Women at Work
Women at Work

Women face gender discrimination throughout our careers. It doesn't have to derail our ambitions — but how do we prepare to deal with it? There's no workplace orientation session about narrowing the wage gap, standing up to interrupting male colleagues, or taking on many other issues we encounter at work. So HBR staffers Amy Bernstein, Amy Gallo, and Emily Caulfield are untangling some of the knottiest problems. They interview experts on gender, tell stories about their own experiences, and give lots of practical advice to help you succeed in spite of the obstacles.

Do you expect to have more time for yourself and for your career as your kids become teens and young adults? Amy G did. If you too are getting “urgent” texts from your teenager at all hours, feeling judged by other parents about your level of involvement, and trying to figure out how to set the right amount of boundaries, she and Danna Greenberg hear you and have advice.
There’s something about hearing how other women are making the most of LLMs that can turn even the most GenAI-avoidant among us GenAI-curious. At least that’s what happened to the Amys when they heard from several power users who’ve broadened their thinking, deepened their agency at work, and saved themselves time and stress. Maybe in listening to them you’ll be inspired too.
Worrying is a fact of life; it comes and goes, usually. A clinical psychologist explains how to better manage anxiety at work, whether you have an anxiety disorder, suspect you might, or want to support a colleague who does.
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? Why are those such common habits, especially if they so often leave us feeling fake? Alison Fragale, a professor of organizational behavior, offers an alternative: bring genuine strength and friendliness to everyday interactions because that combination gets women the success we deserve.
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 shift our notions of leadership and change the way that women understand what’s possible for themselves. They also dive into the realities Harris might face if elected—like juggling high expectations and navigating the complexities of representation.
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 questions are at the heart of some of the conversations the Amys are having this season. As always, they’ll bring you expertise, stories, and advice.
How do you know how diverse your company’s workforce is, how equitable its processes are, and how included people feel if nobody is using any metrics? DEI strategist Lily Zheng explains the power of data to track a company’s progress, fix unfairness, and hold people to their promises. They have advice for measuring and improving diversity, equity, and inclusion even when you don’t have a budget or you’re starting from scratch.
Is mid-level management a stone you’re ready to step off of? Making that move is difficult but doable, and Amy B and her three guests will direct, inspire, and reassure you. An executive coach validates the challenges of scoring a position that’s scarce. Then, two COOs whose careers stagnated in mid-level management before accelerating again, recount the conversations, decisions, and networking that jump-started them.
As a mid-level manager, when you spot an opportunity for the business to adopt a new technology, enter a different market, or improve a process, how should you approach the people above you so that they listen to your idea and act on it? Executives have a reputation for dismissing suggestions that aren’t theirs. Amy B and her two guests, Sue Ashford and Ellen Bailey, suggest ways to frame the issue, involve others, and manage emotions so that your idea comes to fruition.
Strategist Andrea Belk Olson spells out how to make the most of the latest corporate master plan that’s now your job to put into action. She suggests important questions to ask yourself before hitting the ground running, ways to handle resistance from team members, what to do when the plan isn’t working well, and points to include in progress updates.
What’s the happy middle between micromanaging and being too hands off? Amy B and three other experienced mid-level managers describe how they think about when to intervene and when not to so that they are empowering their teams and freeing up their own minds to do more of their most strategic work.
Register for a lively four hours with the Amys, their guest experts, and fellow fans of the show. Dorie Clark will talk about working with the ambition you’ve got right now; Ruchi Sinha building teams’ trust in you as a leader and in one another; and Lily Zheng, on where we are now with DEI and where they’d like to see organizations go from here. We’ll end with an advice hour, where Amy B and Amy G answer audience questions about leading a team, dealing with conflict, negotiating, or whatever else comes through the chat.
If you’re in a leadership role, or any role where you are outspoken and visible, 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 and dealt with the fallout. Listening to them recount how they responded to fierce criticism will hopefully help you think about how you might respond, both when you see it coming and when you don’t.
