How To Avoid Burnout (As A Designer)

In today's episode, I chat with product design leader Lisa Jacquiot about a topic that hits close to home, burnout. Lisa shares her personal story of hitting the wall and how a toxic environment nearly ended her career in design. We unpack how burnout shows up in creative teams, why designing for stakeholders (not users) is a red flag, and how leaders can spot the early warning signs before it’s too late. This episode is real, raw, and full of takeaways for any design leader! Key Themes Discussed - Burnout in high-pressure design teams - Losing meaning in stakeholder-driven work - Early signs of mental fatigue in creatives - Protecting creativity in fast-paced cultures - Leadership’s role in preventing burnout Resources: - For more information about Torii: https://toriiconsulting.com.au/ - Follow Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joewoodham - Follow Lisa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisajacquiot/ Timestamps (0:00) - Introduction (1:20) - Lisa's burnout story: The hidden cost of design work (3:30) - Spotting the triggers for burnout (5:30) - Designing for stakeholders vs designing for users (8:38) - How burnout impacts creativity and decision-making (11:05) - How burnout affects those around you (13:04) - The answer to burnout (practical solutions!) (18:11) - Signals that your team are close to burning out (20:08) - How to create a Burnout-proof work environment (23:03) - Improving the general mental health of your team (27:12) - All leaders need to do this! Produced by Reidentify: https://reidentify.co/