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In an ‘always-on’ world with more choices than ever, why do people still struggle to set boundaries and experience burnout? In this interview with Carol Enneking, author of The Rebalancing Act: Wisdom from Working Women For Success that Matters readers of Social Lifestyle Magazine will gain deeper insights into personal enrichment.
Enneking explains that the very qualities that drive success—ambition, intelligence, and a strong work ethic—can also contribute to burnout if left unchecked. In her book, she shares personal stories and insights to help others recognize these patterns and find balance.
She is also excited to announce the launch of Rebalancing Revolution, a community of women from various ages, life stages, and professional backgrounds who support each other in focusing on success that truly matters. Created in response to readers of her book who wanted to continue the conversations it sparked, this community offers monthly virtual meetings with guest speakers, legacy mapping sessions, an online collaboration app, and an annual wellness retreat. “It’s not just another thing women have to do,” says Enneking. “Rather, it helps them do all the things they do better.”
So, what can we do to avoid reaching the breaking point? Carol Enneking shares her perspective:
Meghan Forte: Your book The Rebalancing Act explores the struggles of balancing career and personal fulfillment. What was the biggest takeaway from your research?
Carol Enneking : I realized it wasn’t just me! Over 70 people I interviewed confirmed my suspicion about why we are more overloaded and exhausted than ever before. From recent college graduates to retirees, their stories were the same. The myriad roles vying for our attention in today’s world are creating a problem we seem to feel powerless to solve. In this impossible daily juggling act,it is easy to lose sight of what matters most. Despite having more choices than ever before about how to invest our time, we tend to try to do everything, and the impact of technology in our ‘always on’ world has only magnified the issue. Rather than getting better with remote work and other adaptations, we now face an epidemic of worn out, burned out, stressed out employees.I know this because I was one of them. I also learned it is in our nature as women to be resilient, so along with learning about the traps they fell into, I also picked up some great techniques they used to reclaim balance and focus on what matters most.
Meghan Forte: What are some of the most common traps that prevent people from achieving work-life balance?
Carol Enneking: I think the biggest trap is probably having the expectation that things will be ‘balanced’ in the first place. With all the aspects of our busy lives, there are so many factors we juggle at work and in our personal lives, that balancing is, at best, temporary. That is why the book I wrote is called The Rebalancing Act. It is all about having the resources, agility, flexibility, and support needed to adjust when needed as efficiently and effectively as possible.
I also think a big trap is thinking we can do everything. While we may, indeed, be capable of doing all the things we want and need to do, it is important that we set boundaries and give up trying to do things that are of little or no value in the bigger context of our lives. Sometimes it’s easy to think, “Well, I know how to do this,” or even, “I can probably do this better or more quickly than anyone else.” So, we agree to do something that we don’t enjoy, don’t have time for, or don’t want to do at all. And then we wonder why we are overloaded!
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. When we keep our schedules so filled with things to do, we have no extra time buffer built in to take care of unforeseen issues. And we certainly have no time left to be fulfilled. I always like to ask people how they make choices about investing their most precious commodity, their time.
Learning how to say no and let go of the things that don’t matter is as important as investing your time and talent in the things that do.
Meghan Forte: What topics resonate most with your audiences when you speak on leadership and personal fulfillment?
Carol Enneking: I share my own stories about lessons I learned the hard way, and that is relatable for a lot of people. The very same attributes that make us successful can work against us. Professionals are typically ambitious, intelligent, goal driven, and conscientious. These are outstanding characteristics, but they can also lead to exhaustion, stress, and burnout. This is especially true for those who have significant pursuits beyond work, whether these are related to family, fitness, volunteerism, hobbies, or all of these! I inspire them to take some time to think about what they want to be known for…their legacy. Then, I provide them with perspective and tools to help them live with a legacy-focused mindset so they can focus on what matters most and feel good letting the other things go.
Meghan Forte: How do you approach engaging audiences who are feeling burnt out or stuck in their careers?
