By Steve Moran
You’re exhausted. I get it.
Management makes everything impossible. All you can really do is get through each day, trying not to implode or explode. Corporate only cares about money, reports, and margins. Employees have impossible demands and only know how to complain.
And then every damn day — another leadership podcast telling you to “lead with purpose.” Another LinkedIn post about “servant leadership” from someone who hasn’t worked a double shift in a decade. Another consultant who’s never had to explain to a CNA why you can’t approve overtime even though you’re short-staffed again.
It’s only logical that you’re cynical.
And then leadership books … It’s no wonder the latest leadership book feels irrelevant when you’re just trying to keep people fed, safe, and not walking out mid-shift. Of course you wonder if any of this “great leadership” stuff actually matters when the system seems designed to make it impossible.
And here’s the thing: The impossible constraints are absolutely real.
That $6.50 per resident per day food budget isn’t your fault. Neither is corporate’s rigid staffing matrix that ignores the reality of your building and the actual needs of your residents. Neither are the eighty emails you’ll answer today that have nothing to do with actually leading people. Neither is the reality that your best CNA just gave notice because she can make $3 more an hour at the hospital.
So yeah, maybe leadership doesn’t matter that much anymore. Maybe you’re right to have given up.
Maybe …
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