MICHELLE: Welcome everyone to today's podcast. This episode is something that every hospitality person needs to hear, especially all the leaders. I'm joined by Rich Ellis, better known as The Energy Coach. With nearly 20 years of experience working with business owners, leaders and corporate teams, Rich specialises in helping people take control of their energy, resilience and wellbeing. We dive into practical, real-world strategies to boost performance, reduce burnout and prepare for a thriving 2026. From frontline teams to executive leadership, Rich shares how small, sustainable shifts can make a massive difference in how we show up, lead and live. If you've ever felt like you're running on empty, this episode is the reset you need. Rich is joining us from the beautiful country of New Zealand, just north of Auckland. Welcome, Rich — lovely to have you on the podcast.
RICH: Thank you, Michelle. Great to be here — thanks for having me.
MICHELLE: Let's dig right in. You've spent almost two decades helping individuals and teams unlock their energy and their true potential. Can you share your own journey from fitness coach to workplace wellbeing? How has that shaped the way you support leaders today?
RICH: That journey has given me a much broader perspective on how the body works. Wellbeing programs can often focus on resilience and day-to-day habits, but everything is connected to everything. Our brains are often treated as separate from our bodies, as if you're working on one thing without thinking about the other — but it's all the same system, a group of systems joined together. When something's going on mentally and emotionally, our bodies feel that too. My journey has been about understanding how the body works holistically, then shifting into a broader market working with corporates. It's not all about the physical, but that physical background gives me a really good grounding to build everything else on top — sleep, nutrition, gut health, whatever it may be. I try to see people very holistically: not just what are their challenges day to day, but who are they as people, what else do they have on their plate, what's affecting them that they can't leave at the door. You switch on your professionalism when you start working with customers and clients, but what you bring with you will still be affecting you mentally and physically. The smart leaders are very aware of that, and they build systems into their operations so they can capture some of that information and lead in better ways — so the team feels understood and therefore operates more effectively together.
MICHELLE: You're right, everything is linked. You can't just leave it at the door. You talk a lot about energy being your greatest asset. For business owners and leaders in hospitality — long hours, constant pressure, people management all year round, new staff constantly coming and going — what does that actually look like in practice? What does it mean for energy to be your biggest asset?
RICH: When we turn up, energy is our biggest tool. You can drag yourself through a day at two out of ten, or you can show up with lots of energy and be a nine or a ten — and I think that is a choice. But there are things that can drag it down to a two, and so it comes back to getting the basics right: a good night's sleep, fuelling yourself with quality nutrition, staying hydrated. Cognitively we need water running through our system. If it's a stagnant swamp rather than a fast-running river, that's what's going to happen inside the body. It's all common sense, but it's easy to forget those things when you're busy, easy to neglect them. The nine or ten out of ten energy day is achievable if you're doing those basics right. And during a busy service, it's about finding those micro-breaks when they're available, because they're not always going to be when you expect them. I took some lessons from reading Special Forces books — soldiers dug into a field who don't know whether they'll be there for two days or two weeks. When they're on hyper-vigilant patrol, which is like a busy service in hospitality, they find those micro-breaks: a breath, getting some light into your eyes, stepping outside into nature, an extra glass of water. A moment that allows you to come back and carry on. Those things aren't selfish. You're setting yourself up to be a better version of yourself, so that the people you interact with get that best version of you. It's being a little bit selfish in order to be very unselfish.
MICHELLE: That's exactly it — the classic "put your own mask on first." Water especially is so important. Which brings us to burnout. For business owners and leaders who just keep going and going — what are some of those early warning signs of energy depletion? How can leaders intervene, both for themselves and their teams, before it hits crisis point? Because you can observe it in your team as well, can't you?
RICH: Absolutely. A really intuitive, empathetic leader who gets people will be able to see the signs, because body language is our biggest communicator — the subconscious mind starts telling tales well before we say or do something that indicates where we're at. So a good leader will notice the dropped shoulders, the lack of eye contact, lateness to work, leaning on caffeine a little more — "is that your third coffee today? Normally you're a one-coffee person." There are little things that start to show themselves. For me, having gone through a period of exhaustion and burnout myself, the reliance on coffee was one of those things. I didn't realise until I looked back and thought, if I got past 10:30 in the morning without one, I was doing really well. Withdrawal is another sign — less communication, going within themselves. That's the body's way of conserving whatever energy it has left. And when that happens, those around them have to pick up the slack. There are lots of telltale signs, but the smart leaders have been around people long enough to see them early.
