When the Leader Is Running on Empty: Why It’s OK to Sit Down, Breathe and Let Your Team Hold You
By The Culture Architect.
Let’s get honest for a minute, leading is exhausting.
I don’t mean the “I need another coffee” kind of tired. I’m talking about the bone-deep, brain-fog, “please don’t ask me another question right now” kind of tired.
As leaders, we spend our days holding space, solving problems, lifting others up and quietly carrying the weight of everyone’s wellbeing on our shoulders. We build trust, set vision, meet targets and let’s be real sometimes even double as the office therapist.
But what happens when we’re the ones who need holding?
Here’s the tricky part, exhaustion doesn’t just live quietly inside us. It seeps out into the culture we’re working so hard to nurture.
A tired leader can quickly become reactive, distracted or inconsistent which can feel like emotional whiplash for the team. Over time, this erodes trust and sends an unspoken message: “It’s not safe to slow down or show vulnerability.”
The truth? It’s more than ok to say “I’m not ok.”
In fact, it’s essential.
We hold our teams every day but part of a human-first, values-led culture is letting them hold us back, too. It’s not weakness. It’s leadership in its rawest, most honest form.
Taking a step back to rest, to breathe, to recalibrate it doesn’t mean you’re stepping away from your people. It means you’re stepping towards the kind of culture you actually want to build, one where people are allowed to be real, to be human, and to ask for help when they need it.
So next time you feel the exhaustion creeping in, try this:
Name it out loud. “I’m feeling burnt out, and I’m going to take a few days to myself to refuel.”
Trust your team enough to step in. (They usually surprise us in the best way.)
Remember that modelling rest, honesty and vulnerability is one of the most powerful forms of leadership there is.
We hold them.
Let them hold us.
That’s how we build cultures that can weather anything together.
The Culture Architect.