In Episode 53 of The Gen Mess with Tess, Tess Brigham sits down with Amy Leneker, founder and CEO of the Center for Joyful Work, to explore why burnout keeps happening even to highly successful leaders who know better.
Amy has helped more than 100,000 leaders and teams, including Fortune 100 companies, rethink leadership, workplace stress, and employee well-being. A former public policy executive and recovering workaholic, Amy shares how burning out twice forced her to confront the internal patterns that kept driving overwork, achievement, and chronic stress.
Together, Tess and Amy unpack why burnout is not simply about workload; it is often tied to identity, workplace systems, leadership culture, and the stories people tell themselves about success.
This conversation explores:
- why high performers often confuse overworking with worth
- how burnout can repeat even after changing jobs
- what workplace stress is doing to leadership pipelines
- why younger employees are redefining ambition
- how Gen Z experiences stress differently at work
- why recognition and appreciation matter more than many leaders realize
- the three conditions that create joy at work: meaning, mattering, and momentum
- how AI may force a new era of critical thinking in leadership
Amy also shares findings from her national workforce research showing that employees increasingly need joy at work to perform well, yet many leaders still operate inside systems that reward exhaustion instead of sustainability.
For HR leaders, managers, and executives, this episode offers a practical framework for understanding employee burnout, generational tension, workplace stress, leadership development, and what healthy ambition may need to look like next.
If your organization is asking why employees are disengaged, overwhelmed, or pulling back from leadership, this conversation explains what may be underneath it.
Chapters with Timestamps
00:00 – Why Amy Leneker Burned Out Twice
02:14 – The Stress Story High Achievers Carry
04:12 – Why Leadership Still Rewards Burnout
06:45 – Why Joy Belongs in the Future of Leadership
08:21 – Gen Z, Stress, and New Definitions of Work
11:52 – Are Younger Workers Redefining Ambition?
16:15 – The Three Conditions That Create Joy at Work
20:23 – Why Gen Z Needs Appreciation More Than Leaders Think
25:36 – The Exercise That Changed Amy’s Career
31:13 – Parenting, Leadership, and Invisible Overwork
35:01 – Why Workplace Systems Keep Breaking People
40:13 – AI, Critical Thinking, and the Future of Work
Follow for weekly episodes, and be sure to visit tessbrigham.com to learn more about Tess's work as a licensed therapist and certified coach.
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