What’s Your Playbook? Sarah Harden Reveals the Power of Personal Operating Plans (and Why Work Isn’t Her Whole Life)

Hello Sunshine , Reese Witherspoon’s groundbreaking media company, has been going strong for almost a decade, producing mega-hits like Big Little Lies, The Morning Show, and Daisy Jones and the Six. But the secret sauce behind the success is none other than CEO Sarah Harden.

In addition to working hand-in-hand with one of the world’s most successful actresses and business leaders, Sarah is leading her own charge and continuing to break ground at the helm of one of Hollywood’s most buzzworthy businesses. 

In our conversation, Sarah shared the career playbook that’s helped her create one of the most compelling and innovative media companies today — while also being a great boss, colleague, mom, wife, and friend. 

But perhaps the best part of my chat with Sarah was that her advice was actionable! From understanding what your currencies are in the workplace to creating a personal operating guide (so genius!), Sarah’s suggestions were tangible and practical — she nailed it. 

Embracing the Ever-Evolving Work/Life Balance 

For the past seven years, Sarah has been running one of the most exciting media companies in the world. But leading a global team successfully — while also having a fulfilling life outside of the office — doesn’t just happen. I couldn’t wait to hear how she tackles it all so gracefully. 

“I honestly learned from desperation,” Sarah says with a chuckle as we dive right in and tackle the always-hot topic of work/life balance. “I moved from being an individual contributor to a leader, and you have to tone-set and signal-set that your work is not your whole life.” 

I totally get this. It’s such a big change when you go from team member to the big boss, and it’s hard to know how to best navigate the new role. And there’s always the inevitable self-judgment that comes with it all. It’s hard to be good at each individual role demanded of us. 

“I could judge myself on a given day and feel like I’m failing. Over the course of a week, I'm good at most of the things, but over the course of a couple of weeks or months, I'm doing a really good job at all of them,” she explains. “I feel like a lot of women are judging themselves on a day-to-day basis, and we have to widen our aperture and look more holistically.” 

This is such wise advice for today’s working woman: stop looking at your performance through the lens of each individual role and instead take a step back and look at the bigger picture. 

“My playbook has evolved as my personal life has evolved,” Sarah readily shares. “I have a different work rhythm with teenage children than I did when I had 3 kids under 6, as it did when I was single.”  

“Dropping my kids at school is important to me right now so my team knows I am not available during school drop off,” she explains further. “Getting to my kid’s key events like sports games and theater performances is something I plan travel commitments around.”

She bottom lines it perfectly: “Scaffolding my work – and my calendar – around my personal priorities and how I want to be fully present with my family – and now I need to be present as a CEO — changes year to year and quarter to quarter but my ‘presence playbook’ is what I plan around.” 

Priorities and Motivations Are Different for Everyone — And ALL Are Important

We’re all motivated in our careers by different things at different times in our lives. Whether it’s the chance to learn and be creative, to attain a higher salary, or even to strike a more even work/life balance, knowing what matters most to yourself — and to your team — is important. 

“As managers we need to know and understand our direct reports — and team members we interact with — as full humans,” Sarah says. “A younger, single team member, for example, deserves the same flexibility we might offer to a working parent, to attend to personal priorities which are important to them.”

She continues: “We need to signal and ensure that it’s as easy for a father to take a couple of hours out of their day to be the reader at their kid’s school, as we might offer to mothers. I find it's so personal and it really shifts.”

Knowing what your ‘currencies’ are and understanding what matters most to you in the workplace can help guide your career path and make the right job decisions. And for leaders, understanding your employee’s individual currencies can help you better serve your team members and lead the collective group. 

What matters to someone can evolve over time (salary and prestige might morph into time off and maternity benefits.) The more people know themselves and how they’re motivated — and at different stages in life — the easier it will be to know and share your specific currencies. 

The Genius of Individual Operating Plans

I literally blurted, “That’s genius!” when Sarah revealed this next strategy. All of Sarah’s insights in our chat were spot-on, but when she talked about her team’s individual operating plans, I was blown away.

“Everyone has a personal operating manual, and we share it,” she says about Hello Sunshine’s management practices. “For example, my whole team knows that my kids’ dropoff is around 8:20, and I know the dropoff times for all of my executives.”  

It’s a practice that extends throughout the entire company and every team. This means managers know the preferences of their teams, down to patterns around school drop off, email preferences, even Slack preferences. “Everyone has a different operating schedule, so there’s different things that work differently for different teams.” 

A working operating plan that takes into consideration each and every teammate's preferences and considerations? Brilliant! Not only does it help with the actual logistics of working together with your team, it ensures each employee is being seen and heard — and valued.

When Sarah and I started chatting, I couldn’t wait to learn more about the secret to her success. By the time we wrapped up, I was blown away by her insight into running her successful company and her willingness, no — her insistence — for boundaries between work and home. The takeaways she leaves us with (Currencies! Personal operating plans!) are incredibly helpful and even more importantly, practical. Thank you Sarah for sharing your expertise with me!