Burnt Out to Lit Up

Porchlight Business Book Award nominee, Leadership & Strategy

A timely and incisive resource for business leaders and people managers struggling with complacency and burnout in this rapidly evolving world of work

Facing the challenges of global cultural, commercial, political, and technological shifts, managers are in dire need of strategies to move from survival to revival.

Burnt Out to Lit Up: How to Reignite the Joy of Leading People by Daisy Auger-Domínguez illuminates the often overlooked and difficult aspects of management and offers a lifeline for managers struggling to adapt and thrive. Crafted by a seasoned executive with experience at companies like Disney, Google, and VICE Media, this book delivers a rich blend of inspiration and practical tools for today's managers.

Through a compelling mix of personal anecdotes, research-backed insights, and actionable strategies, Auger-Domínguez walks business leaders and people managers down a path designed to reignite the passion and drive necessary for effective leadership. This book is for you if your work life leaves you seeking:

• Rest, inspiration, and a renewed enthusiasm for your work
• Techniques to help managers understand themselves, each other, and the members of their teams
• Strategies for dealing with, and helping your teams deal with, unexpected and dramatic workplace upheavals - be they layoffs, organizational shifts, financial restructurings, global health crises, and more
• Tactics to reignite your own passion for your role and share your enthusiasm with your teams in an approach that motivates and uplifts

Whether you're leading a small team or an entire organization, this book is the roadmap you need to overcome obstacles, re-energize your leadership, and achieve new levels of success. Discover how to transform your approach to management and create a more engaged, motivated, and thriving workplace with Burnt Out to Lit Up.

Introduction ix

Part I Recognizing the Fires 1

Chapter 1 Where There's Smoke, There's Fire: Recognizing the Signs of Burnout 3

Part II Navigating the Flames 27

Chapter 2 Show Up: How to Manage Multiple Fires 29

Chapter 3 The Hulk with Heart: Holding People (and Yourself) Through Your Rage 49

Chapter 4 Real Talk: Release Your Hungry Ghosts 73

Part III Leading Through an Inferno 97

Chapter 5 Hang in There: Leading Through the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Firestorm 99

Chapter 6 Find Awe at Work: How to Turn Your Work Nightmares into Epic Adventures 125

Chapter 7 Get Right Within: Become the Manager Every Team Deserves 147

Part IV Beyond Burnout 171

Chapter 8 Beyond Burnout 173

Notes 189

Acknowledgments 201

About the Author 203

Index 205

DAISY AUGER-DOMÍNGUEZ is a global leader and recognized authority on the evolution of work and leadership. She has led human capital practices at Vice Media, Google, The Walt Disney Company, and Moody's Investors Service. Her advisory firm, Auger-Domínguez Ventures, bridges the gap between how organizations should work and how they actually work through coaching, and virtual and in-person keynotes. Daisy is the author of Inclusion Revolution, a TEDx speaker, a LinkedIn Top Voice, and a contributor to the Harvard Business Review. Her contributions have earned her many accolades, including Hispanic Executive's Top 10 Leaders, People en Español's 25 Most Powerful Women, the ADCOLOR Legend award, Brooklyn Community Services' Social Impact award, and many others. Daisy serves on the Board of Trustees at Bucknell University, her alma mater. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband and daughter.
To learn more about Daisy and her work, visit: daisyauger-dominguez.com

The world of work has been turned upside down, fundamentally transformed by global shifts in culture, commerce, politics, technology, and more. Your role as a manager must change along with it. But how can you be expected to stay on top of such a wide array of issues when the pace of change seemingly accelerates every day?

In Burnt Out to Lit Up: How to Reignite the Joy of Leading People, veteran executive and renowned business leader Daisy Auger-Domínguez delivers an insightful and inspiring guide for managers seeking to get out of survival mode and reignite their inner fire for their work. The author offers a no-nonsense love letter for all modern-day managers, showing you how to find the drive and passion you need to demonstrate care for your team, skillfully navigate interpersonal and organizational challenges, and consistently support your people.

Every chapter is a deep dive into the art and science of leading people effectively as the world—and the workplace—change around us. You’ll find personal anecdotes, research-backed insights, case studies, and battle-tested strategies you can deploy immediately for powerful and measurable results.

The book tackles the side of management that no one talks about: the broken parts, the issues we ignore, the areas where we’re complacent, and the fears that threaten to unravel our teams. It also shines a spotlight on the simple, powerful fundamentals that work so effectively in high-performance workplaces.

Do you want to be the manager that you’ve always dreamed you could be? Reclaim your love of leading people, conquer the obstacles that stand in your way, and refill your tanks with empathy and resilience. Whether you lead one person or an organization of thousands, Burnt Out to Lit Up is your roadmap to heights you’ve never experienced before.

