Episode 23: Remembering WHY We Lead: A Pep Talk for Leader Burnout | 12MinuteLeadership

When deadlines pile up and your calendar leaves no breathing room, purpose is usually the first thing to slip. Episode 23 of 12MinuteLeadership is a short, practical reset to bring you—and your team—back to center.

We walk through four anchors that restore focus and energy:

• Lead with a mission: Separate job from calling and use your “why” as a decision filter and retention magnet.
• Create meaningful change: Let frustration become “divine discontent”—fuel for improving what’s stale or broken.
• Achieve more together: Align roles, delegate outcomes, and build trust so momentum multiplies.
• Grow people into their potential: Reframe leadership as a privilege that shapes careers and confidence.

You’ll hear a personal story from my nonprofit work in India that brings these lessons to life—and a few prompts to help you reconnect with your own purpose.

If leadership has started to feel heavy, this 12-minute episode will help you trade pressure for perspective and exhaustion for impact.

If this message lands with you, share it with another leader who needs a reminder of why they started. And take one small action today that honors the moment you first wanted to lead.

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Order my book, Lead Anyone!

Episode Transcript

Speaker (00:02):
Welcome to the 12-Minute Leadership Podcast,
where in 12 minutes or less,I'll share small things that you
can put into immediate practicethat will make a big difference
in your leadershipeffectiveness.
I'm your host, Elise BoggsMorales, leadership professor,
consultant, and coach.
For the last 17 years, I havehelped thousands of leaders

(00:25):
level up their influence andachieve remarkable results.
If you want to trade compliancefor true commitment and create
your dream team, you are in theright place.
Get ready for a quick hit ofpractical wisdom to increase
your team's engagement, inspiretop performance, and retain your
best talent.
Ready to level up yourinfluence and get better

(00:46):
results?
12 minutes starts now.
Hi everyone, Elise here.
Welcome to episode 23.
Today's episode is one I thinkevery leader needs to hear from
time to time, a reminder of whywe lead.
With all the responsibilities,decisions, and weight that comes

(01:08):
with leadership, it's easy toforget the privilege and purpose
behind it.
The meetings, the deadlines,the constant demands, they can
slowly crowd out the deeper whythat brought us here in the
first place.
So today, I want to bring usback to center, to reconnect us
with four powerful reasons wechoose to lead.

(01:29):
Reason number one, you have amission and a cause you want to
see realized.
There's a difference between ajob and a calling.
Leaders are driven by somethingbigger than themselves, a
mission, a cause, a why.
As Simon Sinek famously said,people don't buy what you do,
they buy why you do it.

(01:49):
And what you do simply proveswhat you believe.
Great leaders know what theybelieve.
For Martin Luther King Jr., itwas a quality.
For Malala, it was education.
For Nelson Mandela, it wasjustice.
For Steve Jobs, it wasinnovation and technology.
Each had a mission worthleading for, and it's that

(02:09):
clarity of purpose that fueledthem.
As a leader, your missiondoesn't have to be
world-changing to be meaningful.
Maybe your mission is to leadan organization that is number
one in its industry, to be theindustry leader for innovation
in your field, or to buildbeautiful landmark buildings in
your city.
In my 20s, I lived abroad inIndia for six months.

(02:32):
The nonprofit I served washelping the poorest of the poor.
I remember two projects I wasworking on that were drastically
different in theireffectiveness.
One project was serving mealsto street kids, offering
education programs, and servingthe community with a lot of joy.
They were well funded and thestaff seemed to genuinely enjoy

(02:52):
what they were doing.
In contrast, another project Iworked on struggled with
funding.
The staff came in late and leftearly.
Serving the community membersfelt more like a checkbox to be
marked than a mission to befulfilled.
Needless to say, they oftenclosed early when they ran out
of food and had to turn peopleaway.

(03:12):
What was the difference?
The leadership.
One was on mission and theother was just collecting a
paycheck.
People will almost always joinyour organization and stick
around when their work and yourleadership is connected to a
clear and compelling mission,something bigger than
themselves.
And when you're clear on yourmission, your leadership gains

(03:35):
energy.
Decisions become easier becausethey're filtered through
purpose, not pressure.
If you feel that your love ofleadership has grown cold,
consider revisiting yourmission.
Reason number two, you want tocreate change.
Peter Drecker once said,managers maintain the status
quo, leaders challenge it.

(03:56):
That quote has always stuckwith me because it describes my
why perfectly.
After being under unskilledleadership in several different
jobs out of college, I wanted todo something about it.
I saw the impact poorleadership had on morale,
productivity, and retention.
I left several jobs I lovebecause of poor leadership.

