This reflection stems from watching the sequel to the cult classic *The Devil Wears Prada*; everyone is talking about it, everyone is criticizing the characters’ development, but no one seems to dwell on something that is obvious to us: it is no longer just a movie about fashion. It seems counterintuitive, but 20 years later, this is the story of what happens when we call the ability to withstand the impact of a world that no longer waits for you “talent.”
The film tells us that the “survive at all costs” model isn’t a mistake we suffer but the price we accept to pay to stay relevant. Miranda, who sees her empire waver in the face of an unforgiving digital world; Emily, who has gone from assistant to a ruthless and vengeful power rival; and Andy, who returns to her roots even though she knows full well how much it will cost her to try to stay true to herself and maintain her balance.
Their characters are extreme versions of realistic situations and are meant to draw attention to the issues surrounding the role and its consequences, but let’s be honest: how often do we see these scenes in the office or during calls? Even if we aren’t explicitly asked to be perfect in our words, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen in more subtle ways.
When does burnout become a habit?
We reward those who answer emails at midnight, those who never say no, those who hide their exhaustion behind a “I’m fine, just a little tired”—and all of this is labeled as ambition and a sense of duty. The impact this has on us is undeniable; we just need to become aware of it and know that changing things isn’t easy, but it is possible.
The film tells us that the “persevere at all costs” model isn’t a mistake we suffer but the price we accept to pay to remain relevant, and if we pause for a moment to reflect, we realize we’re accumulating what I’d call a “Debt of Freedom” toward ourselves.
It’s a daily mistake; we go about our daily lives without asking the right questions, without assessing the impact our choices have on us, yet the structures within which we live are the result of processes that we ourselves set in motion and sustain.
Because “pretending nothing is wrong” isn’t a strategy—here are some concrete examples of people who come here every day
If you’re always living in a state of emergency, you stop thinking clearly; you produce results, but you lose your clarity. Choosing a different pace isn’t a luxury, but a strategic move to protect a company’s most valuable asset: the mental energy of the people who work there.
Here’s what I’ve learned by observing the teams we host here in Gran Canaria:
Working hard doesn’t mean creating value. A healthy company isn’t one that asks little of you, but one that enables you to give your best without burning out. If you don’t choose what’s truly important, you end up expecting everything to be perfect. And we know how that ends: quality disappears under the weight of urgency.
Having a clear understanding of “why” we do things is an act of pragmatism. Often, teams don’t lack competence; they lack the space to get their priorities in order. Changing your environment helps eliminate distractions and reminds you that you’re a person, not an execution machine. At least that’s what happened to Marcus (title), at a major multinational airline, when his manager complimented him on his increased productivity during his time here in the coworking space.
Psychological safety trumps heroism, and this is evident in Google’s Project Aristotle, which clearly explains the concept of psychological safety: the best—and consequently most productive—teams are those where you can say, “I’m struggling today for reason X.” When a leader embraces this vulnerability, the pressure eases and, paradoxically, delivery speed improves. Why waste any more energy pretending to be a machine?
Stopping the pretense to start being, and giving people clear direction, isn’t a reward—it’s an investment. It’s only when we stop pretending to be infallible that we begin to produce that unique value that not even AI will ever be able to generate.
The 3 steps to assess your team’s status
Eliminate chaos: Talk to the team, identify a process that doesn’t produce value but only exhaustion, and stop it immediately.
Is it bureaucracy? How is feedback given? Are active processes truly internalized or just carried out? They know.Identify the burden: Ask the team why “everything is always urgent”—is it really? Why do they feel that way? What is truly urgent?
Choose what matters: Clarify what’s truly important for the coming month—and what isn’t—and review your monthly plan. Are priorities clear? Are they communicated well, or taken for granted?
The question for us leaders, then, is no longer how much we can push, but how we can grow without burning out talent along the way.
But does a project have to start off on the right foot, or can it be adjusted along the way?
The truth is that it all depends on how precisely we communicate. Burnout is cured by abandoning vague judgments in favor of the honesty of facts. Saying “do your best” isn’t encouragement; it immediately creates stress and fatigue because one’s “best” has no limit, whereas analyzing specific data unites the team toward a solution (instead, we agree on the expected result and the timebox).
Similarly, saying yes at all costs to please the client is a boomerang that will come back to haunt you; work piles up unmanageably, generating stress and frustration, and the client will receive subpar work.
This happens because ambiguity erodes trust, while objective data immediately resolves conflict and allows us to address the root cause of the problem rather than assigning individual blame. It’s a dynamic that cuts across every level: it defines the quality of leadership, the strength of the team, and transparency toward the client.
I therefore believe it is realistic to say that linguistic precision is the secret weapon for building the psychological security we were discussing: when words become facts, everyone’s trust and performance will improve at every level.