Burnt Out to Lit Up: How Epic Mentor Daisy Auger-Domínguez is Lighting Up Leaders at Every Level
You know her from watching her lead at companies like Google, The Walt Disney Company and VICE Media. You've read her stellar insight about dismantling workplace racial inequity in Inclusion Revolution, and I was over the moon grateful for her wise words to girls in The Epic Mentor Guide. Now, Daisy Auger-Domínguez (she/her/ella) is launching a brand new book about burnout called Burnt Out to Lit Up...and its buzz could light the world.
What is it? A roadmap. A blueprint. A compass and a bible designed to help a modern-day workforce conquer the chaos of burnout and reclaim our love of leading.
When is it releasing? September 18th and not a moment too soon.
Who is it for? Everyone - from the senior c-suite officers to managers, their teams and junior employees looking for their desks on day one.
How do I know? I was lucky enough to get the inside scoop directly from Daisy a week before Burnt Out to Lit Up hits shelves. Below is an edited version of Être's recent interview with this epic author - full of joy and genuine advice that can only come from a leader like Daisy who knows.
Feeling like burnout has been holding you back? Do we have a book for you...
Ê: Hi! OK, so your first book Inclusion Revolution was amazing, and we felt like it came along at exactly the right time. Now you are doing it again! Why do you think your new book Burnt Out to Lit Up is so precisely meeting a moment?
DA: It's wild! As you know, you start writing books nearly a year or so before they actually hit the bookshelf. So over a year ago when I looked around, what I saw everyone experiencing - and was experiencing myself - I started calling collective exhaustion.
“Everybody around me was just tired and tense...and I felt like I wasn’t just burnt out, but I was actually burnt crispy. Like if you touched me, I would fall apart.”
I wanted to figure out : Where can I find my spark again? Where do I find joy again? Because I used to - I used to love my work. It was that exploration that led me to write the book and, over the course of the past year researching and writing, I feel like it's now meeting the moment by sharing experiences that all of us are having.
Ê: You're right - this feels universal! Was there one moment, in particular, at work that was the catalyst for you? Where you thought - yup, right now, I am writing this book?
DA: There were several, really. In the introduction of the book I talk about the fallout from the VICE bankruptcy, and that even though I had previously decided to leave the organization I stayed to help my team through the transition process.
“The beginning of the book speaks to how low and painful it was to go through - to think wait a second, I still need to get people to the other side of this - and the need to lead with strength through it.”
Other examples I share throughout the book talk about the day-to-day exhaustion. Managing global teams across 20-plus countries and multiple time zones, a crisis every hour of the hour, the constant attack on my nerves and on everyone else's nerves...all led to feeling the weight of an extreme burden and the certainty that others were feeling it too.
Ê: They were! Maybe that's why the book also feels so optimistic! Like there is life and joy on the other side of things, once we are no longer crispy?
DA: Absolutely! There is so much joy and renewed purpose to be found at every stage of work - at every level.
Ê: Even for the next generation - those just stepping into first jobs - I feel like this book could be a bible for them! How do you take this wealth of hard-won information and ensure that new members of the workforce also find joy and avoid burnout?
DA: I often get asked, your books are about leadership, but what about those who aren't leading yet? I feel like this book is a blueprint for those who aspire to lead someday. For this younger generation, and I speak about it in the book, burnout doesn't just start at work. For most of us, it starts in our childhood.
“The messages we hear and the patterns we start developing carry forward, and the pressure can mount. For me, it was about being a good kid - being a good girl, smiling, taking on, you know, others pain and not sharing my own.”
Those became patterns that manifested, not just in my personal relationships, but in my professional work. So, for those younger folks who are reading this book, my ask and, frankly, my hope and my dream is that you use the learnings to start engaging in that self reflection now; get into those deep-seated patterns that lead to exhaustion and depletion and stop them.
Ê: Oh we love that! On the flip side, what do you want companies to be thinking about when they pick up this book, and why should they be giving it to all of their employees?
DA: It's funny, because in the book, I speak about burning burnout being a systemic failure (and it is), but what I also write about is the agency that we each have to take care of ourselves. I'm not going to wait until the system fixes itself for me to take care of myself and make sure that I'm filling my cup so that I can fill others cups, right?
“That’s the definition of a servant leader - I lead because I want to help. I want to advance others.”
So the message for companies and organizations, then, is: How can we think about work differently? How do we become more intentional? If we say our people matter, then show them. If we say that our products matter, well, show them. Because, guess what - when you have a group of depleted, exhausted folks, they're not going to create or perform at their best. They're not going to be efficient.
You know what the best shortcut for efficiency is? A happy, productive team. They will get things done and they will not miss deadlines. They will not make mistakes that come from exhaustion. Taking care of people's well-being? That's the greatest efficiency hack.
Ê: That should literally go on a t-shirt! OK, last question: What's your favorite way to describe this book to others?
DA: I think of this book as a no nonsense love letter to managers and aspiring managers! I hope that when you pick it up and open it anywhere, there is an ah-ha moment that helps you think differently the next time you go to work.
I couldn't agree more.
With ah-ha moments aplenty and mentors like Eve Rodsky, Reshma Saujani, Robyn Moreno and Joanna Barsh chiming in, Burnt Out to Lit Up is the book managers will rely on and the blueprint that junior teams will pass back and forth.
As I've watched Être girls meet leaders over the years, I've been fond of saying: Leaders aren't lucky...they're ready.
Burnt Out to Lit Up is a book that will make leaders everywhere ready.
And I cannot wait to watch.
Looking forward,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three places you'll be able to catch Daisy Auger-Domínguez (she/her/ella) in person as she launches Burnt Out to Lit Up this week & next: Tomorrow (9/10) on a LinkedIn Live with Claudia Romo Edelman right here; Thursday (9/12) in conversation with How Women Lead here; and next Tuesday (9/17) on a LinkedIn Live with Shelmina Babai Abji here. Need more? Future book events can be found over here.
