Quiet cracking. Hidden burnout among leaders and managers

Quiet cracking – silent cracking behind closed doors

On the covers of business magazines, leaders try to look as confident as possible. In interviews, they talk about vision, strategy and the courage to make difficult decisions. At conferences, they share success stories and lessons learned from failures that turned out to be a blessing for them. The narrative is consistent and says that a good leader has everything under control, becomes stronger in a crisis and infects the team with optimism even when the situation is difficult.

Except that this narrative does not cover as many as 71% of leaders who experience significantly higher stress from the moment they take up their position. It does not mention that 40% of them are considering leaving their jobs solely to protect their mental health. It does not mention the 55% of CEOs who have had mental health problems in the last year.

Behind closed office doors, something is happening that researchers call “quiet cracking”. This phenomenon mainly affects those leaders who care the most – people who have given their all for years and are now losing their internal resources faster than they can rebuild them. These people look normal on the outside because they continue to make decisions, hold meetings and achieve the goals set by stakeholders. But inside, beneath the professional façade, their structure is beginning to crack.

What is “quiet cracking” and why is it not just another buzzword?

When the business world went crazy over “quiet quitting” a few years ago, many commentators treated it as a symptom of laziness among younger generations or as a natural reaction to employer exploitation. Quiet quitting meant consciously limiting one’s efforts to the absolute minimum, i.e. doing only what was specified in the contract, without any additional commitment. There was a form of protest in this.

Quiet cracking works completely differently, yet it is easy to confuse these phenomena because both lead to a decline in productivity and commitment.

DDI, a global consulting firm specialising in leadership, describes quiet cracking as a phenomenon in which employees remain in their positions but internally fall apart. Unlike quiet quitting, where people consciously minimise their effort, quiet cracking means a slow collapse of motivation, which often goes unnoticed until performance declines.

In the case of quiet cracking, the lack of engagement stems from a slow, often imperceptible process of erosion of internal motivation and mental resilience. People who have given their all for years discover one day that they have nothing left to give.

I used to have a favourite mug that I drank coffee from every morning for several years. One day, it simply broke, even though I hadn’t dropped it or hit it. Simply put, over the years of alternating between pouring hot coffee and washing it with cold water, microscopic cracks had formed in the vessel that were not visible before. The mug looked normal, functioned normally, and its structure gradually crumbled.

This is exactly how silent cracking works in leaders.

Why now – the context that changed everything

The figures I showed you at the beginning of this publication did not come out of nowhere. Over the past five years, leaders around the world have gone through more crises than some have experienced in their entire previous careers – and what is happening to them now is not their fault.

First, there was the pandemic, which turned everything we knew about work organisation upside down. Then came economic crises forcing painful decisions about reductions and cuts. On top of that, wars and geopolitical conflicts introduced uncertainty into global supply chains, and more recently, the AI revolution changed expectations for productivity and competence. In the technology industry, this was compounded by a wave of layoffs affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

The International Institute of Management Development notes that “CEOs were simply unprepared for the new levels of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity” brought about by the pandemic and the years that followed. The safe haven of carefully planned business strategies ceased to exist.

Leaders who had spent decades learning to plan a year ahead suddenly had to operate in a world where a plan for the coming quarter could become obsolete in a matter of weeks.

Gallup’s 2025 research shows the scale of the problem from another angle. Global employee engagement has fallen to 21%. What is particularly telling, however, is that the biggest drop in engagement has been among managers – people who have carried responsibility for others for years. Their engagement has fallen from 30% to 27% globally.

Looking at this data, it is easy to conclude that the solution is to replace managers with “better” ones or to flatten structures. Many companies have tried this approach, reducing the number of managers in the name of faster decision-making.

However,McKinsey warns that leaders “faced with low organisational health, stories of burnout and repeated failures to implement initiatives” often make the mistake of resorting to personnel solutions rather than systemic ones. They try to “upgrade talent” without noticing that the problem lies in the work system itself – in the number of crises, the pace of change and the lack of space for regeneration.

