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Over 15 years of working with leaders, Ive noticed a clear pattern: Burnout often stems from what I call the Superman leadership style. Many cultures hold tightly to this image of a leader as strong, confident, and capable of fixing anything. This ideal isnt just a societal expectationits one that leaders impose on themselves. But striving to be a “Superman” leader is a recipe for burnout, because it’s both unrealistic and unattainable. Burnout, as highlighted by the World Health Organization, is an occupational phenomenon. Its marked by exhaustion, reduced professional effectiveness, and a sense of detachment from ones work. And leaders that fit the Superman mold are more prone to these symptoms because of the unrelenting pressure they face on a daily basis. Through my work with burned-out leaders, Ive identified three internal taboos that often define this Superman style of leadership. These operate beneath the surface but have a significant impact. Recognizing and challenging them could be the first step toward a more sustainable approach to leadership. 1. The taboo against not knowing Superman rules dictate that leaders must always have the answers. A senior executive I worked with felt overwhelmed when her team, going through challenges, experienced significant anxiety and looked to her for guarantees that everything would turn out fine. Adding to the burden, higher-ups also placed similar expectations on her. Over time, she realized that much of her burnout stemmed from trying to project certainty in situations where there was none, especially in a fast-changing environment. She reflected, I thought I was being paid to know the answers. I felt I had to act like I knew because thats how I understood my role. Another leader shared: I feel like I have to know what to do in every situation. Admitting I dont know feels like failing. This taboo pressures leaders to constantly appear in control, but false certainty in such an unpredictable world is dangerous. As award-winning author Maggie Jackson noted in her book Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure, that you need to embrace uncertainty during times of flux and a remarkable antidote to narrow-mindedness. 2. The taboo against losing control Imagine a doctor claiming they could cure every patient, no matter the circumstances. Absurd, right? Yet many leaders take on a similar mindset, believing they need to control every outcome to prove their worth. One executive I worked with shared: When two key team members left in one month, I couldnt stop blaming myself. If something goes wrong, its always my fault. The Superman mindset requires leaders to maintain tight control over their teams, their processes, and their outcomes. It creates an illusion that youre responsible for everything, even if circumstances are beyond your control. These kinds of leaders see mistakes, failures, and setbacks as personal flaws. Another leader I coached described how he felt after a product launch failed due to market conditions: I couldnt shake the feeling that it was my fault, even though our data showed the market just wasnt ready. When leaders cling to the illusion of control, their teams become less proactive, waiting for orders rather than taking initiative. A simple exercise of distinguishing whats within their control and what isnt can help leaders release unnecessary pressure and empower their teams. 3. The taboo against vulnerability One leader put it bluntly: If you want to climb the ladder, you keep your problems to yourself. Superman leaders believe they need to appear fine at all times, they need to be confident, energized, and unshakable. Vulnerability and mental health remain taboo topics for many leaders, despite growing awareness of their importance. But keeping up appearances comes at a cost. Leaders who bottle up their struggles often miss out on the trust and connection that come from being open and authentic. Melissa Doman, in her book Yes, You Can Talk About Mental Health at Work, pushes back against the outdated belief that mental health issues are purely personal and dont belong at work. She argues that mental health should be treated just like physical health, and its crucial to break the stigma surrounding mental health discussions at the office. A VP I worked with struggled to connect with her team until she shared a personal story about navigating a difficult divorce and the emotional toll it took on her. Her openness transformed her teams perception of her. One team member later told her, It was the first time I saw you as a real person. The impact of Superman leadership Heres the reality: Superman leaders thrive on the outside but struggle on the inside. They operate at maximum energy output, depleting their resources quickly. And its not just about their personal well-being. Superman leaders often stifle their teams without realizing it. By taking on all the responsibility and keeping everything tightly controlled, they create an environment where others are afraid to take risks, propose new ideas, or admit mistakes. Another perspective on leadership Burnout doesnt have to be the cost of leadership. Leaders who let go of these taboosadmitting when they dont know everything, accepting that not everything is within their control, and embracing vulnerabilityoften find themselves leading with more energy, clarity, and effectiveness. If youve been operating as a Superman leader, consider reflecting on the following questions: Is all this pressure really necessary? Chances are, some of it is self-imposed and entirely avoidable. What would happen if you let go of whats no longer serving you? After all, leadership isnt about being Superman. Its about creating a sustainable approach that empowers both you and your team to thrive.