MICHELLE: That's such an important point — you have to be observing your team, not operating from the ivory tower. And I think it's also about showing your own vulnerability as a leader. When a leader says "I'm absolutely exhausted, I'm going for a walk" — and actually does it — that gives permission to the whole team. I'd say to my own managers: don't just sit at your desk. "I've got my phone on me," they'd say. Fine — but you can walk around the car park, go down to the function rooms, get some fresh air. Because that burnout does creep up on you. So what are two or three daily habit changes someone working in hospitality could start today to boost their energy, focus and overall wellbeing?
RICH: The biggest one — and if anyone asks me for a single piece of advice, this is it — is morning light. Getting natural light into your eyes first thing. It could be your first coffee outside, eating breakfast in the garden, a dog walk — whatever gets you out there. Morning light does a couple of things. First, it bookmarks your day by signalling to the suprachiasmatic nucleus — the master clock in your body — that the day has started. About 16 hours later, your brain knows it's probably bedtime. Second, it helps wash away melatonin, our sleep hormone. If that's still swimming around your system when you wake up, you'll feel groggy and not quite on the ball. Light clears it out and starts the day from a fresh point. And it doesn't take long — 7 to 10 minutes, because the amount of blue light in outdoor sky is considerably higher than indoors. You can't do this through glass or from inside a car. Even on an overcast day, there's enough out there to do the job. It's a great way of setting yourself up not just for today, but for a good night's sleep the next night as well.
Beyond that, sleep itself matters. The science sits at 7 to 9 hours. If you're consistently under 7, your immune system may struggle, your energy levels won't be where they need to be, and cognitive function won't be as sharp. Mother Nature didn't give us sleep for no good reason — a third of our lives are spent sleeping, and we're not robots. Give it the respect it deserves.
MICHELLE: I love that — give it the respect it deserves. And these devices beside our beds don't help. I've started turning my phone face-down because the screen keeps lighting up and waking me. You go to check the time and suddenly you're down a rabbit hole.
RICH: You're right — the amount of blue light that comes from a phone not on dark mode is considerable, and it sends the wrong signals when you're trying to sleep. My recommendation to clients is: if you use your phone as an alarm, could you find a traditional alarm clock and put the phone in a different room? Even if the phone is off, our brains know it's there, and that creates a slightly higher level of vigilance — which means we're probably not getting as restorative a deep sleep as we could. I understand that some people need to be on call, and there are very good reasons the phone might need to be nearby. But where you can, getting it out of the bedroom is one of the simplest improvements you can make.
MICHELLE: Mental fatigue in the hospitality sector continues to grow — from the demands of the work itself, but also from customers who are less tolerant than they used to be. They think they have every right to take it out on the wait staff. What are some proven strategies for building mental resilience, particularly in frontline and leadership roles?
RICH: It's a tough one. I've noticed more and more signage appearing in customer-facing businesses — banks, restaurants — and I think some people's behaviour genuinely changed during Covid. They became very intolerant, they were forced to do things they didn't want to do, and for some, that hasn't repaired itself since. You'll get customers who are unreasonable and treat people with complete disrespect. And I think it's entirely reasonable to walk away and ask a manager to step in, or have a backup system so that if you're treated with disrespect, you don't have to keep tolerating it alone.
The other thing to hold onto in that position is that it's not personal. They're not having a go at you as a person — they're taking it out on the role, and you just happen to be the person in that role on that day. Separate yourself from the role and say, "this too shall pass." You don't know what kind of day they've had. Their business might be struggling, they were stuck in traffic, someone else is making unreasonable demands of them. That little bit of separation — "it's not personal, this too shall pass" — helps people deflect it rather than absorb it. Because there's nothing worse than walking away from that interaction feeling bad about yourself. It should be Teflon: slings and arrows, but words will never hurt me.
That said, it does depend on personality type. The experienced team members will handle it better; the younger, less experienced ones will probably struggle the most. But once you've been through one of those situations and come out the other side, you now have evidence: you've been here before, you didn't fall apart, the person left, you moved on with the evening. That builds resilience over time.
MICHELLE: Absolutely — and not allowing it to impact on the service you provide for the next customer or how it affects the rest of the team. You've coached teams of all sizes, Rich. What are the most common patterns you see in workplaces struggling with low energy and high absenteeism, and how do you go about shifting that culture?
RICH: It's a slow shift — it takes time. The key starting point is taking stock of where you're at now. What are your normal routines? Why are you in the position you're in? And are you aware of that position? It's the classic gap analysis: where are we now, where do we want to be, and how do we build the bridge between the two?
