The Fine Line Between Obstacle and Opportunity

Daniel Goleman is author of the international best-seller Emotional Intelligence and Optimal: How to Sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence Every Day. He is a regular contributor to Korn Ferry. 

Over the past three years, stress among leaders has jumped from 63% to 71%. A 2025 DDI Global Leadership Forecast reports that 40% of leaders are considering leaving their jobs – a result of skyrocketing levels of burnout. Once tariffs and federal cuts fully sink in, this number could spike even further.

The report poses a critical question: Why would anyone want to be a leader right now?

This inquiry is at the root of "conscious unbossing" – a trend seen in many young professionals, particularly Gen Z, who are deliberately avoiding traditional leadership roles in favor of their mental and emotional wellbeing.

“As organizations grapple with economic volatility, AI skepticism and generational differences being amplified in the workplace, leadership is becoming a harder job — and a path that many talented people are opting out of,” says Stephanie Neal, director of DDI’s Center for Analytics and Behavioral Research.

But fear and doubt aren’t necessarily the most productive things to focus on right now. Afterall, modern leadership is a two-sided coin: on the one side, obstacles – on the other, opportunity.

As experts like Margaret Wheatley have observed, chaos is a necessary precursor to positive transformation. In her book Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World, Wheatley pointed out that "mess" is often life’s way of evolving into a more elegant form of order. During these times, the most important thing we can do is to stay connected – to keep up the conversations that drive innovation forward.

"All change, even very large and powerful change, begins when a few people start talking with one another about something they care about," Wheatley wrote on her website.

In order to spark these kinds of conversations, some questions could be useful in helping leaders get out of overwhelm and back into the hotseat of power and responsibility:

●       Identify two ways your immediate work has become unpredictable or in constant flux. Be specific. Is your experience of unpredictability common to others in your organization? How are you each coping with this? 

●       Can you think of one process in your organization you would describe as "outmoded"? Why is it outmoded?

●       Have you experienced new ways of identifying and addressing problems in the organization? Can you describe what those new ways were? How successful were they?

Leaders who can engage with these kinds of questions may find an opening towards opportunity. Better yet, they may even reconnect to what inspires them, connecting to the kind of purpose and meaning that has proven to buffer against burnout.

Seen through the lens of opportunity, leadership isn’t something to avoid, but rather something to consider going fully and wholly into. Embracing the responsibilities of modern leadership offers the chance not just to manage stress, but also to harness it as energy for action.

“The encouraging news is that most leaders find self-reflection, open discussion and continuous learning to be transformative practices in channeling stress into growth and innovation,” Neal commented.

In short, new insights and worldviews are only discovered when leaders accept confusion and start changing the questions they are asking. This is when the real magic happens: when fatigue and frustration are replaced with curiosity, wonder, and a new sense of purpose. 

Co-written by Elizabeth Solomon

Click here to learn more about Daniel Goleman's Building Blocks of Emotional Intelligence.