How Leaders Spot Burnout And Restore Hope And Communication

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Burnout doesn’t always look like falling apart. Sometimes it looks like a capable person still hitting deadlines while quietly losing sleep, losing humor, and losing the feeling that their day is theirs. Greg and I start with that familiar late-night moment: one last email, a new problem, and the steady pressure that keeps your nervous system switched on.

From there, we break down a simple leadership framework that makes burnout easier to spot and talk about: the difference between living “above the line” (you still feel choice and traction) and “below the line” (your calendar, urgency, and anxiety push you around). We also get practical about what managers can say when someone answers “I’m fine” in a way that clearly means the opposite. You’ll hear specific opening lines, real questions that invite honest answers, and how to avoid the worst vibe of all: telling someone who’s drowning to “just have a better attitude.”

We also zoom out to the workplace systems that fuel job burnout, including themes found in the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) research like too much workload, too little control, unclear expectations, and weak support. Then we move from empathy to action with a simple method: pick one concrete change that makes next week 10% better, and build a plan that helps boundaries hold, especially around after-hours email.

If this helps, subscribe, share the episode with a manager or teammate, and leave a review so more people can find practical leadership tools for workplace stress and burnout recovery.

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Presented by John Wandolowski and Greg Powell