Emily Branton

Transcript

In my early startup days, I was exhausted, working 12-hour days, seven days a week, taking on every job because I believed burning myself out meant that I was a good leader. until the day that someone pulled me aside and said, "Your energy is contagious. When you're having a good day, we're all having a good day. But when you're having a bad day, we're all having a bad day." My response was defensive, like, "Hello, I'm putting everything I have into this company.

Can't you see how hard I'm working?" But when I thought about it, I had to admit I was having a lot of bad days. I was completely crushed under the weight of my responsibility. I felt scared and insecure and trapped and like the only way out was to just work harder. So, I spent 12 hours a day at the office holding it together and the rest of the time completely unraveling, questioning if the sacrifices I was making were even worth it.

Burnout had essentially become my baseline. And the sick part was I was actually kind of proud of it. My burnout made me feel productive and important. My burnout made me feel like a hero. Maybe I was doing the most work, but I definitely wasn't doing my best work. And because my energy really was contagious, no one else could do their best work either. I thought I was being a hero, but I was really just acting like a martyr. And what my team really needed was a leader.

Around the same time, I was in yoga teacher training, learning all about the nervous system. Turns out burnout isn't just being tired. It is a full body state of chronic stress where your nervous system gets stuck in survival mode. When that happens, the part of your brain that handles fear takes over and the part responsible for the foundations of good leadership, strategy, connection, emotional regulation basically goes offline because when your body believes it's under threat, you can't think long term. You can't stay emotionally grounded.

You can't collaborate, coach, or create. You can't do the things that good leaders need to do. You can't be in burnout and be an effective leader because you can't be in survival mode and thrive at the same time. And that's not my opinion. That's neuroscience. Once I understood this, I knew something had to change. So, I did the scariest thing I've ever done. The thing they tell you in business that you should never do. Just as my company was experiencing massive international success, I personally took my foot off the gas.

I stopped reading business strategy books and I started learning how to take care of myself. I tapped into Eastern practices like yoga and meditation and breath work. I started to take breaks, which I'd always thought were a complete waste of time. I prioritized sleep. I did less on purpose. And slowly I started to change. I was less reactive. Little things didn't set me off anymore. I could actually hear people and see their contributions instead of assuming I had to do everything on my own.

I started making decisions from a creative grounded place, not from fear. I started to enjoy my work again. And the result for the business was actually more more steady consistent performance instead of peaks and crashes, more people on my team excelling, more growth, better KPIs, and eventually an exit to a top performing private equity firm. Because regulating your nervous system isn't some woo woo hack. It is the only scientific way out of fight or flight and into true leadership. But it is still a daily battle.

This deeply rooted habit to find my edge and then push myself over it. But when I feel myself starting to slip, I hear in my head, "Your energy is contagious." Real leaders don't burn out. Real leaders regulate. And when we do, we don't just perform better. We create companies and communities and entire movements that do too. So if my energy is contagious, what I want people to catch is my creativity, my sharpest critical thinking, and my passion, not my burnout. What do you want people to catch from you?

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.