Brooke Burke
HONE Health
For decades, the workplace has been designed around a version of life that doesn't exist for most people. It assumes consistency over complexity, and linearity over reality. That employees can show up the same way every day, regardless of what's happening in their lives or their bodies. But real life doesn't work that way.
The next evolution of leadership isn't about adding more policies. It's about designing for life as it actually happens, different stages, different needs, and different moments that shape how people show up and perform. That's what I call life stage leadership. And it's quickly becoming the missing link between talent and performance.
In a recent conversation with Brooke Burke, wellness advocate and voice of Hone Health's Menopause Time Off movement, menopause became the lens for something much bigger. Not as a niche issue, but as a clear example of what happens when systems fail to reflect reality.
For Brooke, the journey into menopause advocacy wasn't theoretical; it was personal. After navigating her own health challenges, including thyroid cancer, she found herself searching for answers that weren't readily available. "I realized how little we actually know about our own bodies," she shared. "We're told to push through, to manage symptoms, but not to truly understand what's happening or what options we have."
That experience is far from unique. It's simply rarely acknowledged. Menopause remains one of the most overlooked and under-supported stages of a woman's career. To understand the true scope, Hone Health, a telehealth clinic and longevity platform specializing in hormone health and menopause care, surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. women ages 30-60. What they found was stark: nearly 90% say symptoms have impacted their work, 68% report losing up to a full workday of productivity each week, and nearly 1 in 5 say they quit a job or retired because of symptoms. Sixty-two percent say symptoms have negatively affected their earnings, performance reviews, or career progression. Fewer than 1 in 3 workplaces offer any menopause-specific support. A 2025 RAND study puts the economic cost at $5.4 billion in lost productivity every year. The data was so clear, and the gap so significant, that Hone Health built an entire movement around it.
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This is not a personal issue. It is a workforce crisis.
Yet despite its scale, menopause remains largely invisible in workplace design, leadership conversations, and performance evaluations. So, women adapt. They push through. They stay quiet. And organizations lose experienced talent without ever fully understanding why.
Menopause impacts energy, sleep, focus, and overall well-being, all of which directly influence performance, retention, and leadership pipelines. And yet it remains one of the most under-discussed life stages at work. Sixty-two percent of women have never even asked for accommodations because menopause isn't named in workplace policy. The silence is structural, not personal.
At the same time, solutions are emerging. Brooke highlighted the growing availability of comprehensive testing, hormone therapy, and personalized care. "There are solutions," she said. "But women don't always know where to find them, or that they even exist."
This is where innovation meets awareness. When access, education, and normalization come together, outcomes improve, for women and for business.
Most workplace systems were not built with life stages in mind. Not menopause, not caregiving, not the many moments that shape how people live and work. They were built for a different era, which is exactly why life stage leadership matters. It's not about special treatment. It's about designing workplaces that reflect the reality of the people who power them.
That movement is MTO, Menopause Time Off, Hone Health's initiative calling on employers to acknowledge menopause as a legitimate workforce issue and respond with stigma-free flexibility and real resources. Brooke has become one of its leading voices, a role she came to honestly. "When Hone came to me about this, I didn't hesitate," she said. "I've lived this struggle firsthand, and I know so many other women are suffering in silence too."
She spoke about MTO not as a perk, but as a signal of a broader shift. "It's about having the support to understand your body and what you need," she explained. "That's what allows you to show up fully."
That shift, from pushing through to understanding and support, is where performance actually improves.
For years, strength in the workplace has been defined by endurance. Push through, keep going, don't let anything slow you down. But that definition is outdated. "Strength is not about suffering in silence," Brooke said. "It's about getting the information, getting the support, and making decisions that are right for you."
That redefinition is powerful. It moves people from reacting to their circumstances to leading through them, from managing symptoms to understanding their bodies, from surviving to performing.
This conversation doesn't stop at menopause. It extends to every life stage that has been overlooked in how we design work: caregiving, parenthood, aging, health. When leaders recognize that people move through different phases, and design for those realities, retention improves, engagement deepens, and performance becomes more sustainable. Because when people feel seen, they stay.
We are at a turning point. The conversation has started. The solutions exist. The need is clear. Now leadership has to catch up. For women navigating this stage, that starts with knowing you don't have to do it alone or in silence. There is information, support, and community available.
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