This is the last episode of the most meaningful project we’ve ever been part of. The Amys couldn’t imagine signing off without telling you why the podcast is ending, reminiscing with founding producer Amanda Kersey, and fitting in two final Ask the Amys questions. HBR’s Maureen Hoch is here too, to tell the origin story of the show—because it was her idea, and a good one, right? Saying goodbye to all the women who’ve listened since 2018 is gut-wrenching. If the podcast made a difference in your ...
Jul 07, 2025•34 min•Season 11Ep. 10
What do you do when your request for professional development seems to annoy your manager? Or when you’re aiming for a bigger role but keep hearing that you’re “too in the weeds”? Or when a team member’s behavior undermines others but you’re not sure whether to call it out because it feels like part of their personality? The Amys offer advice for advocating for yourself without setting off alarm bells, shifting from tactical execution to strategic thinking, and confronting behavior that’s corros...
Jun 30, 2025•30 min•Season 11Ep. 9
Many of us have internal beliefs— I need it done now , I know I’m right , I need to be involved —that feel like truth but actually hold us back as leaders. Executive coach Muriel Wilkins calls these counterproductive beliefs “hidden blockers,” and she talks the Amys through the process of identifying theirs and then reframing them. They also explore how blockers show up at the team and organizational level, like when lack of trust leads to a bloated meeting culture. Muriel shares how leaders can...
Jun 16, 2025•35 min•Season 11Ep. 8
Have you ever realized, partway through a project, that you and your boss aren’t on the same page? Maybe your definitions of success differed, or their expectations were unclear. Maybe you couldn’t get them to listen, or you couldn’t figure out why they insisted on doing things a certain way. Managing up means tackling these disconnects head-on—and doing it through honest, well-timed discussions. Executive coach Melody Wilding joins Amy G to explain why alignment on goals and clarity around work...
Jun 02, 2025•38 min•Season 11Ep. 7
When our colleague Kevin Evers wrote There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift , we knew we had to talk about it. For so many women, she’s a role model—personally and professionally. Four HBR Swifties highlight how her instincts and decisions offer lessons in leadership, strategy, and staying power. Resources: “ The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift ,” by Kevin Evers “ What All Leaders Can Learn from Taylor Swift ,” from IdeaCast Sign up for the Women at Work newsletter . Em...
May 19, 2025•17 min•Season 11Ep. 6
Self-disclosure at work can build trust and connection, but it also carries risks—especially for women, leaders, and those whose values or identities set them apart. That tension is what Columbia professor Katherine Phillips explored in one of our earliest episodes of the podcast, back in 2018. Now, we revisit Kathy’s research on inclusion and authentic relationships, and add a fresh perspective. Amy B speaks with Kathy’s longtime collaborators Tracy Dumas and Nancy Rothbard about how expectatio...
May 05, 2025•49 min•Season 11Ep. 5
Young women are entering the workforce full of potential–they graduate with degrees and confidence–but they don’t always have the interpersonal skills they need to succeed and advance. They may not know how to speak up in meetings, collaborate with people in charge, or ask for what they need. And that’s not just their problem; it’s ours too. If professors, mentors, managers, and parents don’t support young women, we risk losing talented future leaders before they even get started. In this live c...
Apr 21, 2025•25 min•Season 11Ep. 4
Imagine having a direct report who sobs every time you give them feedback. Or leading a team of people who’ve told your boss that they don’t trust you. Or taking on your first management position with no training or guidance–and having 43 direct reports! What then? The Amys offer advice to listeners for getting through these real situations. And not just advice, but actual language for asserting your needs, earning trust, setting boundaries, and holding your ground even when emotions run high. O...
Apr 07, 2025•35 min•Season 11Ep. 3
Asking questions at work isn’t just about getting answers. Sure, you need the information you’re requesting, but you’re also showing your colleagues and leaders how you think. When your questions are strategic, clear, and well-timed, they can show that you’re insightful and committed to moving the work forward while also demonstrating you have leadership potential. Amy G talks with a program manager who wants to get better at asking questions that show executive presence. They’re joined by Harva...
Mar 24, 2025•41 min•Season 11Ep. 2
Maria’s boss used to be a mentor—someone she admired, learned from, and enjoyed working with. But after a reorg, he changed. He became critical and dismissive, questioned her commitment to work, and started to undermine her instead of lifting her up. Now she’s struggling to maintain a productive working relationship with someone who is unsupportive at best and out to get her at worst. How should you handle a boss who’s turned against you? How do you protect your reputation and career while manag...
