Mira Maria Meiler: The Art of Change in Burnout Prevention

In a world where high performance often comes at the cost of personal well-being, Mira Maria Meiler offers a radically different path—one that blends business strategy, creative expression, and emotional intelligence. With a career spanning entrepreneurship, coaching, art therapy, and organizational transformation, she brings a rare depth to burnout prevention. Mira doesn’t just help leaders recover from exhaustion—she helps them rediscover meaning, reconnect with themselves, and lead from a place of clarity and strength. At the intersection of heart and high performance, her work is changing how we think about success, sustainability, and what it truly means to thrive in business and in life.

Your career blends business, art, therapy, and leadership—how did that journey unfold, and what connects it all?

I have always been a versatile person, and therefore I like to combine methods and knowledge from very different areas. After studying business administration, I immediately founded an event agency and ran it successfully for several years. Through a very intensive coaching training, I got to know and love development work with people. From then on, I accompanied managers from various industries in their further development in training and coaching sessions. This led to a desire to go even deeper in my work with people, and I trained as an art therapist. Engaging with the world of art had a great impact on me, and I founded an unusual business at the interface between art and business, where I offered commissioned paintings and art events for organizations and accompanied deep personal transformations with the support of artistic methods, mainly with women in a 1:1 setting. About 10 years ago, I returned to business out of the desire to achieve greater impact. For many years, as a change manager, I accompanied companies throughout Europe during major changes such as restructuring and helped them to emerge sustainably from a business crisis.

The common thread is that I like to create and be effective, and I like to support people with unusual methods to get out of a difficult situation and become the creator of their business and their lives.

What inspired you to focus on helping people and organizations navigate burnout and deep change?

I come from a family with addictions and have experienced what powerlessness feels like. It is well known that you can only help people who are addicted if they want it themselves. No one can save another person from an addiction! Unfortunately, I had to experience this painfully with both my father and my brother. I myself also tend to overdo it – in the past it was often too much work, extreme sport or partying. But thank goodness I was always able to take countermeasures in time and make my life more and more positive … That was a wonderful way to develop! And that’s how my motto and my book came about: Change before you have to!

You’ve worked with leaders during high-stress transformations—what’s the first thing you look for when someone is close to burnout?

Many executives or entrepreneurs who come to me seem to be under pressure, and I can relate to that so well because I’ve been there myself! Constantly online, three steps ahead, meeting expectations, achieving sales targets, etc. There is little attention left for yourself and your own needs. But if these are suppressed for a long time, at some point, you become alienated from yourself and only play a role. In addition, when you are under a lot of stress, you only perceive half of what is possible, and the feeling of having no options for action causes even more stress! That’s why it’s so important in the first step to pause, relax and calmly assess the situation before starting to think about possible solutions to the crisis.

In your experience, what’s the biggest misconception people have about burnout and recovery?

Unfortunately, burnout is still a taboo subject and many people who already have an inkling that they are at risk carry on because they don’t want to fail and feel guilty. No one would feel guilty if he or she had a toothache and sought help quickly, even if it was time-consuming and expensive! But if the usual workload is no longer possible, this is often swept under the carpet and then starts a vicious circle and opens the door to unhealthy coping strategies, illness and addictions … Recovery simply takes time and is, of course, all the easier if you start to take countermeasures in good time! The most important thing at the beginning is to establish small new habits that strengthen the body and mind, such as regular walks in nature. Only when a certain degree of stability has been restored can work be done on shaping the future.

What does real, lasting change look like inside an organization—not just structurally, but emotionally and culturally?

That’s a big question, and I could fill books with it! I’ve already written two … In major change projects, it’s important to work in parallel on three levels: Strategy, structure and culture. No matter what the reason for the project is, you always have to work on all three areas, because without a clear orientation and a crystal-clear strategy, it is difficult to stay on course. Without the right structure, there will be chaos in implementation, and culture is usually the sticking point. The best strategy and structure are useless if the mindset and habits in the organization are not changed! This is usually my job, ideally together with top management: communicating the change, involving people, gathering ideas, enduring fears, listening, creating enthusiasm and, above all, consistently staying the course of change.

When leadership teams are stuck or in conflict, how do you help them move forward together?

First of all, I listen to them – all of them! Before I design a workshop with a leadership team, I conduct interviews with each participant. This allows me to find out what is going on. And I then share the most important findings from these interviews with the management and the team. This neutral and appreciative outside perspective is often a wonderful starting point for people to get talking, and also be willing to listen and allow other perspectives. Settings in workshops are also very helpful, where each participant can have their say and present their view of the situation. People are often in conflict when they have fears or don’t feel heard. Once these are at the table, it becomes easier to deal with them. In individual cases, there are indeed massive conflicts between 2-3 people, and I would then deal with these in a separate mediation.

You teach at the intersection of change management and sustainability—what does sustainable leadership mean to you?

Sustainability means giving equal consideration to the three areas of ecology, social issues and governance (as in ESG) in our work. Many managers traditionally focus on the governance part, where profitability and results are expected. However, this often leads to exhausted employees and harmful effects on the environment. A responsible manager, however, tries to strike a balance between the financial growth of the organization, healthy and productive employees and the maintenance of the natural ecosystem. In principle, it should be a natural need for people in powerful positions to value and protect the people and environment that make their business possible. However, we still have a long way to go to achieve this, and it is all the more important to educate young people and students regarding this topic.

What do today’s leaders need to unlearn to lead well in tomorrow’s world?

There are many studies on what skills leaders should have in the future – these include, for example, a willingness to change, curiosity, personal responsibility and relationship skills. In order to achieve this, I think it is important for today’s leaders to say goodbye to any masks and roles that they are still trying to maintain. The constant change and uncertain framework conditions immediately expose any insecurity of a leader, and therefore inner stability and a knowledge of what is important to me personally in my job is becoming increasingly important. Authenticity is one key word, and pragmatism is the other. Unfortunately, this requires some traditional leaders to leave their comfort zone and get in touch with themselves and then with their employees. Today’s complex problems can no longer be solved alone anyway, so it is helpful to bring together the skills of many people and develop innovative new solutions!

What’s one moment in your work that deeply moved you or confirmed you’re doing what you’re meant to do?

I once accompanied a change project in a pharmaceutical company where the aim was to improve the quality mindset of the entire workforce. In the course of this, there were several large group events where up to 800 employees were to be sensitized to this topic with a mixture of presentations, exchange among each other and creative interactions. To remind people of what quality means in the pharmaceutical industry, we showed a movie at this event where patients told us how bad they were before taking the drug manufactured by this company and how good they are now. It felt like the whole room was in tears, and for m,e it was a very touching moment when I had the feeling that people had found meaning in their work again!

And then, of course, there are the many people in the 1:1 sessions who always surprise and impress me with their stories of how they suddenly radically turn their lives around and surpass themselves …

And finally, what personal practice or mindset helps you stay grounded while guiding others through tough transitions?

Dealing with the mentioned addictions in my family has unfortunately – and thankfully – taught me how to set boundaries and stay calm in chaotic and difficult situations. What was painful back then benefits me now, because no matter how emotional it gets in change projects, it’s somehow “normal” for me! I know that no change is possible without emotion ,and I am therefore prepared to deal with fear or aggression as well as optimism and enthusiasm. Positive emotions are just as important in change! Personally, exercise in nature is my miracle cure when it comes to relaxing, gaining new energy, rethinking priorities or simply enjoying being myself. And then, of course, contact with my family, friends and companions who have helped me through some difficult times. Thank you for that!