Leila Rao of Cultural Cartography On How the World’s Best Leaders Build Burnout-Free Workplace Cultures
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Reduce cognitive overload by aligning work with strategic goals, enforcing realistic workloads, and allowing time for focus without constant context-switching.
In today’s high-pressure business landscape, burnout has become an epidemic affecting both employees and leaders. The question is — how can companies create workplace cultures that prioritize well-being without compromising performance? To dive into this important topic, we are interviewing Leila Rao.
Leila Rao is the founder of Cultural Cartography and a leading expert in Agile leadership, known for transforming organizational cultures in under 90 days. With a decade of experience in Agile transformation and organizational development, she turns abstract cultural concepts into actionable strategies that drive lasting change. Passionate about innovation and growth, Leila equips leaders with practical tools to align workplace culture with business success while inspiring fresh ways to challenge conventional thinking.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
One of the most interesting experiences I’ve had was bringing improvisation into Agile coaching to help an organization that was resistant to change. Instead of forcing Agile frameworks on them, I introduced improv principles like “Yes, And.” As they practiced building on each other’s ideas rather than shutting them down, something clicked. They stopped fearing uncertainty and started approaching it with curiosity. That shift led to unexpected breakthroughs in collaboration and problem-solving — they went beyond just adapting to change, they owned it.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Systems Thinking — The ability to see the interconnectedness of people, processes, and outcomes is foundational. Leadership is more than short-term fixes, it’s about sustainable solutions, and understanding how decisions impact larger systems.
Empathy and Collaboration — To me, leadership means fostering a shared understanding and co-creating solutions. Recognizing diverse perspectives, inviting participation, and making people feel valued and heard are critical to building a high-functioning workforce.
Adaptability and Experimentation — The willingness to navigate uncertainty, experiment, learn and adjust is essential. This means embracing complexity rather than fearing it, and seeing mistakes not as failures, but as opportunities for growth.
One of the initiatives I am most proud of spearheading is Lean in Agile (LIA), a global movement that elevates women as changemakers, helping them share their expertise to build connections and drive meaningful impact. By embedding storytelling, visual identity, and participatory engagement into LIA, we created spaces where women’s expertise could be shared and felt. Through curated discussions and collective narratives, women across a dozen countries came together to amplify each other’s voices, transforming individual efforts into an entire movement. By prioritizing systems thinking, collaboration, and experimentation, we turned shared stories and strategies into lasting engagement and meaningful change.
Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you share a pivotal moment in your career when you realized the importance of creating a burnout-free workplace culture? How did it influence your approach to leadership?
One of the most eye-opening moments in my career came during an agile transformation initiative at a large-scale organization. They were high-performing on paper, but something was clearly off. During a retrospective exercise, one participant admitted, “I don’t even know if I care about the work anymore. I’m just trying to survive the next deadline.”
That moment was a wake-up call. People were delivering, but at the cost of their engagement, creativity, and well-being. It was more than one person reacting with honest emotion — it was a systemic problem. Agile was meant to be about sustainability, but we had created an environment of perpetual urgency.
This realization fundamentally shifted my approach to leadership. Instead of focusing solely on execution, I started asking, “Are we prioritizing output over outcomes? Are we creating space for deep thinking and innovation, or just sprinting toward the bottom line?”
Since then, I’ve prioritized flow over frantic productivity, emphasizing WIP limits, psychological safety, and clear objectives. A burnout-free culture means people’s time and energy are spent on the work that moves the needle. When people have the cognitive space to think, reflect, and recharge, they deliver real value.
What are some of the most common causes of burnout in today’s workplaces, and what signs should leaders look out for in their teams?
Burnout in today’s workplaces is more than just working long hours — it’s unrealistic workloads, lack of autonomy, excessive meetings, and unrecognized contributions. Watch for signs like cynicism, chronic exhaustion, declining creativity, and quiet disengagement. Leadership must prioritize clear goals, sustainable workflows, and a culture of psychological safety. A burnout-free workplace protects employees as well as their ability to do consistently great work.
How do you personally balance the need to drive results with the need to ensure employee well-being?
Driving results and prioritizing employee well-being don’t have to be opposing forces. They can function interdependently. Sustainable success comes from creating an environment where people can do their best work without feeling burnt out. Allocating time for thoughtful work yields quality performance. When leaders design systems that support creativity, and recovery, employees feel valued and have the mental space to think strategically.
What role does communication play in creating a burnout-free workplace, and how can leaders foster open dialogue about mental health and work-life balance?
