Everyone Talks About Employee Burnout. Few Talk About Leaders

In her years as a workplace psychologist, Melissa Doman recently noticed a significant pattern: everyone talked about workplace wellness and chronic stress, but the people doling out the perks—the leaders—were largely ignoring that support for themselves. 

Stretched thin, leaders abstained from tapping the very mental health and wellness benefits they created and they rarely shared how well they, themselves, were coping. 

“More people than I can count have cried to me in leadership coaching sessions or have been visibly upset in workshops or have explained that their humanity had been stripped away because of a job title,” says Doman. 

Too often, leaders are treated as stability symbols and not humans with limits. They must make other people feel comfortable talking about mental health, but they don’t feel they’re allowed to talk about their own because their credibility will be doubted or they will be canceled, says Doman. 

That prompted Doman to write the book, Cornered Office : Why We Need to Talk about Leadership Mental Health. The book, released in February, challenges the toxic myth that leaders must be invincible, emotionless, and immune to stress. 

As people across the country talk about Mental Health Awareness this month, the wellness of leadership is largely absent. 

For most people across the working world, the idea of worklife balance is not much of a thing anymore. Remote work, the arms race of productivity and economic pressures like inflation, layoffs and the high cost of living have led to chronic overwork. And this is especially true for leaders.

“Every leader I talk to is just exhausted, truly exhausted,” says Doman. “To say that it’s tough out there is the understatement of the century.” 

In fact, a 2025 global survey of thousands of leaders across all industries found that 71% of leaders had seen a significant increase in their stress since starting their jobs, and of them 40% have considered leaving their positions. Indeed, CEO turnover is near record highs as more execs leave their jobs. 

On top of this data comes the trend of “conscious unbossing,” which points to the fact that Gen Zers don’t want leadership roles for the sake of their mental health because they see what Millennials and Gen Xers and Boomers have gone through. “They don’t want the gig, and I don’t blame them,” says Doman.

Economic pressures and AI integrations take a toll.

Oftentimes the people who land in leadership roles tend to gravitate toward being the helpers, the ones who take charge, perhaps even in their personal life, says Christina Muller, workplace mental health expert and founder of consulting firm Mind Your Workplace. They can let things compound and let their own self care fall by the wayside, she says, and it’s getting worse as more companies tackle big technology and AI integrations. 

“People are juggling so much now, and our brains are not built to do context switching, which can lead to cognitive overload, and the part of our brain for executive functioning just becomes completely overwhelmed,” Muller says. 

While leaders may talk about the benefits of AI, Harvard recently put out a study that found that once people use too many AI tools, there are diminishing returns. 

“It’s AI brain fry,” Muller says. “There are too many open tabs in our brain.” 
This overload can lead to depression and anxiety. 

Yet even then, leaders are largely unwilling to call employee assistance lines to get help. In her clinical work, Doman worked as an employee assistance program counselor, and she says it was rare to hear from a leader. And if one did call, that person was terrified that she would tell the company about their mental health, despite promises of confidentiality. “Leaders are encouraging employees to use mental health resources but they’re not using them themselves, which is absurd,” she says.

Reclaiming the humanity of leaders.

Doman regularly coaches leaders on the importance of humanizing themselves, finding community among other leaders and taking care of their own mental health. People need to make sure they make mental well-being non-negotiable, she says. 

“I basically talk about the things you do, hell or high water, for your mental health, barring death, dismemberment, or illness,” she says. “And I’m not kidding.”

This could be anything that makes you feel good without bringing harm to yourself or others. If you hate yoga and meditation, then don’t do yoga and meditation. But if it’s going to the gym or salsa dancing or shopping at a vinyl shop each month, then do that. “I don’t care what it is, but you need to have at least one mental health non-negotiable because you can’t sustain mental health without something that makes you feel good,” says Doman. 

People must also communicate when they’re having challenges with their capacity. That person may not necessarily need their team to make them feel better, but people need to know that their boss is not an endless well of energy and support to them. “They have to normalize that they have limits,” says Doman.

Allowing yourself to receive support.

Leaders must also be open to receiving support from others, whether it’s other leaders or their team members who are chronologically aged adults. “It’s okay to let other people support you, regardless of power dynamics,” she says. 

This doesn’t necessarily have to mean that they must share a diagnosis or give a 40-year mental health history. “Just don’t make yourself seem like a faultless robot, because you’ll be treated like one,” she says. “People need to stop pretending like their title precludes them from needing support, and basically to start saying the quiet part out loud.”