UnCeiling You | Leadership Without Burnout

Natalie Luke, PhD | Organizational Leadership
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Careers
  • Updated Weekly

Human resources leadership, organizational leadership, and leadership burnout are at the heart of UnCeiling You. Hosted by Dr. Natalie Luke, PhD, senior vice president in a STEM company, author, and leadership performance consultant, this podcast helps high-functioning leaders rise without running themselves into the ground. Explore how unclear ownership, over-responsibility, and urgency culture drive burnout—and learn practical approaches to workload management, manager effectiveness, workforce optimization, employee retention, change fatigue, leadership development, and workforce productivity. Each episode blends peer-reviewed research with real conversations and actionable strategies for leading at a high level without sacrificing your health, relationships, or team performance. New episodes weekly.

  1. Aug 24

    The Role That’s Burning You Out: Stop Performing and Start Leading as Yourself

    For the last four weeks on UnCeiling You, we've been investigating a question: How can someone who is successful, capable, trusted—and still getting the work done—end up burned out? We've seen capable people become dependable, dependable people get trusted with more, and extra responsibility slowly become normal. People compensate for unclear ownership, unfinished work, missing decisions, and work that continually finds its way back to them. Because they keep getting it done, the organization adapts. That's the Trust Tax. This week, we're asking the question that matters next: What do we do about it? My guest, Sandra Bargman, spent 35 years as a professional performer. But one of her biggest realizations came when she discovered that performing in front of an audience was easier than standing in front of people and speaking completely in her own voice. That led us to a fascinating question: How much of what we call leadership is actually performance? Maybe you're the strong one. The composed one. The agreeable one. The person who never disappoints anyone. The person everyone can count on. Those roles may have contributed to your success. They may also be costing you more than you realize. Breaking the Trust Tax Can Take Ten Seconds Sandra takes us into the tiny moments when these patterns can begin to change. Someone asks you to take on one more thing. Someone says something you disagree with. You feel yourself wanting to stay quiet, smooth things over, please, perform, or simply take care of it yourself. Sandra calls our attention to that choice point. Notice what's happening. Breathe. Give yourself time to respond instead of automatically reacting. Sometimes the first step is nothing more dramatic than saying, "Let me think about that." We talk about self-betrayal, people-pleasing, disagreement without confrontation, leadership presence, authenticity, and Sandra's concept of ferocious compassion: being compassionate toward others without abandoning yourself. And Sandra gives us a line worth remembering: "I don't need to quiet down to make you comfortable." Contact Sandra Here: https://www.sandrabargman.com/ The Trust Tax Investigation Just Got Personal For weeks, you've been listening to other people's stories. Now you can start investigating your own patterns. I'm opening the Trust Tax™ Assessment, a responsibility and leadership assessment designed to identify the patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story. The assessment takes about seven minutes, gives you personalized results immediately, and does not require your name or email to see your results. It also does something I'm particularly excited about: it gives you stories to watch for based on the patterns showing up in your results. It doesn't tell you what story you're telling yourself. Instead, it gives you clues to listen for. Maybe it's "I can handle one more thing," "It's easier if I just handle it," or "I'm responsible for making this work, even if I don't control the decision." Those may not be your stories at all. They're things to watch for, not conclusions about you. The goal is simple: See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide whether it still serves you. Take the Trust Tax™ Assessment From the Trust Tax to Rewrite Your Story The assessment helps you see the pattern. Sandra helps us recognize the moment when we can choose differently. Then comes the deeper question: Where did the story come from—and is it still the story you want to live? That's where Rewrite Your Story begins. On October 15 at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan, Merit Kahn and I are bringing this work into the room for Rewrite Your Story: Leadership Workshop + Live Comedy Show. We'll work on recognizing the stories and leadership identities shaping how we work, lead, and carry responsibility—and deciding what we're ready to change. Then Merit takes the stage with her hilarious one-woman show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™. The assessment helps you see the pattern. The workshop helps you rewrite the story. The comedy helps you see it differently and let some of it go. Join us October 15 for Rewrite Your Story Before your next meeting, notice the moment you're about to say yes, stay silent, smooth something over, or solve something simply because you know you can. Then ask yourself: What story am I about to act out? Maybe breaking the Trust Tax begins right there. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

    The Role That’s Burning You Out: Stop Performing and Start Leading as Yourself

  2. Aug 21

    Who Are You When Nobody Needs You in Corporate?

