Burnout vs. The Middle Managers

The problem? It terrifies middle managers.

Lots of hand-wringing about burnout in the last 5–10 years. It’s hard to tell how much of said hand-wringing is actually true, because in general, I think executives of companies put “burnout” in the “good thing to say, but I don’t really care if anything is ever executed” bucket. There’s a lot of stuff in that bucket, honestly. Typically the only stuff that isn’t in there is “anything related to financials, profits, margins, growth, and personal investment in the company.” Those demand execution. (And ironically, preparing spreadsheets in the name of those things is a huge burnout driver for some.)

I think at this point, it’s important to understand that there is no macro solution to “burnout,” because every person is different, and their connections to work and life are different. What might work for Tom wouldn’t work for Terrie. Burnout occurs at a very specific intersection of:

• How much you value work

• How you define success

• How much stuff you have going on in your life at the moment

• Your need for control

• Your need to please those in authority

• Your age

• Your season of life

• Your general personality

• Etc, etc.

There’s a lot to take in. We can’t do these discussions at a “collectivist” level, really.

I also think we know that a lot of “burnout” is tied to rat-on-a-treadmill busy, and the problem with busy is that it’s now a badge of honor (even “currency”) for many people.

Just today at the top of Harvard Business Review, you have this article on “a culture of busyness” (they write about that 19,541 times per year) and right near the top, it says this: