The Being / Doing Gap
December 2025 | Helle Bundgaard | Relevance Beyond
“The greatest challenge in later leadership is not lack of skill — it’s losing the link between Being and Doing.”
Throughout our careers, we’re rewarded for what we do. We set goals, deliver results, manage teams, and move forward — always forward. Our calendars fill, our roles expand, and our professional identity becomes deeply intertwined with our capacity to perform.
But at some point, many leaders reach a quiet turning point — not of burnout, but of disconnection. The question shifts from “Can I do this?” to “Why am I doing this?”
This is what I call the Being / Doing Gap — the space that opens when our actions are no longer fully connected to who we are. Business literature has long spoken about The Knowing / Doing Gap — the difference between knowing what’s right and actually doing it.
The Being / Doing Gap goes deeper. It’s the distance between activity and authenticity, between outer success and inner alignment. When that link breaks, something essential happens. We still perform — often very well — but the sense of meaning fades. Achievement continues, yet fulfillment quietly declines.
Many senior leaders today are not struggling with competence — they’re struggling with connection.
They have decades of experience, but the external recognition that once fueled them no longer feels sufficient. They’ve mastered the Doing, but their Being is asking new questions:
What truly matters now?
How do I want to contribute?
How do I stay relevant in this next chapter of my life?
In The Wheel of Relevance, we explore exactly that balance — between Being and Doing, between inner readiness and outer expression.
We look at four essential areas:
Personal Readiness – your energy, balance, and inner stability
Relational Resonance – the quality of your close relationships
Social Legacy – how you contribute beyond yourself
Professional Reinvention – how you stay relevant and purposeful in what you do
In each area, you reflect on two simple but revealing questions:
How satisfied am I? and How much time do I spend here?
Because relevance isn’t about doing more — it’s about reconnecting what you do with who you are.
If you’d like to be among the first to know more about our upcoming program “Staying Relevant,” or share your thoughts about this subject please send me an email hb@motivationfactor.com.