Burnout Immunity: How Emotional Intelligence Can Help You Build Resilience and Heal Your Relationship With Work

A USA Today Bestseller & Financial Times Best Business Book of the Month April 2024

“A marvelously readable and extremely practical guide to handling stress.” —Daniel Goleman

An essential guide to protect yourself from burnout by learning to develop and master key emotional intelligence skills

Why do some people in the world’s most stressful careers avoid burnout while countless others are overwhelmed by the demands of ordinary jobs? What can we learn from these resilient role models who seem to be naturally resistant to the psychological hazards of work?

After extreme stress caused a life-threatening health cri­sis in her own life, Dr. Kandi Wiens dedicated herself to understand why work was leaving millions of us sick, exhausted, unmoti­vated, and feeling stuck and ineffective. In her research, she discovered something remarkable: Despite dangerous levels of work-related stress, some people seemed to be naturally “immune” to burnout.

So what did these people have that Dr. Wiens and mil­lions of others did not? Regardless of their role, industry, or experience, all these professionals exhibited a high degree of emotional intelligence (EI). EI is the ability to clearly perceive, understand, and productively manage emo­tions, thoughts, and behaviors in service of one’s overall well-being and performance. The people with burnout immunity were relying on specific EI skills to successfully cope with stressful work environments and experiences. The result is that they were more productive; had happier careers and lives; and were free from the physical and men­tal ravages of exhaustion, negativity, and inefficacy that characterize burnout.

The good news is that everyone can build and boost emotional intelligence and use EI-based skills to manage workplace stress before it leads to breaking down or burn­ing out. Burnout Immunity shows readers how to:

• Build self-awareness to identify what makes you vulnerable to burnout
• Manage your stress triggers and response, and tap into moments of good stress
• Regulate your thoughts and emotions to remain effective in the midst of stress
• Develop healing connections to keep burnout at bay
• Recover from moments of burnout, reconnect to things that bring you joy, and reimagine a new way forward

Bolstered with research, exercises, self-assessments, and real-life stories from people with natural burnout immu­nity and those who’ve cultivated it, Burnout Immunity teaches workers how to positively cope with stress and to enjoy healthier and happier relationships with work.

Kandi Wiens, EdD, MSEd, MBA, is a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, the director of the Penn Master’s in Medical Education Program and the Penn Health Professions Education Certificate Program, and the academic director of the PennCLO Master’s Pro­gram. She frequently teaches in various graduate-level and executive-format programs across the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Thinkers50 Radar 2024 cohort, a researcher, a national speaker, and an executive coach whose work focuses on helping lead­ers hone and use their emotional and social intelligence to amplify their positive impact and protect themselves from burnout.