Senior leaders are skilled at carrying on and hiding the signs, which makes the person managing their diary one of the first to notice. Samantha Thurlow, founder of In Collaboration, explains what to look for and what to do about it.
Burnout is on the rise across workplaces. And while there’s a focus on employee wellbeing, senior leaders are often the last to be asked how they’re doing.
Vistage’s 2025 survey of CEOs found that 71% regularly or occasionally feel burned out – and nearly a third experience it frequently or almost every day. Senior leaders will often carry on and hide the signs. And most are too focused on keeping everything running to notice them, let alone do anything about them.
As a founder, I experienced the severity of burnout first-hand. I ignored the signs for too long and lost my vision. After years of cycling through mini burnouts, pushing harder and treating stress like a normal part of life, I broke.
Now, as a business consultant and VA, I see the early signs in business owners when they’re too busy to notice. Early identification can be the answer to avoiding damaging health impacts that need long-term recovery.
How to spot the signs
The symptoms of burnout are different for every person, so early detection can be challenging. Many of the signs are internal, but there are some early warning signs you’re well positioned to spot.
The subtle symptoms come first. Making more mistakes, not sleeping and frequent illness are all red flags.
Small changes in working patterns are worth monitoring too. As burnout begins, we typically see more procrastination and less clarity. Work slows down, the wrong things are prioritised and everything takes longer than it should. Tolerance drops, so smaller stresses and irritability increase.
Executives often start working longer to make up for the overwhelming workload and lower productivity, but longer hours only make the burnout worse.
Reducing the pressure
In early burnout, prioritisation becomes challenging. One of the most useful ways to support an executive showing symptoms is to manage this for them.
Move non-essential meetings, shift deadlines that aren’t necessary and cull or delegate ‘filler’ tasks to help lower the burden.
Easing the pressure frees up space to cope and avoid spiralling into serious burnout – but it doesn’t solve the root problem. Burnout can’t be fixed for someone else. They have to make small changes themselves.
That’s why one of the most beneficial things you can do is speak to them. It’s a sensitive subject, so finding the right approach matters. You know your executive and how best to get through to them.
However you approach it, lay out the facts. It’s harder to ignore when it’s put in front of us in black and white, and harder to brush off a pattern than individual subtle symptoms.
For some executives, the personal health impact is the shock that triggers change. A 2024 meta-analysis in Frontiers in Psychiatry found burnout was associated with a 21% higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
For others, it’s the business reality. Swedish research published in The Leadership Quarterly found that for smaller-firm CEOs, a one standard deviation deterioration in mental health was associated with a 6% reduction in firm performance relative to the average. Either way, naming it is the first step.
You’re not there to diagnose or treat. If the signs persist, encourage them to talk to their GP or another professional.
Calling out burnout signs early could be the most valuable thing you do all year. In the moment, your executive might not thank you, but when you identify burnout before it becomes a crisis, that’s when your support becomes invaluable.