Carol Enneking: Similar concepts for achieving personal fulfillment also apply to managing your career. I have spent many years working with employees to help them manage their career instead of expecting someone else (i.e. their organizations) to manage it for them. Women in particular tend to be less likely to ask for what they want and then they end up frustrated when they don’t grow in their careers the way they had hoped. I share some simple exercises with audiences to help them identify their strengths and interests. Notice the two words I used: strengths, not skills, and interests, things you may not be good at yet, but that really interest you. For example, you may be really interested in learning more about marketing, supply chain, or leadership, but you don’t have any experience in those areas yet. That is different from something you don’t know but are not at all interested in learning more about. Likewise, understanding your strengths – things you are good at and that you enjoy doing, is important to differentiate them from just skills – things you are good at but that you don’t really like to do. Once you are clear on these, you are then able to consider your ideal role. From there, I help the audience consider their current situation. How do they show up, and ideally how do they want to be known? This helps them analyze the gap between their current and ideal states and create their development plan. There are other aspects of managing your career, like finding a mentor, discussing your career aspirations, and pacing yourself, that are part of this talk as well. Audiences appreciate the practical strategies they can use to drive a career that is fulfilling, rewarding, and aligned with their aspirations.
Meghan Forte: You’ve advised companies on six continents—how do leadership and talent challenges differ globally?
Carol Enneking: I have found that people leadership challenges all over the world are not that different. I did find, though, that cultural norms in different places and within different organizations vary greatly. This becomes quite complex when you consider global companies with a company culture somewhat determined by their headquarters location trying to adapt and marry that with the cultural norms, language, and practices of each country where they operate. For one client, my team conducted an employee survey in 31 different languages spanning the globe. Although the quantitative data was helpful and somewhat uniform, the qualitative data – especially with free text responses – varied quite a bit. Some groups of employees were much more likely to share their views quite candidly, while others were more guarded. This made the executive debriefs and follow up action planning quite interesting. I worked with executive teams in various divisions in the US, Europe, and Asia and it was absolutely fascinating! The leadership teams approached sharing the results with their teams and taking action on the results in very different ways. I learned so much from that experience and gained a greater appreciation for the importance of respecting local customs when it comes to providing great workplaces for these employees all over the world.
Meghan Forte: If you could give your younger self one piece of career advice, what would it be?
Carol Enneking: I would say to continue to analyze how I spend my time and be comfortable saying no to some things so I can say yes to the things that matter most to me.
Meghan Forte: What inspired you to specialize in talent management, coaching, and leadership?
Carol Enneking: I went through a personal development workshop in my mid-twenties that literally changed my life. As part of the workshop, I set my lifetime goals and was encouraged to dream big dreams. At the time, I was in a corporate marketing role and had expected to continue climbing the ladder in that company and that business area. I also confirmed my five uppermost values in that workshop, and one of them is contribution. Through these processes, I realized I really enjoyed facilitating training. I asked to become a facilitator to lead that very workshop within my company, and that was the first training I was ever certified to teach. From there, I was hooked! I took every opportunity to facilitate training. Having been part of a rotational development program focused on leading and managing people, I was particularly passionate about training that would help people be more effective managers. I continued to grow and develop my own leadership and career while helping others grow in those same areas. By doing this for over three decades, coaching became a natural addition to my offerings. I have had amazing opportunities to work with many different companies and thousands of leaders over the years, and it has been so rewarding. As for the talent management aspect, talent is just a fancy word for people. When you focus on learning, developing, and facilitating effective leadership, you realize all of that is talent management. Honing my skills in a corporate role standing up a talent management function for the business rounded out my skills. Through that role, I learned more about the processes supporting talent management from pre-hire through retirement. I am not an expert practitioner on every aspect of talent management but have a knack for melding all these pieces into a people leadership strategy that enables businesses to reach their objectives.
Carol Enneking is an accomplished senior leader with extensive experience in talent development, coaching, and executive guidance. She has collaborated with major corporations, innovative startups, and over 100 companies, empowering businesses to leverage their talent and culture to drive exceptional outcomes. In her acclaimed book, The Rebalancing Act: Wisdom from Working Women for Success that Matters, Carol shares insights from more than seventy interviews and her own personal experiences, offering actionable strategies to help others achieve balance and prioritize what truly matters.
Carol’s insights from The Rebalancing Act provide a valuable roadmap for identifying common traps and reclaiming balance. Through community-driven initiatives like Rebalancing REVOLUTION, she empowers women to redefine success on their own terms and cultivate lives that bring true happiness. By setting boundaries, focusing on meaningful pursuits, and prioritizing what enriches their lives, we can break free from burnout and create a fulfilled path toward happiness.
Our sincere gratitude to Carol Enneking and her team for the engaging interview with Social Lifestyle Magazine!
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