Exhausted leaders: what are the most prominent causes?

The resignation of Jacinda Arden, Prime Minister of New Zealand, did not open Pandora's box on burnout – because it was already open – but it did give a good jolt to the issue: it put it on the table, at the highest level.

"I can't and should not do the job unless I have a full tank, plus a little reserve for those unplanned and unexpected challenges that inevitably present themselves ... politicians are human," Arden said in explaining her resignation.

There are many other cases of resignation due to burnout, with less press, such as those carried out by ministers and deputies of the Netherlands, after the pandemic. Or the ones experienced by the Catholic Church and evangelical denominations, which affects priests and pastors.

Due to the relevance of the topic, much attention has been paid to increasing employee burnout. However, the effect on leadership is an equally worrying problem.

In my opinion, the following are the four most prominent causes of burnout in today's leaders:

- Feelings of isolation: Some people believe that achieving a prominent role, recognition or financial reward is achieved at the cost of loneliness. The most important factor in isolation is the lack of meaningful connection with other people.

- Multitasking: Research shows that it can add up to 40% lost productivity in a day. Many leaders have convinced themselves that multitasking leads to greater productivity. However, research from Stanford University found that when we try to process two mental tasks at once, our mental capacity can decrease and reduce our cognitive abilities.

- Ongoing partial attention: Leaders can fall into the mental trap of constantly looking for the next best possibility, and spend almost all of their time doing it. When this happens, the leader does not concentrate on the most important tasks, further delaying the most urgent issues. They then rush to finish their most critical tasks on a tight deadline, contributing to chronic stress.

- Power stress: Leaders can get caught up in a vicious cycle of sacrifice for others, leading to burnout, because they feel responsible for the success of their businesses.

Every decision a leader makes, has consequences. And the whole organization revolves around their decisions. As a result, leaders may be unwilling to accept that they are exhausted, which ends up making their symptoms worse.

This is a fascinating and urgent debate, which will be an open topic at the First Ibero-American Congress against Burnout, to be held in the Dominican Republic on June 29-July 2, 2023.

* María Méndez is President and Founder of Vacation is a Human Right (VIAHR). A Dominican resident in New York. She has worked with international figures and large-scale events such as Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Joe Thomas, The Mavericks, Raul Di Blasio, Benicio del Toro and the Super Bowl.?https://www.viahr.org/