Health, leadership and the infinite game with the CEO of SAS

What does it actually take to prioritize your health when you’re running an airline through turbulence, restructuring and global uncertainty? Anko van der Werff, CEO of SAS, shares what keeps him grounded — and why health is never just about the gym.

The email that started it all

A few years ago, Marcus Lager at Twitch Health received an email from Anko van der Werff. Not asking for a wellness program. Not requesting a company initiative. Just a man with a bad back from tennis, looking for help. But what followed became something much bigger than fixing a back injury.

Sport as a school for life

Anko grew up in a small village in the north of the Netherlands, always surrounded by sport. At 11 or 12 he was part of a national tennis program — competitive, driven, pushing limits. It didn’t lead to a professional career. But it taught him something that has stayed with him ever since.

– If you want to achieve something in life, you have to have it in you. You have to train yourself. Not just physically. That’s always been one of the defining moments for me.

The lessons from sport don’t disappear. They just show up differently later in life.

No time? Wrong question

Running an airline means your calendar is never fully your own. Trips where time zones flip your sleep, back-to-back nights where meetings end at midnight and you’re up again at six. And yet Anko trains.

His solution isn’t a perfect routine. It’s principles.

– For longer trips, there has to be a really good reason for me to stay more than one night. I go, I stay one night, I come back. That way I don’t adapt to the time zone — and I get back to my family sooner.

He now travels with a gym kit. Three sessions during a recent eight-to-nine day trip. Not the same workout every time — but the five or six exercises he always comes back to, wherever he is. It has become part of the infrastructure of his life, not something he tries to squeeze in.

The insight Marcus helped him land early: it’s about staying fit enough to keep doing the things you love. Football. Tennis. Padel. The gym is the investment that makes all of it possible.

Leading through the storm

When covid hit, Anko was mid-flight — literally and figuratively. Nobody knew how bad it would get. He gave his team a mantra to hold on to: exercise, sleep, love your family. Four anchors in an uncertain sea.

– I’ve become very resilient over the years. When Trump invades Iran or fuel prices spike, that’s not something I can control. And still — here we are, dealing with the impact. So I’ve learned not to make it personal.

His ability to switch off- what research calls psychological detachment — is crucial. Being able to truly switch off when he needs to sleep, even during the most difficult periods — is something he names as a genuine leadership skill. Not absence of care. Presence of boundaries.

– It’s like a game. You make the best decisions you can, with the information you have, aligned with your values. And then you sleep.

Curiosity as a leadership tool

One thing stands out across Anko’s story: genuine curiosity about people. He talks to pilots in the cockpit. He asks the people around the table how they’re really doing. He chats to taxi drivers about what’s happening in their city.

– I genuinely find it interesting. What are people busy with? What do they see?

That curiosity creates connection. And connection, in an organisation of 11,000 people, is what makes tough decisions possible to navigate together.

Teamwork — and keeping score

Anko is clear that no aircraft takes off without dozens of different people touching it first. The striker who scores doesn’t score without the midfielder, the defender, the goalkeeper. He has worked to bring that understanding into SAS — every role matters, no group is more important than another.

And he believes in keeping score. Not to create pressure, but to give direction.

– How can you play a game without knowing the score? You need to know where you’re going.

Reflection questions — for you

  • What are the one, two or three things in your life that make everything else worth doing — and are you staying fit enough to keep doing them?
  • When you navigate through uncertainty, what are your anchors? What do you come back to?
  • How well do you actually switch off — and what does it cost you when you don’t?

Discussion questions — for the group

  • How does your organisation’s culture support leaders in genuinely taking care of themselves — not just in words, but in structure?
  • Where does psychological detachment show up as a skill in your team — and do you talk about it?
  • What would it mean to approach health at work the way Anko approaches sport: not as a nice-to-have, but as an investment in performance?
  • Who on your team is the equivalent of the taxi driver — the person who actually knows what’s going on — and when did you last ask them?

Thank you Twitch Health and Marcus Lager for collaborating for a sustainable worklife.