Jennifer Moss - The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It

Writing a book about burnout during a global pandemic was not easy. It required extraordinary support from the people closest to me and plenty of cheerleading from my personal and professional circle. Most of all, it asked my family to be the calm in the chaos of an upended world. Particularly, my husband Jim. Thank you, Jim, for being my Sweden. Your counsel was unbiased, insightful, persuasive, and kind. You were enthusiastically generous with your time. I didnt feel aloneeverin this process. You have my gratitude.

Thank you to my children, Wyatt, Olivia, and Lyla, for your respect and patience. I was especially grateful for the moments when you would come into my bedroom/office to kiss me on the forehead and leave just as quietly as you came in. These small gestures were the most meaningful. You are the parts that make me whole.

Since I can remember, my dad would say I was going to change the world. That consistent narrative playing in the background had an incredibly positive impact on me. All dads should tell their daughters they have superpowers. But the way my parents lived their day-to-day lives impacted me perhaps even more. My mom was the first nurse practitioner in our countrya trailblazer and caregiver. My dads first job at the bank was rolling pennies. He retired as an assistant vice president of that same bank. This instilled in me the work ethic and drive that helped me write a book in lockdown. Thank you, Sally and Doug, for walking the talk. I love you.

I want to thank my siblings, Janice and Allen, my sisters by luck, Patti and Melissa, and Jims parents (my other mom and dad), Connie and Ron, for being my constant champions. Janice, thank you for loving me without question. Coming over to take the kids, anticipating my needsyou helped get me and this book over the finish line. Allen and Melissa, thank you for being there as a family to listen to my worries and fears and for adding laughter to my life. Our weekly games helped me to escape. Patti, thank you for pushing me intellectually and reminding me why this book matters to the world. There is more to life than metrics. Connie and Ron, I am truly fortunate to have you in my life. Connie (aka Gigi), thank you for showing such pride and appreciation for my workyou encouraged me to stay the course.

I need to thank my friends, especially my soulmate, Lydia Vargo. The psychological safety you bring to my life, the effortless state of belonging I feel when Im with you, is beyond measure. When I suggest that we all need friends who would bail us out of jailthats you, Lydia. Thank you, Jen Schneider, Sandra Leelook, Sarah Simpson, and Lindsay Lane, for being my people. The phone calls, the virtual visits, the drive-bys, the car coffees, the tiny windows of social distancing under masks, and the earliest days of freedom as the vaccines arrived. The belly laughs, the tearsyou were there through it all, and wow, did I need it! You helped me avoid being the burnout expert who burned out while writing a book about burnout. Thank you.

Katie Lewis, thank you. You have no idea how much youve helped me, both professionally and personally, during the writing of this book. From handling every single logistical aspect of my business to making sure I was still practicing self-care, your support was invaluable. It was a year of survival and you were always there, towing a lifeboat.

Of course, I want to thank my powerhouse team of editors at Harvard Business Review Press. First, Kevin Evers. Thank you for advocating for this book and seeing its early potential. I appreciate how you let me tell the story in the way I needed while giving me that freedom you also teased out the best parts of my work. Thank you for keeping this book on the right trajectory (which wasnt always easy). You are seriously good at what you do. Anne Starr and Jane Gebhart, thank you for perfecting my unpolished prose by making it clean, tidy, organized, and so much more readable! Anne, your guidance through this process was incredibly helpful.

Id also like to thank the whole HBR team for bringing the book to life. Dana Rousmaniere, you are the reason this book exists. Were here because of your advocacy and passionate interest in the topic. Thank youI love working with you. Gretchen Gavett, thank you for believing in me and trusting me with The Big Idea. It was a passion project that has positively impacted my life. Kelsey Gripenstraw, thank you for putting me in touch with business leaders across the HBR globe. I continue to get feedback about how that kick-started conversations about preventing burnout in their workplaces.

Thank you to Barbara Henricks, Jessica Krakoski, and Emily Lavelle, my incredible PR team at Cave Henricks. All of you believed in the change-making power of this book and worked tirelessly on its behalf. Thank you to the marketing and communications team at HBR Press: Julie Devoll, Lindsey Dietrich, Alicyn Zall, Alexandra Kephart, Felicia Sinusas, Erika Heilman, Jon Shipley, Sally Ashworth, Ella Morrish, and Brian Galvin. I am so grateful for your efforts to get The Burnout Epidemic into the hands of readers across the world.

Thank you to the scientists, researchers, and experts who have come before me and continue to campaign for more awareness on the topic of burnout. Christina Maslach, Michael Leiter, and Susan Jackson, thank you for authoring the academic scales that have remained the gold standard for measuring burnout for decades. Christina and Michael, thank you for partnering with me, along with David Whiteside, during the pandemic. Our data showed how a crisis can exacerbate an existing problem like burnout to epidemic levels. Sharing that with the world has kick-started change, and for that I am extremely grateful. This group, along with other scientists, from Freudenberger to Herzberg to Schaufeli, have known for years the catastrophic impact that burnout causes. Their effort to find a solution to this rapidly evolving problem is unmatched. I will do my best to honor their work through passionate advocacy and continued research in the field.

And, last but not least, thanks to all of you reading this book and striving for real change. The daily outreach from global companies and their leaders, asking for my help, is a reminder that theres a strong appetite out there for building a well and flourishing workforcea future of work where burnout lives in the past.