50+ CREATIVES EXPOSE THE TRUTH ABOUT BURNOUT
By Jen Shaw, Founder of Wiseroom Studio
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THE SLOW BURN OF CREATIVE LEADERSHIP
What 50+ creative executives taught me about identity, exhaustion, and the hidden pressures nobody's talking about.
Creative executives don't burn out because they're fragile.
They burn out because they've been holding organizations together with vision, intuition, and grit while operating without enough support to sustain it.
I spent the last year having honest conversations with over 50 senior creative leaders across fashion, beauty, and advertising. Not email surveys. Real live conversations, often in the evenings or on weekends, when these leaders could finally exhale long enough to tell me what was actually going on.
What I heard wasn't a story of people falling short. It was a story of people stretched impossibly thin, leading without the structures they need, and wondering why they feel like shells of who they used to be.
Five patterns kept surfacing. I want to share them because I think you'll recognize yourself in at least one. Maybe all five.
This research did not include anyone from my former company or any active clients.
THE IDENTITY GAP: THEY’VE LOST TOUCH WITH WHO THEY ARE AS LEADERS.
More than half of the people I talked to said some version of this: "I don't feel like myself anymore."
As one creative director said: "I don't even know who the f&$k I am anymore."
Another leader told me: "I lost myself along the way in my leadership journey."
These aren't junior designers having a rough quarter. These are seasoned executives with 15, 20, 25 years of experience. People who used to trust their instincts without a second thought. Now they're second-guessing everything.
The erosion happens slowly. You keep delivering results, so nobody notices. But inside, you feel disconnected from the judgment and creative instincts that used to feel effortless.
Most of them said the only place they could slow down enough to hear themselves again was in coaching or peer communities. Spaces where someone wasn't asking them to solve a problem or make a decision. Just spaces to think.
THE CAPACITY GAP: THEY’RE BEING CRUSHED BETWEEN EVERYONE ELSE’S NEEDS.
Sixty-five percent described feeling squeezed from every direction. Team needs. Stakeholder demands. Operational fires. Personal responsibilities. All of it piling up with no relief valve.
One VP told me: "I feel like I'm stuck in this tiny space between my team and C-Suite. The calendar is crushing. I have two weeks to be creative."
Another said: "I'm so busy caring about everyone else. Who cares about me?"
Creativity became something they squeezed into whatever scraps of time were left over. And when you're operating like that, the work suffers. Not because you've gotten worse at your job, but because you have no capacity left for the thinking your job requires.
Even short pauses helped. A conversation with a peer who could help them sort through what needed their attention versus what they could finally set down.
THE VISIBILITY GAP: THEIR IDEAS STOPPED LANDING.
Sixty percent felt like their ideas were being dismissed, overlooked, or deprioritized in ways that didn't make sense.
They started hesitating more. Speaking up less. Wondering if it was even worth offering ideas anymore.
One leader described it this way: "I feel constantly undervalued or overlooked."
The frustrating part for them was that their ideas weren't getting weaker. They were just too exhausted to advocate for them. And when you're running on empty, your presence shrinks. You show up differently. People respond differently. And it becomes a self-reinforcing loop.
What helped was having a thought partner, someone who could help them sharpen their thinking before high-stakes conversations. Not a friend to vent to after work. Someone in their corner to brainstorm about their challenges and help them show up with clarity instead of exhaustion.
THE ENERGY GAP: THEY’RE RUNNING ON EMPTY, AND IT’S STARTING TO SHOW.
Seventy percent described exhaustion that went beyond tired. Mental, emotional, physical, creative. All of their energy was depleted.
One director said: "I am BURNT. I feel fatigued in every way: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual."
Another admitted: "My anxiety is draining. It gets so bad I can't even talk sometimes."
This wasn't about needing a vacation. This was accumulated depletion from months or years of constant urgency, minimal recovery, and the unspoken expectation to hold everything together for everyone else.
The early warning signs were irritability, diminished focus, creative blocks that wouldn't go away. By the time most leaders recognized what was happening, they were well past the point where pushing harder would help.
Small shifts made a real difference. Structured pauses. Clearer boundaries. Permission to need support. These didn't fix everything, but they created enough breathing room to stabilize.
THE CULTURE GAP: THE CULTURE IS MAKING IT WORSE.
Just over 40 percent named their organizational culture as the biggest barrier to leading effectively. Political tension. “Backstabbing”. Toxic environments. Chronic urgency replacing any sense of clarity or alignment.
One leader described it as: "Mean girls, backstabbing culture. I feel beaten down and don't want to try anymore."
Another shared: "Our company is extremely critical with mistakes. Shaming and blaming is rampant."
Even experienced leaders found themselves absorbing organizational stress, second-guessing decisions, and stepping back in rooms where they once spoke freely. The pressure to be a steadying presence, even in environments designed to destabilize you, deepened the emotional toll.
Confidential spaces to process this pressure helped leaders stay grounded. Not to fix the culture, but to navigate it without losing themselves in the process.
THE BOTTOM LINE: WHAT DOES THIS ACTUALLY MEAN?
Exhaustion isn't a personal failure. It's evidence that the system is taking more than it's giving back.
The leaders I talked to aren't lost. They're overextended, undervalued in key moments, and operating without the structures they need for clear thinking and confident leadership. Their challenges aren't character flaws. They're the predictable result of sustained pressure, limited recovery, and environments that demand more than they return.
Across every conversation, leaders named the same conditions that let them lead at their best:
Time to stop and think
Clarity about what's on their plate
Trusted partners to reflect with
Community with people who understand the weight of senior creative leadership
When those supports exist, it becomes easier. They communicate with more intention. They make better decisions. They reconnect with the creative instincts that used to feel effortless.
Creative leadership can't keep depending on personal stamina. It requires organizations to treat creativity as the strategic function it is, to protect the time it needs, create the psychological safety that ideas depend on, and build capacity instead of expecting leaders to absorb the gaps themselves.
Burnout isn't the end of the story. It's a signal that something needs to be rebuilt with more honesty, more care, and more structural support than creative leaders have historically received.
The path forward is quiet but clear: support the leaders who hold the creative center of an organization, and the organization becomes steadier. Ignore the signal, and the system keeps burning through the very people it relies on most.
I'm still having these conversations and always looking to connect with creative leaders navigating these challenges. If anything here resonated, I'd love to hear from you.
Jen Shaw is the founder of Wiseroom Studio, where she works with senior creative executives reclaiming their voice and presence in corporate environments. She spent 20+ years as a creative design executive at major brands before launching her coaching and consulting practice.
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