    Breaking the High-Performer Cycle of Being Needed, Overworked, and Burned Out Week 4 of The Trust Tax Investigation: How We Break the Cycle What happens when being needed becomes part of who you are? You become the dependable one.The calm one.The person who figures it out.At work, people know they can count on you.At home, people depend on you. And eventually, carrying responsibility doesn't even feel unusual anymore. It just feels like you. My guest today, Oksana Lukash, knows that experience firsthand. She became a mother at 19 while attending college and working full-time. She navigated layoffs, single parenthood, economic uncertainty, and a career in fast-moving biotech and life-sciences organizations. Survival mode became normal. Then something unexpected happened. Life became calm. And Oksana realized she didn't know how to operate without a fire to put out.  That realization eventually led her to a much bigger question: Who am I when I'm not defined by what I do for everyone else? And that question takes us directly into Week 4 of The Trust Tax Investigation. Because we're no longer simply asking how the pattern develops. We're asking: How do we break it? When Your Worth Becomes What You Do for Others Oksana describes spending much of her life defining her value through her roles: Being a mother.Being a wife.Being a great employee.Being a leader.Being the person other people could count on.What she hadn't spent much time asking was: What do I want? That question initially felt selfish. But learning to answer it changed the way she approached her relationships, her career, her leadership, and the environments she chose to enter. As Oksana puts it: You are the main character in your own story. And you don't have to outsource permission for how you live it.  In this episode, we explore:  What happens when survival mode becomes so normal that calm feels uncomfortable  How being dependable can become part of your identity  Why high performers can unconsciously measure their worth by what they do for others  The power of asking yourself, "What do I want?" Why knowing your values helps you decide which rooms and opportunities actually belong in your life  How leaders can help people explore growth before simply promoting them into another role  Why organizations should stop copying other companies' cultures and build systems around their own people  How invisible work stays invisible when leaders focus only on what gets done instead of how it gets done  Why meaningful one-on-ones should uncover roadblocks rather than simply collect project updates  How leaders create psychological safety by asking employees for feedback about their own leadership  Why developing people requires curiosity, relationships, and shared responsibility—not simply giving capable people more work The Trust Tax Investigation Oksana's story helps us see something important about the Trust Tax. Sometimes the organization learns: She can handle it. And sometimes the individual has learned: Being the person who handles it is what makes me valuable. Put those two beliefs together and you can create a powerful cycle. The dependable person keeps stepping in. The organization keeps trusting them with more. The work gets done. Everyone moves on. And very few people stop to ask what that person wants, what they're carrying, what is getting in their way, or whether someone else should be developed to carry some of it. Breaking that cycle requires change on both sides. For the individual: Stop defining your value solely by how useful you are to everyone else. Ask what you want. Know what matters to you. Decide where you do your best work. Stop outsourcing permission for your choices. And for leaders: Get curious. Ask what development means to the person you're leading. Understand what is getting in their way. Create opportunities for people to experiment and grow. Remove roadblocks. Invite feedback. And build systems that develop people rather than continually relying on the same dependable people. That's how we begin replacing the Trust Tax with trust, alignment, and sustainable results. Rewrite Your Story There's a line from this conversation that belongs at the center of this entire special series: You are the main character in your own story.  But many of us have been living stories written around what everybody else needs from us. They depend on me. I can't let them down. I need to prove my value. I'll worry about what I want later. Those stories may have helped us survive. They may even have helped us succeed. But they don't have to determine what comes next. Start Your Own Trust Tax™ Investigation See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide what you want to carry forward. 🔎 Take the free Trust Tax™ Assessment Discover the responsibility and leadership patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story. About 7 minutes, with immediate personalized results. https://unceilingzone.com/start-trust-tax-assesssment 🎟️ Join us for Rewrite Your Story — October 15 A leadership workshop + live comedy show at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan with Natalie H. Luke, Ph.D. and Merit Kahn. https://rewriteyourstoryevent.com Connect with Oksana Lukash Oksana is a people and culture leader with extensive experience in biotech, life sciences, startups, and growing organizations. Her approach to leadership centers on understanding people as individuals, removing barriers to their success, and intentionally building workplaces around the people and culture an organization actually has—not simply copying what another company is doing.  🌐 Website: OksanaLukash.com 💼 LinkedIn: Oksana Lukash on LinkedIn Follow The Trust Tax Investigation Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap Week 2: Why Does This Happen? Week 3: How Organizations Support Burnout Week 4: How We Break the Cycle Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

    Who Are You When Nobody Needs You in Corporate?