Mar 10, 2025•38 min•Season 11Ep. 1
After 10 seasons, Women at Work is changing things up for the better. We’re shifting to a new, year-round schedule, releasing a new episode every other Monday, starting March 10. That means more episodes that inspire reflection and growth, more practical advice, and more insights and stories that make you feel seen and supported in your career. We’ll continue The Essentials and Amy B’s How to Manage series. We’re relaunching Getting Along , where Amy G teaches us how to deal with different types...
Mar 03, 2025•2 min
What’s on your work wish list? A conference or training? A higher performance rating or salary or job title? Feedback from someone you respect? A project you’d like to lead? Clearer communication from your boss? Or maybe an extension on a deadline? These are the sorts of things that Amy Gallo and four listeners asked for (and mostly got) when they did Alison Fragale’s “nos challenge” from our episode “ To Get What You Want, Be Both Assertive and Warm .” These were the rules: ask different collea...
Dec 09, 2024•43 min•Season 10Ep. 8
Changing jobs is hard. Changing sectors is daunting. You’ve built a network, a reputation, skills, expertise, a firm grasp of how that industry operates. Maybe you even got a related degree or two! And to just leave all that behind…except that, you really are stuck or unfulfilled or simply underpaid. When it comes to shifting your career, the stakes are high, but so is your potential to succeed. Executive coach Nina Bowman regularly guides people through the process, with all of its uncertainty,...
Dec 02, 2024•55 min•Season 10Ep. 7
Marti Bledsoe, a past guest of the show, recounts how she burned out, quit her job, intended to get a new job after taking a breather, and then wasn’t able to for over a year. That’s because someone in her family kept getting sick or hurt, she had to move twice, and all of the logistics and emotional support fell to her (because who else was going to do it?!). These ever-expanding, relentless set of responsibilities is the norm for lots of women in the U.S., especially mothers. Sociologist Jessi...
Nov 25, 2024•41 min•Season 10Ep. 6
Do you expect and hope that you’ll have more time for yourself and for your career as your kids become teens and young adults? Amy G did. However, she didn’t fully anticipate the emotional intensity of being a working mom of a teenager. Responding to seemingly urgent texts, keeping track of an ever-changing after-school schedule, and being an on-call problem-solver would affect anyone’s ability to focus, including hers. There’s little research on or conversation about this phase of working mothe...
Nov 18, 2024•53 min•Season 10Ep. 5
How much are you using ChatGPT or Claude or one of the other LLMs in your job? Have you, like the Amys, largely avoided it because you haven’t been impressed with what you’ve seen it do? Or you haven’t thought of a compelling use case? Or maybe you feel professionally threatened? The Amys have gone from being skeptical dabblers to skeptical enthusiasts. Why? They heard several listeners describe how they’ve gotten surprisingly good results, not to mention mental relief, greater agency at work, a...
Nov 11, 2024•56 min•Season 10Ep. 4
Worrying is a fact of life; it comes and goes—usually. But what do you do when it doesn’t go away? And starts to disrupt your work? Women are twice as likely as men to develop an anxiety disorder, which can show up as physical symptoms like dizziness and nausea and as mental symptoms like repetitive and catastrophic thinking. If you’ve been worried for a while, wondering if you should see a therapist, take time off, tell your boss, or even quit your job, clinical psychologist Michelle Drapkin ha...
Nov 04, 2024•41 min•Season 10Ep. 3
When you’ve gone after something you want, like a promotion or less boring work, did you follow the typical advice to lean hard into your confident, forceful side? When you’re interacting with people at work, how often do you find yourself deflecting praise, downplaying your accomplishments, or responding “busy!” when someone asks how you’re doing? We often make a tradeoff between being likable and being strong, but is it possible to be both assertive and warm? Alison Fragale, a professor of org...
Oct 28, 2024•38 min•Season 10Ep. 2
How would having a woman in the most powerful position in the United States affect how Americans perceive women as leaders? What changes have resulted from this type of representation in other countries, like Pakistan, Brazil, and New Zealand? Political scientist Farida Jalalzai and organizational psychologist Laura Morgan Roberts unpack the symbolic and practical effects of having a woman in a top leadership position. They explore how Kamala Harris’s potential presidency could challenge and shi...
Oct 21, 2024•40 min•Season 10Ep. 1
We’re back with another season! How are women using GenAI to transform their work? What can we learn from the listeners who identify as “AI power users” about how to boost our productivity, creativity, and confidence? Why is working while parenting a teenager so much harder than Amy Gallo expected, and how can she and other moms navigate this emotionally demanding phase of motherhood? If you’re mid-career and thinking about switching industries, what should you know before making the leap? These...
