Own the Seat You Choose: why burnout is a you problem, not a job problem
Warren Zenna says burnout is for people who aren't made for the job, and if you complain about your environment, you should do something about it.
Warren Zenna has a pretty direct take on burnout in the CRO community. If you get a job and realize you're not up for it, that's on you. He says there are no victims. You chose the seat, so if the work has a negative impact, you have two choices: change how you work or get a different job.
He speaks from experience. He was a corporate executive and learned pretty quickly that he hated it and just wasn't made for it. He says success is a bad teacher, and his own failure in that role taught him he's a better coach than a player. Admitting it wasn't for him was tough, but it led him to found the CRO Collective.
Now he coaches leaders and sees the same internal struggles. The big one is imposter syndrome, that feeling of being a fraud who's about to get caught. This causes leaders to sabotage themselves. They won't hire people smarter than they are, they get stuck in the weeds instead of leading, and they don't advocate for what they need.
“People who complain about their environment to me, it's like, well, do something about it.”
Notes
- He believes burnout happens to people who are not suited for a role and says of those who complain about their environment, 'do something about it.'
- He was a corporate executive and CRO but learned he didn't like it and was better at coaching, saying, 'Success is a shitty teacher.'
- He coaches leaders through imposter syndrome, the feeling that 'they're going to find out about me, they're going to see that I don't belong here.'
- He finds that insecure leaders hire people they feel are less smart than them and get stuck in the weeds because they are afraid to delegate.