Construction is one of modern society's most energy-intensive activities, and not only in terms of fossil fuels. Working in construction can be draining and you need to stay at peak fitness if you're going to deal with the job at hand. For nobody is this more important than the construction boss, rising at dawn to attend early morning breakfast meetings and resting only after an evening schmoozing clients or answering late-night emails. In the intervening hours, they must juggle the conflicting demands of high-profile projects and large numbers of disparate employees, placate shareholders and suppliers and be prepared to fly round the world at the drop of a hat. In short, who better to take advice from on keeping your energy levels up? The main contractor's lot is perhaps the most stressful, as Vaughan Burnand of Shepherd Construction can testify: "It's extremely gruelling, just the sheer number of issues you need to be aware of and all the things you have to remember." Don't believe him? "If you're running a pound;300m enterprise, you've got 3500 direct and indirect employees, 50 projects on site, some of which are going all right, some of which are failing, and that's 50 customers who might be demanding your attention. You've got accounts that haven't been settled, issues with money, marketing, business development, negotiation on new contracts..."
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