Oct 14, 2024•5 min
Do you know how your company’s DEI efforts are going? What data does your company collect to track and shape these efforts? In this episode, DEI strategist and consultant Lily Zheng explains why data-driven efforts are everything . The way people make lasting progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion is to measure outcomes. During this year’s Women at Work Live event, DEI strategist Lily explained the opportunities that data can create for DEI. They give examples from different companies, inc...
Aug 12, 2024•42 min
No matter how ambitious and talented you are, rising up and out of mid-level management can be slow going for reasons beyond your control. Maybe it’s because your company doesn’t have a business need—or budget—to upgrade your job title and salary from senior to executive. Or maybe it’s because the person in the position you want has been there forever—and has no plans to leave any time soon. Still, there are plenty of factors that you can control, and Amy B and her three guests cover them in thi...
Jun 24, 2024•52 min
Think back to the last time you pitched an idea to upper management on how to change the way your company does business. Perhaps you proposed an improvement to an existing process, a new technology that would help things run smoother, or a different market you all could break into. How’d that go over? As a mid-level manager, your involvement in day-to-day operations positions you to propose change that’s innovative and achievable. Amy B and her two guests, Sue Ashford and Ellen Bailey, give sugg...
Jun 17, 2024•35 min
Your company’s executive team has just announced their new master plan for growing the business. Now it’s your job, as a mid-level manager, to put it into practice. Deep breath. Apart from the inevitable interpersonal and operational drama that change management causes, this is an opportunity to show that you know your stuff. Strategist Andrea Belk Olson spells out how to make the most of a plan that you may or may not agree with and that you may or may not have had any input into. She suggests ...
Jun 10, 2024•46 min
Before you became a mid-level manager, you were probably doing some individual contributor work: designing, producing, or selling something. Now your workday is likely focused on people and project management, including ensuring that everyone and everything is fulfilling a vision. Filling this more strategic role can feel uncomfortably abstract, making you want familiar and tangible tasks—to meddle in what used to be your business. Amy B and her three guests have been there, and they’re here to ...
Jun 03, 2024•45 min
We’ve planned a half-day of learning, guidance, and inspiration—all virtual. Here’s the agenda: Executive coach Dorie Clark on working with the ambition you’ve got right now, whether you’re making every effort to get promoted or are taking a break from striving. She’ll help you recognize when it’s best to slow down or ramp up. Organizational psychologist Ruchi Sinha ’s latest research findings on trust: how to measure the amount felt between team members, and what to do if it’s imbalanced. Plus,...
Apr 16, 2024•3 min
If you’re in a leadership role, or any role where you’re putting yourself and your ideas out there in an outspoken and visible way, chances are that at some point people are going to criticize you, sometimes fiercely, sometimes publicly. Are you ready for that? Two women who’ve felt the heat because of decisions they’ve made or arguments they’ve put forward—or simply because of who they are—reflect on the ways they’ve steeled themselves for harsh critiques and dealt with the fallout. Patti Neuho...
Mar 25, 2024•35 min
We all need to set boundaries, even in the most structured jobs, because work has its way of encroaching on the rest of our life. Ashley, a senior analyst for the federal government, recently shifted to a schedule that helps her do her most important work and have some alone time before her family gets home. Now she’s trying to figure out how to further minimize interruptions, deal with slow and busy stretches, and get out of unproductive meetings. Amy G and executive coach Melody Wilding talk t...
Mar 18, 2024•42 min
Trust smooths the way for collaboration, conflict resolution, and influence. But how do you build this asset? And how do you repair it when you’ve missed a series of important deadlines or otherwise messed up? Organizational psychologist Ruchi Sinha talks with a listener who’s struggling to restore skeptics’ confidence in her and her team. Ruchi shares the three elements of trust and how to convey each one. She also offers advice on what to do if you’ve failed to acknowledge a broken promise and...
Mar 11, 2024•46 min
Executive presence is a mix of gravitas, communication skills, and appearance. But how do you learn to command a room if you only have a few opportunities to be in front of your colleagues, except for the occasional video call? This is the situation that one of our listeners is in. She joins Amy B and two other women who’ve each cultivated a strong executive presence, Megan Bock and Laura Sicola , to get advice on what hers can look and sound like. In this episode, you’ll learn how to improve yo...
Mar 04, 2024•43 min
