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Burnout isn’t just a personal struggle—it’s a leadership issue. Speaking on the Rewrite the Rules podcast, Yolanda Lee shares how women leaders can navigate pressure, build boundaries and find strength through honest connection and community.

Leadership is often lonely—but for women, it can feel like isolation in plain sight.

According to a McKinsey report on Women in the Workplace, 43% of women leaders report being burned out, compared to just 31% of men at the same level. The reason isn’t just workload—it’s the relentless juggling of personal expectations, professional ambition and invisible emotional labour.

Many women leaders feel they must carry it all without letting anyone see them sweat. And in doing so, they often carry a silent burden: guilt, burnout and the fear that saying “no” might cost them credibility.

Yolanda Lee knows this experience intimately. As a senior leader in some of the world’s fastest-growing tech firms and now founder of Uncommon—a private community for women leaders—she’s seen how critical it is to have spaces where women can be honest, unmasked and vulnerable.

She calls it a “third space”—not work, not home, but something in between. A place where women leaders can say what they really think, share what they’re truly feeling and begin rewriting the rules of leadership on their own terms.

In a recent conversation on Rewrite the Rules, Yolanda offers a powerful reflection on what women in leadership truly need: not perfection, not permission—but safe community, clear boundaries and self-defined success.

Why Leadership Feels Lonely for Women

At the top, visibility is high, but vulnerability is rare.

For many women leaders, showing up means showing strength. But behind the polished LinkedIn profiles and boardroom wins lies an unspoken truth: guilt. Guilt for not doing enough at home. Guilt for setting boundaries at work. Guilt for simply wanting more.

Even when women try to advocate for themselves, it’s often cloaked in apology: “I’m so sorry, but I can’t take that on right now.” The subtext? That boundaries are somehow a betrayal of commitment.

“Leadership is incredibly lonely, but I think it can be especially lonely for women leaders.”

But what if leadership didn’t have to be this lonely?

Yolanda saw that loneliness up close through her own journey in fast-paced, high-pressure leadership roles. So, she built Uncommon, a space not just for professional networking but also for honesty, vulnerability and real connection.

It's more than a community. It’s a release valve. A place where high-achieving women can admit, “I don’t have it all figured out,” and be met with understanding—not judgment.

Because sometimes, the most powerful thing a leader can say is, ‘me too’.

The Hidden Cost of Burnout in Women Leaders

Once women stop performing and start speaking openly, one theme rises to the surface again and again: exhaustion. But not the kind that sleep fixes.

This is burnout in disguise—the kind that creeps in when you’re chasing high achievement while also managing everyone else’s expectations. From boardroom deadlines to family dinners, the pressure to hold it all together becomes relentless.

And burnout doesn’t usually arrive with sirens. It slips in quietly—especially during life’s significant transitions: marriage, becoming a parent, caregiving for ageing family members. It’s not just the workload but also the invisible weight of guilt for needing to slow down or ask for help.

That’s why Yolanda invites women to go deeper than time management. She encourages energy mapping. This involves noting what energises you, what drains you and where the friction really lies. Often, it’s not about doing too much. It’s about doing too much that doesn’t align with who you are or what you truly value.

“We saw women shifting from wanting the dream job to wanting the dream life.”

This mindset shift is powerful. Once you stop treating burnout like a personal failure and start seeing it as a signal of misalignment, you unlock something more important than productivity: agency.

You can lead boldly and rest deeply. The two are not mutually exclusive.?

Confidence and Boundaries—Rewriting the Rules of Leadership

Confidence doesn’t come from pushing harder but from protecting what matters most.

“How do I learn to say no and overcome the guilt around that?”

Boundaries are a leadership skill. But for many women, saying “no” still feels like a risk. There’s a reason women take on so many “non-promotable” tasks—organising team lunches, planning office events, supporting others emotionally—because it’s expected.

The cost? Less time for strategic thinking, career development and high-impact work.

Yolanda reframes boundaries as not just protection—but clarity. Boundaries show what you value, where you thrive and how you want to lead. And once you stop apologising for them, you start reclaiming your energy. When women begin to acknowledge their worth, guilt starts to lose its grip.

Learning to lead with intention rather than obligation frees women to build lives that align with their values, not just the expectations placed on them.

And that’s the shift that’s required—leading with purpose, not pressure.

When women start protecting their time and energy, they begin leading from a place of intention, not obligation.

Yolanda’s experience, and the community she’s built through Uncommon, highlights what many women in leadership quietly grapple with: the weight of guilt, the silence of burnout and the constant push to prove themselves. But it also offers a different way forward.

When women feel safe to speak honestly, to reflect on what drains them and to draw boundaries without apology, leadership becomes more sustainable—and more human.

These aren’t soft skills; they’re survival strategies in a system that often overlooks the emotional toll of leadership.

Success, then, doesn’t have to mean sacrifice. It can mean alignment. It can mean choosing fulfilment over optics. And it can mean defining your path in a way that honours both your ambition and your wellbeing.

Because rising to the top means far more when you don’t lose yourself on the way there.

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The Rewrite the Rules community forges connections and a space that helps leaders navigate the unseen pressures of leadership, especially the ones women face alone.

For more from Yolanda on burnout, boundaries and building powerful communities, listen to the full episode here. If you want to hear and share inspiring stories of women across Asia, reach out to me by email or on LinkedIn.