  3. Aug 19

    Stop Playing Small in Corporate

    Why High Performers Need to Stop Proving Their Value by Doing More Week 4 of The Trust Tax Investigation: How We Break the Cycle You work hard.You're reliable.You take responsibility.You make sure things get done.And somewhere along the way, you may have learned a story that sounds something like this: If I keep doing great work, eventually I'll be recognized for it. So you keep giving. You absorb another responsibility. You help someone else succeed. You make sure the team is okay. And when the recognition, promotion, compensation, or opportunity doesn't follow? You may respond by doing even more. In this episode of The Trust Tax Investigation, I sit down with Catherine Lang-Cline, who built and sold a multimillion-dollar company and then wrote The Rules of the Game for Women in Business. Catherine learned something while building her company: she had been playing by rules that encouraged her to be polite, humble, grateful—and smaller than she actually was. Then someone gave her a simple piece of advice: You're the CEO. Start introducing yourself like one. That seemingly small shift changed the way Catherine entered rooms, talked about her expertise, built relationships, and eventually grew her business.  But our conversation goes much further than confidence. We talk about what happens when being reliable becomes part of your identity. When being needed feels good. When responsibility keeps accumulating. And when you become so focused on helping everyone else succeed that you forget to ask: What am I getting in return for the value I'm creating? Catherine's answer is clear: Stop playing small. In this episode, we explore:  How reliability can help you succeed—and eventually keep you stuck  Why capable people often keep accumulating responsibility instead of advocating for advancement  How to communicate your expertise without minimizing yourself  Why you should be able to explain how your work contributes to the organization's bottom line  The difference between being appreciated and being appropriately recognized and compensated  Why advocating for yourself isn't the same thing as being selfish  How champions and cheerleaders can help you step into opportunities before you think you're ready  Why high performers need to stop waiting for someone else to recognize their value  What Catherine means when she says it's time to stop playing small The Trust Tax Investigation This conversation gives us another answer to our Week 4 question: How do we break the cycle? One way is to stop proving our value by continually taking on more. The story may say: I'm responsible. They need me. I'm good at this. I should be grateful for the opportunity. Eventually, they'll recognize everything I'm doing. But being valuable doesn't require becoming responsible for everything. Catherine challenges us to do something different: Know the value you create. Say it. Advocate for it. Ask for the opportunity. Ask for the compensation. And if an organization continually benefits from what you contribute without recognizing or rewarding it, give yourself permission to consider whether there's another organization that will.  That's not caring less. It's recognizing that you belong in the equation too. One Question to Take With You If you're the person everyone describes by saying: "I don't know what we'd do without her..." Catherine gives us an important follow-up question: Are you being recognized, developed, and compensated accordingly?  Because being indispensable isn't the same thing as advancing. And being appreciated isn't always the same thing as being rewarded. Rewrite Your Story That's why this final week of The Trust Tax Investigation leads directly into Rewrite Your Story. For four weeks, we've been identifying the patterns. Now we have to look at the stories underneath them. Maybe yours says: I have to prove myself.Good work will eventually speak for itself.I shouldn't ask for too much.Being a good leader means taking care of everyone else.Those stories may have helped create your success. Start Your Own Trust Tax™ Investigation See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide what you want to carry forward. 🔎 Take the free Trust Tax™ Assessment Discover the responsibility and leadership patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story. About 7 minutes, with immediate personalized results. https://unceilingzone.com/start-trust-tax-assesssment 🎟️ Join us for Rewrite Your Story — October 15 A leadership workshop + live comedy show at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan with Natalie H. Luke, Ph.D. and Merit Kahn. https://rewriteyourstoryevent.com Connect with Catherine Lang-Cline Catherine Lang-Cline is an entrepreneur, mentor, and author of The Rules of the Game for Women in Business. After building and selling a multimillion-dollar company, she now shares the lessons she learned about relationships, visibility, advocacy, and navigating the unwritten rules of business.  🌐 Website: CatherineLangCline.com 📖 Book: The Rules of the Game for Women in Business 💼 LinkedIn: Catherine Lang-Cline on LinkedIn Follow The Trust Tax Investigation Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap Week 2: Why Does This Happen? Week 3: How Organizations Support Burnout Week 4: How We Break the Cycle Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

