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The Burnout of Managing Up When Your Boss Is Exhausted
Description
In Episode 13 of The Burnout Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle a quietly draining workplace dynamic: managing up when your boss is already burned out. Drawing on a 2025 Microsoft Workplace Trends survey showing that 62 percent of managers report feeling burned out—up from 53 percent the previous year—they explore how a leader's exhaustion silently erodes team morale, increases turnover risk, and creates invisible labor for direct reports. The conversation zeroes in on a specific case: a mid-level product manager at a midsize tech firm who spent four extra hours per week compensating for her boss's unavailability and decision fatigue. Lucas and Luna unpack research from Wharton organizational psychologist Adam Grant on 'energy contagion' in teams, then offer three practical, non-obvious strategies for protecting your own bandwidth without managing your manager's emotions. The episode closes with a look at emerging support structures like asynchronous check-in tools and manager-coaching stipends.