I've spent a lot of time in rooms with leaders lately, and I keep hearing the same thing in different words. I want to lead the way I know I should. I just don't have the room to do it.

These aren't leaders who've stopped caring. They're some of the most committed people I know. They're also stretched in a way I haven't seen before.

What leaders are carrying

The numbers are starting to match what I hear in those rooms. Gallup found that the average number of people reporting to a U.S. manager rose from 10.9 in 2024 to 12.1 in 2025, and that manager engagement tends to drop as teams get bigger. Its 2026 global report shows manager engagement falling from 27% to 22% in a single year.

At the same time, the American Management Association found that 41% of managers say AI has raised expectations for how much their people should produce. More output, more people, and often the same hours.

I don't read any of that as a story about leaders failing. I read it as a story about leaders being asked to do more with less room and quietly deciding that something has to give.

What gives first

In my experience, it's rarely the deadlines. It's the human parts of leading. The one-on-one that gets moved. The question you don't have time to ask. The conversation where you'd normally slow down and listen, and instead you solve it quickly and move on.

It is an ordinary Tuesday. A team member knocks and asks if you have a minute. You have forty minutes of work due in twenty, so you say, "Can we do this later this week?" and you mean it. And your team member knows that this is the third time they tried to get your attention. Nothing dramatic happens. The work gets done. But somewhere in that exchange, your team member learns a little more about how much room there is for them and quietly decides to bring it up less. None of that looks like a problem from the outside. The work still gets done. But teams feel the difference long before the numbers show it.

What leaders need

When leaders are stretched, they usually ask me for a tool. A faster way to run meetings. A shorter way to give feedback. A better system.

Those can help at the edges. But more tools on top of an already full plate tend to become one more thing to feel behind on. What I see help is something quieter. Being clear on who you want to be as a leader when the pressure is on, so that your choices about where to put your limited time come from that, not from whatever is loudest.

And, just as important, not doing it alone. The leaders who keep their footing are rarely the ones with the most willpower. They're the ones with somewhere to think out loud, with other leaders who understand what the role is really like right now.

What we're building, and who it's for

This is who we have in mind as we get ready to open Leading Teams Academy. Not leaders who have it figured out. Leaders who are in the middle of it, doing their best with a bigger team, a faster pace and less room than they'd like.

The Foundation modules start with who you are as a leader, because that's what holds when everything else is moving. The tools and practices build from there, and the community keeps the reflection going when the pace picks up again.

One thing I know for sure

Feeling stretched thin isn't a sign you're leading badly. More often it's a sign you're leading in a season that keeps asking for more.

You don't need to fix everything at once. You might just need a little more room to lead the way you already know how to.

If you'd like a place to start, there's a short quiz that shows where you tend to lead from:

And you can find out more about Leading Teams Academy here: