Built to Burn
Pre-order the book
Karl Treacher · New book · On sale 30 September 2026

Why work burns people out, and how the best leaders build cultures that don’t.

Work should be one of the best parts of life. For most people right now, it is quietly running them down. Built to Burn is an inspiring read that maps the conditions that burn people out and the choices the best leaders make to build performance that lasts.

Take the test →

Are you burning out? A one minute check of how you feel and the conditions driving it.

Published by Wiley In over 25 countries
Built to Burn by Karl Treacher, front cover, published by Wiley
Pre-order the book→
82%
of employees are at risk of burnout.Mercer, 2024
Age 25
is where burnout now peaks, 17 years earlier than the generation before.DHR Global, 2024
$8.9tn
lost to disengagement and exhaustion across the world each year.Gallup, 2024
The check

Are you burning out?

A one minute self assessment built on the burnout research of Maslach and Leiter and the conditions Gallup ties most strongly to burnout. You get a clear reading and the levers that matter most for you.

Sixteen questions · Your pocket guide on completion · Answers stay on your device
Lead a team? Run the leader scorecard instead. Are you building to burn? →
Take the test → Get the pocket guide
About the Author

Two decades building healthy, high performing cultures.

“Built to Burn moves past yoga, compliance, and blaming individuals, to solutions grounded in science and prevention.”

Georgie Harman AOCEO, Beyond Blue

“The neuroscience is sound, the economics are sobering, and the prescription is the most clear-eyed I have read on workplace burnout. Required reading for all boards and leaders.”

Prof. Selena BartlettNeuroscientist, QUT

“Burnout is the issue shaping culture and performance more than anything else right now, Built to Burn explains why and gives leaders the tools to act. It will reset culture and performance in any organisation that takes it seriously.”

Nat FeehanDirector, ANZ Sales & Enablement, SEEK
As featured
Australian Institute of Company Directors CEDA CEO Magazine TEDx
Nine 3AW Melbourne The CEO Institute CultureCon
About the book

A clear-eyed map of why work burns people out, and what the best leaders do instead.

Drawing on hard data, neuroscience and organisational psychology, Built to Burn shows that burnout is a cultural output, as predictable as any other metric and just as open to change. Leaders set the conditions, so leaders hold the remedy.

“This isn’t a wellbeing book. It’s a leadership book that takes burnout seriously. Built to Burn shows that how we’ve designed our companies is what’s burning people out, and offers leaders willing to look honestly a genuine path to something better. The kind of book you’ll mark up and come back to.”

Sally BruceFormer Bank CEO / Global Tech COO & CFO
See it clearly

Name the conditions

The workload, pace, fairness, recognition and support that decide whether a culture sustains people or consumes them.

Understand it

The science, made usable

What chronic stress does to the brain and body, and why the systems we treat as normal work against the results they promise.

Act on it

Build the way out

The structural and cultural moves that grow performance off culture health, with a leader's toolkit you can use on Monday.

Part one
The Furnace
Understanding the burnout crisis. Its scale, its cost, and what it does to people.
  • 1The scale of the fire
  • 2The economics of destruction
  • 3The neuroscience of breaking
  • 5The AI paradox
Part two
The Fuel
Understanding how we got here. The systems and assumptions that let work consume life.
  • 7The accidental workplace
  • 8Stoking the furnace
  • 9Just one more email
  • 10The corporate coma
Part three
The Phoenix
Building healthy, high performing cultures. The practical work of leading the other way.
  • 12Honest assessment
  • 14The multiplier effect
  • 16Mirror work
  • 17The leader's toolkit
Go further than the book

For leaders ready to build the culture, not just read about it.

Two programs from The Culture Institute of Australia take the thinking in Built to Burn into practice. Register your interest and we will be in touch with dates and detail.

Visit The Culture Institute of Australia →
Program

Leading High Performance Culture

A practical program for leaders who want to grow performance off culture health. Care, curiosity, psychological safety, autonomy and clarity, workload and recovery, fairness and recognition.

  • For team leaders and executives
  • The six things the best leaders do
  • Built on the Built to Burn framework

Thanks. We will be in touch.

The Culture Institute of Australia
Certificate

Executive Certificate in Leadership and Culture

A deeper certification for senior leaders shaping culture at the level of the whole organisation. The full evidence base, the frameworks, and the assessment tools that put them to work.

  • For senior and executive leaders
  • Board grade culture assessment

Thanks. We will be in touch.

The Culture Institute of Australia
Workshop tool

The Back Burning Map

An interactive tool for Built to Burn workshop participants. It reads the load your week puts on you against the recovery you have built, then shows whether the pattern holds and where to act while a small change still works. Enter the access code from your session to open it.

Open the Back Burning Map →
Built to Burn cover
Get the book

Built to Burn. On sale 30 September 2026.

Available now for pre-order, published by Wiley. On sale 30 September 2026, and in bookstores around the world from October. Choose your region for the right edition.

Pre-order on Amazon Australia → Take the test first
AWileyPublication
Free download

The Built to Burn pocket guide

Catching burnout in yourself, stopping it in your team, and building performance that lasts. The evidence in one place, ready for your desk. You also receive it the moment you finish the test.

Protect yourself Lead others Build high performance The leader's job
Get the guide Take the test