A guide to helping someone who’s in burnout — and supporting yourself through the process, too — One of the questions I’m asked most frequently when I speak about burnout is: “What can I do to help someone I love who is in burnout?” When I hear this question, my heart immediately goes out to the person who is posing it. …

You’re not responsible for it: you are responsible for your impact on it. Here’s how to make that impact positive. — Work causes stress. Some of it is healthy — the kind of stress that leads to growth and innovation. Some of it is not, and comes closer to the chronic stress that leads to burnout. And with burnout at record figures, leaders and workplaces are under pressure to take action. …

When you need objectivity, travel isn’t always on the cards. Here’s what is. — I’ve just returned from five days in the French countryside followed by a week in Copenhagen. The French sojourn was for an 18 kilometer run along a river in Champagne with a gorgeous group of friends. Denmark was a work trip. Both were exquisite. Back in Amsterdam, I feel super…

The hybrid work conversation needs to be more nuanced — here’s how to go about it. — In the last few years, many people experienced a significant increase autonomy over how they navigate their workday. For many, this has been a revelation. Autonomy, we quickly learned, feels good. We feel more trusted and tend to be more engaged as a result. As we’ve seen in recent months…

There are birthdays. And then, there are birthdays when you move to a new age bracket when filling in online forms. Bye, ‘40–44’. Hello, ‘45–54’. To my early-teen self, listening to Gish, Debut and Black Sunday back in the nineties, the concept of turning 45 felt about as relevant as…

How healing from ACL surgery helped me finally heal from burnout, too. — Today is exactly two years since I had ACL replacement surgery. A lot has changed since then. I was living in Orange County, California. I was in an unhappy marriage. My husband was away for three months for work, so I was mainly alone. …

The surprising results of my own assessment — and why I’m proud to be a heart-centered leader. — On a flight from Sydney to Amsterdam, I read the incredible new book, ‘Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership’ by Dr. Kirstin Ferguson AM. Then, we had the privilege of interviewing her on the We Are Human Leaders podcast. As we prepared to speak to her, I reread…

Why friends form a core part of our identity — and why this kind of intimacy matters — In the English language, the word ‘friend’ is used as a catch-all term for people we have met over the years. We use it for anyone from our most intimate relationships to someone we hung out at high school with two decades ago. I want to get more granular. I’ve…

Why we assume, how it harms us — and how to become more mindful of assumptions — As humans and as leaders we constantly make assumptions: we draw on our past experiences to find patterns in how the world works. Susan David refers to our mind as a meaning-making machine. …