Overcoming the Unique Challenges of Leadership Burnout

Leadership can be exhilarating—but it can also be exhausting.

As organizations continue to navigate rapid change, economic pressure, and hybrid work environments, leaders are increasingly reporting signs of burnout. Gallup just released their 2025 State of the Global Workplace Report, and you may not be surprised to learn that managers experienced the largest drop in both engagement and well-being.

And the data from our just-released ENGAGE 2025: The Company Culture Report echoes the concern:

1. Only 42% of mid-level managers say they feel engaged at work, with over 12% completely checked out.
2. More than 50% of managers believe their company culture has worsened in the past year.
3. Nearly 4 in 10 employees have actively considered leaving their job within the past year—and disengaged leaders can accelerate this risk.

The message is clear: burnout isn’t just a frontline issue—it’s a leadership one.

What is Leadership Burnout?

Leadership burnout is more than just stress. It’s a chronic state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged job pressure, high expectations, and constant responsibility without sufficient support.

Unlike occasional work fatigue, burnout chips away at your clarity, motivation, and resilience over time. It often shows up in unexpected ways—irritability, decreased productivity, strained decision-making, withdrawal, or a sharp dip in optimism. And leaders are often the last to acknowledge it.

Why Burnout Hits Leaders Harder

Leaders are expected to be unwavering sources of stability, optimism, and direction. Yet, that same role can isolate them from the very support systems their teams benefit from. According to Gallup, while individual contributors' life evaluations slightly improved last year, manager well-being significantly declined.

Here’s some important data from our ENGAGE 2025 data to add context:

1. 80% of executives say they’re engaged at work—but only 28% of employees agree, revealing a dangerous disconnect.

2. Mid-level leaders often shoulder cultural change but feel unequipped, unsupported, and increasingly disengaged.

Burnout Is an Organizational Issue, Not a Personal Weakness

As workplace expert Jennifer Moss notes, “Burnout is more than just an employee problem; it’s an organizational problem that requires an organizational solution.” Leaders cannot yoga or meditate their way out of systemic burnout—although those practices can help. The deeper issue lies in how organizations support (or fail to support) their leaders.

So what can companies – and leaders themselves – do?

Eight Ways Leaders (and Their Companies) Can Beat Burnout

1. Reignite the “Why” with a Shared Mission

When people lack purpose, disengagement and burnout follow. Our ENGAGE 2025 Report showed that while 45% of employees are motivated by their company’s vision, almost half of the overall survey respondents either can’t recall or aren’t aware of their company’s core values.

2. Prioritize and Simplify

Reassess workloads and align them with what truly matters. Delegate where possible, push back on low-impact work, and be ruthless about eliminating unnecessary complexity.

3. Cut Meeting Fatigue

Protect your leadership energy. Back-to-back meetings deplete decision-making capacity. Limit meeting times, decline invites that don’t require your presence, and build in space for focus.

4. Make Transparency a Habit

The unknown is exhausting. Clear, consistent communication can restore confidence. Our ENGAGE 2025 data showed that while 58% of employees trust company leaders to follow through—only 46% say they trust their managers to do the same. You can reduce team burnout by sharing what you know early and often.

5. Lead with Empathy—and Expect It in Return

Support is reciprocal. Leaders need peer check-ins and safe spaces too. In our ENGAGE 2025 survey we found that only 58% of middle managers feel recognized by leadership. Create space for open conversations, peer support, and checking in beyond performance metrics.

6. Embrace Flexibility for Yourself, Not Just Your Team

Model the healthy boundaries you want others to follow. While flexibility has become the norm, many managers still overwork in silence. You can model sustainable work habits across your team by setting boundaries, using PTO, and normalizing the need to unplug.

7. Celebrate Wins—Even Small Ones

Recognition is a proven antidote to burnout. Yet we found that 1 in 3 employees say they don’t receive enough recognition from managers, and middle managers are often the most overlooked. Make it a priority to celebrate what’s working and spotlight progress.

8. Take Recovery Seriously

Burnout thrives in hustle culture. Leaders need downtime to perform at their best. Encourage workday breaks, avoid glorifying overwork, and structure your schedule around energy management rather than just time management.

Culture is the Cure

Burnout doesn't just affect individuals—it seeps into culture. And a burned-out leader can unintentionally create a ripple effect across teams.

The ENGAGE 2025 Report is clear: when leadership engagement drops, so does performance, trust, and retention. A burned-out leadership tier cannot inspire or support others effectively.

Building a burnout-resistant culture starts at the top. That means organizations must:

• Proactively monitor manager well-being
• Provide coaching, mentoring, and leadership support programs
• Regularly pulse-check engagement—and act on what they find
• Invest in building trust and psychological safety across all levels

If you’re a leader, it starts with you. Model self-awareness, set healthy expectations, and advocate for the support you need. If you’re in HR or executive leadership, it’s time to make leadership well-being a strategic priority—not a personal afterthought.

The Bottom Line

Leadership burnout isn’t just a personal challenge—it’s a systemic warning sign.

Let’s not add your leadership teams to the statistics above.

Instead, take one small but meaningful step today—whether it’s blocking time to think, scheduling a walking one-on-one, or simply asking another leader, “How are you really doing?”

Burnout may be real, but so is recovery. And with the right cultural and organizational support, even the most exhausted leaders can find their spark again.