#23: Lonely at the Top? Overcoming Leadership Burnout and Isolation
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
Release Date: 09/08/2025
#44: Why Your Team Gets Quiet When You Walk In
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
Are They Underperforming…or Are You Over-Influencing? Have you ever walked into a meeting and felt the energy subtly change? The agenda stays the same—but suddenly people speak more carefully. Ideas slow down. Decisions start drifting toward you. To most leaders, this feels like respect. But what if it’s actually hesitation—and what if your presence is the reason? As one powerful truth from this episode reveals: “Leadership presence is never neutral.” In this episode of MPWR, Eric Pfeiffer and his co-host explore a leadership dynamic that quietly undermines team performance...
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#43: If They Keep Coming to You for Everything, This Is Why—and How to Fix It
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
Why does your team keep coming to you for every answer—and why does it feel so exhausting? In this episode of the MPWR Podcast, Eric and Dawn unpack one of the most subtle leadership traps: confusing helpfulness with effectiveness. When leaders default to solving problems, giving quick answers, and removing uncertainty, work may move faster in the moment—but long-term growth quietly stalls. This conversation explores why over-functioning leaders unintentionally create dependent teams, how certainty and responsibility migrate upward, and why many leaders become the bottleneck without...
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#42: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: The Shift Required for Your Next Level
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
You don’t hit a plateau because you’re failing; you hit it because you’ve outgrown the version of yourself that got you here. In this episode of the MPWR Podcast, we unpack one of the most challenging truths in leadership, business, and personal growth: the habits, mindsets, and strategies that created your current success may now be the very things holding you back. This conversation explores the invisible ceilings leaders face when they rely on outdated patterns, over-optimize comfort, or mistake consistency for growth. The next level doesn’t require more effort—it requires...
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#41: The Ripple Effects of Underdeveloped Leadership — Part 2
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
The Ripple Effects of Underdeveloped Leadership (Part 2) In Part 2 of this conversation, we go deeper into what really happens when leadership development stalls—and why the consequences rarely stay contained. Most leaders don’t realize this until it’s already shaping their teams: what goes undeveloped internally begins to ripple outward. Emotional intelligence gaps, unregulated stress, and inconsistent leadership behaviors quietly influence communication, trust, psychological safety, and culture. In this episode, we explore two critical ripple effects of underdeveloped...
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#40: How Underdeveloped Leadership Spreads: From Your Inner World to Company Culture— Part 1
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
The Ripple Effects of Underdeveloped Leadership Most leadership breakdowns don’t begin with obvious mistakes. They begin quietly—inside the leader. In this episode of MPWR, we explore a reality many leaders don’t recognize until it’s already shaping their culture, communication, and results: the ripple effects of underdeveloped leadership. Last week’s conversation focused on what it feels like when leaders get stuck. This episode takes that insight further by examining what happens next—when internal tension, unaddressed growth edges, or outdated leadership strategies begin to move...
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#39: Why Leaders Feel Stuck And Why Pushing Harder Makes It Worse
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
Why Leaders Feel Stuck (And Why Pushing Harder Makes It Worse) There’s a moment in leadership most leaders don’t prepare for. You’re experienced. Capable. Proven. The strategy is sound. The team is strong. And yet, progress feels heavier than it should. What once moved quickly now requires more effort. Decisions take longer. Momentum feels harder to sustain; not because you’ve lost discipline or drive, but because something deeper is shifting. For high-level leaders, the instinct is almost automatic: push harder. Apply more pressure. Increase output. Demand more from yourself...
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#38: We Promote People Because They Perform But Rarely Prepare Them to Lead (And How to Fix It)
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
We promote people because they perform, but we rarely prepare them to lead. There’s a quiet epidemic happening inside organizations—and it isn’t burnout, turnover, or lack of talent. It’s underdeveloped leadership. In this episode of the MPWR Podcast, we unpack why high performers are so often promoted into leadership roles without the skills, tools, or support required to lead well—and why this gap doesn’t always show up as failure right away. Instead, it hides behind busyness, temporary results, and “getting by” until pressure exposes the cracks. You’ll hear why...
