What is Burnout? A Conversation with Mike Murawski

Posted byRebecca ShulmanPosted inMuseum Administration, Organizational Culture in Museums

Last week I had the pleasure of talking to Mike Murawski about burnout for his Agents of Change conversation series. You can listen to our conversation here.

We came together to talk about burnout because it’s such a pressing topic in museums right now. I hope my previous post on burnout, along with Mike’s interview, help shed some light on both the causes and treatment of burnout. Spoiler alert: this is an organizational issue, not an individual problem, and should be treated as such.

I am continuing to research burnout by collecting stories of what it looks like right now in museums. If you work in a museum and have your own stories to share about burnout, please share them here.

Mike has written a number of posts recently about burnout, including:

I encourage you to read his work and subscribe to his Substack, if you haven’t already. And stay tuned for more to come from both of us on this topic…

Published by Rebecca Shulman

I am the Principal of Museum Questions Consulting, which delivers a range of services that motivate leaders at all levels to think deeply and carefully about goals and systems, so that they can plan effectively. have over 20 years of experience as a museum professional, working both within museums and as a consultant. Most recently I served as Founding Director of the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum, in Peoria, Illinois. Prior to that I worked as Head of Education at the Noguchi Museum, and Senior Manager of Learning Through Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. While at the Guggenheim Museum I wrote a book, Looking at Art in the Classroom. Learn more about Museum Questions, my consulting practice, at www.museumquestions.com.

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