An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Keep your employees inspired. If they have off-the-clock passions you know about, invest in those. We have worked with PR professionals who write for a living, but always dreamed of selling a novel. Hiring a writing coach to work with them during work hours shows that employee that you care about their passions and are willing to invest in them.
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 Josh Boardman.
Josh Boardman is a writer and the Founder of Hewes House, a writing organization with the aim of elevating aspiring writers of all ages. He has worked as a writing coach and tutor in the elite spheres of New York City for the past 15 years, and his writing has appeared in numerous outlets, both online and in print.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
I’ve been a writer as long as I can remember — in elementary school I organized my classmates to write stories about their Beanie Babies, which I then published as the Big Book of Beanie Baby Stories. Encouraging and uplifting the writers around me has always been my objective. Through my twenties, I worked as an independent tutor and refused the call to involve more people in my business, and it wasn’t until my mid-thirties that I realized my goal of organizing a community of writers and running my own business could align. So I started Hewes House.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
Every time I meet a new client who has a dynamite idea for a book but doesn’t yet know how to execute it, I’m lucky to witness the process of their forcing their idea into concrete reality. The struggle of it, the hard work, the soul-searching and the joy. Watching a person write their first book will restore your faith in humanity. It’s worth it every time; I love my job because it makes it impossible for me to ignore the fruits of hard work and commitment.
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?
I consider my success in leadership to rest on three pillars:
1. My business is a reflection of me. There’s nothing worse in the creative space than a boring provider. As a creative person, I make choices in my writing that reflect my personality, and I run my business the same way. Our first website was a funky Squarespace template that we customized with opinionated images and copy and launched over the course of a few weeks, just to get us off the ground. The website wasn’t perfect, maybe it wasn’t even good, but it certainly had personality. When six months later we’d earned enough to hire a designer and impose a professional sheen on our new website, our conversions dropped. At first, we didn’t understand why. But in the intervening months, I’ve picked away at the new website piece by piece, finally creating something that feels genuinely mine. Immediately we saw results.
2. Directed obsession. It’s easy to fall down rabbit holes when you run a business, spending weeks on writing copy for a new landing page or obsessing daily over analytics and optimization for a new advertising campaign. But the measure of a successful business leader isn’t how many different jobs they can tackle at once, it’s the speed with which they’re able to achieve their top priority. I’ve had to turn down excellent opportunities because, at that moment, maybe I have a conference coming that I need to design promotional material for. If I had infinite time, I would do both, but a finite work day means becoming familiar with the phrase: This is great, but it’s not my priority today.
3. Honesty and transparency in communication. When conflicts arise that need addressing, it’s always the right decision to talk it out. When one of my employees asks for more work but struggles with retention, it’s my job to go through the numbers with them person-to-person (no texts, phone calls at a minimum!) and discuss what I can do to help them achieve their own goals. As a leader, it’s my job to bring out the best in them. If I don’t make my expectations clear, then how can I expect them to figure it out?
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?
It was the middle of Covid. I was managing a team of 25 coaches, each of whom had their unique conflicts, confusions, and desires with their roster of clients. My writing was suffering as I was spending all my time putting out fires, responding to emails, and generally giving myself to others. Of course, this wasn’t sustainable. I had to put systems into place that would prioritize my own creative wellbeing so that I could bring the best version of myself to my clients. I set aside time in the morning to write, committed to working on my novel rain or shine, and today have a creative practice that ensures I’m nourished for the hard days of work that are to come. I say the solution to burnout isn’t less work, it’s more fulfilling work. I always give my employees opportunities to take self-directed risks, make sure I keep the amount of rote bullshit to a minimum, and support them when their ambitious risks don’t pay off. I LOVE it when my people “fail up.” These personal connections as well as fostering the space for creative self expression has been invaluable to my company’s long-term success.
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?
People burn out when they’re uninspired or when their work leeches from important personal pursuits. Look for distracted employees, people who aren’t able to maintain focus on tasks or conversions, people who are chronically late or absent. Especially be on the lookout for once-outgoing people who have become shy and introverted. Don’t shy away from hard conversations! Excited, fulfilled people bring that energy to their work.
How do you personally balance the need to drive results with the need to ensure employee well-being?
I think the setup of this question is misleading — results and employee wellbeing aren’t opposed forces, and the choices business leaders should make are those that increase both results AND employee wellbeing. Investing in the fulfillment of the people who work with you is the surest path forward to better results, even if it doesn’t seem like it at the moment. Will it be better for the bottom line to fly your employee to the conference and put them up with lodging and a per diem so they can immerse themselves in an atmosphere of their peers? Not immediately, not even in the monthly spending analysis. But by keeping employees inspired, you open up new opportunities in the future — through the connections they make, projects they undertake on their own, and the relationships you build together.
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?
Transparent unfiltered communication is key! The more your team can feel that they’re dealing with an actual human with their own life and dreams and difficulties the more they will be open with you, and this mutual openness drives a more inspiring workplace environment. You don’t have to go full Michael Scott on your coworkers, but it’s always positive to open up about the personal projects that are exciting or challenging you, and ask about theirs.
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?
Two things can be true at the same time: one, we need to be prompt and solve problems for our clients and coworkers as soon as we can; two, there needs to be room for our personal lives so a delay in response doesn’t cause immediate, unwarranted frustration. Both things grow from a respect for one another’s time. If we can instill confidence in one another’s competence and goodwill, we can make room for friendlier relations that don’t require people to be “always on,” or working at one’s beck and call.