(04:17):
And talking with others, myexperience wasn't uncommon.
I wanted to create changearound how leaders lead,
starting with myself and thenhelping other leaders as I do
now.
When I first stepped intoleadership, one of the driving
reasons was that I wanted theability to make decisions that
aligned with my values,especially around creating a

(04:38):
trusting, healthy workplaceculture.
I wanted to influence howpeople were treated, how they
communicated, how theycollaborated.
I'd seen cultures built on fearor politics, and I knew I
wanted to lead differently.
So much of leadership is aboutchallenging what's comfortable,
whether it's systems,assumptions, or even our own
habits.

(04:59):
Leaders don't just accept whatis, they imagine what could be.
Change isn't easy.
It brings friction, resistance,and uncertainty.
But leaders lean into thatdiscomfort because they see
possibility on the other side.
So if you've been frustratedlately, maybe that's not a sign
that you're in the wrong place.
Maybe it's confirmation thatyour leadership instincts are

(05:22):
alive and well.
Tune into that.
It may just be divinediscontent nudging you to be
part of the change.
Reason number three, you wantto achieve great things, and you
know you can't do it alone.
There's an African proverb thatsays, if you want to go fast,
go alone.
If you want to go far, gotogether.

(05:43):
I love this because it capturesthe tension leaders live in
every day.
You can move quickly byyourself, but you'll go farther
with others.
People can be your greatestasset or your greatest
challenge.
And the difference often comesdown to the quality of your
leadership.
When you know how to mobilizepeople, how to inspire them,
develop them, and align them,you create momentum that no one

(06:06):
person could generate alone.
That's the magical part ofleadership.
You achieve extraordinarythings and seemingly impossible
things together that you cannever achieve on your own.
There is no greater feelingthan when you get the right
people aligned and on missionand compelled by the same drive
to change things.
That's what leadership does.

(06:27):
It multiplies impact throughpeople.
If you feel stuck in yourleadership, consider whether you
might be trying to do things onyour own instead of fully
engaging your team.
If you need help rebuildingthose skills, check out my book,
Lead Anyone, on Amazon.
I break down therelationship-building skills
needed to create engagement,performance, and retention

(06:49):
within your team.
And reason number four, youwant to grow and develop others
into their potential.
Simon Siddick says it again andsays it best.
Leadership is not about beingin charge, it's about taking
care of those in your charge.
Leadership gives us influence,and with influence comes

(07:09):
responsibility.
We make decisions that shapecareers, confidence, and
culture.
We have the power to hire andfire, to open doors or to close
them, to build people up orbreak them down.
That's a heavy truth, but it'salso an incredible opportunity.
What if we focus that power ondeveloping every member of our

(07:30):
team into their greatestpotential?
When we call people up ratherthan calling them out, we don't
just correct, we cultivate.
We help people see what they'recapable of becoming.
And when people feel developed,not managed, challenged, but
supported, they don't justperform better, they thrive.
Your greatest leadership legacywon't be what you achieve.

(07:53):
It will be who you help othersbecome.
One of my favorite emails toreceive is the news that a
leader I have coached hasachieved their dream, whether
it's a promotion, securing a bigclient, or finally being able
to influence and lead thatdifficult person on their team.
Leadership is an opportunity tohelp accelerate others forward.

(08:14):
So if you're feeling frustratedby performance or expectations
are not being met, considerwhether there's an imbalance of
focus on achievement and neglectof talent development.
Remember how you got where youare, the mentors and leaders you
had along the way, and continueto pay that forward.
In closing, here's anadditional thought to reflect on

(08:36):
the privilege of leadership.
Sometimes in the midst of thestress, it helps to pause and
remember leadership is aprivilege.
You get to shape theenvironment people spend most of
their waking hours in.
You get to help others grow, tocreate opportunity, to model
integrity, to make things betterthan you found them.
That's sacred work.

(08:56):
So let's recap what we'veremembered today about why we
lead.
One, you have a mission, acause you want to see realized.
Two, you want to create changeand challenge the status quo.
Three, you want to achievegreat things together, not
alone.
Four, you want to develop andcall others up into their

(09:18):
potential.
If leadership has started tofeel heavy lately, come back to
your why.
Because when you remember yourpurpose, the pressure turns into
perspective.
Here's your reflection questionfor this week.
What's one moment that firstmade you want to lead?
And how can you reconnect withthat passion today?

(09:38):
So, I hope you enjoyed today'sepisode.
If this episode resonated,share it with another leader who
may need a reminder of theirwhy.
I'll see you next time.
Like what you heard on today'sepisode and want to go deeper?
Subscribe to this podcast soyou never miss an episode.

(10:00):
You can also pick up my book,Lead Anyone, on Amazon.
Then go to my website to checkout ways that we can support
your leadership goals.
From executive retreats tocustomized training and
coaching, my team of expertswill help you level up your
leadership and accelerate yourresults.
Go to www.eliseboggs.com formore info.