By Dr. Abiola Salami
The Price of Power: How To Manage What They Didn’t Tell You About The Role An excerpt from the book T.I.T.L.E. – Taming the Invisible Toll of Leadership and Expectation by Dr. Abiola Salami
INTRODUCTION
Burnout Behind the Bonus: How To R.E.S.T. Before You Are Ruined
By Dr. Abiola Salami
“Leadership gives you a title. But it quietly takes pieces of your humanity unless you learn how to reclaim them.”
The Prize That Poisoned the Soul
They clapped when you walked on stage. They admired the headline numbers. They applauded your bonus.
But behind the cameras and congratulatory emails, you know the truth. That bonus cost you nights of sleepless restlessness, mornings you dreaded, family dinners you missed, and a body that has been keeping score in silence.
Welcome to the hidden invoice of high performance: burnout.
The culture of leadership has glamorized fatigue. We wear exhaustion like a badge of honor, convincing ourselves that the grind proves our greatness. We spiritualize self-abandonment, telling ourselves that sacrifice is the cost of destiny. But beneath the applause lies a truth too many C-level executives only confront when their body collapses: No bonus is worth the burial of your health, your peace, or your soul.
Today, we are discussing the silent epidemic sweeping through boardrooms, ministries, and corner offices. It is the burnout behind the bonus.
The False Gospel of Exhaustion
Somewhere along the climb, we were sold a lie. A dangerous gospel whispered through performance-driven culture:
- That exhaustion equals excellence.
- That sleep is for the weak.
- That your worth is measured in how much of yourself you can sacrifice.
And so you pushed. And pushed. Until push became panic. Until ambition became a slow-motion suicide.
But burnout is not simple tiredness. Tiredness can be cured with sleep. Burnout is deeper it is depletion. It is the day your soul whispers, “I’m done” but your calendar screams, “keep going.”
Research confirms this: The World Health Organization officially classified burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” in 2019, defining it as chronic workplace stress not successfully managed.
A Deloitte survey in 2022 found that 77% of professionals have experienced burnout in their current role, and 70% of executives admit that they are not doing enough to address it.
Yet, in boardrooms, we rarely name it. Why? Because executives are conditioned to perform strength, not confess strain. Because if you collapse, the market doesn’t pause. The economy doesn’t wait. Shareholders don’t care.
But here is the dangerous irony: the more we deny burnout, the faster it kills us.
The CEO Who Collapsed
Adaora is the CEO of a booming consumer goods company in West Africa. She was brilliant, charismatic and always “on.”
Under her leadership, revenue tripled in three years. She graced magazine covers. She sat on global panels. She had, as they say, arrived.
But the headlines didn’t tell the whole story. Adaora hadn’t taken a vacation in five years. She was surviving on three hours of sleep a night. Her board kept raising the bar yet never asked if she had the energy to keep leaping.
She glamourised fatigue. She spiritualised self-abandonment. Then one day, in the middle of a strategy session, Adaora collapsed.
Her body shouted what her mouth had refused to. Her body finally said Enough.
Two weeks in the hospital with adrenal fatigue, hypertension and clinical burnout. This woman who carried a billion-naira company could not even remember her assistant’s phone number.
And yet, when she returned to work, buried under 1,200 unread emails, she found a congratulatory note: “Bonus approved.”
She closed the laptop. And wept. Not tears of joy. Tears of clarity.
That bonus had cost her everything.
But here’s where Adaora’s story shifted. Instead of sliding back into the same cycle, she made a different decision: she reached out for coaching.
In our sessions together, we did the work her boardroom never made space for. We unpacked the patterns of overextension. We reframed her relationship with rest. We restructured her leadership so she could thrive without bleeding herself dry.
Within six months, Adaora was a different leader. She instituted protected rest days in her calendar. She built a stronger executive team that absorbed pressure she used to carry alone. She discovered joy in simple habits she had abandoned like morning walks, family dinners, solitude with her journal.
But the transformation didn’t stop at recovery. With renewed clarity and energy, Adaora launched a regional expansion strategy her company had shelved for years. That move opened two new markets, increased profitability by 40%, and positioned her brand as a continental leader.
Most importantly, Adaora reclaimed her life. Today, she doesn’t just lead companies. She mentors emerging executives across Africa with a new mantra: “If I must rise, I will not ruin myself in the process. Dr. Abiola’s coaching gave me the tools to build success that sustains my soul.”
Adaora learned the truth that wellness is not a luxury. It is the strategy for a quantm leap.
Her story is proof that burnout doesn’t have to end your leadership; it can refine it, only if you choose to heal and rebuild with guidance.
The Triggers of Executive Burnout
Why is burnout so common among high achievers? Why do brilliant, disciplined, world-class executives find themselves empty at the peak of success?
Because leadership creates conditions where burnout hides in plain sight. Let’s name the three major triggers.
1. Unrelenting Pace
Crisis mode becomes culture. Every quarter demands more. 5am calls. 1am emails. Back-to-back travel. Soon, exhaustion becomes a badge of honor. “Busy” becomes your identity. And slowly, your body stops asking for rest. It starts shutting down.
2. Identity Fusion
You stop knowing who you are outside the role. Every silence feels like weakness. Every boundary feels like betrayal. Your title swallows your name. Suddenly, you are no longer Ngozi, Chidi, or Akin. You are only CEO, Honourable, Governor, Director-General.
3. Praise Addiction
You overwork to stay applauded. The dopamine hit of public recognition outweighs the quiet cry of private fatigue. External validation drowns out internal distress. Until one day, the applause fades, and all that remains is exhaustion.
The Harvard Business Review reports that nearly 60% of senior executives feel depleted at the end of every workday. The American Institute of Stress adds that executive burnout contributes to nearly $300 billion annually in productivity losses in America. The World Health Organization estimated that 12 billion working days are lost every year globally to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$ 1 trillion per year in lost productivity.
The truth is burnout is not a medal of courage. It is a red flag that your leadership is no longer sustainable.
Framework – R.E.S.T. Before You’re Ruined
To escape burnout, you don’t need another strategy document. You need adopt the R.E.S.T. framework.
R – Recognize the Warning Signs
Burnout whispers before it screams. Fatigue. Irritability. Joylessness. Memory lapses. If you don’t listen to your body, your body will force you to listen.
E – Evaluate Your Energy Leaks
Audit your commitments. Who or what is draining you without replenishment? What meetings are unnecessary? What relationships are toxic? Identify the leaks before they sink the ship.
S – Set Non-Negotiable Recovery Rituals
Build boundaries. Schedule sleep. Protect solitude. Reconnect spiritually. These are not indulgences—they are investments in your capacity.
T – Tell the Truth About Your Limits
Start with yourself. Then with your board. Then with your team. Vulnerability is not weakness; it is stewardship. You can’t build sustainable results on a collapsing soul.
Leadership Reframes
Burnout requires not just new habits but new beliefs.
- Rest is not a reward. It is a requirement.
- Saying no is not betrayal. It is stewardship.
- Delegation is not abdication. It is wisdom.
Think about it. A rested leader is a strategic asset but a burned-out leader is a liability even to their own legacy.
The Silent Epidemic in Africa’s Boardrooms
Burnout is not just a Western problem. It is an African crisis, quietly spreading through ministries, multinationals, and growing startups.
- In Nigeria, Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report, which examines how employees feel about their work and their lives, revealed that global worker stress remained at a historic high from the COVID period, even as other negative emotions related to the pandemic subsided with 50 per cent of Nigerian workers experience stress in the workplace, a figure that has risen by 3 per cent annually.
- In South Africa, the Institute of Risk Management found that executive burnout has become one of the top five threats to corporate continuity.
- Across East Africa, CEOs of fintech startups report working 80–100 hours a week, often sacrificing health in the rush to scale.
The narrative of overwork is killing Africa’s brightest minds. And we cannot afford to keep losing leaders on the altar of ambition.
Lessons from Adaora and Others
Adaora’s collapse is not an isolated story. I have coached presidents who confessed they cannot sleep without medication. CEOs who burst into tears in private, then walk on stage to thunderous applause. Ministers who cannot remember their children’s last school event.
They all thought burnout was the price of relevance until their health forced them to stop.
The truth? Sustainable success is the only true success.
Conclusion
You are a C-level leaders and I must speak honestly to you. You were not built to burn endlessly. You were built to last. Your Legacy Cannot Be Built on a Broken Body
Success without sustainability is silent self-sabotage. Your title should never cost you your health. Your legacy should never demand your life.
This is why I coach leaders across Africa and the world to rediscover the version of success that doesn’t drain your soul. To build a future where achievement and aliveness coexist.
If this article has been your mirror, let coaching be your next step. Because carrying burnout alone is not strength. It is slow destruction.
Your organization may celebrate your bonus. The world may applaud your results. But your body, your soul, and your legacy need more than applause. They need you whole.
So, here’s my invitation: Don’t wait for your collapse to become your wake-up call. Reach out. Let’s build a rhythm of leadership that lasts.
If today’s article felt uncomfortably close, don’t keep carrying the toll silently. Reach out. Let’s build a leadership version of you that rises wiser, not colder.
Because no bonus is worth your burial. And no legacy is worth your ruin.
About Dr. Abiola Salami
Dr. Abiola Salami is the Convener of Dr Abiola Salami International Leadership Bootcamp ; The Peak PerformerTM Festival Made4More Accelerator Program and The New Year Kickoff Summit. He is the Principal Performance Strategist at CHAMP – a full scale professional services firm trusted by high performing business leaders for providing Executive Coaching, Workforce Development & Advisory Services to improve performance. You can reach his team on hello@abiolachamp.com and connect with him @abiolachamp on all social media platforms.
For private coaching, boardroom recalibration, or executive healing strategy, connect email me directly at hello@abiolachamp.com to begin your private Executive Coaching Session.
Sources Referenced:
- World Health Organization. (2019, May 28). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. World Health Organization
- Deloitte. (2022, June 21). Deloitte 2022 Survey: Workplace Burnout Survey (1,000 U.S. full-time professionals; 77% report burnout). Deloitte
- Deloitte & Workplace Intelligence. (2022). The C-Suite’s Role in Well-Being (C-suite perceptions and action on employee well-being; reporting that ~68% of C-suite say they aren’t taking enough action). See Institute for Public Relations summary and Deloitte report page. Institute for Public RelationsAxios
- Development Dimensions International (DDI). (2021). Global Leadership Forecast 2021 (nearly 60% of leaders feel “used up” at the end of the day). DDI
- American Institute of Stress. (n.d.). Workplace Stress (estimate that job stress costs U.S. industry >$300B annually). The American Institute of Stress
- World Health Organization. (2023). Mental health at work – Fact sheet (depression and anxiety cost the global economy ~US$1 trillion annually; ~12 billion workdays lost). World Health Organization
- World Health Organization & International Labour Organization. (2022, Sept 28). WHO and ILO call for new measures to tackle mental health issues at work (context on the trillion-dollar productivity loss and 12B lost workdays). World Health Organization
- BusinessDay (reporting Gallup). (2023). Nigeria is 7th Sub-Saharan African country with most stressed employees (Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 indicates ~50% of Nigerian workers experience daily stress). Businessday NG
- (Optional context) IRMSA – Institute of Risk Management South Africa. (2025). IRMSA Risk Report 2025 (broader risk context for South African corporates). IRMSA Risk Report
- Harvard Business Review. (2021, Feb 10). Jennifer Moss, Beyond Burned Out (background on organizational responsibility for burnout). Harvard Business Review