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.
1. Keep your employees inspired. If they have off-the-clock passions you know about, invest in those. We have worked with PR professionals who write for a living, but always dreamed of selling a novel. Hiring a writing coach to work with them during work hours shows that employee that you care about their passions and are willing to invest in them.
2. Engage in meaningful communication. Don’t drag them to meetings for vague purposes — but when you interface with employees, ask them about their lives, then really listen. Don’t be afraid to open up yourself. Business is always personal, and if you learn that somebody who works for you keeps horses, you’ll be better able to understand their emotional state when you find out that they have to visit the vet one morning instead of attending the weekly check-in.
3. Delegate based on passion. If you can find it in your budget to pad an employee’s hours with extra work, consider delegating specific jobs based on what you know about them. When I needed to write an extensive chunk of copy for our new website, I asked one of my employees who had copywriting experience if they had some extra time to assist me. I simultaneously reinforced our relationship over the one-on-one work we performed together and projected that this employee is needed and valued.
4. Encourage expression. Sometimes employees are understandably nervous when talking with bosses or managers. It’s your job as their superior to relate to them through the power barrier and get to know them as people. If you can convince a coworker that you’re their ally (and if you really behave that way), you’re on your way to a more dynamic workplace — and one with less burnout.
5. Play while you work! This one is intangible, but as a business owner, you pilot the ship. Businesses that are run in good spirit rather than constantly submitting to drudge work have better cultures, and these good vibes radiate outward to potential clients. If you can’t make yourself laugh, then your employees won’t find anything fun or funny about their jobs. This is especially true about remote work — boring and isolating jobs don’t stick.
What do you say to skeptics who believe that creating a burnout-free culture may come at the cost of productivity or profits?
Business owners should never think of their employees in terms of numbers, stats, or names on a page — it’s a worldview that hurts the bottom line. Companies that stay together foster expertise, in turn driving more efficient labor. That means lower turnover, fewer resources spent on patching up holes left by people’s absence, and a stronger, more robust business overall. Invest in fundamentals — your employees are the body of your company, and keeping them happy and healthy is akin to going to the gym.
Can you share a real-world example of a team or organization where prioritizing employee well-being led to unexpected or exceptional results?
I can only think of my own team, which is small but bonded through years of personal relationships. Our first year of operations exceeded everybody’s expectations in our sector of business. I’m so proud of my people and I’m always looking for opportunities to share them with the world!
How can leaders in high-pressure industries (like tech, finance, or healthcare) realistically apply these principles without falling behind on deadlines or performance goals?
As a writer and editor, I can understand high-pressure in the sense that all writers consider their projects to be their babies, and as their hired coaches and editors, we have to tread carefully. But when lives and livelihoods are on the line, even more care must be taken to make sure employees are fresh for their shifts. If you’re afraid that investing in your employees’ wellbeing is going to hurt your ability to make deadlines, consider the emergencies that will occur (not maybe, definitely!) with future burnout. Human connection and inspiration is essential for all industries. When the pressure is on, your employee will appreciate their time at home working on their passions even more — and in turn, will return to work even better equipped to deal with their high-pressure work environments.
What trends or innovations are you seeing in workplace well-being and culture that excite you the most?
More and more clients are coming to Hewes House with professional development budgets they want to spend on writing coaching and editing, and to me, the trust their employers are showing to encourage their creative development outside the workplace is exciting. A blank-check budget for development exhibits that these companies understand their employees are full human beings with passions and interests that need to be nurtured. They aren’t just willing to grant PTO to get employees away from their primary stressors, but exhibit a proactive desire to inspire their employees’ activities. The fact that these people can choose where to direct their own development funds demonstrates a trust that underlies healthy professional relationships.
In your opinion, how does a burnout-free culture impact a company’s long-term success, its relationships with employees, and even its customers?
I’ve touched on this before, but companies with longstanding, happy staff, low turnover, and positive work cultures are more resilient to the challenges that day-to-day business entails. Burnout is the leading driver of rising wage and recruitment costs, as efficiency, attendance, and retention sink with morale. Your employees’ happiness is a key indicator of the health of your business — and your long-term success.
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. 🙂
We need to invest in liberal arts education! In the current moment, our education system skews STEM because these fields entail jobs, which entail future good pay. Especially when it comes to burnout, we understand today that good pay does not necessarily mean stability. The focus on math and science, while important fields in themselves, betrays a viewpoint too prevalent in the business world — the privileging of numbers over intangibles. Liberal arts education and the humanities train elastic thought: in various contexts, flexibility, resilience, and problem solving skills. All of these are qualities every recruitment officer wants in their applicants. Companies who invest in this sort of education for their employees will reap the same rewards. If your employees express an interest in writing or creative arts, encourage them! These are the intangible skills that make the most valuable employees.
How can our readers further follow you online?
You can find Hewes House at https://www.heweshouse.com, where you can schedule a free consultation with me if you or anyone on your team has ever expressed an interest in writing. I’d be honored to watch them grow their first book. You can find my writing at https://www.joshboardman.com, and I share random thoughts and slides at Bluesky and Instagram.
This was great. Thank you so much for the time you spent sharing with us.
Thank you so much, Chad!
Josh Boardman of Hewes House On How the World’s Best Leaders Build Burnout-Free Workplace Cultures was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.