Michael Saitow, MS Walker, Inc.

Title: Chief Technology Officer, MS Walker, Inc.
Location: Boston, MA

Years in the Industry: 
I joined MS Walker in April of 2001 as I was finishing a stint in the Venture Capital world, and the dot-com bubble had started to burst. I was switching jobs in preparation for a year-long backpacking trip and needed something for a few months, so I started at MS Walker as a consultant. I left the US in early October that year and traveled for about 12 months, but upon returning…the world and the job market were inexplicably different. I came back to MS Walker and resumed my work as a consultant, working on both business problems and IT challenges as time permitted. I joined full time in June of 2003 and have had an amazing journey.

My top three challenges to wellness:
This sword cuts both ways. Exercise, Sleep and Diet perform double duty as the challenges AND opportunities that work for and against wellness. As I see it, it's about looking at your body as a vehicle and reading those three “gauges” on the dashboard. The brain takes input from the gauges and feeds the body what it needs.

I believe that there's always time for exercise. Even just 30 minutes a day, a quick 5k, an hour to walk the dog…something to get the body, circulatory & pulmonary system(s) going in order to feed the neurological system.

It's ironic that as a society, we have dozens of contradictory opinions on effective diets: intermittent fasting; snacking; three, four or five meals a day… But for some reason we think that there should only be one sleep a day. Makes no sense to me to expect the body to run for that duration on food, but not sleep. I believe in a more Mediterranean approach, and I believe that siesta is a good plan. As a result, I sleep around four hours a day, from 1 to 5 am with an 8-minute nap sometime between 7p-9p most days.

Diet is the tricky one! A healthy passion for good wine, spirits (aged bourbon and repo tequila, both neat) and ice cream are all signs of "everything in moderation.”

How I keep it together to stay well:
I think this question is loaded! Control is an illusion. Keeping it together is sometimes a stretch, but it's always a good goal. For me, #gratitudeisasuperpower is how I keep it together, as much as I can. For instance, I make sure that I run every day -- at least a 5k, at least once a day -- even though there's always a reason to skip it. But if you dig deep enough, there's never a good reason to! Whenever I feel as though there's nothing "in the tank,” I shift into gratitude and think about all of the people who can’t run or even walk at all. I’m grateful that I can, and so I do. 

What inspires me:
I am inspired by a desire to learn, balanced against a desire to teach. I love working with colleagues and helping them see problems in a different light, turning them around and over until a novel approach is revealed. Simultaneously, I am a lifelong learner, constantly learning and studying new areas of business.

A quote I love:
Teddy Roosevelt is quoted with saying that comparison is the enemy of joy. I have a slightly different take on that in that it depends on your point of comparison and there is always room for gratitude. Bert Jacobs (Founder of Life is Good) helped start my journey on gratitude. Never think “I have to” do something, but rather change that mindset to “I get to.” It’ll change the way you see the world. #gratitudeisasuperpower

You can find Michael on LinkedIn and Instagram.