The more disruption we navigate, the more we value the leaders who can drive through it. They cut through organizational noise, make the tough call on time, and keep momentum alive when technology is changing faster than most teams can absorb it. These are the leaders getting promoted into bigger roles right now, and for good reason. Their impact is real.

So here’s the question worth sitting with: what happens to the leaders who report to them?

We’re inside great organizations every week where capable, high-achieving leaders are being pushed to the edge and back, because the pace of technological change is outrunning most teams’ capacity to change with it. A new value has emerged almost overnight – leaders who can create disruption and dramatically accelerate the pace of change are the ones organizations are counting on most. And they’re delivering.

What we’re noticing, though, is a pattern: the very strengths that create impact and earn a leader their next promotion don’t automatically create a culture where people want to follow, or can picture a future for themselves inside it.

The data backs up what we’re seeing in the room.

Gallup’s newest State of the Global Workplace report found that global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, the lowest level in over a decade, and the first time engagement has declined for two consecutive years. The steeper story is in the leadership ranks: leader engagement dropped to 22% in 2025, down from 27% just the year before, and down nine points since 2022. Gallup describes it plainly, “leaders used to enjoy an engagement premium at work, but they are increasingly only as engaged as those they lead.” Worth noting: inside organizations recognized for strong people practices, leader engagement runs at 79%, nearly four times the global average. This isn’t inevitable. It’s a signal of what intentional leadership development makes possible.

Harvard Business Publishing’s research on midlevel leaders tells a related story. In a survey released in late 2025, 85% of midlevel leaders reported experiencing burnout on a weekly basis, and nearly nine in ten said they feel caught between the conflicting expectations of the executives above them and the teams they lead below. More than a third had absorbed seven or more significant shifts in their role within a single year, new AI tools, new transformation mandates, new expectations for human-centered leadership, often all at once.

Put those two findings together and the pattern becomes clear: leaders who are stretched thin, unsure how to add value, and struggling to see a path forward for themselves are not well positioned to engage the people who report to them. It’s hard to pour into a team’s future when you’re not sure what your own looks like.

So let’s name the strengths that create impact, and the shift that makes them engaging, too.

Many of the practices that make leaders effective at driving change are the same practices that, done with intention, build the kind of culture people want to stay for.

Unrelenting focus on the right work, no matter the organizational noise. This becomes engaging when a leader seeks real agreement on what the right work is, and makes space for disagreement, so people feel heard and know their voice matters, even when the answer doesn’t change.

Continuously creating visible signs of progress while leading change. This becomes engaging when a leader stays closely tuned to their team’s culture and knows when to push and when to acknowledge the overwhelm of too many priorities, one of the biggest retention risks leadership teams face today.

Valuing time, eliminating waste, and constantly looking for efficiency. This becomes engaging when a leader models the way by making space for their team to learn new AI tools, technology, and processes, and then protects the time that learning gives back, rather than immediately filling it with more.

Making timely decisions that lead to results, on time and within budget. This becomes engaging when a leader gains real input, builds consensus, and pushes ownership of decisions closer to the work, rather than closer to the top.

Showing grit and perseverance to find a path forward through real barriers. This becomes engaging when a leader holds high standards and, at the same time, invests urgently in developing their people, building the capacity to sustain that pace, rather than assuming the pace is sustainable on its own.

A few questions worth reflecting on:

Where might the pace you’ve set be outrunning your team’s capacity to feel heard, developed, or valued along the way?

What signals are the leaders around you receiving about their own future inside your organization?

If your own tank is running low, where might that be showing up in how present you’re able to be for the people counting on you?

None of this is about slowing down the impact you’re creating. The organizations we work with need leaders who can move fast and lead disruption well. It’s about recognizing that impact and engagement aren’t in competition with each other; they’re built with the same intention, just pointed in two directions at once – toward the results, and toward the people delivering them.

The leaders who figure out how to do both aren’t just protecting their teams from burnout. They’re building a culture worth celebrating, worth telling stories about, and worth staying for.

Coming up next: how leaders can strengthen engagement across their teams through one of the most underused tools in leadership – the power of storytelling.

Sources: Gallup, “State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report” (2026); Harvard Business Publishing / Harvard Business Impact, “The Burnout Risk: Strengthening Your Midlevel Leaders” (December 2025).