Why Naming Your Burnout Never Makes It Go Away (and why vulnerability isn’t enough)

At 27, I had a fall-down-on-the-floor nervous breakdown. At 39, I nearly burned out again. Both times, my body was tired, my mind was clouded, and my marriage was strained. I didn't need more people telling me to be vulnerable, honor my feelings, and set better boundaries. I needed a structural answer for burnout. Because whatever I had been doing wasn't working.

Now I'm 51, and my rhythms are clear and defined without being rigid. For the past ten years, I've been building rhythms that can withstand the pressures of life, moving me toward wholeness rather than balance. Like skyscrapers constructed in earthquake-prone areas are engineered to sway rather than resist, rhythms need to be flexible enough to bend and sway but firm enough to hold steady when things start shaking. And that means more presence and clarity when it matters: with your family, leading your team, and in yourself.

Burnout: a "defining feature of leadership"

A 2026 Vistage survey (a global peer-advisory and executive-coaching organization for CEOs and business leaders) reported that "burnout is now a defining feature of the leadership environment with 70% of CEOs experiencing it at least occasionally and 28% reporting it happens frequently or daily." This is up from 68% and 24% in 2025.

As expected, the reasons are complex. As Cathy Moulton, President of a real estate and property management company in Pennsylvania, shared, "I feel like I am working harder to stay on top of changing winds in the market, keeping up with new availability of AI, newer benefits my Team wants, wars, tariffs, tariff rebates, and, and, and…"

The ability to readily name burnout as the problem isn't fixing it. I've experienced this in my own coaching practice. Many leaders can readily tell me they feel burned out or overwhelmed. Usually, by the time they feel that way and start naming it, they are more burned out than they might think. Naming the problem isn't enough. If it were, burnout would be declining rather than rising.

As I pointed out in my last piece, part of the answer is letting go of control. In a fast-moving world, leaders need a durable structure that can withstand the real pressures of leadership, not more self-care techniques and workplace well-being programs, or what researchers have started calling "carewashing." People don't need better balance; they need a different structure.

"Other people haven't changed, you have!"

Cliff, the CTO of a medium-sized company, is a good example. When we started working together, he bulldozed through people and problems. His relational rhythms needed work, and no amount of self-care was going to do it. But after a few months working together, his CEO pulled him aside after the team dynamic had changed and said, "Other people haven't changed, you have!" As we worked on restoring Cliff's relational rhythms, he came to see people as a valuable part of the process rather than an obstacle between him and the goal, changing him and the team dynamic.

Cliff

Isn't "fix your own rhythms" insufficient to bring organization-wide change? A small claim being asked to answer a big one? That's fair. In Cliff's case, he is the CTO. His work changed his posture and how his team experienced him, not the organization as a whole.

Cliff didn't have the whole organization underneath him. You might. But whether it's your team or the company, you have more power than you think. Like Maxwell's Law of the Lid, your leadership ability determines your effectiveness and becomes a ceiling for what the organization (which is made up of people) can become.

Being vulnerable about burnout will not fix it, but a commitment to develop yourself and move toward wholeness can create an environment that supports your own well-being and that of your employees rather than sabotaging it.

Confession is just the beginning. Becoming the person you need to be for yourself, your family, and those you lead is harder.

Your RHYTHMS Check

Of your four rhythms, Relational, Emotional, Spiritual, Tangible, which one are you most avoiding right now, and what's the smallest next step you could take this week?

Cliff's relational rhythm was out of sync, which is what had him treating people like obstacles. Burnout isn't caused by the same chamber every time, and the one causing yours might not be his. It might be:

• Relational — people start feeling like obstacles, or there's a conversation you're avoiding.
• Emotional — you can't name what you're feeling anymore; you just call it "fine."
• Spiritual — you've stopped asking what any of this is actually for.
• Tangible — you've stopped paying attention to what your body is telling you, and you're tired in a way you can't explain.

If you already know which chamber is out of sync, pick the one specific thing in that chamber you've been avoiding, and do it this week, not eventually.

If you're not sure, that's exactly what the ​REST Assessment is built to tell you in under 3 minutes. It will also give you your next step.

I love hearing from you. Just hit reply and tell me which chamber it is for you and what you're going to do about it.

Until next time,

Until next time,

Kent

P.S. I'm opening up a way to walk through your assessment report with me directly. Details coming soon.​

Sources

​Current Economic Climate Dampens CEO Confidence [Q2 2026 Vistage CEO Index], by Joe Galvin, July 14, 2026

​Why Workplace Well-Being Programs Don't Achieve Better Outcomes, by Jazz Croft, Acacia Parks and Ashley Whillans, October 18, 2024

​The Law of the Lid, Maxwell Leadership