Communication is the foundation for transparency and trust — two key factors in avoiding burnout. Leaders must move beyond performative check-ins and create space for honest conversations about workload, mental health, and boundaries without fear of judgment or retaliation. This means normalizing discussions about capacity, setting clear expectations, and actively listening when employees raise concerns. As a leader I try to reinforce that rest and recovery are critical components to sustainable success.
What is your take on traditional corporate norms, like long working hours and “always-on” availability? Are these practices outdated, or do they still have a place in certain industries?
Long hours and constant availability reflect an outdated mindset that equates “time spent” with “value created.” Efficiency matters more than endless availability. High performance comes from the ability to disconnect and recharge. Burnout is a sign of inefficiency — not a badge of honor. It’s important that leaders shift from rewarding overwork to designing workplace cultures that maximize impact and respect boundaries, because the best work happens when people are energized, not exhausted.
Ok, let’s dig into actionable strategies. Based on your experience and research, can you share “5 Ways to Build a Burnout-Free Workplace Culture”? If you can, please include examples or stories for each.
- Prioritize Outcomes — Shift the focus from “how much we do” to “what impact we create,” ensuring employees work on high-value efforts that are meaningful to them.
- Set Clear Priorities — Reduce cognitive overload by aligning work with strategic goals, enforcing realistic workloads, and allowing time for focus without constant context-switching.
- Foster Psychological Safety — Create an environment where employees feel safe to voice concerns, push back on unrealistic expectations, and suggest process improvements without fear of backlash.
- Rethink Communication — Minimize unnecessary meetings, encourage asynchronous updates, and provide time for uninterrupted focus work to reduce mental fatigue.
- Normalize (and Model) Work-Life Balance — Leaders must set the example by respecting boundaries, promoting recovery time, and reinforcing that rest is an investment in long-term performance, not a luxury.
An initiative I introduced at the IRS, in partnership with the incoming CIO, uncovered the root causes of long-standing IT/business trust issues, shifting the focus from reactive responses to proactive problem-solving. I worked closely with leadership to define new principles and behavioral changes,foster psychological safety, and introduce new ways of working and communicating. This resulted in a sustainable culture shift and noticeable improvements in engagement.
What do you say to skeptics who believe that creating a burnout-free culture may come at the cost of productivity or profits?
A burnout-free culture is more than a tradeoff — it’s a competitive advantage. Burnout drains productivity. When people are energized, they stay engaged, think clearly, and do their best work, which benefits both employees and the bottom line.
Can you share a real-world example of a team or organization where prioritizing employee well-being led to unexpected or exceptional results?
When introducing AX’s Skyline initiative to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), I used it as both a metaphor and a framework to identify and visualize engagement gaps, so employees could see how their work was interconnected in delivering on the agency’s mission. By encouraging collaboration across historically siloed departments, we created a “From CMS, to CMS” approach, where cultural and engagement best practices were shared through actionable playbooks. Monthly sessions, initially designed for 25–50 participants, organically grew to 200–300 through word-of-mouth, showing that when people feel connected and valued, engagement and impact follow.
How can leaders in high-pressure industries (like tech, finance, or healthcare) realistically apply these principles without falling behind on deadlines or performance goals?
Fundamentally, leaders need to value their people and then act in alignment with that value. Leaders in high-pressure industries can integrate well-being into performance by prioritizing clear goals, limiting unnecessary work-in-progress, and designing workflows that support focus over exhaustion.
What trends or innovations are you seeing in workplace well-being and culture that excite you the most?
I’m excited by the shift from performative well-being initiatives to systemic changes that prioritize sustainable work practices, psychological safety, and meaningful employee engagement. More organizations are recognizing that well-being isn’t a perk — it’s an investment in your staff that directly impacts performance, idea generation, and retention.
In your opinion, how does a burnout-free culture impact a company’s long-term success, its relationships with employees, and even its customers?
A burnout-free culture is essential for sustaining high performance. Collaboration enhances efficiency and fosters camaraderie, while engagement strengthens loyalty and boosts customer satisfaction. Your employees are the backbone of your organization — when they feel appreciated, energized, and driven by purpose, the result is lower turnover and higher productivity.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement to help more companies embrace burnout-free workplace cultures, what would it be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Open and honest discussions among team members, including management, about which tasks are truly necessary and which are not. Most importantly, identifying work that can be eliminated altogether!
How can our readers further follow you online?
https://www.cultural-cartography.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mappedbyleila/
This was great. Thank you so much for the time you spent sharing with us.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator.
Leila Rao of Cultural Cartography On How the World’s Best Leaders Build Burnout-Free Workplace… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.