    Stop Playing Small in Corporate

  4. Aug 17

    Stop Proving. Start Connecting in Corporate

    How High Performers Break the Cycle of Overwork and Burnout Week 4 of The Trust Tax Investigation: How We Break the Cycle For the past three weeks, The Trust Tax Investigation has been asking why capable, successful people burn out. This week, we stop simply diagnosing the problem. We ask what we can do differently. And my conversation with Emmy-winning comedy writer Beth Sherman took us somewhere I didn't entirely expect. Beth spent decades writing for some of television's biggest shows and personalities. Today, she brings what comedy taught her about connecting with skeptical audiences into leadership and business. We started with a question about trust: How do you get people to trust you? But our conversation eventually led to a different question: What happens when being trusted becomes part of the problem? Because being dependable can be a tremendous strength. Being known as the person who can solve a particular problem can create opportunities. But there can also be a hidden cost when: "You're really good at this" becomes... "So you should always be the one who does it." That's where Beth and I had to work through the idea together. And I think the conversation became better because we did. The problem isn't being trusted. The problem isn't being dependable. And the solution certainly isn't to stop being excellent at what you do. The problem begins when the role everyone trusts you to play starts limiting your ability to choose, grow, communicate what you want, or become something different.  In this episode, we explore:  Why being trusted and dependable isn't inherently a problem  When being the "go-to" person can begin limiting your growth  Why people-pleasing can quietly keep successful people stuck  How to communicate when you want something different  Why leaders need to understand the audience in front of them  How authenticity and vulnerability create connection  Why perfection can actually get in the way of trust  What Beth means by "connection over perfection" How staying connected to yourself can help you recognize when it's time to make a different choice The Trust Tax Investigation One of the things this conversation clarified for me is that trust itself isn't the tax. The Trust Tax begins to grow when trust continually routes responsibility back to the same dependable people, and those people stop having meaningful choices about what they carry. There's often a story underneath it: They need me. I'm good at this. It's easier if I just do it. I don't want to disappoint anyone. This is what people expect from me. Those stories can help us become successful. But eventually, we have to ask whether they're still helping us become the leader—or person—we want to become. Beth gives us one way to start breaking that cycle: Connection over perfection. Connect with the people you're leading. Communicate what you need. And don't forget to stay connected with yourself. Because breaking the Trust Tax doesn't require becoming less dependable. It requires becoming more intentional about where, why, and how you choose to be depended upon. Start Your Own Trust Tax™ Investigation See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide what you want to carry forward. 🔎 Take the free Trust Tax™ Assessment Discover the responsibility and leadership patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story. About 7 minutes, with immediate personalized results. https://unceilingzone.com/start-trust-tax-assesssment 🎟️ Join us for Rewrite Your Story — October 15 A leadership workshop + live comedy show at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan with Natalie H. Luke, Ph.D. and Merit Kahn. https://rewriteyourstoryevent.com Connect with Beth Sherman Beth Sherman is an Emmy-winning comedy writer, speaker, and communications expert who helps leaders use humor and humanity to create stronger connections with their audiences. 🌐 Website: https://www.bethsherman.com/ 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-sherman/ Follow The Trust Tax Investigation Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap Week 2: Why Does This Happen? Week 3: Why Organizations Create It Week 4: How We Break the Cycle Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

