🌊 What Sardinia Taught Me About Leading, Living, and Letting Go

This summer, our family of four, my wife, our two sons (ages 6 and 9), and I, traded adventure for simplicity. We didn’t go to Japan. We didn’t chase itineraries. We went to Sardinia. And we stayed.

Sometimes, a beach is all you need

No sightseeing plans. No ambitious road trips. No long lists of places to check off.

Just a little beach. A rented house. Two weeks of sun, sand, food, and family.

And strangely enough, it turned out to be one of the most restorative and insightful trips we’ve ever taken. Not just personally, but from a leadership perspective as well.

✈️ From Almost-Japan to Just-Right

Originally, we had different plans. Our older son is a huge sushi fan and had his heart set on Japan. I came close to booking it. I had the flights filled in, the itinerary drafted. But we paused.

My wife had just started a new job. She needed rest, not airports. And a 14-hour flight from Vienna to Tokyo suddenly didn’t feel like the right kind of adventure.

Instead, we asked ourselves a question we often forget to ask in busy lives:

“What do we really need right now?”

The answer: something simpler. Something closer. Somewhere calm.

And that’s how we landed on Sardinia.

We opted for a 1:40 hrs instead of a 14 hrs flight

🏡 Space, Freedom & Rhythm

We found a modest house 150 meters from the sea, in Santa Margherita di Pula. No hotel lobby. No buffet hours. No dress codes. Just our own rhythm.

Our Aribnb in Santa Margherita di Pula

Breakfast when we woke up. Pasta when we felt like it. Laundry when it needed doing. And yes, it felt luxurious. Not because it was extravagant, but because it was ours.

Freedom to eat what we wanted, when we wanted

That choice reminded me of a powerful leadership truth:

Freedom with boundaries often beats structure without choice.

In a world full of meetings, metrics, and “best practices,” it’s easy to forget that sometimes the best thing you can give a team, or a family in this case, is the autonomy to just be.

🧭 Leadership in the Slow Lane

We didn’t do much. And that was the point.

No guided excursions. No sightseeing tours. No racing from beach to beach. We stayed on “our” beach. Every day. And the kids loved it.

Our beach

There was a small temptation to push more. To explore. To “see it all.”

But I asked myself:

Do we go on outings because we genuinely want to… or because we feel like we should? Is it FOMO? Or curiosity? And are we really present, if we’re constantly chasing the next photo-worthy spot?

The lesson: We don’t need to fill time to make it valuable. And we don’t need to impress others with our itinerary. Sometimes, being in the moment is the most worthwhile destination of all.

🔧 Work With What You Have

Our youngest son spent the first few days building sandcastles, right where the waves would destroy them. Again and again.

Then something shifted.

He moved back a few feet. He watched. He experimented. His older brother joined in.

By day four, they had a new system. Elevated platforms, deeper foundations, cooperative tasks.They created elaborate structures that stood through the afternoon.

What they were doing was more than play.

It was design thinking. It was adaptation. It was learning from your environment, not trying to fight it.

That’s good leadership, too. Don’t start with your perfect plan. Start with what nature gives you. Observe. Adjust. Build again.

💡 The Sushi Lesson

We couldn’t go to Japan. So we brought Japan to Sardinia. One evening, we took our son to a sushi restaurant in Pula as a small gesture. One promise kept.

Sushi, the sardinian way

He called it the best sushi of his life. Not because of the fish. But because of what it meant.

In leadership, we talk about trust. But trust isn’t built with big speeches. It's built with small moments of follow-through. Do what you say you’ll do, especially when the original plan changes.

🌱 Simplicity Is Not a Step Back

This trip wasn’t “epic.” We didn’t hike cliffs or sail into sunsets. We bought groceries late at night, cooked shrimp pasta, and let the kids fall asleep with the sound of cicadas in the background.

But it taught me to unwind, to let go, and to enjoy what’s already there. That’s something I often forget. In life, in parenting, in leadership.

So here’s what I’m carrying with me back to work:

🔁 7 Leadership Reminders From Sardinia

1. Know when your team needs rest more than adventure.

2. Freedom with rhythm is often more powerful than structure without choice.

3. Not every opportunity needs to be seized. FOMO is not a leadership strategy.

4. Do what’s right in the moment, not what looks good.

5. Observe, adapt, and build from what your environment gives you.

6. Follow through on small promises, they matter more than we think.

7. Simplicity isn’t a lack of ambition. Sometimes, it’s the clearest path to clarity.

We’ll go to Japan someday. But I’ll take Sardinia again, too. Because peace, perspective, and presence don’t need to be far away.

Sometimes, they’re just 150 meters from the sea.