As part of our work with the Leeds Mindful Employer Network, we’re marking Time to Talk Day on 5th February.
The day is about starting conversations and being open about mental health, in everyday life, in our communities, and in the places we spend our time, including work. Talking can help break down stigma, reduce isolation, and remind people they are not alone.
For senior leaders, however, there are often fewer spaces where that openness feels possible. Expectations around strength, capacity and availability can make it harder to speak honestly — not just within organisations, but with peers who understand the particular pressures of leadership.
In this blog, Tashi Brown, CEO of the Black Health Initiative, reflects on the realities that often go unspoken: the emotional load of leadership, the importance of boundaries, and why honest conversations between leaders — including across organisations — are a vital form of support.
On Time to Talk Day, her reflections underline a simple truth: conversations about mental health matter at every level, and no one should be expected to carry responsibility alone.
Leadership Needs Space for the Conversations We Avoid
Leadership is often described in terms of vision, resilience and responsibility. What is talked about far less is the emotional weight that comes with it — the parts that don’t sit neatly in job descriptions or performance frameworks.
In senior roles, particularly across the public and third sector, there is an unspoken expectation that once you reach a certain level, you should simply cope. Capacity is assumed. Availability is taken for granted. And the pressures of leadership are quietly absorbed rather than openly discussed.
What’s missing isn’t commitment or competence.
What’s missing is space — space for leaders to talk honestly with each other about what leadership really feels like.
The unsaid realities of leadership
Leadership can be deeply rewarding. It can also be isolating, emotionally demanding and relentless, especially when you are values-led or working closely with communities you care about.
Many leaders are quietly carrying:
- Constant pressure and responsibility without relief
- Blurred boundaries between personal and professional life
- The emotional labour of supporting others while neglecting themselves
- Grief, caregiving or personal challenges alongside senior roles
- The expectation to prevent burnout in others while edging towards it themselves
These realities don’t disappear because you hold authority. In many cases, they intensify.
Yet leadership cultures often reward endurance over honesty. Being able to “hold it together” becomes a measure of success, while admitting strain feels uncomfortable or risky. Over time, this silence becomes normalised — and that’s where burnout takes root.
Boundaries are not a lack of care
One of the hardest things for leaders to talk about is boundaries. Not because we don’t understand their importance, but because of what we fear they might say about us.
There’s a worry that setting boundaries means being less committed, less caring, or less capable. Particularly for leaders who are deeply invested in their work, or who lead within the communities they come from, access can become assumed and availability can feel non-negotiable.
But unclear boundaries are one of the strongest predictors of leadership burnout. When access is unlimited, responsibility becomes endless. When everything is urgent, nothing is sustainable.
Talking openly about boundaries isn’t a personal failure — it’s a safeguarding measure. For individuals, for teams, and for organisations.
Why leaders need to talk to leaders
Some of the most important leadership conversations don’t happen in formal settings. They happen peer to peer — between people who understand the pressure, the complexity and the quiet responsibility that comes with senior roles.
Leaders need spaces where they can speak without performance. Where they don’t have to be the strong one, the fixer, or the example. Where honesty is met with understanding, not judgement.
Creating those spaces isn’t indulgent. It’s preventative.
When leaders have nowhere to talk honestly, pressure accumulates. When pressure accumulates, decision-making suffers, boundaries erode, and wellbeing declines — often invisibly.
Questions worth making space for
Opening up these conversations doesn’t require grand initiatives. It starts with asking better questions — and being willing to sit with the answers.
Within leadership teams
- What pressures are we carrying that we don’t talk about?
- Where have boundaries become unclear or unsustainable?
- Who is carrying the most emotional labour?
- What signs of burnout might we be normalising?
Between peers
- What has been hardest about leading recently?
- What assumptions are people making about your capacity?
- What support do you need but haven’t asked for?
- What would make leadership feel more sustainable right now?
Across organisations
- Where can leaders speak honestly and confidentially?
- How do we move away from performative resilience?
- How do we support each other before things reach crisis point?
Making leadership more sustainable
Healthier organisations don’t happen by accident. They are shaped by cultures where honesty is allowed, boundaries are respected, and leaders are supported — not just relied upon.
That might look like:
- Regular peer check-ins between leaders in similar roles
- Protected space in senior meetings to talk about capacity and pressure
- Normalising conversations about limits, not just output
- Leaders modelling that it’s okay not to have all the answers
When leaders talk openly with each other, it creates a ripple effect. It gives permission. It shifts culture. And it makes organisations safer — for staff and for those at the top who are too often expected to cope silently.
A personal reflection
For me, learning to speak honestly as a leader hasn’t been about having the right language or frameworks. It’s been about acknowledging when the weight feels heavy.
Leading in the community I come from has been a privilege, but it has also required me to learn how to carry responsibility differently — to develop broad shoulders without losing myself, and to recognise that care must include myself too.
Some of the most sustaining moments in my leadership journey haven’t come from formal support, but from honest conversations with other leaders who understand the quiet pressures that don’t appear on paper. Those moments have reminded me that strength doesn’t come from coping alone. It comes from connection, boundaries and the courage to say what’s really going on.
Leadership doesn’t need more silence.
It needs space.
Thank you so much to Tashi for contributing this guest blog for the Network.
Time to Talk Day is an invitation to start — or continue — conversations that matter. For senior leaders, that may mean reaching out to a peer, opening up a protected space for honest discussion, or simply acknowledging that leadership comes with emotional weight too.
As Tashi reminds us, strength doesn’t come from coping alone. It comes from connection, boundaries and honesty.
- Read more about the work of Tashi’s organisation, the Black Health Initiative.
- Not part of the Leeds Mindful Employer Network yet? It’s free, quick and easy to become a member via this link.
- Find out more about signing the Mindful Employer Charter to make a public demonstration of your commitment to employee wellbeing