    Stop Proving. Start Connecting in Corporate

  5. Aug 10

    Once You Stop Speaking Up, You've Checked Out of Corporate

    How Bad Decision Rooms Create Burnout, Groupthink, and Costly Mistakes Week 3 of The Trust Tax Investigation What happens when the people who see the problem stop saying anything about it? They're still in the meeting. They're still doing their jobs. They may still be delivering. But somewhere along the way, they learned that their perspective wasn't wanted, wasn't heard, or wasn't worth the effort it took to keep offering it. As Kylee Ingram says in this episode: "Once you stop speaking up, that's kind of when it's all over. You've checked out."  And that should matter to every leader. This week on The Trust Tax Investigation, we're asking what role organizations play in creating the conditions where burnout grows. Kylee brings us directly into one place where that can happen: The decision room. Who gets invited? Who gets heard? Whose information counts? Who speaks first? And whose perspective disappears before the decision ever gets made? Kylee's work in decision science shows why the loudest or most senior person in the room isn't necessarily the person with the perspective the organization needs. When organizations repeatedly rely on familiar voices and familiar ways of thinking, they don't just risk leaving people out. They risk groupthink, blind spots, poorer decisions, reduced innovation, and disengagement.  And there's another cost. When people are overloaded, Kylee explains, they tend to fall back on what's familiar and simple. That can further limit creativity and decision quality.  That's where this conversation becomes part of The Trust Tax Investigation. Because burnout isn't simply about how much work someone has. It's also about what happens when people repeatedly spend energy navigating systems that make it harder to do good work. In this episode, you'll discover:  Why the loudest or most senior person can unintentionally dominate a decision.  How social, information, and capacity biases affect organizational decisions.  Why cognitive diversity matters—not just demographic diversity.  What happens to creativity and decision-making when people become overloaded.  Why leaders should consider speaking last, rather than first.  How better-designed decision rooms can increase buy-in across an organization.  Why someone can physically remain in the room while psychologically checking out.  The simple question every leader can ask before the next important decision: Who's missing? The Trust Tax Investigation Week 3 has widened our lens. Burnout isn't simply an individual problem. It's created through an interaction between people and the environments in which they're trying to succeed. Sometimes the Trust Tax looks like doing more than your share. Sometimes it looks like responsibility continually finding the same capable person. And sometimes it looks like sitting in a room with something valuable to contribute—and eventually deciding it isn't worth speaking. That costs the individual. And it costs the organization. Because when people stop contributing what they see, know, question, or understand, organizations aren't getting the full value of the people they've hired. Kylee's message offers another possibility: Don't just ask people to speak up. Design better rooms for them to speak into. Rewrite Your Story There's also a personal story underneath this conversation. Maybe yours sounds like: "I'm not senior enough to say anything." "They've already made up their minds." "It's easier if I just keep quiet." "Speaking up isn't worth it anymore." Those stories don't appear out of nowhere. Sometimes they're learned from the environments we've been working in. But they don't have to define how we lead next. That's why The Trust Tax Investigation and Rewrite Your Story belong together. The investigation helps us recognize the patterns shaping how we work and lead. Start Your Own Trust Tax™ Investigation See the pattern. Listen for the story. Decide what you want to carry forward. 🔎 Take the free Trust Tax™ Assessment Discover the responsibility and leadership patterns most likely to contribute to burnout before burnout becomes the whole story. About 7 minutes, with immediate personalized results. https://unceilingzone.com/start-trust-tax-assesssment 🎟️ Join us for Rewrite Your Story — October 15 A leadership workshop + live comedy show at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan with Natalie H. Luke, Ph.D. and Merit Kahn. https://rewriteyourstoryevent.com Connect with Kylee Ingram Kylee is the founder of Wizer, where she applies decision science to help organizations intentionally design better decision-making environments. Kylee also mentions a free decision profile during our conversation that can help you understand the perspective you naturally bring into a decision room.  🌐 Wizer / Decision Profile: https://www.wizer.business/ 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleeingram/ Send us Fan Mail Support the show Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

    Once You Stop Speaking Up, You've Checked Out of Corporate

  6. Aug 5

    You Can't Have It All by Doing It All; Why High Achievers Mistake Overload for Leadership

