As those of you who listen to the podcast regularly know, I seldom have guests on the podcast – and only when they are fantastic and will add value to you listeners. Today’s guest, Amy Green Smith, is a perfect example of this. We’re talking about People Pleasing – something many of you are very familiar with. Amy tells us when it is okay to people-please in the workplace – and how to know if you’re doing it for the right reasons. She gives several scenarios to help us understand people pleasing, when it’s right, and when it isn’t.

If you’ve been a faithful listener of the podcast for some time, you’ll know that I do a special episode each year during Thanksgiving week.

It started out as five unusual things to be thankful for that weren’t specific to me. Somewhere along the way, they became MY five things. The hope has always been that you will look at the circumstances of your life through a different lens after listening to my list.

I talked in episode #268 about leading through a reduction in force — today I want to talk about the signs that your company might be about to do a RIF — and how to be prepared. We’ll discuss ARFO, some signs to look out for, and the red flags that tell you to look somewhere else immediately.

Today, we’re talking about leading through a Reduction in Force, or RIF. This episode isn’t just for people who have managerial duties, but also people who lead by influence.

A RIF period at a company is trying for everyone but it also provides a great opportunity to demonstrate leadership and empathy.

My guest today is Dr. Amy Mednick, a New York City psychiatrist who specializes in the overlap between the humanities in neuroscience. Today, Amy and I talk about Zoom fatigue — what is it, why is it so prevalent, and the warning signs you want to pay attention to. We also talk about how to make Zoom meetings more humanizing if you are in charge.

A difficult employee is a term used to describe a person who acts in a careless, unprofessional, or irresponsible manner in the workplace. It is easy to get into a victim/villain mode with a difficult employee—thinking that they are intentionally doing the things they are doing to “get you” as the boss. This type of thinking puts you as the supervisor in a helpless, disempowering position with the difficult employee having power over you. So, how do we manage difficult employees? Let’s talk about it.

Here’s the main message I want to give you today: You can’t change anyone else. If you’re having difficulties with relationships at work, the only control you have in any situation is how you respond.

Today’s guest is Jane Springer, life and style coach. We’re talking about how to increase the value you bring to your employer. Our discussion centers around the thought model developed by Brooke Castillo of The Life Coach School.

Circumstances are those things in your life over which you have no immediate control. The message I want you to hear in today’s podcast episode is that you have the option of making yourself indispensable at work, no matter the job you’re in or the circumstances surrounding that job.

If you haven’t entered the work force yet or are brand new to the work force, the concept of managing your boss may be foreign to you. In today’s podcast episode, I talk about how to approach your boss with conversations about work expectations and responsibilities.

Here’s the bad news: You can’t change anyone but yourself. Here’s the best news ever: You can’t change anyone but yourself. I don’t know about you, but when I’m about to have a difficult conversation with someone, I tend to imagine all kinds of worst-case scenarios. As a result, I often avoided having those difficult conversations…which meant the situation and my feelings continued to fester. Today, we’re going to talk about how you can prepare yourself for these difficult conversations to maximize your chances for success.

If you’re not being given new tasks or assignments, it’s time to speak with your boss. In today’s podcast episode, I discuss some of the ways to communicate with your boss about developing your position in the work environment.

We’ve all had to work with difficult co-workers. Of course, what makes a co-worker difficult to work with for one person may not be an issue at all for another person – maybe they even view that co-worker’s idiosyncrasies as a strength. The most important thing to understand here is that YOU CAN’T CONTROL ANYONE ELSE. Today, we’ll talk about what this looks like.

Today’s topic is How to Work Around a Debilitating Boss. Notice that I didn’t call it a Toxic Boss. There’s a fair amount of overlap between what we might call toxic and debilitating. Rather than focus on whether your boss’s behavior is toxic or debilitating, let’s instead focus on bad boss behavior and what to do about it.

In today’s episode, I want to talk about when to tell your boss you’re looking for a new job. This topic came from one of my clients, who reached out to ask me this question. There’s isn’t a simple answer, so I want to lay out the considerations for you.

Those of you who were fortunate to keep your jobs during quarantine may have already returned to work or will be returning soon. You may feel a lot of uncertainty around that, like who still works there? How have my co-workers been affected by quarantine? How will the company be different? I’m certainly no expert on the health aspects of the workplace, so I want to focus on some best practices you can personally adopt as you return to work. Here are the 5 top qualities you have the opportunity to demonstrate, or develop, as you return to work.

Many employees would assume that their boss knows exactly what they are already doing, minute by minute. They figure if the boss gave them this responsibility, they should be able to manage it in addition to what they are already doing – otherwise, why would the boss have assigned it? WRONG. Of course, your boss has at least a general idea of what you’re doing, but it is a mistake to assume she knows how full your plate is. Today we’ll be talking about the factors you need to consider when the boss puts a new responsibility on your plate.

Today, we’ll cover my top five ways to quickly become branded as “unprofessional.” I’ve described them as you might talk about someone who is unprofessional and given you some of my real-world experiences with unprofessional behavior.

Today, we’ll talk about how you can have difficult work conversations in a way that doesn’t leave one or both parties feeling like you’ve been run over and left for road kill. The purpose of this exercise is to move the relationship forward, not to convince the other person that you’re right and they are wrong. There is no upside to having a winner and a loser. Be willing to be wrong…or at least not right.

Today’s guest is AmyK Hutchens, and we’re talking about “How to Handle Tough Career Conversation.” AmyK covers how to handle three particularly challenging career conversations: the job interview, dealing with a difficult co-worker, & asking for a raise. AmyK also provides you with her three top tips for handling any tough career conversation you may face.