Episode 2

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Published on:

4th Dec 2025

Ep 2 - Soft Burnout - When You’re Fine on the Outside, Empty on the Inside

with Alec Pearson, Tiffany Barnard & Nick Sellers.

Soft burnout doesn’t look dramatic — which is why so many leaders miss it. You’re still performing, still meeting deadlines, still showing up… but inside, something feels heavier. Flatter. As if you’re dragging yourself through the day and slowly disconnecting from the things that once gave you energy.

In this conversation, Alec, Tiffany and Nick explore:

• what soft burnout actually is (and why it’s often invisible)

• why high performers and perfectionists are especially vulnerable

• how stress creates “fog” that narrows your perspective

• the role of boundaries, overcommitment and fear of judgement

• why people often make the wrong life changes when burnout hits

• how to notice the early signs in yourself and in your team

This episode blends personal insight, psychological clarity and lived experience. Whether you’re feeling a little off, running on fumes, or leading people who may be struggling quietly, this conversation will help you recognise what’s happening beneath the surface — and what small shifts can start to make a difference.

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About the Podcast

Beyond Leading

Beyond Leading explores leadership as it really happens. Across self, teams, organisations and the boardroom. Decisions, pressures and situations that rarely fit neatly into a framework. Hosted by Executive Coach & Non-Executive Director Alec Pearson.

Leadership is never only about the leader.

Beyond Leading is for people who want to understand what is really going on when leadership gets complicated — when teams get stuck, decisions aren't clear, businesses change, relationships become difficult or the usual leadership advice simply isn't enough.

Hosted by executive coach and Non-Executive Director Alec Pearson, the podcast explores the whole leadership system — from self-awareness, confidence and behaviour, through trust, conflict and team dynamics, to decision-making, accountability, organisational performance, executive leadership and the boardroom.

Each episode is designed to make you think differently about the situations you are dealing with. Not by offering another neat five-step formula, but by looking beneath the surface, challenging assumptions and asking the questions that are easy to miss.

Through solo episodes and conversations with leaders, business owners, coaches and specialists, Beyond Leading helps you make better sense of yourself, your team and the organisation around you.

Because what happens in one part of the system rarely stays there.

🎙 Beyond Leading — and everything in between.

About your host

Alec Pearson

I'm Alec Pearson, Non-Executive Director, Board Advisor and Executive Coach, with more than 30 years' experience across professional services, law, technology, manufacturing, transport and founder-led SMEs.

I've spent much of my career working in and around leadership, leading teams, advising businesses, coaching senior leaders and working with boards on the decisions, relationships and challenges that shape organisations.

Today, I work with boards, executives and business leaders when the stakes are higher, the answers are less obvious and clarity matters. My approach combines independent board-level thinking with a coaching lens: pragmatic, people-aware, challenging when needed, and grounded in the realities of leadership and business.

Beyond Leading grew out of that experience.

It's the podcast I wish had existed earlier in my career. One that looks beyond leadership theory and explores what is really happening across the whole leadership system: ourselves, the people around us, our teams, our organisations and the boardroom.

Some episodes are reflections on the patterns I see in leadership and business. Others bring together leaders, business owners, coaches and specialists with experience and perspectives worth exploring.

The aim is not to offer another neat leadership formula. It's to ask better questions, challenge assumptions and make sense of the situations that rarely fit neatly into a framework.

That's what Beyond Leading is about — leadership as it really happens, and everything in between.