Three Surprising Skills That Help Leaders Avoid Burnout

Lessons for Leaders Who Want to Do Things Differently

What if you could design your career around what energizes you – and lead in a way that actually works for you, your team, and your values?

That question has quietly guided much of 621 executives Scott Kabat and Simon Fleming-Wood’s careers. (See more on leadership, career and start-up guidance in the prior posts from this series.)

After decades in marketing roles in high-growth companies, both leaders found themselves questioning the default expectations of what leadership is supposed to look like. In this post, they share three lessons for leaders seeking to practice more effective, intentional, and sustainable leadership.

Start with What Energizes You

Before you can lead others well, you need to understand what fuels you. That’s where effective leadership begins – not with doing it all, but with knowing where you lead best.

Simon puts it simply: “First, notice what fuels you and what drains you. Once you’re clear on that, you can design your work (and your team) accordingly – surrounding yourself with leaders whose strengths fill the gaps – so you can lead from a more grounded place.”

Leaders who understand where they thrive are better equipped to set priorities, model healthy boundaries, and lead with clarity instead of chaos. Achieving that level of self-awareness requires creating some space for self-reflection.

After Scott stepped away from his last CMO role, he asked himself: what would truly fulfill me for the next stage of my career? “I took time to journal, reflect, and bounce ideas with my trusted friends and family," he explains. “I intentionally wanted to remove any preconceived assumptions about what an ‘acceptable’ next step would look like and free myself to rethink my path forward.”

That process led Scott to transition from CMO roles into founding 621. “I experimented with some fractional and advisory work,” he explains, and found that “the challenge of distilling all I had learned in my career and repackaging it into tangible guidance for other leaders energized me. It took a process of dabbling in this kind of work to evolve my own identity of what I wanted to be professionally for my next phase.”

Go on Offense

Both Scott and Simon have experienced the tension between leading with conviction and managing downside risks.

“Leadership is ultimately an active choice,” says Simon. “You can’t create real value by sitting back and playing defense. You have to step forward even when the path isn’t crystal clear.”

It’s an easy trap – waiting for perfect clarity or full alignment before stepping forward. But real leadership often means stepping forward with conviction, even without all the answers.

“You can’t wait to be handed perfect conditions,” Simon adds. “As a CMO, the job is to see where you can create the greatest impact, align the team around it, and then move, uncertainty and all.”

“Earlier in my journey as an executive I played things a little too safe,” Scott says.“ As I grew, I came to accept that even if you can’t fully control the outcome, you can live with knowing you applied sound logic to your leadership decisions and stuck to your core principles. I ultimately learned to get comfortable with this approach instead of playing not to lose.”

Your Job? Clear the Way to Unleash Each Individual’s Superpowers

For both leaders, the most rewarding work has been helping others uncover what they do best – and spend more time doing it.

As 621 took shape, Scott realized the firm could be more than a career pivot. It could be a space to help other high-performing marketers spend more time in their zone of strengths rather than putting all of their energy into addressing areas that aren’t natural skills.

“So many people discover their superpower, but end up in roles where they don't really get to spend enough time playing to that strength,” he says. “While we all should seek to address our developmental opportunities, we also should ensure we spend sufficient time fully leveraging what we do best.”

Simon, who has helped to develop 15 CMOs from his former teams, reflects that one of the most powerful leadership lessons he’s learned is the importance of trust: “You bring in people because they’re really good at what they do. You don’t need to prove that you know more than them. You need to create the conditions for them to shine.”

The job of a leader isn’t to direct every move — it’s to set the table for others to thrive. When that happens, the work becomes more sustainable for everyone.

Applying These Concepts to You

Redefining how you lead doesn’t require walking away from everything — just the parts that no longer serve you, your team, or your purpose.

For Scott and Simon, that meant getting clear on what energizes them, leading with conviction, and helping others operate from their strengths.

The result? A more grounded, energizing, and human way to lead. It’s one that makes room for impact without the burnout.

Thinking about what’s next – for your brand or your career? 621 brings seasoned marketing leadership to the moments that matter most. Whether you’re scaling fast, navigating change, or just need steady hands on the wheel, we’re here to help you move with clarity and purpose.

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