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When Shaoqing Sun founded C&C Reservoirs more than 30 years ago, he wanted to turn his passion for geology into a successful company.
“I gave my life to that business,” he says of C&C, a Texas-based energy technology company. “I was working 14 hours a day, seven days a week, and that drive made my company very successful.”
Dr. Sun’s demanding schedule extended to his staff and, in the early years, those who couldn’t keep up were let go, which he says led to high turnover.
After the first 10 years of pouring all his time and energy into the business, Dr. Sun says C&C Reservoirs hit a rough patch in 2006 following a lawsuit brought against the company over alleged IP infringement.
And because so much of his identity, self-worth and confidence was wrapped up in the business’s performance, so did he.
He burned out, in more ways than one: “My [experience] of burnout wasn’t just feeling tired,” he says. “My [experience] was literally losing my direction, purpose, everything.”
After taking eight years off, where he spent a lot of time reading, meditating and doing some self-reflection, Dr. Sun came to understand that his ego was driving his relentless leadership style.
“You can have short-term success, but it’s not sustainable – and that is the root cause of burnout,” says Dr. Sun, who recently published the book, From Burnout to Bliss.
High achievers are most at risk
Burnout affects all types of workers, but those who push themselves the hardest are often the most susceptible. Research into athletes and academics, for example, suggest those who strive for perfectionism are often higher achievers and more likely to experience burnout. Too often, these highly motivated, high performers don’t acknowledge the challenges that come with the pressures they put on themselves, until it’s too late.
Organizations that rely on the extra effort they provide may also be hesitant to step in, which experts say can lead to longer-term challenges for the employee and the employer.
“The research from all areas point toward highest performers being the type that burns out simply because they gave it their all and sometimes it was too much,” says Bonita Eby, a Kitchener, Ont.-based burnout prevention and organizational culture consultant. “Top performers are the ones who typically put in extra hours, push a little harder, don’t give up and then they’re of course the ones managers tend to give more work to.”
Ms. Eby says managers should be on the lookout for the World Health Organization’s three dimensions of burnout among staff – but especially top performers – which include exhaustion, cynicism and reduced professional efficacy.
“If someone is feeling exhausted, they might not tell you that, but they’ll take more sick days, they’ll show up late or leave early, they’re snapping at others or just not engaging,” Ms. Eby says. “The cynicism can start looking like negativity toward team members, managers, clients or even the organization. And if you feel negatively about your work, you’re not going to be performing as well.”
To try to prevent top talent from tipping into burnout territory, Ms. Eby recommends managers ask their workers a few key questions such as: “What aspects of your work do you find more challenging? What skills or training would benefit you most? What have you learned from a specific project? What would have helped you? What self-care are you implementing at work and outside of work?”
Of course, it’s not just high performers who struggle with burnout. A recent Robert Half Canada survey shows nearly two-thirds of professionals surveyed say they’re burned out at work, up from 47 per cent in 2024.
The survey also shows there are different causes. For example, 40 per cent of respondents said they are dealing with a heavier workload as a result of understaffing, 27 per cent feel stuck in their career because of a slow job market and 27 per cent say morale took a hit after recent restructuring or layoffs.
“The other shift we can’t ignore in the conversation as it relates to burnout is we’ve seen many organizations move their work model back to in-office, and that has an impact on work-life balance,” says Robert Half Canada’s managing director Deborah Bottineau.
Artificial intelligence can also contribute to burnout, Ms. Bottineau says, because it heightens expectations and can make workers feel insecure about their jobs.
With more workers struggling over all, Ms. Bottineau says high performers may be getting less help, which also leaves them more susceptible to burnout.
“There’s a tendency to focus on employees with the greatest performance gaps and perhaps the sentiment is ‘the top performers have it covered,’” she says. “When was the last time that you sat down and had a conversation with [your top performers] about how they are doing and how the organization can continue to support their success? I think that becomes a very important retention strategy.”
Preventing burnout starts at the top
Ms. Bottineau says one of the best ways managers can try to prevent top performers from burning out is to model healthy behaviour themselves. That may include taking time off themselves and encouraging others to do the same, leaving early when they have a personal commitment and making the time up later and not praising workers for putting in unsustainably long hours.
“Without that leadership example, without there being leadership communications that promote a culture of balance, there can be the perception that in order to be successful you’ve got to go at it 100 per cent all the time.”
After eight years of not being involved in the day-to-day operations at C&C Reservoirs, Dr. Sun returned with an entirely different leadership approach that didn’t revolve around his ego, but instead was what he calls “conscious leadership,” where clarity replaces exhaustion, decisions improve under pressure and success becomes sustainable.
His team members noticed the difference and Dr. Sun says it had an immediate impact.
“I’m the leader, so my behaviour change changed the culture, changed the philosophy, changed the rules and others followed,” he says.