Can Wearable Data Make You a Better Leader? 6 Founders Share How Devices Shape Their Decisions

They reveal when health and productivity metrics help them perform—and when they become a distraction.

A few weeks after buying an Apple Watch, I realized I had subconsciously changed my behavior. A mediocre sleep score made me second-guess scheduling difficult writing. A “time to stand!” notification sent me pacing the office floor before I’d even thought about whether I needed a break. 

Somewhere along the way, the watch had stopped simply measuring my habits, and begun influencing them.

For founders, that influence can be especially powerful

For founders, that influence can be especially powerful. Entrepreneurial life is already governed by pings, buzzes, and a seemingly endless stream of digital demands. 

Wearables promise to help entrepreneurs work smarter by showing them when to push, pause or recover. But how much authority should those sleep scores, step counts, heart-rate data and recovery metrics have over meeting schedules, a workout or a demanding day of work?

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Here’s how six founders are approaching that question.

Jen Millard, CEO & Co-Founder at mainelove

Jen Millard, co-founder of Maine-based canned sparkling water company mainelove, wears an Oura Ring primarily to track her sleep and guide her nighttime routine.

“I think of it as informing, not making,” Millard told Inc. “It’s informing a decision you might make, but it’s not making decisions for me. A wearable gives you information about yourself that’s not just about how you feel. It’s intended to be factual, and it makes you check in on yourself a little bit more.”

Source: www.inc.com