Your Leaders Are Not Ok: Here's The Real Cost of the 'Corner' Office

🎙 Fireside Chat: The Cornered Office – Why Leadership Mental Health Is the Conversation We’ve Avoided for Too Long

Let’s say the quiet part out loud.

Leaders are not okay.

They are expected to steady the ship, carry the emotional weight of their teams, perform at an elite level, absorb pressure from every direction, and never flinch. And somehow, we still act surprised when burnout, disengagement, and silent suffering show up in the corner office.

In this bold and refreshingly honest fireside chat, our President, Zech Dahms, sits down with Melissa Doman, Organizational Psychologist, former Mental Health Therapist, and author of Cornered Office: Why We Need To Talk About Leadership Mental Health, to unpack the truth we’ve been circling for years.

Together, Zech and Melissa will explore:

• Why outdated leadership narratives still reward emotional suppression over sustainability
• The invisible emotional labor leaders carry and why we rarely acknowledge it
• The cultural myth of “self-sacrificing leadership” and why it is quietly destructive

And we’ll also examine something many organizations overlook: Leadership mental health is deeply shaped by the systems and environments leaders operate within.

How hybrid work is coordinated.

How offices are activated.

How culture is intentionally designed instead of left to chance.

That’s why we’re proud to partner with Othership for this conversation. As organizations rethink how teams gather, collaborate, and work across distributed environments, Othership is helping bring clarity and intentionality to those spaces, reinforcing that sustainable performance is not just a personal responsibility. It is an organizational design decision.

Expect honesty.

Expect discomfort.

Expect practical strategies you can immediately apply.

🎁 50 BOOKS. Yes, Really.

Thanks to Othership, we are raffling off 50 copies of Cornered Office to live attendees.

This is Othership’s way of investing directly in our community and extending the learning beyond a single session, ensuring more leaders have the tools and language to advocate for their own wellbeing.

If you join us live, you’ll have the chance to walk away with one of the most important leadership development books of the year in your hands.

This isn’t just a giveaway. It’s a shared commitment to healthier leadership, stronger cultures, and work environments that support the people at the top as much as those they lead.

About Mel & The Book

Melissa Doman, MA is an Organizational Psychologist, Former Mental Health Therapist, Author of Cornered Office: Why We Need To Talk About Leadership Mental Health and Yes, You Can Talk About Mental Health at Work (Here’s Why And How To Do It Really Well), and Founder of The Workplace Mental Health Method™.

Cornered Office: Why We Need To Talk About Leadership Mental Health is a powerful call to action for the World of Work to finally prioritize leadership mental health.

In this accessible, funny, and no-nonsense book, Melissa Doman:

• Challenges the historical narratives that taught leaders to hide emotional struggle
• Examines the increasing societal and organizational pressures weighing on today’s leaders
• Exposes how silence around leadership mental health impacts productivity, career trajectory, and long-term wellbeing
• Provides practical frameworks for leaders to personalize and manage their mental health at work
• Offers companies a roadmap to champion leadership wellbeing without lowering performance expectations

Melissa’s work has been featured by CNN, NPR, the BBC, Fast Company, CNBC, and more. She has spoken at SXSW and worked globally across industries to equip leaders with the tools to have constructive, powerful conversations about mental health at work.

Her mission is clear: Leaders deserve support too.

Join us for a fireside chat that will challenge assumptions, disrupt outdated thinking, and redefine what strong leadership actually looks like.