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As a New Manager, I Thought Everything Was an Emergency
And I nearly burned out my team in the process
I thought I was leading a high-performing team — until I realized I was the one burning it to the ground.
“Maria’s not coming back,” my director said as he closed his office door, the faint hum of the air conditioning filling the silence as I froze in my chair.
Three months into my first management role, and my best developer had just become the third resignation that quarter.
Maria had been upset during the team meeting the day before, but I hadn’t expected her to quit.
“This is unsustainable,” she had said. “Yesterday you marked a social media update as critical. Last week, we canceled a client demo because marketing needed a PowerPoint review right now. Every email is urgent. Every meeting is mandatory. I spent six hours today in unnecessary meetings instead of fixing our security vulnerability.”
Now, my director leaned back in his chair, disappointment etched into his face. “Your team delivered the core product launch two months late, and now they’re dropping like flies. Walk me through what’s happening.”
I stumbled through an explanation about competing priorities and market pressure, but even as I spoke, I heard how…