One of the things I like implementing with the organisations I work with is a check-in system. It can be informal — a 1-to-1 conversation about energy, sleep, whatever's relevant. Or it can be more formal: before meetings, everyone checks in around a set of agreed topics, and it becomes embedded in the routines and the culture. But it has to be led by the leader. Where it's flourished, it's because the leader believes in it strongly and can see its value. Where it hasn't worked, it's because leadership didn't really drive it.
So it might be just a half-agenda point in a meeting — you don't need much time. If someone says "I'm a two out of ten today," you acknowledge it: "Sorry to hear that, I'll catch you afterwards." You don't need to solve it in the room, but you see it as an opportunity for a private conversation later: "Is everything okay? What's going on?" And hopefully they open up.
Once you've run that check-in a few times, something interesting happens. People start thinking ahead, because they know it's coming. If I was a two last week, I don't want to show up as a two again this week — so what do I need to do for myself to get to a four, a five, a seven? That's the best bit: where it starts to self-police and self-manage. People are thinking about their own wellbeing because it's part of the culture.
MICHELLE: That's so important — they can seek help, but they also have to help themselves. And I know you talk about your coaching programs and workplace wellness work. How can hospitality businesses start embedding energy and wellness practices without it feeling like just another initiative that someone had a great idea about and then forgot?
RICH: That's exactly the risk. Culture change is not an overnight job. It's typically a year-long engagement — that's what I encourage organisations to commit to. Not only does that give enough time for behaviour to actually change, it's also enough time to demonstrate a return on investment. You can point to reduced absenteeism, reduced sick leave, reduced unnecessary recruitment — and you can show that the investment is working.
The process is: chip away, chip away, chip away. Behind the workshops comes coaching, both individual and group. My "Coaching for Coaches" course helps coaches ask better questions, pause longer — those micro-skills that make the real difference. After a workshop on sleep, for example, we'll do a group coaching session — on Zoom or around a table — where people work on something specific: "I'm going to try to keep the same bedtime each day." I'll ask: are you doing that from tomorrow? Every day? I make a note of what they commit to, because then I can hold them accountable. My value isn't just in the education — it's in the accountability.
By the time you get to 12 months, people look back and see how much has shifted. You're never going to get 100% compliance across an organisation, but if you can get 50 to 75%, you're winning — because that's enough to create a genuine impact.
And my approach is always to look at what people are already doing and ask how we can just shift it slightly. Eating healthier doesn't mean adding something — you're going to sit down and eat regardless. Why not make it as nourishing as possible? That's the mindset: same time, different way.
MICHELLE: And I love that it's over 12 months — you can see the changes, and they can see them too. My final question: for leaders who are tired, stretched and unsure where to begin, what's that first small action they can take this week to reclaim their energy and move into 2026 with more clarity, resilience and control?
RICH: Great question. The temptation is to write a list of five or six things — go to the gym three times a week, walk the dog, meditate, eat better — and that list is a recipe for disaster. It's great in theory but it'll fall over very quickly. So pick one thing, as James Clear says in Atomic Habits: start small.
I'll always go back to morning light as my number one. But while we've been talking, I've been slowly working through a pint glass of water — I'm about halfway through — and it hasn't taken me any extra time. That's the point: how many glasses did you have yesterday? Three? Could you try four tomorrow? We're not asking for the world. We're just asking for improvement. And when you get to six, seven, eight glasses, you can look back and think, I was only drinking three. Small things add up. They're not insignificant.
For my own 2026 commitment, I've been very remiss with mindfulness. I collect apps and never use them. So I've moved a gratitude app — Tact — from a buried folder on my second screen to front and centre on my home screen. Each day I type in three things I'm grateful for. I'm still working on it; I won't pretend I've nailed it. But there's enough science showing that when you're grateful for what you have, your wellbeing goes up and your positive feelings increase. Three things, every day. That's mine.
MICHELLE: I love that. And stopping to write those three things is also a moment of reflection — looking at what you actually achieved today rather than rushing straight to tomorrow's list. We go from one thing to the next without acknowledging what we've done. Rich, I'll put all your contact details in the show notes, but can you tell listeners how they can connect with you and how you work with them?
RICH: LinkedIn is the best starting point from a business point of view. Richard Ellis on LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook and Instagram, but LinkedIn is where I'm most active professionally. Connect with me there and we can have a conversation and take it from there.
MICHELLE: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Rich, for sharing your journey and for giving our listeners such practical, honest tools for showing up with more energy. As you said — energy is your greatest asset. Thank you.
RICH: Thank you, Michelle.
