The Case For Why We Need More Mentorship in Leadership Spaces

What if we built a collective network of mentors who've been where we're trying to go?

TL;DR

Here's what I'm thinking: We cannot lead regenerative practices while we're burning out—and we cannot build systems that sustain life while we're trapped in systems that extract and exploit it. What if the answer isn't more individual resilience training, but something entirely different? What if we built an intergenerational network of mentors and mentees who understand that our liberation as leaders is bound together?

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Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

I used to think the corner office was freedom, that’s when I’d know I made it.

Boy, was I wrong.

At 25, I had mapped out my entire trajectory: climb the COO ladder in health and human services, make the impact, live the dream. What I found instead was a masterclass in exploitation masquerading as leadership development and mission statements.

COVID-19 hit while I was on the front lines, and after working for an incredible program where I landed my first director gig, I experienced a type of work flow that I wouldn't experience again until I started my solopreneur journey.

I believe I experienced a different approach to working and leading during this COVID-19 response program. And what came afterwards was a regression to an old operating model: nonsensical, demeaning, falsely urgent, chaotic organization, with toxic environments, and narcissistic ‘leaders’. I no longer wanted to be complicit in these structures.

I was burning out in real time, watching organizational missions collapse under the weight of their own contradictions. The "incredible careers on paper" were recreating the same extractive patterns they claimed to serve in the pursuit of their mission. After two consecutive misaligned roles, I decided to trust life's redirection, take my lessons, and move on.

And then I became a founder and solopreneur for liberatory coaching and consulting work.

For the first time in my career, I experienced utmost joy in my work. Surprise, surprise, I didn't feel the bureaucratic and organizational weight over me. Not because I had all the answers, but because I finally had the freedom to ask different questions.

Here's What I'm Seeing: The Pattern Behind the Burnout

The statistics are staggering, but they barely capture the human cost. Leadership burnout jumped from 52% in 2023 to 56% in 2024, with about 4 in 10 stressed-out leaders considering leaving their leadership roles entirely. Nearly 60% of leaders report feeling "used up" at the end of each workday. But here's what I think the numbers don't tell us: this isn't random exhaustion—it's systematic extraction dressed up as dedication.

I've seen how traditional leadership models don't just burn people out; they burn people up.

LinkedIn and Instagram are flooded with it: the endless job applications, the dissociation at work, crying in bathrooms and cars. This list of how this is playing out is endless.

Here's my hypothesis: We're not just dealing with individual burnout—we're dealing with collective trauma stemming from the attempt to lead within fundamentally extractive systems.

Read that again, please. Digest it, and try to understand it fundamentally.