People who are genuinely committed to leadership – those who really take the functioning of their companies and teams to heart, putting all their energy into making the organisation work well – are the most vulnerable to quiet quitting. Because they care the most, failures hurt more, the inability to meet stakeholder expectations hits harder, and successive crises consume more energy than they do for people who approach their work in a purely transactional manner.

The anatomy of quiet cracking – what it looks like from the inside

I once spoke to a leader who had led a company through several years of constant change – restructuring, strategic pivots and changes in the management team. He told me that at some point he stopped recognising his own reactions. He used to be able to walk into a meeting and resolve issues within an hour, but gradually these issues began to take up entire days. He used to be able to reset himself after a difficult conversation with an employee and move on to the next topic. Now, these conversations stayed with him for weeks, coming back to him at night and spilling over into other relationships.

The reason for this state of affairs was his internal resources. The mental reserves from which he had drawn energy for years to make difficult decisions had simply been depleted. And he didn’t even notice when it happened, because the process was so slow and spread out over time.

McKinsey has estimated that managers spend about 40% of their time making decisions, and most of them admit that this time is poorly used. Psychologists call this “decision fatigue” – a state of exhaustion that makes each subsequent choice consume more energy than the previous one, and the quality of judgement gradually declines.

Researchers Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs have shown that the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain responsible for concentration and self-control – functions less and less effectively after a prolonged period of intense decision-making.

Added to this is what I have observed and experienced many times myself – the dynamics of the environment mean that even the best strategy can become obsolete within a few months. A leader who has just guided a team through a difficult strategic planning process suddenly learns that the assumptions on which he based the entire structure have just become obsolete. And he has to start all over again. And then again.

In a small company, navigating these changes is difficult, but still possible – a small team adapts more quickly. In a more complex organisation, every change of direction is a huge logistical and communication undertaking. And the leader is at the centre of it all, responsible for ensuring that people understand why we are changing plans again and that they remain motivated despite yet another revision of objectives.

In theory, they should find time to reflect, to pause and think about the situation. But even when such time arises – perhaps a free weekend, perhaps a few hours without meetings – the fatigue is so deep that the very thought of reflection seems like another burden. People in this state often instinctively reject the possibility of taking a deeper look at themselves because they subconsciously feel that they no longer have the resources to face what they might see. It is easier to fill this space with something less demanding – for example, another TV series, scrolling through social media, or anything that does not require confrontation with one’s own emotions.

Experts at DDI have found that one of the most effective ways to prevent burnout is the ability to delegate. However, only 19% of managers demonstrate strong competence in this area.

Most leaders, especially those who have been promoted because of their expertise, have a huge problem with relinquishing control over tasks. They prefer to do things themselves because they know they will do them well. Meanwhile, they are drowning under the weight of responsibilities that they could have avoided.

Why leaders do not see this (or do not want to see it)

Researchers at Businessolver have shown that 81% of CEOs believe that organisations view people with mental health issues as “weak or a burden.” This belief, whether justified or not, creates a powerful barrier to admitting to difficulties.

When you are responsible for other people’s jobs, financial results and strategy implementation, as well as team morale and relationships with investors and customers, the last thing you want to do is show weakness. Because a leader’s weakness can undermine trust, cause people to question decisions, and give ammunition to competitors or sceptics within the organisation.

Of course, showing weakness does not lead to a decline in trust, and I have proven this with research in a podcast episode and a publication on authentic leadership.

However, this logic is so deeply rooted in our culture that it leads to a situation where the leader most in need of support is also the person least likely to receive it.

The Journal of Occupational Health Psychology reports that 26% of executives show symptoms consistent with clinical depression, which is significantly higher than the 18% among the general workforce.

McLean Hospital, one of the most important psychiatric centres in the US, notes that burnout is particularly common in environments with high responsibility and low support, such as senior management positions.

The associate medical director of the psychiatric assessment and treatment programme at McLean Hospital states bluntly that “people in management positions often put their own well-being last” and that “there is a deeply ingrained belief that vulnerability is a sign of weakness – and this belief can make it extremely difficult for even highly competent individuals to ask for help, even when they know they have a problem.”

Research shows that half of all CEOs experience loneliness in their position.