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Now this is a Lego set suitable for framing. Soon Lego will release an artful 2,615-piece set based on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which has the original work in its permanent collection. Theres no oil paint required for this rendition, though: The Lego set has enough blocks to make 16 sunflowers with adjustable petals, plus a tile with Van Goghs signature and a removable frame. The set is currently available for preorder for $199.99 and will ship starting March 1. Lego’s Amsterdam store and the Van Gogh Museum will permanently display sets of their own beginning March 1 as well. [Photo: Lego] Working with the museum helped Lego designers delve into the details of the 1889 painting, according to designer Stijn Oom. One of the greatest challenges they faced was re-creating the “impasto effect,” wherein Van Gogh heavily layered on paint. Indeed, the Lego version pops in 3D. “We are incredibly proud of the result and hope our fans enjoy building it as much as we enjoyed bringing Van Goghs masterpiece to life,” Oom said. Lego partnered with the museum for a podcast episode that will be available in March about Van Gogh and the creation of the Lego “Sunflowers” set, so builders can learn about the painting’s history while assembling the piece brick by brick. [Photo: Lego] “We hope this Lego set will inspire and engage new audiences with the art and life story of Vincent van Gogh,” Rob Groot, the museum’s managing director, said in a statement. The set is Lego’s latest foray into the world of art history. Last year, the toy maker turned Van Gogh’s Starry Night into a 2,316-piece set, and it’s also made sets of Art Hokusais The Great Wave, Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa, and Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture, as well a detailed re-creation of the Notre Dame Cathedral. In recent years Lego has leaned into more complexand priceytoys and sets aimed at adults, including collections based on outside intellectual property, like Marvel and Star Wars, to grow its customer base and bottom line. Legos aren’t just for kids’ toy bins anymore. You can literally hang them on your walls.
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When I recently needed to find a last-minute place to stay for a week in Palo Alto, I picked one of the cheapest options on Airbnb: a 13-by-13 foot tiny house. Inside, the main living area was smaller than a parking space. Still, it had room for everything you might find in a typical studio apartment. Along the back, a tiny loveseat disguised a Murphy bed that could be pulled down from the wall; the coffee table was exactly the right size to move to the opposite side of the room when it was time to use the bed. On the other side of the house, there was a minuscule kitchen with a tiny fridge, a two-burner stove, and a sink, next to a semi-normal-sized bathroom with a shower. [Photo: courtesy Kithaus] The home is the smallest ADU, or backyard house, made by a prefab company called KitHAUS. (The company also makes even smaller units, without kitchens or bathrooms, that can be used as home offices or art studios.) The size makes it more likely to be used as a guest house. But its also one example of an ADU that could be built relatively quickly and affordably to help tackle the housing crisisincluding in L.A., where the city needed hundreds of thousands of new units even before the fires destroyed thousands of homes. The 169-square-foot version of the house starts at only $80,000, and can be built in around a week. Adding a foundation and doing the other prep work needed to install the prefab building adds another 15% to the cost. In total, the size makes it less expensive than building a typical ADU. View this post on Instagram A post shared by kitHAUS (@kithaus) The company also makes larger (and pricier) versions with one or two bedrooms. In L.A., they could be used in two ways. It could be a temporary spacein the Palisades, if someones going to rebuild their home, we may be able to have a prefab building like a KitHAUS in the burn areas, says Tom Sandonato, cofounder of the company. The units are made from aluminum and other fire-rated materials, which makes them safer in a wildfire, though not completely fireproof; some ADUs that the company previously built in Altadena and Pacific Palisades were lost in the recent fires. Like other ADUs, the designs can also be used to quickly add new backyard units in cities like L.A. that dont have enough apartment buildings. [Photo: courtesy Kithaus] The version that I stayed in was a tight squeeze. But that was partly because of the furniture and layout. The combination bed-sofa that the owner had chosen was difficult to wrangle: Since all of the cushions had to be removed from the sofa to pull down the bedand the bedding had to be taken off to fold the bed back onto the wall to unveil the sofaI didnt end up bothering to switch it back and forth. The bed took up most of the floor space. But as I perched on a tiny chair and surveyed the room, I could envision how different furniture could have made the space more functional; a regular bed would have worked better than a Murphy bed, for example, despite the fact that the Murphy bed was designed to save room. I was working remotely from the tiny cottage. But for someone who spends long hours at a job somewhere else and often goes out at night, its possible to imagine that 169 square feet could be enough space. At the property where I stayed, there was a a private patio that was larger than the tiny house itself. Thanks to the fact that Palo Altos weather is 70 degrees and sunny for much of the year, it was effectively an extra room. [Photo: courtesy Kithaus] L.A. has been trying to push residents to build more backyard houses for a decade, with help from state laws that loosened zoning restrictions. Last year, more than a third of the new houses built in L.A. County were ADUs. Current ADUs are already helping house some Angelenos who lost their homes in the fires. Now, Sandonato is hoping that the city will help streamline permitting more to make ADUs even easier to build. One of the KitHAUS designs, for example, could potentially be pre-permitted to speed up the process.
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