Our Leaders Are Miserable
Look around. You don’t need a headline or a Gallup poll to know something’s off.
Our leaders—across politics, business, culture—don’t look well. They look guarded. Overextended. Chronically performative. Like they’re running on fumes and calling it grit.
And here’s the uncomfortable part: We chose them. We elevated them. Which means their unhappiness isn’t just personal—it’s a mirror.
We’re not just watching burned-out leaders. We’re watching the logical result of a culture that’s burned out us.
This country doesn’t actually reward well-being. It rewards overwork. It rewards appearance over alignment. It rewards achievement, even when it costs us everything that makes life worth living.
And then, when we inevitably crash, it tells us we’re the problem. That we just need to meditate more. Or take a vacation. Or find a new gratitude practice. As if any of that fixes the root cause: a system that profits when we stay disconnected from ourselves.
That’s why I created The Unhappy American, a short-run podcast series asking the question we’re all quietly avoiding:
Why are we so unhappy? And what can we actually do about it?
Each episode tackles one cultural lie we’ve been sold about happiness, then breaks it open. With data. With real talk. With stories that feel a little too close to home.
Not to shame us. To free us.
Because happiness isn’t a luxury. It’s not a reward. It’s a skill. And it’s time we remembered how to use it.
