They never complained. They always delivered. And then one day, they were just… gone. Burnout rarely announces itself, but there are early warning signs.

In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin explain the three stages of burnout and why your most committed, high-performing employees are the most at risk.

Instead of asking, “Are you burned out?” leaders need sharper tools and a better understanding of what burnout really looks like. Cindi and Geoff unpack the subtle signs and explore the cultural practices that cause them. They dig into the dangers of being perpetually “on,” the harm of poorly designed PTO policies, and the myth that key players can’t step away without everything falling apart.

If you manage high performers, this episode’s essential.

Episode Highlights:

• The three stages of burnout
• Why passion drives people toward burnout
• Smarter ways to spot burnout before it’s too late
• Organizational traps that fuel burnout
• The psychological toll of always being “on call”
• How to protect your most committed employees without lowering expectations

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/e9a1vLG0CIQ

*Purchase your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook here

*Sign up for our newsletter and our FREE guide to the 6 science-backed habits you NEED to level up your management skills in 2026!

Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Valsania et al. “Burnout: A Review of Theory and Measurement,” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 3 Feb. 2022, 19(3), 1780; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031780

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What if delegation wasn’t just a way to get work off your plate, but a strategy to grow your people, your impact, and your sanity?

This week, Cindi welcomes Mamie Kanfer Stewart, host of The Modern Manager, for a masterclass in smart delegation. Whether you’re struggling to let go, tired of redoing half-done tasks, or just don’t know what to hand off, Mamie offers a path forward. She shares a practical framework for tailoring delegation to the situation, aligning handoffs with career growth, and creating feedback loops that build trust, not stress.

If you’ve ever thought “it’s easier to just do it myself,” this one’s for you… and don’t miss Cindi’s guest appearance on The Modern Manager this week either!

Episode Highlights:

• How to delegate in a way that actually saves you time
• When delegation goes wrong, and how to fix it
• The 5 levels of delegation and when to use each
• How to use delegation to develop your team and boost productivity
• The link between trust, autonomy, and performance

About Mamie:

Mamie Kanfer Stewart is passionate about helping people thrive at work. She is the host of The Modern Manager podcast, author of Momentum: Creating Effective, Engaging and Enjoyable Meetings and Founder of Meeteor, a training firm focused on productive meetings and team collaboration. In addition, Mamie is an executive coach and trainer who works with entrepreneurs and managers to build the mindset, skills and habits they need to successfully manage themselves and their teams so everyone can be their best selves and do their best work.

Connect with Mamie:

• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Instagram
• MamieKS
• TikTok
• Facebook

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/i_7yv0wYmhI

*Purchase your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook here

*Sign up for our newsletter and our FREE guide to the 6 science-backed habits you NEED to level up your management skills in 2026!

Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Johnson, Elsbeth. “Why Aren’t I Better at Delegating?”, Sep-Oct. 2025, https://hbr.org/2025/09/why-arent-i-better-at-delegating
• Kanfer Stewart, Mamie. “Prepare Your Mind to Delegate Successfully,” MamieKS, 2 Dec. 2019. https://www.mamieks.com/post/prepare-your-mind-to-delegate-successfully

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What happens when the founder’s personality becomes the company’s culture?

In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin explore the phenomenon of founder imprint: the lasting, often invisible fingerprints that founders leave on an organization’s values, behaviors, and decisions.

This episode complements our recent discussion on weak organizational cultures by diving into the special case of start-ups, which often have strong, founder-driven cultures. From Chick-fil-A’s Sundays off to Herb Kelleher’s wild-but-warm ethos at Southwest, Cindi and Geoff walk through iconic examples of founder imprint, and contrast them with stories from their own experience building a small business together.

You’ll learn how early team choices, value signaling, and founder preferences can shape a company’s identity long after the original leader has left the building. Tune in to hear how founder-led cultures can be both a strength and a stumbling block as organizations scale.

Episode Highlights:

• Why founder values “imprint” early and persist over time
• The surprising science behind why teams end up so similar
• When founder-led cultures work, and when they get in the way
• How cultural self-governance can be a gift or a trap
• What Cindi and Geoff learned from building their own firm

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xIcIyDg_rK0

*Purchase your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook here

*Get a Comprehensive Organizational Assessment with CulSure

*Sign up for our newsletter and let us know what topic you’d like to hear next!

Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Zook, Chris. “Founder-Led Companies Outperform the Rest – Here’s Why,” Harvard Business Review, 24 Mar. 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/03/founder-led-companies-outperform-the-rest-heres-why
• Gutterman, Alan S. “Founders and Organizational Culture”, Oct. 2023, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374695659_Founders_and_Organizational_Culture

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