How you feel on Sunday night tells you something real about your relationship with work. Amy Leneker, the author of Cheers to Monday, calls it one of the most honest assessments we have, and she would know. Seven weeks into medical leave after a panic attack, she sat in a doctor's office, got handed a questionnaire, and could not answer a question about what she did for fun.

In this conversation, Amy walks through what she learned from that unraveling and the research that followed. She explains the difference between the stress that helps you perform and the stress that wears you down, and why leaders and their teams so often talk past each other on exactly that point. She shares the zero-to-10 question that opens up a conversation about stress without putting anyone on the spot, her three-step See, Sort, Solve method, and how to separate what you can control from what you cannot.

There is a lot in here you can use this week if you lead people. Including one calendar trick involving a standing Friday appointment with Dr. Green.

About our guest

Amy Leneker is the founder and CEO of the Center for Joyful Work and the author of Cheers to Monday: The Surprisingly Simple Method to Lead and Live with Less Stress and More Joy, published by Wiley in 2026. The book debuted as the number one bestselling business book on the USA Today list. Amy spent more than two decades in leadership, including ten years in the C-suite, before burnout forced a different path. She has studied leadership at Yale, neuroscience at the NeuroLeadership Institute, and stress resilience at Harvard Medical School. She leads an annual national workforce study on stress and joy at work, has trained more than 100,000 people, and hosts the Less Stress, More Joy podcast. She and her family live in the Pacific Northwest.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Intro and sponsor
02:10 The question in a doctor's office she could not answer
05:05 The signs she ignored for years
05:55 Why your Sunday night mood is honest data
07:10 Turning her own burnout into a literature review
09:35 Eustress and distress, and why leaders and teams talk past each other
11:40 The check engine light and the cost of waiting
13:20 See, sort, solve
15:25 The stress ruler and the zero to 10 question
19:40 Stress and joy are both contagious
20:45 Values that leave you out will burn you out
24:10 Sorting what you can control from what you cannot
26:45 Why the people quickest to offer help are the slowest to ask for it
28:50 Cancel a meeting
30:20 The Dr. Green calendar story
32:35 What leaders get wrong in uncertain moments
34:45 Stress thrives in isolation

A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR Host: Brandon Laws

In Brandon's own words: "The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders."

About Xenium HR Xenium HR is on a mission to transform workplaces by providing expert outsourced HR and payroll services for small and medium-sized businesses. With a people-first approach, Xenium helps organizations create thriving work environments where employees feel valued and supported. From navigating compliance to enhancing workplace culture, Xenium offers tailored solutions that empower growth and simplify HR. Whether managing employee relations, payroll processing, or implementing impactful training programs, Xenium is the trusted partner businesses rely on to elevate their workplace experience. Discover how Xenium can transform your workplace: Learn more

Mentioned in this episode: Xenium HR Leadership Cohorts

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