TL;DR: HBR’s research on stress and high performance shows something that surprises a lot of leaders: high performers carry significantly more stress than average performers, not less. The reason is not the workload. It is that they care more, absorb more organizational dysfunction, and are held to a standard others on the team are not. That is a leadership problem disguised as a resilience problem.
Most leaders assume their high performers are fine. They are performing. They are not complaining. They are delivering. That combination reads as thriving.
It is not always thriving. Sometimes it is a person carrying far more than their leader realizes, absorbing the gap between what the organization asks for and what it actually provides, and doing it quietly because that is what high performers do.
HBR’s researchhttps://hbr.org/2024/10/high-performers-are-often-the-most-burned-out-heres-how-to-help-them on this is worth sitting with. High performers consistently report higher stress levels than their peers. Not because they are doing more work, although they often are. But because they care more about the quality of what they produce, they notice organizational dysfunction that others have learned to ignore, and they are held to a standard of excellence that others on the team simply are not held to.
That last one is the part that should make leaders uncomfortable. Because it is a direct consequence of leadership behavior.
What High Performers Are Actually Absorbing 
A director described this to me in a coaching session. She had a team member who had been her most reliable performer for three years. Consistent output, great judgment, no drama. She had assumed he was fine because he never told her he was not.
When she finally had a direct conversation with him about how he was actually doing, the answer was more honest than she had expected. He told her he spent a significant amount of energy every week compensating for things that were not getting done by others on the team. He tracked dependencies that people were dropping. He redid work that came back below standard rather than letting it go out wrong. He absorbed the cost of unclear direction by figuring out the direction himself.
None of that had ever appeared in a status update. He had not brought it to her because he had not wanted to seem like he was complaining. And she had read his silence as evidence that he was managing fine.
He was managing fine. At significant personal cost. And that cost was not sustainable.
Why This Is a Leadership Problem
High performers absorb organizational dysfunction because they care about outcomes and they have the capability to compensate for gaps. But there is a limit to how long someone can do that before the math stops working.
The leaders who think they are getting a good deal because their high performers never complain are often missing the fact that those people are doing the work of one and a half people, carrying the emotional weight of team dysfunction nobody has addressed, and wondering when leadership is going to notice and do something about it.
When they finally stop waiting, they do not usually announce it. They just start to pull back. And then eventually they leave. And the leader is standing there saying they had no idea.
What to Do About It 
The fix is not a wellness program or an extra day off. It is leadership.
Address the performance gaps that your high performers are absorbing. Hold everyone on the team to real standards, not just the people who care enough to hold themselves to them. Ask your high performers directly what they are compensating for that should not be their problem to solve. And then actually do something with what you hear.
Your high performers are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for leadership that creates an environment where they do not have to carry everyone else in addition to doing their own work. That is a completely reasonable ask. And it starts with a leader who is paying close enough attention to see that it is happening.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are high performers often burned out?
Because they are absorbing organizational dysfunction that others are either not seeing or not addressing. They compensate for performance gaps on the team, they carry the cost of unclear direction, and they are held to a standard that is not applied consistently across the group. That combination is exhausting. And because they tend to manage it quietly, leaders often do not see it until the person has already made the decision to leave.
How do you support high performers without burning them out?
By addressing the gaps they are compensating for rather than relying on their willingness to absorb them. Ask directly what they are carrying that should not be their problem. Then hold the rest of the team to real standards so the high performers are not doing everyone else’s work in addition to their own. Wellness programs and recognition matter. They do not substitute for the leadership that fixes the actual problem.
How do you know if a high performer is struggling?
Ask them directly in a one-on-one that is not about project status. Most high performers will not volunteer that they are struggling. They have usually learned that delivering the answer is safer than admitting the cost. A leader who asks specifically and listens without minimizing what they hear will get the real answer. A leader who reads silence as contentment will not.