    Week 3 of The Trust Tax Investigation For many high achievers, success doesn't disappear overnight. It slowly drifts out of alignment. The responsibilities grow. The calendar fills. You become the person everyone depends on. From the outside, it looks like success. On the inside, it feels like you're achieving more—but enjoying it less. In this episode of The Trust Tax Investigation, I sit down with leadership expert, executive coach, and former Vice President of Talent and Leadership Carol Enneking to explore how organizations—and the people inside them—can unintentionally create the conditions where burnout grows. Carol shares what she learned after years leading talent inside large organizations and interviewing high-achieving professionals for her book, The Rebalancing Act. One theme kept emerging: The very strengths that make people successful—being dependable, ambitious, intelligent, and willing to help—can also become the habits that quietly lead to overload.  Together, we explore why burnout isn't just about working harder. It's about losing alignment between what matters most and how we actually spend our time. In this episode you'll discover:  Why "balance" is the wrong goal—and why rebalancing is a healthier way to lead.  How organizations unintentionally reward the people who always say "yes."  Why many high achievers become overloaded simply because they're capable.  How responsibility quietly accumulates until it becomes unsustainable.  Why great leaders develop others instead of becoming indispensable.  A practical way to negotiate priorities with your manager before overload turns into burnout.  How reconnecting your daily work with your values creates hope, energy, and healthier leadership. The Trust Tax Investigation One of the stories many high achievers quietly live by is this: "If I can do it, I should do it." That story often earns praise. More opportunities. More responsibility. More trust. Until one day it also earns something else. Exhaustion. The Trust Tax grows whenever responsibility keeps accumulating without enough opportunity to release it, share it, or question whether it still belongs to us. Sometimes organizations unintentionally reinforce that pattern. Sometimes we reinforce it ourselves. Either way, the cost is the same. The good news? Once you recognize the pattern, you can begin changing it. Connect with Carol Enneking 🌐 Website: https://carolenneking.com/ 📖 The Rebalancing Act is available wherever books are sold, including Audible, where Carol narrates the audiobook. Carol also offers a free Legacy Planning Workbook to help you identify what matters most and begin aligning your life and leadership with those priorities.  Rewrite Your Story October 15, 2026 • Walsh College • Troy, Michigan If The Trust Tax Investigation has helped you recognize yourself in these conversations, I'd love to invite you to the next step. Join comedian, keynote speaker, and playwright Merit Kahn and me for Rewrite Your Story—a full-day leadership workshop followed by Merit's inspiring and hilarious one-woman show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™. Together we'll explore the stories that shape how we lead, define success, carry responsibility, and experience burnout. You'll leave with a clearer understanding of the story you've been living—and the opportunity to intentionally choose one that creates healthier leadership, stronger relationships, and sustainable success. Because the story that helped create your success... doesn't have to define how you lead next. 🎟️ Reserve your seat: https://RewriteYourStoryEvent.com Follow the Investigation This episode is part of our special five-week series exploring why capable, caring, high-performing people burn out—and what leaders and organizations can do differently. Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap Week 2: Why Does This Happen? Week 3: Why Organizations Create It Week 4: How We Break the Cycle Connect with Natalie Luke, PhD 🌐 https://www.unceilingzone.com 💼https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalielukephdbcmas/ 🎙️ Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

    You Can't Have It All by Doing It All; Why High Achievers Mistake Overload for Leadership

  7. Aug 3

    Your Work Doesn't Speak for Itself: Why High Performers Get Stuck While Others Get Promoted

    Week 3 of The Trust Tax Investigation Most high performers believe one thing: If I do great work, people will notice. It sounds reasonable. It feels fair. For many of us, it became part of our identity. Work hard. Deliver results. Keep saying yes. Be the person everyone can count on. Eventually, someone will recognize your contribution. But what if that story isn't true? In this episode of The Trust Tax Investigation, I sit down with executive coach and former Chief Talent Officer Courtney Intersimone, who has been in the room where executive succession decisions are actually made. Not the meeting after the meeting. The meeting where leaders decide who gets promoted—and who doesn't. What Courtney reveals challenges one of the biggest beliefs many high performers carry. Your work doesn't speak for itself. Organizations don't simply promote the people who produce the best results. They promote the people leaders believe can create value in the future. That means visibility, relationships, positioning, and demonstrating your potential all matter alongside performance.  For many high achievers, this creates an invisible cycle. They respond to a lack of recognition by working even harder. They take on more responsibility. Become increasingly indispensable. Wait for someone to notice. When the recognition doesn't come, they work even harder. Over time, that story becomes expensive. Not only because promotions may never come. But because constantly proving your value quietly becomes the path to burnout. In this episode you'll discover:  Why "your work speaks for itself" is one of the most expensive career myths.  The difference between being valuable and being positioned.  Why being indispensable can sometimes delay advancement.  How relationships and visibility influence promotion decisions.  How identity can become the invisible ceiling above your career.  Why lack of recognition often leads high performers to overwork instead of reposition.  A practical exercise to identify the people who influence your next opportunity. The Trust Tax Investigation This episode reveals another way the Trust Tax quietly grows. Not because organizations intentionally overlook talented people. But because many high performers keep living by a story that no longer serves them: "If I just work harder, eventually someone will notice."Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. Either way, continuing to prove your worth by carrying more responsibility comes at a cost. The Trust Tax isn't simply about working too much. It's the invisible price we pay when the stories that helped create our success continue driving our decisions long after they've stopped serving us. Connect with Courtney Intersimone Learn more about Courtney's work: 🌐 Website: https://courtneyintersimone.com/ 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneyintersimone/ Rewrite Your Story October 15, 2026 • Walsh College • Troy, Michigan If The Trust Tax Investigation has helped you recognize yourself in these conversations, I'd love to invite you to the next step. Rewrite Your Story is a full-day interactive leadership workshop followed by Merit Kahn's inspiring and hilarious one-woman comedy show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™. Together we'll explore the stories that shape how we lead, define success, carry responsibility, and experience burnout. You'll leave with a new understanding of what has been driving your leadership—and the opportunity to intentionally choose a story that creates healthier leadership, stronger relationships, and sustainable success. Because the story that helped create your success... doesn't have to define how you lead next. 🎟️ Reserve your seat:  https://RewriteYourStoryEvent.com Continue the Investigation This episode is part of our special five-week series: Week 1: When Success Becomes a Trap Week 2: Why Does This Happen? Week 3: Why Organizations Create It Week 4: How We Break the Cycle Connect with Natalie Luke, PhD 🌐 Website:  https://www.unceilingzone.com 💼 LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalieluke/ 🎙️ Subscribe to UnCeiling You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