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 through adjustments Ashley can make and things she can say to achieve those goals. They also offer strategies for how to communicate your new limits with colleagues and how to hold the line when your boundaries inevitably get tested.
Trust smooths the way for collaboration, conflict resolution, and influencing. 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 how to communicate practically when confidentiality prevents you from being totally transparent.
Executive presence is a mix of gravitas, communication skills, and appearance. But what does that look and sound like in practice? To help a fully remote insurance underwriter think through ways she can act like a leader, we bring in a role model of hers and an expert in strategic communication.
Is there any way to know for sure whether something that someone did—or neglected to do—is rooted in sexism? When is confronting that person worth it? And if you’ll never know what drove their actions, how do you make peace with the uncertainty? Amy G talks through these questions with two professors who study perceptions and gender stereotypes.
It’s a question that so many of us are grappling with. Should I quit corporate life and pursue my passion project? Today in this episode from our colleagues at New Here—HBR's podcast for young professionals—we’ll help you think through the possibilities and trade-offs, as we learn from one woman’s experiences leaving corporate life to build her own business. You’ll learn which of her fears were warranted, how she battled loneliness, managed her money, and whether or not she is actually happier working for herself.
Eight women who’ve been on boards share how they landed a seat, gained confidence in the role, and found unexpected personal and professional benefits in the work. We hope their perspectives and advice will encourage you to consider trying it yourself some day. Ellen Zane, who runs a Harvard workshop for women interested in board work, gives further insight based on her deep experience as a director for nonprofits and private and public companies.
What if one of your first assignments at a new job was to fire people? What should you do if the person leading a project you’re on isn’t giving clear direction, demands that you work nights and weekends, bristles at your feedback—and leadership tells you to fall in line? These are two of the five situations that Amy B and Amy G talk through in this episode. They offer advice to the women who wrote in with their questions, with the hope that it will help them and anyone who’s been in a similar situation, or might be one unfortunate day.
Liz Fosslien believes “the future of work is emotional.” The Amys revisit our 2020 conversation with her and fellow organizational consultant Mollie West Duffy about the good that can come from being vulnerable with colleagues, and Fosslien returns to reassess where the line between vulnerability and oversharing is today.
If you plan to get married, do you see yourself keeping or changing your last name? How much, if at all, does your career factor into that decision? Our associate producer, who’s engaged, spoke with three recently married women about the professional considerations that factored into their decisions. Hannah and the Amys then join former co-host Nicole Torres to discuss how their names are connected to their personal brands.
Two women who have ADHD—one’s a psychologist and the other a life coach—describe what the disorder is and how it messes with the brain’s executive functions, like inhibition and emotional regulation. They give advice for managing the symptoms, asking for help at work, and what to do if what we’re talking about sounds an awful lot like your life.
Meredith Koch and Nicole Bettè are engineers who’ve bonded over conversations about their apparent and non-apparent disabilities. They recount how at different moments in their careers they’ve gotten the understanding and assistive technology necessary to do their jobs—and when they haven’t, all with the hope that you’ll be able to better advocate for yourself and your colleagues.
The Amys and their former co-host Sarah Green Carmichael revisit times they majorly messed up, in hopes that you’ll feel better about your experiences with failure. We’re not talking about honest mistakes with simple solutions; we’re talking about larger problems that were difficult and costly to correct. They share what happened, how they recovered, and what they learned.
In this ninth season of the show, these are some of the big questions they’ll explore: How do you recover from a failure? What’s it really like to serve on a board? Do our careers influence the decision to keep or change our last name? How does going through a divorce affect us at work? If we have a disability, how can we get the understanding and assistive technology we need to do our job? Amy G and Amy B will talk with women who’ve been there, bringing in advice, stories, and expertise.
When you see potential for your company to improve in some way—whether it’s to overhaul an outdated policy, round out benefits, or to make jobs more workable, how can you instigate change? Three women who saw that potential and carried it through describe what they did at their companies, the results so far, and how you can follow their lead.
