The Hustle Culture Trap: Why New Managers Mistake Burnout for Leadership

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It's no exaggeration to say that hustle culture completely redefined how we approach success. Nowadays, our social feeds are flooded with posts by startup founders boasting of starting at 4 a.m., executives claiming 80-hour workweeks, and influencers encouraging to trade sleep, relationships, and personal wellbeing for career development. The message behind all this is quite clear – if you want to be a success, you have to work harder than everybody else. Of course, ambition, dedication, and commitment are important, but glorification of ceaseless activity created a toxic stereotype, especially among newly appointed managers.

For many new managers, embracing the hustle culture is a natural choice. The process of promotion is exciting and stressful enough, and one wants to prove his/her worthiness, capability, and leadership potential. Thus, people start putting in more work hours, taking up more responsibilities, and maintaining constant state of alertness to establish credibility. What initially aimed to prove one's performance ability eventually leads to misunderstanding of the essence of management and leadership.

This misunderstanding, however, is not only harmful – it's toxic. True leadership doesn't come down to being first to arrive at work and last one to leave. Being available at midnight, constantly checking emails, or staying online doesn't qualify one as a good leader either. True leadership implies making the right decisions, helping team members improve, providing a sustainable level of performance and establishing trust. Confusion of being exhausted with being committed hampers the development of such qualities that are vital for leadership.

One of the most popular stereotypes in the hustle culture is the assumption that more work means more success. Indeed, from the perspective of logical reasoning, working twice as much will result in twice the amount of work performed. However, human performance works in a bit more complex way. Research shows that productivity, concentration, creativity, and decision-making become worse as the level of fatigue increases. After some point, additional work becomes inefficient, and its effect decreases significantly.

This is a very important aspect of leadership. Being different from individual performance, management and leadership require decision making, communication, priorities setting, coaching, and other mental tasks that presuppose rational thinking and self-control. Thus, a person can hardly lead when he/she is exhausted and overloaded.

As I've seen with my own eyes, numerous new managers fall into the trap of confusing visibility with value. The logic here is quite easy – if senior leaders see that junior managers are working round-the-clock, they will perceive him/her as a committed employee, a good candidate for further promotion. In consequence, people accept all projects, attend every meeting and take upon themselves tasks that are meant to be delegated to team members. While it ensures short-term recognition, it causes serious problems in long term – burning out, dependence on oneself, and loss of opportunities to develop others. Instead of leading, they become a bottleneck.

The irony of the situation is that nobody promotes a person who performs alone. Promotion is the sign that a person knows how to manage, coach, delegate and organize efficient processes. Working 70 hours a week without delegating anything is the manifestation of leadership insecurities, rather than its strength.

Besides the job, hustle culture slowly erodes relationships. Every hour spent on work cannot be spent somewhere else. There will be intensive periods, of course, but there's a problem when it turns into a usual situation. Forgetting family dinners. Losing contacts with friends. Leaving one's hobbies aside. Not exercising and sleeping little. Gradually, work takes the place previously occupied by things and people which give meaning to life.

People justify this with the argument that their sacrifices are temporary. They believe that as soon as they receive the next promotion, complete the next project, earn a certain sum of money, etc., the balance will come back. However, it usually doesn't happen by itself. On the contrary, demands only increase: additional responsibility after the promotion, additional projects after the victory, and bigger goals after each milestone. Years pass and what was supposed to be temporary becomes permanent.

Unfortunately, it is one of the truths of modern professional life – a person understands it much later. He/she achieves all the career peaks he/she was working for decades, but finds out that his/her personal life is destroyed. His/her relationships become fragile, friends move away, family bonds weaken. All the achievements are left, but the people to share them with are gone.

This raises an important question to every aspiring leader – what does success actually mean? As per the hustle culture, the success is measured by objective factors – salary, job position, company growth, and social status. There's nothing wrong with pursuing these values, but these are just some aspects of the successful life. True success involves good health, mental stability, meaningful relationships, personal satisfaction, and enjoyment of the results of one's work.

As a challenge to new managers, the understanding of the essence of leadership must be formed. True leadership isn't about quick victories but about long-term success. Usually, the careers of the leaders last decades, not months, and sustainable success requires sustainable habits. Just like elite athletes understand the importance of recovering between hard efforts, true leaders rest, establish proper boundaries, and maintain balance. Sustained performance relies upon preserving their physical, mental and emotional energy.

It's where the hustle culture misses the point of leadership. It treats recovery as weakness, and exhaustion as the mark of true professionals. However, the most successful leaders that I know are neither the ones that work the hardest, nor the ones that outperform everybody, but the ones that manage energy, think strategically, delegate appropriately, and maintain balance in all spheres of life.

Thus, the challenge for a new manager is to understand that leadership is the demonstration of one's habits, which he/she is setting to his/her team members. People notice your actions much more than your words. While you may be trying to teach the principles of sustainable performance, sending late-night emails and working even during holidays is not consistent with this approach.

Thus, leadership doesn't only consist of managing one's workload but in setting examples for the future. Showing to your team members healthy boundaries, taking time off, paying attention to personal wellbeing and maintaining balance gives them permission to follow your example. Eventually, it leads to forming a healthier culture, higher morale and sustained performance in the team.

The future generations of leaders have an opportunity to change the default setting of the hustle culture. Instead of glorifying exhaustion, glorify effectiveness. Instead of valuing hours of work, value the effects of your work. Instead of striving for constant availability, strive for sustained performance. Above all, define success in a way which would combine career achievements and personal wellbeing.

Indeed, you should be hardworking as a new manager. Go for excellence, seek personal growth, and take responsibility. But you shouldn't fall for the idea that leadership is incompatible with everything else in life. It is not about career success at the price of health, relationships, and happiness. It is about making your career help you with improving your life.

Years later, nobody will remember how many late-night emails you've sent and how many weekends you spent in the office. But they'll remember how you treated people, how you made them feel, and whether you helped them succeed. Your family will remember whether you were there. Your friends will remember whether you've invested in your relationships. Your team will remember whether you were a leader that ensured sustainable success, or the one who accumulated burnout.

True leadership legacy isn't measured in the number of hours you've worked. It's measured in the number of lives you've positively influenced. This is the lesson every new manager should learn before hustle culture persuades him/her of something else.