Heyo! Thanks for being a supporter of my book, “Expansive Intimacy.” This is the 2nd edition of my wee small bit of a newsletter.
In each post I’m going to share a snippet of the book that I’m either really excited about … or am thinking might be trash and need your help in sorting it out.
Most weeks I’ll be doing an exclusive call for my author community (y’all) where I get feedback from you on whether this week’s topic needs work — or if you freakin’ love it! (But please, be honest. I can flatter myself all day without your help.)
But no Zoom this week! I’m going on an anti-burnout vacation for a few days and won’t be around on Friday. So this week please share your thoughts in the comments, ok?
Without further ado, here’s the Topic of the Week:
The absence of a common understanding of burnout, the general lack of awareness about how to measure it, combined with the fuzzy nature of how to interpret burnout assessment results causes the corporate world to look quizzically at burnout.
In today’s typical fast-paced business, the answer frequently is to avoid dealing with burnout and call it a “work-life balance” issue that an employee can work on by better utilizing workplace benefits, such as taking a day off. Or perhaps corporate offers a Band-Aid solution, like holding a workshop or two on stress management.
This general misunderstanding of burnout within the corporate world is highly significant. Why?Two reasons:
Because most of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work. And the workplace* is where burnout most often begins. [source: https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases]
Social and cultural change in America— which will be required to end burnout— is most strongly influenced in this age by business leaders. It’s not about “church and state” anymore. Religious institutions are a shell of their former selves. And trust in the government is at an all-time low over the past decade, at barely a third of what it was 50 years ago. [source: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/05/17/public-trust-in-government-1958-2021/]
Instead, today we listen to CEOs and other powerful voices on the commercial marketplace to adopt our core beliefs. The mantras we’ve heard about “bootstrapping our way to success”, “climbing the ladder”, and “making it big” have become paramount.
Achievement is king. Status is success. Power rules.
And burnout prevails.
* - I strongly believe we need to look at the WHO’s definition of burnout in a nuanced manner. When they say it comes from “workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” we need to consider non-traditional workplaces, such as the home in that definition. Because parenting, for one thing, is a hell of a lot of work.
So… what do you think? Is this on the money? Or does it need work?
Jim.
Love the perspective of this topic and a fav line “* - I strongly believe we need to look at the WHO’s definition of burnout in a nuanced manner. “ Input: When mentioning parenting is one hell of a job (totally agree) my thought was what about folks that do not have children and perhaps to expand that.
Love this Jim! And I’m so glad you are going on an anti-burnout vacation - so important and so well deserved!