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#37: Leadership Hot Seat: Eric Answers Your Top Questions About Influence & Culture
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
Executive Q&A: Leading with Trust, Clarity, and Strategic Coaching In this executive-focused Q&A session, Eric Pfeiffer, CEO of MPWR Coaching, and Dawn Neldon, Director of Content, address some of the most pressing challenges facing today’s senior leaders: earning trust, strengthening team alignment, and developing people to perform at a higher level. Together, they deliver an elevated conversation designed for CEOs, founders, and executives who are responsible for driving culture, shaping organizational performance, and leading through complexity. This episode provides strategic...
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#36: Leadership Q&A Every High Performer Needs to Hear
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
The Questions That Build Better Leaders In this special Q&A episode of the MPWR Podcast, Eric and Dawn pull back the curtain on the real-world pressures leaders are facing today—and the practical tools they use to stay grounded, focused, and effective. This conversation goes deeper than the typical leadership advice. It’s raw, honest, and rooted in lived experience from decades of coaching high-performing executives, entrepreneurs, and teams. Across fast-moving industries and unpredictable environments, leaders everywhere are asking the same urgent questions: How do I lead well...
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#35: Grateful Leadership: The Evidence-Based Strategy That Builds Stronger Teams
MPWR Podcast | Become The Leader YOU Want To Follow
How Gratitude Transforms Workplace Culture (Even Under Pressure) In today’s episode of the MPWR Podcast, we explore one of the most underestimated yet transformational forces in leadership: gratitude. Not the soft, surface-level kind that shows up in holiday emails or employee appreciation week—but the kind of gratitude that shapes culture, stabilizes teams, and strengthens leaders under the real pressures of modern work. Leadership today is harder than ever. Expectations are higher, pressure is constant, and team dynamics shift faster than most leaders can keep up with. But...
info_outlineFeeling the Weight of Leadership: Why Going It Alone Leads to Burnout
Leadership is rewarding but it can also feel unbearably heavy. In this episode of the MPWR Podcast, we dive into the hidden cost of leadership: the loneliness that comes when we try to carry it all ourselves. From decision-making and conflict to team dynamics and future planning, leaders often fall into the trap of believing they must hold everything together on their own. That mindset not only exhausts us, it diminishes the potential of the very teams we’re trying to lead.
If you’ve ever thought, “It all falls on me. I’m the only one who can do it,” this episode is for you.
We’ve heard it from leaders across industries: the burden of responsibility creates a unique kind of isolation. But loneliness in leadership isn’t just about being physically alone—it’s about choosing to lead in isolation instead of collaboration.
As we unpack this challenge, we reveal the subtle shifts that can turn heavy responsibility into shared ownership. Because the truth is, when leaders hold everything close, they rob their teams of opportunities to grow and contribute. As one line from this episode reminds us:
“When we start believing that we’re the only one who can do it all, we miss the opportunities to develop others.”
That belief doesn’t just weigh leaders down—it stunts the potential of entire organizations.
But there’s another way forward. This episode explores how leaders can:
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Recognize the signs of burnout before it derails effectiveness.
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Shift from carrying the team to leading with the team.
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Build confidence in delegation, trust, and shared responsibility.
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Create space for growth—both for yourself and those you lead.
True leadership isn’t about holding every ball in the air—it’s about empowering others to juggle with you. One of the most powerful reflections from this episode is:
“Leadership does carry a unique weight of responsibility. But when you carry it alone, that weight becomes unbearable.”
And here’s the reframe:
“The best leaders aren’t the ones who do it all—they’re the ones who build others to rise with them.”
That’s the path to sustainable leadership, and the antidote to loneliness.
If you’ve been feeling the crushing weight of leadership, this episode offers a reminder: you don’t have to carry it all. You don’t have to lead in isolation.
👉 Listen now to MPWR Podcast and discover how to share the weight, develop your team, and lead with confidence without burning out. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a leader in your circle who might need this encouragement today.
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