Women at Work

Who are you now, who do you want to be, and how can you stretch without taking on too much? Jen Dary regularly coaches first-time managers on these questions. She shares advice for finding yourself anew at work, dealing with disillusionment, and setting priorities and boundaries. Then, a former guest who’s one year into leading a major project tells us about her aha moments. Finally, Kelsey answers the question of whether or not she’s ready to try management again.

When you manage people, they ask you for things: to extend a deadline, to make an exception, to give them a raise or more resources. Maybe they don’t even have to ask; you notice the need and start thinking about how to meet it. Negotiations professor Martha Jeong explains the mindset, framing, timing, and tone that’ll position you to get the most mutually beneficial solution.

People management consists of a fair amount of mediation and diplomacy, and you can’t expect to get the hang of it right away. You’re in the middle of a lot now, and holding tension and resolving disagreements takes planning, practice, and restraint. Amy G teaches us about different types of conflict, natural tendencies, and options for responding.

If you’re a woman who’s a new manager, people will probably push back on your authority. As difficult as defiance is to face—especially when you’re settling in yourself—we have ideas for making it clear that you’re in charge. McKinsey’s Lareina Yee recounts the actions that senior leaders took that affirmed her position. Kelsey reflects on the disrespect she felt as a first-time manager, as well as her discomfort with power, and Amy B helps her make sense of those experiences and feelings. If you manage a woman who’s a new manager, this episode is for you too!

We’ve planned a half-day of learning, guidance, and inspiration—all virtual. Here’s the session lineup, hour by hour: 1) Communicating effectively when you’re running on empty, 2) Lessons from women making work better for women, 3) The latest gender research and what it means for you, and 4) Ask the Amys. Register here.

A dentist joins Amy Gallo to ask a behavioral scientist about the fundamentals of sound decision making: when to use a process, how to handle resistance to a call you’ve made, and making peace with a tough call.

We need actionable, useful feedback to grow and advance professionally. But our guest, an aerospace engineer, hasn’t received any of that for years, and she feels like she’s missing out on information that would clarify her standing at her company and secure her future success there. We bring in Ella Bell, an expert on interpersonal communication and organizational behavior, to offer advice, including suggestions on how to respond to, make sense of, and act on feedback you receive.

What’s a project charter? Why does this one person keep trying to derail our progress? Are our planning meetings effective? How do I actually get people to follow through? Figuring out how to successfully manage a project can make any professional’s head spin. One woman, new to this type of work, shares the challenges she’s already facing, including uncertainty, interpersonal conflict, and lack of responsiveness from the team. And an experienced project manager shares tips for motivating and influencing others, communicating effectively, and solving problems.

Everyone at work has their own priorities, concerns, and agendas, and knowing what those are allows us to navigate meetings and projects more deliberately and successfully. Organizational psychologist Madeleine Wyatt explains the interrelated skills that enable us to influence others, in conversation with a transportation planner who’s trying to figure out how to maneuver her way up in an often-exclusionary, male-dominated industry.

Former co-hosts Sarah, Nicole, and Emily reunite with the Amys to talk through the insights and advice that most resonated with them from this season, from how they gained their team’s trust as a first-time manager to how they’re now thinking about retirement. They also share how they’ve been doing since they left the show and HBR.

Want to modernize a program or enact a policy that would benefit women in your workplace, but don’t know where to begin? Learn how to build a grassroots initiative, no matter your job title. Two experts in systemic, organizational change explain the many different roles critical to sustaining a movement. They also share tried-and-true ways to keep everyone invested in the cause, aligned, and on track.

Tending to a child’s mental health challenge is a critical job that deserves support from employers. Many parents, however, aren’t getting the understanding, flexibility, and paid time off they need. What can we do to make work more manageable for parents struggling to keep their children safe and well while trying to keep up at work? The executive director of a children’s mental health advocacy group shares ideas and advice.

The people we love have a great influence on our professional success. But when’s the last time you and your partner checked in about each other’s priorities and needs? Jennifer Petriglieri, an expert on dual-career couples, advises one woman on how to get out of the relationship traps she and her husband have fallen into as the parents of young children, and offers practical tips for how she can have more productive conversations with her partner to realize her career ambitions.

Two women who have studied weight bias at work help us understand the ways larger-bodied employees are stigmatized, as well as our role in reducing the stigma and creating a positive body culture.

Once you’re ready to retire, you’ll need a plan for how to spend your time. And once your job title is gone, you’ll need to figure out who you are now, not to mention what brings you joy. Finding purpose and a new identity are key to living a healthy, happy post-work life. Women who have very recently retired describe what they’ve been up to (it sounds rewarding!), as well as the unexpected emotions that the transition has brought up. They also reflect on the questions they asked themselves (or wished they had) before leaving their careers behind.