Calendars are full of meetings and inboxes are overflowing with messages, yet there is no space for honest conversation with someone to whom one can tell the truth without fear that this knowledge will be used against them. Subordinates are not suitable confidants because they care about stability, superiors and investors evaluate results, and competitors wait for weakness. Friends outside the industry often simply do not understand the specifics of the problems a leader faces.

What can be done about it – a practical perspective

Silent cracking has symptoms that are easy to overlook or rationalise. Decisions that you once made quickly and confidently suddenly require hours of deliberation. Meetings that used to energise you now drain your energy. You wake up in the morning and, before you even get out of bed, you feel tired from a day that has not yet begun. Your loved ones say that you are “different” – irritable, pensive and less present in conversations.

Researchers note that burnout manifests itself in behavioural changes before it appears in work performance or business indicators. Leaders begin to skip meetings they once considered important, stop responding to messages as quickly as they used to, and simple decisions take them longer and longer because it is difficult to concentrate.

If you recognise these signs in yourself, do not ignore them. And if you see them in someone on your team, another manager or leader you want to help, the following steps can be a starting point for a conversation.

Specific actions you can take today.

Step 1 – calendar audit

Review your week and count how many hours you spend in meetings and how many you have for strategic thinking. McKinsey points out that senior leaders spend up to six to seven hours a day in meetings, and more than half of that time is used inefficiently. Cut or shorten three meetings this week and reserve that time as a “strategy block” — no emails, no phone calls, just you and the issue you need to think through.

Step 2 – Delegate with a plan

Choose one task that you do regularly and that someone on your team could take over. This is not about dumping the problem, but about consciously transferring responsibility along with context and support. DDI emphasises that the transition from “doer” to “delegator” is one of the most difficult transformations in a leader’s career – but without it, you yourself will become a bottleneck in the organisation.

Step 3 – peer group or mentor

Find one person in a similar position with whom you can regularly talk about how you really feel. Vistage, an organisation of CEOs, regularly surveys the mental health of its members and finds that simply participating in a group of leaders significantly reduces feelings of isolation. You don’t have to join a formal organisation – all you need is one trusted person who understands the specifics of your challenges.

Step 4 – the boundary between “in the company” and “above the company”

Ask yourself how much time you spent last month putting out operational fires and how much time you spent thinking about the direction of the company’s development. If the proportions are skewed, plan a specific block of time – maybe one day a week, maybe a few hours – exclusively for high-level or strategic thinking. If this seems impossible to you, it is a sign that the system needs to be changed.

Step 5 – consider professional support

If you feel that the signs are serious, consider talking to a specialist. Coaching, therapy or leadership programmes – effective people use them regularly, treating them as an investment, not an admission of failure. 55% of CEOs have experienced mental health problems in the last year – an increase of 24 percentage points compared to 2023. If so many leaders are going through this, seeking help is simply a rational response to a difficult situation.

At the organisational level

At the organisational level, change must begin with the recognition that the mental health of leaders is critical infrastructure for the functioning of the company. Gallup has shown that managers are responsible for 70% of the variance in employee engagement. When a leader quietly cracks, the effects spill over to the entire team — decisions are delayed, communication becomes chaotic, the atmosphere deteriorates, and the best people start looking for a way out.

Conclusion

Quiet breakdown is a natural reaction of the human body to overload that lasts too long and exceeds its capacity for regeneration – and there is nothing in it that would indicate weakness of character or lack of competence. On the contrary, it often affects those who have given their all for years. We all have our limits, and no amount of willpower can make them disappear.

If you recognise your own experiences in this text, know that most people in similar positions go through the same thing. The difference is that few have the courage to talk about it. And even fewer do anything to change it.

Change begins with awareness – with naming what is happening. Then comes the decision that things cannot continue this way. And then – and this is the hardest part – concrete action, even if it is small at first, such as removing a meeting from your calendar, delegating responsibility or having a frank conversation with someone who can understand.

Those microscopic cracks that you may feel but constantly ignore will not disappear on their own. Either you find a way to fix them, or one day the structure that seemed solid for years will simply collapse. And then it will be too late for prevention.

But maybe it’s not too late yet, and today you can take the first step.