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Workplace stress and burnout could be worsening. As results roll in from data collected the previous year, researchers are finding:
- Work is invading personal time: Meetings after 8:00 p.m. are up 16 percent since the previous year, 29 percent of employees return to their email inbox by 10 p.m., 40 percent check email before 6:00 a.m., and 20 percent work on weekends (Microsoft, 2025).
- Workplace strain is widespread: Globally, 40 percent of employees report having experienced “a lot” of stress the previous day, including 50 percent in the United States and Canada (Gallup, 2025).
- Burnout is rising: Surveys of thousands of employees and employers in the U.S. indicate employee burnout is continuing to rise, year after year, and is reaching a seven-year high (with Generation Z already constituting the “most burned-out generation”) (Aflac, 2025).
This trend is bad enough for any employee or workplace leader, but imagine if—on top of just working in this climate—you are doing so as a survivor of past trauma. Considering that 70 percent of people globally will experience a potentially traumatic event during their lifetime (World Health Organization, 2025)—for example, 61 percent of U.S. adults had at least one adverse childhood experience (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021)—it is no wonder that trauma responses show up on the job. Even if the harrowing episodes they lived through were long ago, survivors can experience trauma response cycles in the workplace (National Institute of Mental Health, 2026) via a routine email, tense interaction, criticism, conflict, or perceived loss of control.
To explore how education can help with these troubling stats and scenarios, I spoke to Blake Schofield, a former Fortune 500 executive who founded Impact With Ease™ and has led large-scale business transformation across companies like Target and Stitch Fix. I asked Schofield about how executive education, specifically in the area of trauma, can help organizations fight burnout while expanding leadership capacity. Schofield’s answers follow each interview question below.
Jenny Rankin (JR): What are the most common—and perhaps unexpected—ways that unresolved past traumas manifest in high-achieving professionals’ workplace behavior and decision-making? Can a drive for success sometimes unintentionally perpetuate challenges?
Blake Schofield (BS): One of the most common ways unresolved past experiences show up in high-achieving professionals is overperformance as a survival strategy. Many successful leaders learned early that their value came from achievement, creating beliefs like “I’m safe when I perform” or “My worth comes from what I achieve.” That can drive chronic overwork, difficulty delegating, and feeling responsible for everything. Externally, it looks like dedication. Internally, it often feels like pressure that never turns off.
Other patterns include imposter syndrome despite clear competence, hypervigilance that leads to micromanagement or overanalyzing decisions, and identities built around being the dependable one. Many leaders also suppress emotions or operate from perfectionism because mistakes once carried real consequences.
The unexpected dynamic is that these patterns are often rewarded early in a career. Overworking leads to promotions, and being the fixer earns recognition. Over time, however, the very behaviors that created success can begin to limit energy, adaptability, and fulfillment—often surfacing as burnout or misalignment.
JR: What evidence-based or experiential strategies can best help professionals interrupt trauma response cycles and develop new, sustainable coping mechanisms (especially for high-pressure work environments)?
BS: In high-pressure environments, the most effective strategies focus on helping professionals recognize and interrupt the patterns that drive automatic stress responses. Many high performers have built successful careers by pushing through pressure, so traditional stress-management tactics often miss the root issue.
One evidence-supported approach is helping leaders identify how their brains default under stress. When uncertainty rises, people often move into overdrive—doing more, taking on everything—or into freeze, where prioritization and decision-making become difficult. Recognizing these patterns allows professionals to pause and respond more intentionally.
Another powerful strategy is helping people understand how they naturally work best. Research in strengths-based development and motivation science shows that when people structure work around their natural strengths and have greater autonomy in how they approach tasks, both performance and resilience improve (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Gallup, 2026). Finally, examining beliefs tied to achievement is critical. When those beliefs shift, professionals often regain energy, clarity, and adaptability.
JR: Why is understanding and addressing trauma particularly critical today?
BS: Understanding trauma is particularly critical right now because the pace of change and uncertainty in the workplace has accelerated dramatically. AI, technological disruption, and economic uncertainty are creating environments that many professionals were never taught to navigate.
JR: How can educators and corporate trainers integrate trauma awareness into leadership and professional development programs?
BS: Educators and corporate trainers can integrate trauma awareness into leadership development by helping professionals understand how stress, uncertainty, and past experiences shape the way they think, work, and respond to change—and by equipping them with practical ways to operate more effectively despite those pressures. Most programs focus on communication skills, strategy, or management frameworks. Those are important, but people often can’t access those skills when they’re operating under chronic stress or survival responses. A trauma-aware approach begins by teaching leaders what happens in the brain under pressure and how it can lead to patterns like overworking, control, or decision paralysis.
It also means helping professionals understand how they are naturally wired to work. When people operate in ways that conflict with their strengths or instinctive ways to solve problems, it creates unnecessary friction and fatigue.
Finally, programs should address beliefs about change and teach leaders how to create environments where people feel clear, supported, and able to think well. When professionals learn how to work in ways that build energy and alignment, they gain greater resilience and adaptability in rapidly changing environments.
