Clunite Editorial · Leadership Series
Which executive burnout are you carrying?
12 questions. 90 seconds. Find out which of the 5 burnout patterns is quietly running your leadership week — and what it is costing you.
Take the assessmentFree · No email · For self-reflection & education · Informed by published research
Maslach & Leiter, The Truth About Burnout (1997, Jossey-Bass). MBI General Survey three-component model. Editorially reviewed in-house.
The four dimensions
Executive burnout doesn't show up one way.
We score your answers across four dimensions of leadership wear. Different combinations — in different intensities — produce the five patterns. We map yours to the one closest to what you are actually living.
Exhaustion
Chronic depletion of cognitive and emotional resources. The tank empties faster than it refills — and the gap keeps widening, invisible to most people around you.
Cynicism
A growing detachment from the work, the mission, and the people who depend on your leadership. You still show up. The belief has gone quiet.
Efficacy Loss
A narrowing sense of what you are capable of. Decisions that once felt clear now feel uncertain. Confidence erodes below the surface you show.
Isolation
The structural loneliness of senior leadership. There are people everywhere. The ones you can be honest with are not in the room.
The taxonomy
Five patterns. Five costs.
Most senior leaders recognize themselves immediately in one of these. The point is not to label. The point is to name — with precision — what has been running below the surface of a highly functional career.
Pattern 01
The Driven
You are still in motion. The motion itself has become the problem — there is no stillness left in which to notice the cost.
Pattern 02
The Disconnected
You are present in every meeting. The conviction that this matters has gone somewhere you cannot locate.
Pattern 03
The Invisible Performer
The results are there. The satisfaction is not. You have separated execution from meaning so cleanly that you can no longer tell the difference.
Pattern 04
The Hollow Authority
The title is real. The internal authority it was supposed to produce — the certainty, the composure — was never quite delivered.
Pattern 05
The Full-Spectrum Drain
All four dimensions, sustained simultaneously. The system is no longer adapting — it is running a deficit it cannot disclose to anyone who depends on you.
How it works
Three minutes. Precise answers.
12 honest questions
Designed for senior professionals who operate in high-accountability environments. Answer as you actually are — not as you intend to be.
Scored across 4 dimensions
Your answers are weighted across Exhaustion, Cynicism, Efficacy Loss, and Isolation — the three-component model from Maslach & Leiter (1997), adapted for executive context.
3 specific next steps
Each pattern comes with three concrete actions — not motivational advice, but structural interventions specific to the pattern you are in.
You already know something is off.
Name it precisely.
Take the assessment — free
Related reading
Go deeper on executive burnout
Research-informed articles on the patterns behind leadership depletion.
Signs · 8 min
5 Signs of Executive Burnout That High Performers Mistake for Normal
Research · 7 min
Burnout vs. Stress for Leaders: What the Research Actually Says
Identity · 9 min
When the Role Becomes the Person: Leadership Identity and Burnout Risk
Recovery · 11 min
C-Suite Burnout Recovery: What Works for Executives That Doesn't Work for Everyone Else
Frequently asked
Is this a clinical burnout assessment?
No. This is an educational self-reflection tool, not a clinical instrument. The framework draws on Maslach and Leiter's published work on occupational burnout (The Truth About Burnout, 1997) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey. It is not a substitute for evaluation by a licensed professional.
How is executive burnout different from general job stress?
Maslach and Leiter (1997) describe burnout as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors, characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced sense of efficacy. Unlike acute stress, burnout does not resolve with a vacation. Executive burnout carries additional dimensions: identity fusion with the leadership role, structural isolation at the top, and the social cost of showing depletion when others depend on your visible composure.
What are the 5 executive burnout patterns?
The five patterns are: The Driven (exhaustion reframed as momentum), The Disconnected (cynicism and loss of meaning), The Invisible Performer (high output, low internal efficacy), The Hollow Authority (efficacy loss plus structural isolation), and The Full-Spectrum Drain (all four dimensions elevated simultaneously).
Is my data stored?
No personal identifiers are collected. Your answers are processed in-session and never linked to your name or email. No sign-up required.
What should I do if my result concerns me?
The result page provides three concrete next steps for each pattern. If you are experiencing significant impairment in functioning, please consult a physician or mental health professional. In the US, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7.
The pattern has a name. Find it.
Free · No email · 90 seconds · For self-reflection and education only
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