





As President and CEO of Citi’s Women & Co., I spend a fair amount of time outside our corporate HQ and “in the field” meeting face-to-face with clients and colleagues to exchange ideas and insights about ways to harness our power as women and make progress towards our personal and professional goals. This year alone, my travels have taken me from Boston and Wilmington to Miami and Washington, DC to Chicago and Dallas to San Francisco and, in a few weeks, Los Angeles.

To minimize travel-related stress, I embrace my bad travel karma: security pat-downs, hand-searches of carry-ons, delayed flights, lost luggage, and bad weather. So, for me, there can be only upside. And, to maximize my “productive” time on the road, I follow the “first-out, last-back” flight rule, which often means 3 am wake-ups calls on outgoing flights and red-eyes back. It sounds grueling, but that’s really not the difficult part. What’s most challenging, as an introvert, is being “on” for 10-12 hours straight with little, if any, down time – as much as I really enjoy and benefit from these conversations, both personally and professionally.

So, how do I manage to keep it together? Here’s what works for me:

Keep pre-departure evenings event-free. I have a quiet dinner with my husband, Scott, pack and get a good night’s sleep.

Schedule 2-3 15-minute “solitude” breaks through the day, even if it means sitting in a restroom. I use this time to breathe and calm my mind. Sometimes I flip through my photo library, which inevitably makes me smile and disconnect from the swirl of activity surrounding me.

Keep post-travel weekends free of social commitments. This doesn’t necessarily mean staying at home. Rather, Scott and I will take in a show, go to a museum or hang out in a local coffee shop while each of us reads, but nothing that requires, quite frankly, me to make “small talk” with him or anyone else.

How do you stay “on” when you’re traveling or attending a conference? Any and all tips welcome!

Photo: Author's photo from trip to Antelope Canyon in summer 2013