burnoutBurnout. Stress. These seem like a given in the world and the world of work today. If you haven’t experienced them, you are lucky (or in denial). Most would agree with the title of this book that burnout is an epidemic. But most think about it as an individual phenomenon. This wonderful book will convince you otherwise.

Are there individual components to burnout and stress? Jennifer Moss, author of The Burnout Epidemic, would say yes. But beyond that, she would say that self-care alone won’t solve it. Rather, she wants us as readers to understand the systemic causes, and then begin to understand what we can do to overcome it as leaders and teammates.

Well-Researched

From her research, Moss shares the six major causes of burnout:

  • Workload
  • Perceived lack of control
  • Lack of community
  • Lack of fairness
  • Values and skills mismatch
  • Lack of recognition and rewards

Just by reading the bullets, you can see that there are things organizations and leaders can do to help us all overcome or avoid debilitating levels of burnout and stress.

Identifying these causes isn’t the sole value of this book though. It shows us how to work on them as individuals and leaders. There are valuable ideas for measuring burnout, and what we can do to lead differently to fix the rising levels of burnout in our organizations.

I recommend this book highly. It is well-researched, easy to read, and I can’t think of a more important topic for the start of 2022.

If you want a deeper dip into this book and its ideas as a way to “try before you buy” or to learn while you wait to get your copy, I recommend listening to the conversation Jennifer and I had on The Remarkable Leadership Podcast.

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Kevin Eikenberry is a recognized world expert on leadership development and learning and is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. He has spent over 30 years helping organizations across North America, and leaders from around the world, on leadership, learning, teams and teamwork, communication and more.

Twice he has been named by Inc.com as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World and 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. The American Management Association named him a “Leaders to Watch” and he has been twice named as one of the World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals by Global Gurus. Top Sales World has named him a Top Sales & Marketing Influencer several times, and his blog has been named on many “best of” lists. LeadersHum has named him one of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023.

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