WOWWBLOG #60: The Energy That Doesn't Deplete: What Three Back-to-Back Events Taught Me About the Secret of Sustainable Work
How leading with purpose, collaborating with kindred spirits, and being a curious sponge revealed the difference between exhaustion and exaltation
WHAT: Three Days, Three Containers, Three Very Different Energies
This week, I had three back-to-back in-person gatherings: two full-day leadership development workshops and one sustainability summit. Rare these days, when hybrid work has become the default.
The logistics alone were daunting. Three hours of driving to and from Makati. An hour to align in a pre-meet. Eight hours of co-facilitating on my feet, fully present, fully engaged. By all measures, this should have been exhausting.
And yet, something surprising happened.
SO WHAT: The Conditions That Make It "Not Work"
The First Container: Leading Self — Where Strangers Become Family
The first was a "Leading Self" cohort of 25 leaders from an educational institution that turns 100 in 2028. Right before our eyes, we witnessed a transformation. A diverse group—different gender identities, ages, roles, experiences, beliefs, backgrounds—slowly became a cohesive collective, committed to co-creating a learner-centered institution that is foundational to building an inclusive and sustainable society.
It started with themselves. Their homes. Their classrooms.
One participant reflected: "I realized that the leader I need to lead first is myself. I cannot give what I do not have."
Another shared: "I discovered how amazing the contribution is of a single person that believes in you…it can really turn your life around."
A third said: "As leaders, we started off as students who eventually became educators. I see growth and fulfilment in my journey."
The Second Container: Leading and Communicating Change — Where the Participants Did the Work
The second was a "Communicating and Leading Change" workshop for leaders in a renewable energy company. The locus of study was themselves and their high-flux environment. My co-facilitators and I were on our feet most of the day, yet the voices we heard were not ours.
Eighty percent of the time, it was our leader participants who were hard at work—recognizing and unraveling their biases, examining how they might shift their styles as situations, tasks, and the people they lead change. They diagnosed their teams' development levels. They practiced situational leadership. They built communication and change management plans.
One leader said: "I've been leading the same way for ten years. Today, I learned that the style that got me here won't get me there."
Another admitted: "I thought I was empowering my team. I was actually avoiding conflict. Now I see the difference."
What made these experiences energizing rather than exhausting?
Two conditions.
First, the work itself is deeply meaningful. It is a calling, a mission. Every mindful moment sharpens presence and deepens embodied knowing. I witness individuals miraculously becoming a team, a family, a collective—connected not just by shared purpose, but by caring for each other.
Second, the team I collaborate with. With open, tractable minds, we intensely and diligently prepare each time with increasing expertise. Yet when we are on the floor, we let go of all we know and become part of a beautiful unfolding. In that social field of mutual trust, true learning emerges.
The Third Container: The Sustainability Summit — Where the Container Was Too Large
The sustainability summit was, in theory, the most restful of the three. I was not "in charge." I was simply a sponge, seated with very interesting people.
It started an hour and a half late. Rather than getting riled up, I pivoted my attention to the people who shared my table: one who leads the sustainability program of a university (who throughout the summit was working on her laptop) another who was one of the speakers focused on AI (also busy on his laptop) and two others—one running a forest park in Benguet and another running a theme park in Laguna (both busy networking distributing business cards).
I discovered something that day. Large conferences with 18 speakers crammed into a single day that starts very late create a huge container that constricts exchanges among participants. It fails to co-create conditions for active learning between speakers and participants. It becomes a one-way street.
And while I tried to stimulate exchanges around my table with deep curiosity, what could have kept us learning together—sustainability—was, ironically, not that sustainable. I found no reason to stay for the full eight hours. What saved the day was a bunch of “rescued vegetable” I thoroughly enjoyed at home!
Comparing and contrasting these three experiences was an eye-opener. The event I thought would be restful became the most laborious.
The difference was not the content. It was the container.
NOW WHAT: The Secret of Sustainable Work
What makes work energizing rather than exhausting? Three lessons emerged from this week.
1. Purpose Is the Ultimate Fuel
· Action: Reflect on your own work. What percentage of your time is spent on tasks that feel deeply meaningful? If the number is low, what is one small shift you can make to increase it?
· Why: When work is connected to a calling, it does not deplete us—it sustains us.
2. Co-Creation, Not Consumption
· Action: If you are organizing an event or a meeting, ask yourself: "Is this a one-way street, or am I creating conditions for genuine exchange?" Build in time for participants to talk to each other, not just listen to experts.
· Why: The most valuable learning happens when we are engaged, not when we are passive.
3. Presence Over Performance
· Action: In your next team gathering, practice letting go of your agenda. Trust the process. Allow the unfolding. Be fully present to what emerges.
· Why: The magic happens in the social field of mutual trust. When we stop trying to control everything, we create space for transformation.
And if you are a leader—whether in education, energy, or any other sector—remember this:
The best leadership development happens when we shift from telling to listening. From fixing to facilitating. From being the expert to being the container.
In the words of one participant from the renewable energy company:
"I realized that leadership is not about having all the answers. It's about creating the conditions for others to find theirs."
That is the work that does not deplete. That is the work that sustains. 🌷
-Susan Grace Rivera
Posted on July 19, 2026