Break Your Burnout Cycle For Good

One of the reflections that stayed with me from the Black Business Forum last weekend, came from a fire side chat conversation with Dame Kelly Holmes.

We often talk about goals, ambition and success.

What struck me was a much simpler reminder:

Sometimes we can become so focused on achieving the thing we’ve set out to do that we forget to take care of ourselves along the way.

For someone who achieved at the highest level in sport, it was a powerful reminder that we are people first.

Not just business owners.
Not just professionals.
Not just leaders.

People.

The irony is that many of us know how to keep going through pressure.

The harder skill is recognising when we need to pause, recover and reconnect with ourselves.

A question I’ve been sitting with since then:

Who are you outside of your work?

Because how we answer that question matters more than we often realise.

And that’s a wrap for May. 🌿

This month has been full in the best way. Leadership retreats. Resilience workshops. Honest conversations with leaders trying to navigate pressure, performance, uncertainty, and change without losing themselves or their teams in the process.

One theme kept surfacing again and again:
We cannot only measure success by the outcome.
We also have to pay attention to the cost of how we got there.

Because high performance delivered through chronic depletion is not sustainable leadership.
The leaders leaning into this work are not trying to avoid challenge or ambition. Quite the opposite.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵?

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯?

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘱𝘶𝘵?

Especially now, when the pace of work, ai, technology, and change keeps accelerating.

Our bodies and minds are still part of the equation, whether organisations acknowledge that or not.
A full month. And a birthday somewhere in the middle of it all. 🌿


FutureOfWork
WorkplaceWellbeing

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘆.

I work with leaders and organisations as a resilience and burnout consultant. PulseCheck™ grew directly out of that work. Leaders kept telling me they could see something was wrong but did not know how to respond.

So I built them a tool. Something practical they could take into their everyday leadership. To help them spot the early signs of strain and chronic stress and have the conversations that matter before pressure tips into something harder to recover from.

Yesterday we ran a live session with senior leaders in London. This is what one leader in the room had to say:

“It really is very good, and I think a super tool for organisations. In these times of accelerated pace and over consumption in a digital sense, opportunities to give our brains space is so crucial. It’s human and it’s good for business too.”

That is exactly why this work exists.

We have a small invite-only roundtable in London this May. Limited spaces. If you lead a team and this resonates, send me a message.

LeadingWithIntention PeopleAndPerformance UKLeaders

This week I had the privilege of speaking at Transport for London’s International Women’s Day event.
The theme was Rights. Justice. Action.
And the energy in the room matched it.

One moment that stayed with me — when I asked how they’d describe the current pace of change. Among many answers: regressive.

It landed heavily. Because for a lot of people in that room, it’s true.
In that kind of climate, I think about what it takes to actually keep going. Not just survive the pressure, but stay connected to what matters.

That’s what I shared — a simple check-in I use with leaders called CLEAR:
Clarity — what actually matters right now?
Load — what are we carrying versus what’s expected?
Energy — where is it high, and where is it stretched?
Acknowledgement — what progress is being seen?
Risk — what isn’t being said?

Five questions. Not a framework for a meeting room. Just a way to stay honest with yourself and your team.
To everyone who showed up, spoke up, and held space yesterday — thank you. These conversations matter.

And if you’re leading people through pressure right now, the last question is worth sitting with:
What isn’t being said — but is already shaping how your team shows up?

MentalHealth TeamWellbeing highperformance

𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵.



For some teams, that’s already in the calendar.

For others, it’s just a useful reminder — especially right now.

A lot of organisations have just come through 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸.

Deadlines met. Targets hit. Delivery done.



But what often gets missed is what happens next.



𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲, 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿.

And when that doesn’t happen, the pressure doesn’t go away — it carries forward into the next phase.
Over time, that starts to affect energy, focus, and how people show up day to day.



So throughout April, I’ll be running a small number of practical sessions designed to support teams and leaders at exactly this point.



For teams and employee groups, I run sessions like 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗙𝗟𝗢𝗪, which focus on:

• getting clear on what really matters

• reducing overwhelm and mental clutter

• making better use of support around you

• building simple, sustainable habits



For leaders, I run sessions on 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 & 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀, focused on:

• staying clear and steady under pressure

• supporting teams without taking on too much yourself

• recognising when recovery is needed and creating space for it



These work well as team sessions, employee network events, or lunchtime talks.



They’re practical, supportive, and designed to be immediately useful — without adding more pressure.



If you’re thinking about how to support your people this April (or even if you hadn’t planned to), feel free to message me and I can share more.