Ep254: The Ugly Truth About Burnout (Even When You're Unemployed), and How to Build Immunity From It | with Dr. Kandi Wiens

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My guest today is Dr. Kandi Wiens, Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Masters in Medical Education Program and co-founder of Big Sky Leadership Labs. But what brought her to my attention is her book, Burnout Immunity, and her perspective on the subject.

My conversation with Dr. Wiens starts deep and goes deeper with both of us admitting to feeling burned out right out of the gate. This isn’t two experts who have it all figured out spouting advice from the mountain top. This is a very real conversation talking about burnout from the trenches. Dr. Wiens takes us deep into the psychology of burnout to gain an understanding of its root causes. We explore why we tend to drive ourselves to burnout, even when we may be unemployed or underemployed. Dr. Wiens reveals how the term burnout is often overused and that sometimes, we might not be burned out at all. More importantly, Dr. Wiens and I talk about the strategies and tools you can use to develop burnout immunity so you can build resilience and heal your relationship with your work and live a more balanced, fulfilling life.

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Here's What You'll Learn:

• How Dr. Wiens personal experience led her from being a management consultant to studying burnout
• How past experiences affect how we deal with stress and also hold ourselves back
• What is Emotion Focus Coping and how we can shift away from it to taking 'control' of our stress
• The root cause of burnout and why it's important to know
• What drives us to burnout (without us realizing it)?
• Burnout versus Overextension and why it's important to know the difference
• How to know your degree of burnout
• What are protective patterns when dealing with burnout
• How we can be burned out even without a job
• What is Burnout Immunity and how to develop it
• How to self-regulate and change your mindset

Useful Resources Mentioned:

A Classic Case of Post-Production Burnout

I Was Tired of Putting My Kids to Bed via FaceTime Every Night. Here’s What I Did About It.

Are You Burned Out? Or Is It Something Else?

Burnout Risk Assessment | Kandi Wiens

Ep224: Managing & Alleviating Chronic Pain with…Creativity? | with Anna Holtzman

kandiwiens.com

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Guest Bio:

Dr. Kandi Wiens

Kandi Wiens, EdD is the Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Masters in Medical Education Program and the Penn Health Professions Education Certificate Program. As a sought-after international speaker, Dr. Wiens is co-founder and chief research officer of Big Sky Leadership Labs, where she leads and conducts evidence-based research on executive performance, emotional intelligence, burnout, and resilience. Her work has been prominently featured in the Harvard Business Review and in several Harvard Business Review Press books.

A Senior Fellow at Penn, Dr. Wiens is Academic Director of the PennCLO Master’s Program and teaches various graduate-level and executive-format courses. She has designed and delivered over 2,000 leadership development programs focused on helping leaders build and leverage their emotional and social intelligence to amplify their positive impact and protect themselves from burnout.

Dr. Wiens holds a doctorate from the Penn Chief Learning Officer executive doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania, an M.B.A. from the University of Oregon, and a B.S. in business administration from Montana State University.

Show Credits:

This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared by Debby Germino and published by Glen McNiel.

The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet).