1. We’re burning out - but not in the same way we used to

Burnout is no longer one big, generic problem. It’s become fragmented, nuanced, and deeply personal. As LA Logan put it:

“Employees are being asked to do more with less, and that’s creating anxiety and tension in new ways.”

The root causes vary: macroeconomic pressure, AI-driven job shifts, and culture wars, all adding up to a different kind of strain for every team. Danny Guillory reminded us that burnout solutions can’t just be company-level.

Dashini Jeyathurai summed it up: our people managers are the frontline. If they don’t know how to spot the signs and have real conversations, the problem festers.

“Burnout isn’t the issue anymore. It’s anxiety, tension, and being pulled in a million directions.” — LA Logan

2. The bar for performance has shifted, but have you told your people?  

We’re moving from a gentle bell curve to a harsh bell cliff. Expectations are intensifying, but few companies have clarified how they’ve moved the goalposts. Dashini broke it down:

“People who used to be solid performers are suddenly feeling like they’re falling short. That crushes morale if you don’t talk about it.”

Danny shared how Glassdoor tackled this: They defined clear competencies by level, tied them into reviews, and made performance and potential explicit - backward-looking and forward-looking. If you’re raising the bar, don’t hide it:

• Be transparent about the new normal
• Train managers to have honest conversations
• Make sure feedback doesn’t feel like a hidden exit plan

“When someone gives feedback, the worry is, is this a precursor to an exit?” — Dashini Jeyathurai

3. Stop treating performance like an annual admin chore

The old system lumps two things together: evaluation for pay and real growth. But as we heard at MPL Live SF, most companies still don’t know how to split them.

LA made the case for in-the-moment, personalized feedback loops powered by AI. Instead of stale quarterly reviews, imagine an AI coach flagging blockers as they happen, then helping managers turn those moments into learning opportunities.

Danny added that separating performance and potential has helped them reward high-potentials based on future value, not just last quarter’s work.

“We talk about high performance cultures, but you can’t get there without psychological safety. And that takes courage, accountability, and honest feedback.” — LA Logan

4. A simple question to unlock real issues

One takeaway you can steal right now: train your managers to ask one question regularly.

Dashini’s favorite? “What’s getting in your way?”

Danny uses Geekbot in Slack to automate weekly asks: any blockers, top priorities, help needed? The power is in the pattern. If the same obstacle pops up again and again, you know exactly where to coach — or where the work is broken.

“Sometimes it’s not even a performance problem - it’s a clarity or focus problem. And you won’t know unless you ask.” — Dashini Jeyathurai

5. AI won’t fix broken basics, but it can supercharge what works

Everyone’s hunting for the next performance magic wand. But as Danny put it, whatever system you pick, someone will hate it. The trick is picking the lane that works for your org and being honest about its trade-offs.

LA painted the future: your AI sidekick can nudge you on the little things (that ‘sorry for the delay’ habit) and help you influence without authority in real time. Dashini closed it out perfectly:

“I hope we stop retrofitting growth into evaluation. We should check in, coach, then calibrate - not the other way around.”

See you next week!

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