In about another day, I will be starting my second sabbatical. I’m taking the three months to focus on my health and my family, which sounds like the most trite, stock phrasing ever – but it’s also true! I’m going to participate in a 1/2 marathon at the end of my sabbatical (April 28 – my 43rd birthday!) so I have to get into shape, and I’m also going to take each kid on a solo trip.

Something that I hide incredibly well is that I am really controlling (deciding to do a couch-to-half-marathon is one indicator, actually). I have this highly sensitive instinct for control that I am very aware of all the time. I also derive a lot of my identity from my work – I find a lot of gratification in striving for excellence (and a great way to ensure excellence is to control everything). I’m not sure that many people would describe me in this way, but nonetheless, it is a significant part of how I intuitively interpret to the world around me. But I have spent a lot of effort over the years to not have my initial knee-jerk response be one of control. I believe that collaboration is better, and I know I’m not the smartest person at everything, or that I’ll have the best ideas every time. Working with people who are smarter than me in their areas of expertise and listening to divergent opinions makes me better at my work, and it makes our team stronger.

As I go on sabbatical, I am not worried about my team or Tumblr. I have a strong, high-trust executive leadership team, who I know will make excellent decisions in my absence. I also believe that the team mates we have across the entire organization are top-notch, are capable of listening deeply to each other, and all have the best interests of Tumblr in their hearts. We can’t go wrong. As a very controlling person (deep down), it is a gift to be able to walk away from work for three months with a song in my heart and a glass of wine in my hand.

One sign of a successful leadership team, I think, is the ability to have the leader disappear for a few months and it’s not disruptive. A piece of me of course needs to be needed, but as a leader it is also my responsibility to ensure things will work without me. I have, in a sense, an ethical responsibility to set my team free to find success without me. And hopefully discover new heights! Folks will get to explore new areas of work that they may never had to engage with before, and learn more about themselves in the process. I know I will be doing the same in my time away from work.

Perhaps the real sabbatical is the personal growth we made along the way.