Health and Wellbeing

Health, Work & Wellbeing

Practitioner articles in Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, IbyIMD

In a world where relentless demands and blurred boundaries have become the norm, overwhelm is no longer an occasional experience; it’s a defining feature of modern work. It’s easy to dismiss it as stress from an employee under pressure or mistake it for burnout. But it’s neither. Overwhelm is an exhausting—and often invisible—tipping point when the stressors you face begin to exceed your perceived ability to cope with them. Overwhelm can surge suddenly and unpredictably. When ignored, it becomes the gateway to exhaustion and future burnout. There are five actions leaders can take to reduce overwhelm and build healthier, more sustainable workplaces: 1) Spot both the silence and the strain; 2) engineer micro-control in a macro-uncertain world; 3) recalibrate standards—starting with your own; 4) create psychological permission to say “I’m at capacity”; and 5) design work for recovery, not endurance.

https://hbr.org/2025/12/do-you-know-if-your-team-is-overwhelmed

It’s safe to assume that accelerated change is here to stay. At the core of today’s frequent disruptions is ambiguity: situations where the available information is incomplete, contradictory, or constantly shifting, and clear answers are impossible. Navigating ambiguity requires a new skillset—one that leans into our humanity rather than bypasses it. Unlike machines, we bring a biological response to change. And that response, if understood and harnessed, can become a powerful advantage.

https://hbr.org/2025/10/use-design-thinking-to-navigate-ambiguity

The Longevity Revolution:

The idea of a three-stage life – school, work, retirement – is rapidly being pensioned off. Here we explore the options for a world where people will routinely live in good health well into their nineties.

www.imd.org/ibyimd/talent/longevity-three-trends-that-redefine-how-we-live-and-work/

Do you Have a Phone Addiction? (HBR)

Are you a workaholic? The relationship between burnout and workaholism (ibyIMD)

The Power of Breath for Performance and Wellbeing (ibyIMD)

The Benefits of Being Bored at WorkWhile boredom can be an unpleasant feeling, it can also be an opportunity to reflect on your interests, values, and goals. By recognizing the type of boredom you’re experiencing and identifying the underlying causes, you can take steps to address them and find new ways to engage with the world around you. Working with your boredom can also help you develop creativity, resilience, and the ability to adapt to new situations. So rather than trying to avoid or ignore your boredom, consider working with it as a valuable tool for personal growth and a way to lead a more fulfilling life. Based on the body of research exploring this emotion, the authors highlight some of boredom’s benefits and detriments and offer insights into how you might harness the best of boredom.

Reshaping the workspace: how to design your own optimal environment - I by IMDThe space you work in can help you feel more at ease, more in flow, and more yourself – or it can get in the way of everything, including your productivity

How to make your work break work for you - I by IMDDeliberate work breaks can boost energy, focus, and morale, say Bonnie Hayden Cheng and Alyson Meister. five strategies to effectively recharge.

How Managers Can Support Employees with Chronic IllnessesChronic illness is extremely common, and the Covid-19 pandemic has helped normalize talking about it in the workplace. It can be hard to know what to say to an employee with a chronic illness — it’s an emotional topic, and your own assumptions can get in the way of real understanding. There are three steps managers can take to ensure they approach these conversations with empathy and confidence. First, take your own emotions out of it. Second, challenge your views about what counts as great work. Third, approach with curiosity and do your research. The experiences of employees experiencing chronic illness can offer valuable lessons to all employees.

Athletes Are Shifting the Narrative Around Mental Health at WorkRecent instances of high-profile athletes prioritizing their mental health, along with organized efforts from the sports industry, have triggered an important shift in the narrative of mental health in sports. There is much that company leaders can learn from the sports world’s mental health momentum. The authors present four strategies for leaders seeking to support their employees’ mental health. Stop making assumptions about people’s well-being — instead, just ask. Hiding your vulnerabilities can reinforce the stigma around mental health. Recovery is as important for mental health as it is for physical health. And fostering support networks can unlock a virtuous cycle of employee and organizational growth.

The Science of Choking Under PressureNobody is immune from choking in a big moment. Maybe you lost your voice or your ability to think straight when speaking with an important client, manager, or audience. To help prevent “the choke” at work, we can apply learnings form the world of sports to the world of management. Like an athlete ready for the big game, assuming that you’ve already learned and practiced the skills that you’ll draw on, there are a number of techniques that can help you reduce the pressure or boost your ability to cope with it, which will ultimately help you fully access your well-honed skills and both prevent and navigate through a potential choke.

How to Recover from Work Stress, According to ScienceTo combat stress and burnout, employers are increasingly offering benefits like virtual mental health support, spontaneous days or even weeks off, meeting-free days, and flexible work scheduling. Despite these efforts and the increasing number of employees buying into the importance of wellness, the effort is lost if you don’t actually recover. So, if you feel like you’re burning out, what works when it comes to recovering from stress? The authors discuss the “recovery paradox” — that when our bodies and minds need to recover and reset the most, we’re the least likely and able to do something about it — and present five research-backed strategies for recovering from stress at work.

Staying Mindful When You’re Working RemotelyRemote work is taking its toll in the form of chronic stress and burnout. Cultivating mindfulness in our online environment is a way to combat this depletion of energy. The authors recommend applying three mindfulness principles to your remote work to reduce stress levels and reconnect with your purpose. First, offer your team your presence by eliminating distractions and focusing on how you’re being with the people you’re speaking to. Next, be in the moment by focusing on where you are now, rather than thinking about the future. Finally, enable connection and community by practicing deep listening and paying close attention to inclusion. Remote working doesn’t have to be a barrier to your capacity to deliver leadership presence, empathize and connect with colleagues, and build strong workplace communities.

Could Psychedelics Open New Doors for Science and Business?A new wave of clinical research on promising uses for psychedelic drugs points to potential opportunities for business.

Fake it though you’ve made it: battling leader impostorismFake it though you’ve made it: battling leader impostorism

Breathe in the A.I.R.Declining mental health is a global crisis, here's how we can tackle it

How to quiet your inner criticFour steps to quiet your inner critic for personal development and better leadership.

How to stop worrying about employee mental healthWorry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere. You can turn your worry about your employees’ mental health into constructive action when you learn what to watch for and when to act.

Peer Reviewed Research Publications

Journal of Management: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/01492063211020358

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