Burnout: 4 Leaders share real-world stories and how to cope

Burnout: 4 Leaders share real-world stories and how to cope

From Meet The Leader by World Economic Forum

March 7, 2026 · 27 min · Season 1 · Episode 196

About this episode

Leaders share personal experiences with burnout and offer strategies for coping and fostering resilience in teams.

Burnout and work-related depression costs the world an estimated $1 trillion dollars a year in lost working days – and chances are you've felt that stress yourself. In this special compilation episode, highlighting interviews recorded over the past year, leaders share their personal experiences with burnout and exhaustion. They also offer practical, tactical steps for recognizing burnout early, setting boundaries, fostering psychological safety and building teams that are resilient — not just productive. Leaders featured include: -David Ko, CEO of Calm, who reveals the blind spots that leave employees unsupported — and why sharing your own mental health journey may be the most powerful tool leaders have for more resilient teams -Kearney's Paula Bellostas Muguerza, who shares the frightening health crisis that forced her to face burnout head on and the questions that helped her reset her priorities -Li Li Leung, former CEO of USA Gymnastics, on why it's key to normalize mental health support for teams and how gymnast Simone Biles' famous decision to withdraw at the Tokyo Olympics reshaped conversations around self-advocacy and psychological safety -August CEO and social…

People in this episode

Hosts: Julia Rignot, Linda Lacina

Guests: David Ko, Paula Bellostas Muguerza, Li Li Leung, Nadya Okamoto

Topics covered

  • burnout
  • mental health
  • leadership
  • psychological safety
  • work-life balance

Keywords

  • burnout
  • mental health
  • leadership
  • psychological safety
  • work-related stress
  • team resilience
  • self-advocacy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Calm, Kearney, USA Gymnastics, August

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