We were sitting in her office after an inservice on leadership and change. She shared with me that during the last year, she had worked extensively on the organization’s structure, and had to completely rebuild her team due to dramatic changes in their competitive environment. As a result, she had stopped the organization from loosing money, and had gotten the numbers back into the black. During the last six months, she, her team, and the Board had also created a new mission statement, and had much more clearly defined the organization’s core values statements.
Now, her days were filled with more problems related to people and systems. And as a result, she was deeply frustrated. “I just don’t want to be consumed with endless minutiae and countless people complaining,” she shared with me. “Everything is at the individual and systems change levels, and because we are ‘profitable,’ people no longer want to move forward. What is going on with me? Is this normal?”
I paused to reflect on what she said and all that she had shared with me. Then, I replied,“You are busy, burned out, and bored. Mostly just busy and burned out.”
She went quiet for a long moment, and then said, “Yes. There is no more passion in me.”
From my experience and observations, this is a common experience. Leaders work so hard to make change happen, and then when they are on the other side on the heavy lifting, they routinely experience burnout and their days are filled with endless piles of stuff. Part of this happens due to positional and peer isolation, namely a lack of community who understands the pressures of being in a senior position and a circle of people who can be supportive. As a result of not having allies and confidants, they feel alone. Furthermore, this feeling is compounded by decision fatigue in the midst of ambiguity and the lack of core information to make thorough and thoughtful decisions. Thus, the feeling of being alone and being deeply frustration generates the loss of passion and purpose, or the trinity of busy, burned out and bored.
So where and how do we begin to change this common experience?
The answer lies in the reclaiming, and, at times, rediscovering of our purpose, passion, presence, and perspective. First, we need to define what is most important in our life and let this core purpose drive our decision-making processes. This particularly needs to be defined for our work life and our home life. Second, we need to define what gets us excited and focused at a core level, i.e. what are we passionate about at our being and doing levels. Third, we need to accept the grace to not let our ego drive our life journey. Instead, we need to connect with a sense of presence in our life, and to be a presence in the lives of others. Finally, we need to maintain perspective, which is the ability to hold this purpose-driven center, and to grow during our entire life journey.
As we explored purpose, passion, presence and perspective, I encouraged her to be the vision in her life journey, and to embrace her commitment to purpose, passion, presence, and perspective. I also encouraged her to create a personal development plan, which included improving her ability to lead, and her ability to live into the fullness of her life. Being busy, burned out, and bored does happen. The choices we make as a result, and the clarity of intention that we create because of this can and will generate a whole new way of living and working. It all begins when we create the time and place to share, listen, and reflect.
© Geery Howe 2025
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