    Your Work Doesn't Speak for Itself: Why High Performers Get Stuck While Others Get Promoted

  8. Jul 31

    Angela Kerek & Week 2: Why Do Successful People Burn Out?

    The Trust Tax Investigation – Week 2 Why Does This Happen? Last week, we discovered that burnout rarely begins with collapse. It begins with a quiet moment when success no longer feels sustainable. This week, we ask a different question: How did we get here? Through three remarkable conversations, you'll discover that burnout isn't usually caused by one overwhelming event. It develops through small adaptations that quietly shape the way we think, lead, achieve, and relate to ourselves. Together, these conversations reveal why the most dangerous version of burnout can still look like success. This Week's Episodes Monday — Hanna Curman: https://hannacurman.se/Why expectations slowly disconnect us from ourselves and how awareness helps us reconnect with what matters most. Wednesday — Melanie Gray: https://drmelaniegray.com/How the nervous system adapts to chronic demand until constant pressure begins to feel normal. Friday — Angela Kerek: https://angelakerek.com/Why high achievers often tie their identity to achievement, responsibility, and being the person everyone depends on. The Question We're Investigating Burnout doesn't usually happen because one day becomes too much. It happens because we slowly adapt. We meet expectations before our own needs. We normalize constant pressure. We begin believing our value comes from how much we can carry. These adaptations eventually become the stories we live—and those stories shape the way we lead. Continue the Journey If this week's conversations are helping you recognize your own story, I'd love to invite you to take the next step. On October 15, 2026, join comedian Merit Kahn and me at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan for Rewrite Your Story. The podcast helps you understand the story you've been living. Rewrite Your Story helps you choose the one you'll live next. During the day, you'll participate in an interactive workshop designed to help you recognize the stories driving the way you work, lead, and carry responsibility. That evening, Merit Kahn's inspiring and hilarious one-woman show, Optimistic Personality Disorder™, helps you see those stories from a different perspective—and maybe even laugh at the ones you're finally ready to leave behind. Because you don't have to abandon your success. You simply need a story that lets you enjoy it. Learn more at RewriteYourStoryEvent.com Coming Next Week Week 3 asks a bigger question. If these patterns begin inside people... What role do organizations play in reinforcing them? We'll explore how well-intentioned workplaces can unintentionally reward the very behaviors that eventually become the Trust Tax. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Learn More at https://unceilingzone.com

    Angela Kerek & Week 2: Why Do Successful People Burn Out?
See All (91)

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Human resources leadership, organizational leadership, and leadership burnout are at the heart of UnCeiling You. Hosted by Dr. Natalie Luke, PhD, senior vice president in a STEM company, author, and leadership performance consultant, this podcast helps high-functioning leaders rise without running themselves into the ground. Explore how unclear ownership, over-responsibility, and urgency culture drive burnout—and learn practical approaches to workload management, manager effectiveness, workforce optimization, employee retention, change fatigue, leadership development, and workforce productivity. Each episode blends peer-reviewed research with real conversations and actionable strategies for leading at a high level without sacrificing your health, relationships, or team performance. New episodes weekly.

Information

  • Creator
    Natalie Luke, PhD | Organizational Leadership
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    91
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 UnCeiling You | Leadership Without Burnout
  • Show Website
    UnCeiling You | Leadership Without Burnout