PRAISE FOR BURNT OUT TO LIT UP

"Burnt Out to Lit Up is a must-read for all leaders in the workplace. Daisy Auger-Domínguez provides a comprehensive and achievable road map from a workplace landscape riddled with burnout and dysfunction to one of sustainability and healthy productivity. With real life examples and compelling research, this book is the new handbook for managers."
—EVE RODSKY, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play

"In Burnt Out to Lit Up, Daisy Auger-Domínguez uses her vast leadership experience to show how we can stop burnout in its tracks. Employees, bosses, and organizations shouldn't take burnout lightly—and this book shows us how to meet it head on."
—ARTHUR C. BROOKS, Harvard Professor and #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Daisy Auger-Domínguez is the leader we need right now. After finding herself burned out to the extreme of feeling 'burnt crispy,' the C-Suite exec fought to find her light again, and shows us how we can, too.... When too many talented individuals, especially BIPOC, are walking away from the corporate grind, Daisy guides us back to feeling lit up again."
—ROBYN MORENO, former media executive and author of Get Rooted

"I loved Daisy's suggested 'scripts'—actual conversation starters and responses for every situation, be it working with a team on the verge of burnout, talking to a boss who has pushed you over the edge, or facing up to your own role in making burnout happen. Daisy is the perfect choice for delivering tough love, as she has burned out and emerged triumphant, experiencing the energy of post-burnout growth!"
—JOANNA BARSH, McKinsey & Company director emerita; bestselling author of How Remarkable Women Lead

"This book empowers readers to turn burnout into an opportunity for growth, innovation, and renewed passion, inspiring those around you to light up with you. It's a call to action to reignite the joy and purpose in leadership, inspiring a new era of leaders to lead with heart, resilience, and a transformative vision."
—RESHMA SAUJANI, author, activist, and the founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First

"Burnt Out to Lit Up is a must-read for all leaders in the workplace. Auger-Domínguez provides a comprehensive and achievable road map from a workplace landscape riddled with burnout and dysfunction to one of sustainability and healthy productivity. With real life examples and compelling research, this book is the new handbook for managers."
—Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live)

"In Burnt Out to Lit Up, Daisy Auger-Domínguez uses her vast leadership experience to show how we can stop burnout in its tracks. Employees, bosses, and organizations shouldn't take burnout lightly—and this book shows us how to meet it head on."
—Arthur C. Brooks, Harvard Professor and #1 New York Times bestselling author

"With surgical precision, Daisy Auger-Domínguez has opened up exactly the conversation we need to diagnose the complexities and, yes, the seeming impossibilities, of modern leadership. As a CEO, I found Daisy's descriptions of employee burnout and the challenges of leading in a volatile social and economic climate so accurate they hurt. Fortunately, her prescriptions for solutions create the handbook leaders need to be better prepared not just to navigate through problems but to create healthier, more productive workplaces. I'm especially grateful to Daisy for sharing her own lived experiences and insights that make this book so relatable."
—Gloria Feldt, Cofounder and President of Take The Lead; author of Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take the Lead for (Everyone's) Good

"Daisy Auger-Domínguez, your guide for the journey from debilitating burnout to hope, is at once strong and light, fun and serious, pragmatic and inspiring. Her new book, Burnt Out to Lit Up, gathers the relevant research, serving it to us in digestible pieces along with practical advice on what to do about it! I loved Daisy's suggested 'scripts'—actual conversation starters and responses for every situation, be it working with a team on the verge of burnout, talking to a boss who has pushed you over the edge, or facing up to your own role in making burnout happen. Daisy is the perfect choice for delivering tough love, as she has burned out and emerged triumphant, experiencing the energy of post-burnout growth!"
—Joanna Barsh, McKinsey & Company director emerita; bestselling author of How Remarkable Women Lead

"In Burnt Out to Lit Up, Daisy Auger-Domínguez offers a transformative exploration of leadership and well-being. This book is a powerful manifesto for leaders grappling with burnout, providing a path to redefine their approach to work and leadership. It empowers readers to turn burnout into an opportunity for growth, innovation, and renewed passion, inspiring those around you to light up with you. It's a call to action to reignite the joy and purpose in leadership, inspiring a new era of leaders to lead with heart, resilience, and a transformative vision."
—Reshma Saujani, author, activist, and the founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First, formerly Marshall Plan for Moms

"While reading Burnt Out to Lit Up, I found myself alternating between furiously taking notes and screaming aloud 'Yes! I get it! Thank you!' while acknowledging and releasing so many of the feelings I endured as a burned-out executive of color. I felt seen. Daisy Auger-Domínguez is the leader we need right now. After finding herself burned out to the extreme of feeling 'burnt crispy,' the C-Suite exec fought to find her light again, and shows us how we can, too. With Burnt Out to Lit Up, Daisy shares her decades of experience supporting leaders and managers and is brave enough to tell us the truth: that our own well-being, and that of our employees, matters as much as productivity. When too many talented individuals, especially BIPOC, are walking away from the corporate grind, Daisy guides us back to feeling lit up again. Filled with painfully relatable anecdotes, first-person stories, thoughtful and refreshing practices, and hard-earned wisdom, Burnt Out to Lit Up is the book I wish I had years ago. I am grateful to have it now."
 —Robyn Moreno, former media exec and author of Get Rooted

"Burn out! We all go through it at some point but maybe we don't realize the consequences of our burnout to ourselves and others. Whether you manage a team or are a team member, this book will open your eyes to realities we too often ignore. Daisy Auger-Dominguez provides us all a guide to living and working in a more harmonious environment where respect, common sense, patience, and selflessness will lead to more productive results."
—Maria Elena Salinas, broadcast journalist, news anchor, and author