Why Good Leaders Quit (And How to Actually Last)

A lot of leadership content out there talks about vision and culture and mission, and there's a lot of tips and skills and strategies.

And of course, all of that is very important, but there's something else that too often gets left out of the leadership conversations.

And yet it's arguably the most important aspect of leadership.

And what I'm talking about is the cost of leadership.

And I know a lot of young leaders, myself included, who stepped into leadership and they were thinking about what they'll gain from leadership.

And then they're quickly blindsided by what leadership takes.

And then there's other leaders who are making the sacrifices and they're feeling the cost, but they're hanging on to some notion that the cost is just a season.

And then there's some leaders who find themselves fantasizing about a comfortable life or a simple life in the midst of their heavy and chaotic lives.

And I've got to say, if that sounds like you, then I want you to know that you're not alone.

Gallup's 2026 State of the Global Workplace Report landed with a number that really surprised me.

It should really stop every leader cold.

It showed that manager engagement has dropped, get this, nine points globally.

in three years.

It went from 31% in 2022 to 22% in 2025.

That's shocking.

And so what does that mean? Well, it means that the people who are supposed to be leading are disengaging faster than anyone they lead.

That's a problem, right? Gallup calls it the shrinking perk of being a manager.

And I actually think it goes much deeper than all that.

DDI's research on over 10,000 global leaders paints a very similar picture that gives us even more of an idea of what's going on.

In summarizing their research on the current state of leadership, they raised this question, And it's one that maybe you've wrestled with.

They said, why would anyone want to be a leader today? What we're seeing is a deepening crisis of trust.

We're seeing burnout at every level.

And frontline leaders are questioning whether leadership is actually worth the cost.

But here's what the research doesn't explain.

And what I've spent, gosh, over a decade trying to understand is In the middle of all this, there are still leaders who are thriving, leaders who aren't burned out, leaders who have teams that would walk through walls for them, leaders who sacrifice deeply, but they still get up every day and get back in the fight.