly and work well. There's also a growing body of research that exercise can actually help generate new brain cells, improving memory, and perhaps delaying the effects of diseases such as Alzheimer's.

????"Being in professional services, we work incredible hours," says Pelster. "We also tend to travel a lot. The individuals who can do that and still exercise, they can handle the pressure of this life for the long-term."

????Software company SAS modeled its leadership course after the Human Performance Institute's "Corporate Athlete" training program. SAS' course is called "Leadership and Energy for Performance," or LE4P. It's a 90-day intensive training on how to manage energy to lead effectively. At first, the program was only open to top SAS executives. Now it's trickling down the organization; about 50 SAS employees have completed it so far and many of LE4P graduates have become somewhat evangelical about the experience.

????They seem super energized, and fitness plays a big part in that, says Chris Tunstall, part of the talent management and leadership development team at SAS. "The days that they work out, they're much more productive, they're much more focused." Another benefit is, "they come out of their comfort zone, [then] they can take that mental toughness and put that in a business situation," Tunstall claims.