Product leader Michael Fox once embodied the quintessential Silicon Valley success story – until unrelenting drive led him to deterioration and a harrowing wake-up call in the hospital.

Today with profound clarity, Michael outlines the obscured line dividing healthy productivity from crippling exhaustion. His courageous account dispels the romanticized hustle culture narrative as he exposes the taboo crisis hiding in plain sight across modern workplaces.

I sat down with Michael across three profound conversations in which he recounts his own burnout and diagnoses the systemic dysfunctions fueling an epidemic behind closed office doors. With equal parts compassion and conviction, he confronts the stigmas shrouding mental health in the workplace while equipping leaders to sustain passion without sacrificing humanity along the way.

From Michael’s agonizing hospitalization to subsequent learnings on aligning productivity with sustainability, his first-hand perspective sheds light on prevention and treatment for the unseen pandemic infiltrating our workforce. Across our multi-part series, uncover a rare view behind the curtain as Michael reveals leadership wisdom earned through his most challenging chapter.

Part 1: The Dark Side of Digital Product Culture

Dedication or destruction? Behind the veneer of Silicon Valley glory lies a darker reality many won’t dare confront. What will it take for you to realize you’ve crossed the line?

In my profoundly vulnerable discussion with digital product leader @Michael Fox, he courageously shares his personal story of burnout that landed him in the hospital. With clarity, Michael outlines the obscured line dividing healthy productivity from crippling exhaustion. His courageous account dispels the romanticized hustle culture narrative as he exposes the taboo crisis hiding in plain sight across modern workplaces.

With equal parts compassion and conviction, he confronts the stigmas surrounding mental health in the workplace while equipping leaders to sustain passion without sacrificing humanity along the way.

As Michael poignantly shares, “Just talking about it is always the first step.” Listen to our conversation for a compassionate perspective on dismantling mental health stigmas in high stress work environments.

Part 2: Sustainable Productivity – How to Spot Burnout as a Leader

Is your workplace productivity sustainable or secretly toxic? It’s time to draw a definitive line between engaged effort and exhausted deterioration.

After his agonizing burnout experience landed him in the hospital, digital product leader Michael Fox returned with profound clarity on the differences between dedicated drive and crippling deterioration.

In our must-listen conversation, Michael outlines:

➡️  Precise differences between engaged effort and exhausted burnout

➡️ How to lead teams amid extreme demands – with empowered empathy, tactical trust, and permission for self-care

➡️ Why servant leadership must have boundaries: “To serve others, you must serve yourself”

➡️ Getting the right help and being vulnerable enough to have open conversations

Michael courageously models a mindset shift our work cultures desperately need – where high productivity is sustainable only when paired with humanity.

Listen to our conversation for practical wisdom equipping teams to make full use of their capacity without losing grasp of their health.