CEO Burnout and Emotional Resilience: How to Lead Without Breaking Down

Barbra Carlisle • September 18, 2025

Self care isn't optional when you are leading a team, it is a critical part of succes


“I couldn’t cope with the fact that the child I loved would die. I put up a wall.”

Jayne Hughes, CEO of Amy and Friends


As the founder and CEO of Amy and Friends, Jayne leads a global community supporting children with DNA disrepair life-limiting conditions, such as Cockayne Syndrome. Her leadership journey, which she had loved and thrived in, had been managing pubs, with a big team of paid staff.  But her experience as a mum with a child with life limiting illness demanded more emotional resilience than most of us will ever be asked to summon. She set up Amy and Friends in honour of her daughter, who sadly died at 28 and now leads staff, volunteers as well as a plethora of medics and academics.


Her experience is not unique in the social purpose sector. Many CEOs are quietly carrying the emotional weight of their teams, their missions, and the communities they serve. And it’s takes a toll.  Just this week I was with a fantastic small team who were talking about managing staff who are seen as a safe pair of ears to volunteers, many of whom are coming with mental health issues.


There is a hidden cost to this compassion with recent UK research showing that:


• 30% of charities report increased staff burnout or exhaustion.


• 26% have seen a rise in low wellbeing, and 25% in sickness absence.


• Many CEOs are stepping in to cover HR, fundraising, and frontline delivery, often without support.


This is more than operational strain. It’s can be described as emotional labour which is often an invisible burden that leaders and their teams carry when they must remain composed, optimistic, and available, even when they’re struggling themselves.



Why This Matters for CEOs

The CIPD and Mind UK highlight that emotional labour is now a defining feature of leadership roles, especially in mission-driven organisations.


Yet many CEOs:


• Delay listening to their own bodies (“I leave it to the very last minute,” said Jayne).


• Feel isolated in their decision-making.


• Struggle to find safe spaces to process the emotional impact of their work.


Tips for Leading with Strength and Sustainability


  1. Recognise emotional labour as real work.  Build it into your leadership development plans. It’s not a weakness it is a skill that needs support.
  2. Create space for reflection, whether through coaching, peer groups, or structured time out, reflection is not a luxury it is a necessity.
  3. Model boundaries with your team as they will take their cues from you. If you never switch off, they won’t either.
  4. Invest in your own support such as executive coaching that offers a confidential space to think, feel, and lead with clarity.



Jayne’s story reminds us that leadership is not about having all the answers. It’s about showing up, step by step, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.


If you're a CEO navigating complexity, grief, or growth, I offer executive coaching that helps you lead with courage and care without losing yourself in the process.


Let’s talk about how I can support you.


Listen to Jayne's episode on The Unlikely Executive here


Ideas and thoughts on how to lead well through complexity and change

The Intergenerational Advantage: Why Construction Firms Who Blend Ages Will Outperform Everyone Else

By Barbra Carlisle • March 27, 2026
If you’re worried about not having enough young people, including women coming into construction, you’re asking the wrong question. The real risk is what happens when you don’t use the people you already have properly. The Crisis No One Is Solving Properly Across the UK, the construction workforce is ageing faster than it’s being replenished. There are 20% more workers aged 55+ than under 25. And it gets worse: 35% of the workforce is now over 50, and only 20% is under 30. Yes this presents an industry risk, but closer to home we see organisational risk. Leaders worry about recruitment, apprenticeships, T levels, Skills Bootcamps all useful, but none of them address the real issue: Experience is walking out of the door every single day, and new capability isn’t being integrated fast enough. This is exactly what my conversation with Colin McEllin MCIOB of Clan Contracting highlighted. When a 21 year old commercial graduate joined Clan Contracting, Colin didn’t roll his eyes or think, “another kid who’s never been on a site.” He leaned into it and welcomes thoughts, ideas and advice from 'young Aaron'. Massive benefits for him, and Aaron, and the wider team. Why Intergenerational Leadership Is Now a Strategic Priority The construction sector is staring at a workforce cliff edge: • 140,000+ vacancies lie unfilled. • By 2036, 750,000 skilled workers will retire, stripping the industry of vital capability. • The UK will need nearly 1 million additional construction workers by 2032. Yet recruitment alone isn’t enough. You cannot hire your way out of this crisis. We must integrate generations on purpose, not by accident. What Younger Workers Bring (That Leaders Ignore at Their Peril) Younger talent offers: • Modern thinking around sustainability and digital tooling • Analytical approaches and better documentation habits • A willingness to question processes that haven't been updated since the 90s • A commercial lens shaped by newer training systems In Colin’s words, their thinking “took him right back to when he was 21” eager, energetic, ideas driven. You want that energy before they lose it. What Older Workers Bring (That You Can’t Replace) Your experienced people have: • 30+ years of instinct • Pattern recognition that no textbook teaches • Quiet influence that stabilises teams • Technical fluency on heritage, concrete, structure, sequencing, conservation, problem solving These people are your institutional memory. Once they go, they’re gone. And currently, UK engineering employers admit they only retain knowledge effectively from 57% of retiring staff. That is a crisis hiding in plain sight. Leadership Actions That Works 1. Create deliberate two way mentoring (not hierarchical mentoring). Younger staff teach digital skills, new processes, sustainability thinking. Older staff teach technical judgment, site sense, risk spotting. Both feel valued. 2. Give young people actual responsibility, not token tasks. The CITB plans 40,000+ industry placements a year. It means nothing if leaders hide young people in the corner. Let them make decisions, with support. 3. Systemise knowledge transfer. You cannot afford to rely on “ask Dave if you need help.” You need processes, templates, technical walkthroughs, shared documentation. 4. Remove the “that’s not how we do it here” reflex. 76% of construction workers say current training doesn’t adequately prepare people for the job. So your way probably isn’t the best way anymore. Your Competitive Advantage Is Sitting Right Under Your Nose When generations work in isolation, capability leaks. When generations work together, capability compounds. The firms who win over the next decade won’t be the ones who grab the talent, it will be the ones who blend talent. Listen to the full episode of the podcast here or watch on You Tube here About me I write about topics that my podcast guests bring to the podcast. They have years of experience with challenges and opportunities along the way, highs and lows and are in the thick of leading with purpose and passion, faults an'all. As a coach and trainer I work with leaders and their times to help them thrive, laugh, enjoy their work, be productive and to build teams of all ages.

The Leadership Bandwidth Crisis: Why Owners Who Can’t Step Out of “Doing” Will Stagnate

By Barbra Carlisle • March 26, 2026
We love what we do so we grow in that role, we end up as leader with people around us but we want to stay doing the thing we love doing. Balancing leadership is hard.