If you dread Mondays, are you at risk of burning out?
Embracing Mondays isn’t because you found the “perfect” job (spoiler: it doesn’t exist), but because your work, and the way you lead, actually aligns with what matters most.
If you’ve ever felt a sense of dissatisfaction that you can’t quite name, but your energy is drained, your second-guessing decisions, you feel that you’ve outgrown your role. If that’s you, you’re not alone. In my research, 61.2% of respondents reported high career fulfillment, meaning nearly 4 in 10 are sitting in moderate-to-low career fulfillment. That gap is a signal to leadership that says “we can do better.”
My wake-up call (and why it changed how I lead)
Years ago, I was a cofounder of a successful startup. On the outside: recognition, speaking gigs, a strong professional brand. On the inside, I felt empty, and even worse, I felt like an impostor for feeling that way.
Everything shifted when I did something simple: I wrote down my core values; family dinners, physical and mental health, time in nature, creativity, impact, and then I compared them against how I was actually living and working.
The misalignment was obvious. And once you see misalignment, you can’t unsee it.
That exercise didn’t just change my career path. It changed how I thought about leadership.
Why “career fulfillment” is a leadership issue (not just a personal one)
Here’s the truth most organizations learn the hard way:
Disengagement spreads. Burnout spreads. Misalignment spreads.
And when leaders treat fulfillment like a “nice-to-have,” the business pays for it in diminished retention, performance, collaboration, and culture. The Fulfillment-Centric Leadership™ (FCL) Framework was built for this exact reality, helping leaders create the conditions where people bring their best selves to work because their work supports their lives (not the other way around).
The FCL lens: The Five Pillars that shape how people show up at work
In FCL, fulfillment is viewed through five connected pillars:
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Health
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Fitness
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Career
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Relationships
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Legacy
Why these five?
Because you can’t lead people as if they’re only “professional.” Just like you can’t leave your legs in the waiting room at the dentist, people can’t leave their health, relationships, or life stressors at the door and still perform at their best.
A high-status role that wrecks your health, strains your relationships, and leaves you disconnected from meaning isn’t fulfillment. It’s burnout with better branding.
The FCL starting point: Self-awareness + alignment
The first step in the FCL Framework is self-awareness, because leaders can’t sustainably build a fulfilled culture if they’re operating from misalignment themselves.
Here’s a practical way to begin (and a powerful exercise to use with your team):
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Identify your top values (the ones you want to actually live, not just admire).
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Rate your current alignment across the five pillars.
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Name the biggest gap (the one that’s quietly draining energy or focus).
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Choose one small action you can take this week to close that gap.
Small actions compound. And alignment is a practice, not a one-time epiphany.
What Fulfilled@Work Academy helps leaders do
Fulfilled@Work Academy exists to help leaders turn fulfillment into a measurable, repeatable leadership practice, not a motivational poster.
Through FCL-inspired experiences (keynotes, workshops, and leader cohorts), we help you:
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Spot misalignment early in yourself and across your team
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Build trust through authentic leadership (without oversharing or performative vulnerability)
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Reduce burnout by prioritizing wellness and energy
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Align roles with strengths and motivations
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Strengthen relationships and collaboration
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Connect day-to-day work to mission and legacy
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Create feedback loops that keep fulfillment from fading over time
The real goal: a culture where people stay and do their best work
When leaders learn to lead through the fulfillment lens, teams don’t just feel better.
They perform better.
They collaborate better.
They stay longer.
And they build something that lasts.
If your leadership (or your culture) feels “successful on paper” but depleted in practice, consider this your signal: it’s time to realign, starting with the five pillars.
Ready to Take Action?
