577: How to beat burnout (with Michael P. Leiter, Ph.D.)

05/17/23 • 47 min

Case Interview Preparation & Management Consulting | Strategy | Critical Thinking

Welcome to an interview with the co-author of The Burnout Challenge, Michael P. Leiter, Ph.D.

Burnout is one of the major contributors driving people to leave their job. It results from unsuccessfully managed workplace stress and is a combination of exhaustion, psychological distancing, and a low sense of accomplishment. So how do we address burnout and who is responsible for managing this issue?

In this episode, we discuss the factors contributing to employee burnout and what leaders and managers can do to understand, protect, and manage their employees to alleviate the distress from the elements that result in burnout.

“Some people are looking for something from that job that it's not providing, that there is a mismatch.” —Michael P. Leiter, Ph.D.

Michael P. Leiter, Ph.D., is an organizational psychologist interested in the relationships of people with their work. He has been a professor of Industrial and Organisational Psychology at Deakin University in the Faculty of Health and Canada Research Chair in Occupational Health at Acadia University.

Michael lives in Nova Scotia where he writes and consults with workplaces on preventing burnout while improving respect among people.

Get Michael’s new book here:

The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Jobs. Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter

Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to an interview with the co-author of The Burnout Challenge, Michael P. Leiter, Ph.D.

“Some people are looking for something from that job that it's not providing, that there is a mismatch.” —Michael P. Leiter, Ph.D.

Michael lives in Nova Scotia where he writes and consults with workplaces on preventing burnout while improving respect among people.

Get Michael’s new book here:

The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Jobs. Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter

Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Previous Episode

576: Extinguishing burnout and workplace stigma (with Christina Maslach, PhD)

Welcome to an episode with Christina Maslach, PhD, a professor of psychology (Emerita) and a researcher at the Healthy Workplaces Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

In this episode, we discuss the causes of burnout and the factors contributing to it, and how leaders and organizations can address this issue to provide a sustainable and healthy working environment for their employees.

Christina Maslach, PhD, received her BA from Harvard and her PhD from Stanford. She is best known as the pioneering researcher on job burnout, producing the standard assessment tool (the Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI), books, and journal articles. She has received numerous awards for her work, including both academic (the 2020 award for scientific writing from the National Academy of Sciences) and public (named in 2021 as one of the top 100 people transforming business, by Business Insider).

In addition, she is an award-winning teacher and was Professor of the Year in 1997. As an administrator, she was Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Instructional Technology, and the Chair of the faculty Academic Senate (twice) at UC-Berkeley. She was the president of the Western Psychological Association when it celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020. She is now interviewing women faculty who arrived at Berkeley in the 1970s, after the historic low point for women in the 1960s.

Get Christina’s new book here:

The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Jobs. Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter

Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Next Episode

578: Changing practice styles manages uncertainty (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics)

For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we speak about our practice styles.

Over the course of the case interview training program, it becomes very important for us to change our coaching style. First, candidates become used to solving cases in just this one style and we need to ensure they can adapt to any style. Second, candidates become adept at reading the "tell" in the coach/mentor so they know when they, the candidate, is making a mistake etc. By changing our coaching style and introducing mentors, we can easily avoid this problem and ensure candidates are becoming stronger at cases versus merely stronger at doing cases with the one coach. Ensure you are also practicing with partners who have different styles.

Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo