What Leaders Need to Know About Burnout: It’s Not About Workload

When people talk about burnout, workload is the first thing that comes up.

Too many hours.

Too many projects.

Too many demands.

But burnout isn’t about workload.

It’s about toxicity.

And I know this first-hand.

The exec team I worked with years ago was toxic. No amount of time management or resilience training could have fixed that environment. It wasn’t the workload that broke me. It was the culture. It was the leaders. It was the moral injury of being forced to work against my values, my sense of self, and my integrity.

Burnout and Moral Injury.

“Moral injury” is a term most often used in military or medical contexts, but it applies just as much in the boardroom. It’s the damage caused when you’re forced to act against your own values, or when the systems you work within betray what you believe to be right.

For leaders, moral injury shows up when:
- You’re asked to make decisions that go against your ethics.
- You watch toxic behaviours being rewarded instead of challenged.
- You’re expected to prioritise profit over people, every time.
- You lose yourself in an environment that demands compliance instead of authenticity.

This isn’t about working hard. It’s about working in ways that erode who you are. And when your sense of self is stripped away, burnout follows.

Toxic Leaders, Toxic Teams.

Toxic leaders don’t just burn themselves out.

They burn out everyone around them.

The exec team I worked with demanded compliance, punished dissent, and applauded behaviours that hollowed people out.

Here’s what happens in toxic leadership cultures:
- Fear replaces trust.
- Silence replaces dialogue.
- Compliance replaces creativity.
- Survival replaces growth.

You can have the best wellbeing policy in the world, but if the leadership is toxic, people will still still reach burnout.

Why Workload Isn’t the Point.

Workload matters, of course it does, but it’s not the root cause. People can work incredibly hard and not reach burnout - if they’re aligned with their values, supported by their leaders, and working in an environment that sustains them.

Equally, people can work “normal” hours and reach burnout quickly if the culture is toxic and their sense of self is constantly undermined. That’s why the narrative of “just reduce workload” misses the point.

Burnout prevention isn’t a time-management issue. It’s an identity loss.

Leading Without Losing Yourself.

The leaders who avoid burnout - and who prevent it in their teams - are the ones who stay anchored in who they are.

- Clarity of self. They know their values, their boundaries, and their non-negotiables.
- Integrity in action. They refuse to lead in ways that betray their ethics.
- Courage to challenge. They don’t collude or engage with toxic systems - they disrupt them.
- Commitment to people. They recognise that leadership is a responsibility, not a power trip.

When leaders stay clear on their sense of self, they protect themselves and their teams from the erosion that fuels burnout.

The Call to Leaders.

If you’re a leader, here’s what you need to know:
- Burnout isn’t solved by cutting hours or offering perks.
- Burnout prevention starts with culture - and culture starts with you.
- Your people are watching not just what you say, but how you live your values.

And if you’re not anchored in who you are, you’ll be swept into the toxicity that fuels burnout. You’ll collude with it. Or you’ll create it.

Leaders don’t manage workload. They shape environments. And those environments either protect people from burnout, or push them straight into it.

So don’t ask, “How do I reduce workload?” Ask:
- Who am I?
- What do I stand for?
- How do I create a culture where people can be fully themselves?

Because leadership without a sense of self isn’t leadership. It’s performance.

And performance, without authenticity, always ends in burnout.

Kelly

I’m daring to imagine a world where Burnout no longer exists, and if you’re daring to imagine a world like that too, then come and join me.
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