The Burnout Beneath Ambition

The Burnout Beneath Ambition

From Under the Influence with Jo Piazza by Jo Piazza

May 26, 2026 · 36 min

About this episode

The episode explores the concept of 'the success wound' and its impact on high-achieving women, discussing burnout, ambition, and self-worth.

Why does success still feel so empty for so many women? Executive coach Brooke Taylor says the answer is something she calls “the success wound”: the pain that comes from tying our self-worth to achievement, productivity, perfection, and external validation. In this episode, we unpack why so many high-achieving women are burned out, anxious, over-functioning, and terrified they’re never doing enough. We get into Google hustle culture to addiction, motherhood, ambition, burnout, and the panic spiral that starts with one weird email from your boss. We also talk about the deeper cultural forces shaping women’s relationship to work, why so many women are rethinking ambition in midlife, and how we raise daughters who know they are worthy even when they fail. Order The Success Wound here. Follow Brooke here. Join our newsletter community here. ORDER The Parisian Heist here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Jo Piazza

Guest: Brooke Taylor

Topics covered

  • burnout
  • ambition
  • women's issues
  • work culture
  • self-worth
  • motherhood

Keywords

  • burnout
  • ambition
  • women
  • success wound
  • self-worth
  • productivity
  • motherhood
  • anxiety

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Google

Books & works: The Success Wound, The Parisian Heist

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