53% of managers are burned out right now. Their teams? 33%. That gap is not a coincidence. It is a neuroscience problem masquerading as a leadership failure. Managers carry two cognitive loads simultaneously — their own performance and the emotional weight of every person they lead. When that becomes chronic, cortisol stays elevated and the prefrontal cortex goes offline. Not slowly. Suddenly. This is not weakness. It is biology.

Most emotional intelligence training fails. Not because leaders don't care — but because no one addressed their nervous system first. Sahar Andrade, MB.BCh explains the neuroscience behind why empathy training backfires and what to do instead.