Leadership development coach Muriel Wilkins talks us through communication techniques that meet you where you’re at mentally and emotionally so that you can rise to the moment (even when you’re worried you can’t).
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.
Are you a new manager? You may have some—er, a lot—of questions. How do you gain your employees’ trust and respect? How should you handle the inevitable conflicts that come up? And how much power do you actually have, and how do you use it for good? In this special series, we’ll address these questions and many others—including any you send our way.
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.
When managing other people for the first time, what should we expect, and how can we prepare? Three new managers describe their growing pains, reflect on what they find most rewarding, and talk through their latest challenges — with an assist from Amy B’s managerial wisdom. You’ll come away with a better idea of what becoming a boss means and confident that you can do it too.
To cap off our Getting Along series, Amy Gallo shares advice, in front of a live audience, on how to deal with all different types of “difficult” coworkers — from the tormentor to the know-it-all.
How do you bring about positive change — or just keep a workplace functional — when the person in charge won’t listen? Amy Gallo recommends tactics to try and phrases to use.
How do you interact with a senior person who should be mentoring you but is instead giving you every reason not to trust them? Amy G recommends tactics to try and phrases to use.
How do you stay in the loop when someone keeps kicking you out? Amy G recommends tactics to try and phrases to use.
How do you work with someone who’s encroaching on your job, bad-mouthing you, and refusing to acknowledge there’s any tension or problem? Amy G recommends tactics to try and phrases to use.
Our free-spirited, entrepreneurial co-host is applying advice from all our episodes on side gigs, freelancing, starting a small business — and quitting — to her own life. Emily reflects on her decision to leave her design job at HBR to fully focus on a long-time creative passion, as well as how she's thinking about her career going forward.
No one should have to put up with rude, unprofessional, or hostile behavior from a colleague. You can counteract and even preempt it by using certain tactics and phrases. Amy Gallo will teach you which ones, plus how and when to deploy them, through coaching sessions with real women dealing with different types of difficult people.
How do you address a falling-out with a teammate when they either won’t acknowledge you or just lash out? Amy Gallo brings her conflict management expertise to a coaching session for a woman whose project manager and former work friend went from helpful to hostile. The approaches that come out of the conversation are ones that anyone facing tension in a work relationship can use to find a way forward.
Let’s be real: You can’t do everything yourself. Delegating to others helps you manage your workload and helps your colleagues who take on the tasks, decisions, and responsibilities to learn and grow. That doesn’t mean it’s always easy to do though. A leadership coach shares practices that will ensure the work gets done and will leave you and the person you delegated to feeling good about the experience.
Having a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship with your boss doesn’t require accommodating their every quirk, demand, and weakness. We discuss respectful, constructive ways to meet in the middle, set boundaries, and help them achieve their goals while making your competence known.
We all need to sell others on our ideas and offerings. Oftentimes that requires planning, perspective taking, and patience. A social psychologist highlights principles and tactics that’ll help you preempt colleagues or clients from doubting your expertise and get them to start or stop doing something.
Advice from a manager at Google whose full-time job is finding solutions to the problems that make employees want to quit. She shares what to say and do when a valuable team member seems to have one foot out the door. We also discuss the types of proactive conversations about career paths and compensation that managers should have with their people to keep them from being poached.
Entrepreneurs Stacey Abrams and Lara Hodgson share hard-won lessons from starting and running three companies together. They reflect on what makes their long-term partnership work and how they manage self-doubt and guilt. They also give tips for networking, hiring and retaining employees, learning the ins and outs of finance, and developing an exit strategy.
A satisfying career requires that we make thoughtful decisions, through self-reflection and strategic planning. But sometimes (like in 2021) plowing through our jobs day after day is the only thing that feels manageable. A reunion with three guests starts a conversation about the tension between wanting to fulfill our potential and needing to conserve what’s left of our energy.
What are the psychological and social skills freelancers need to achieve the self-made career they envisioned? Two researchers break down the common existential and interpersonal challenges that come with working in the gig economy. They share routines and practices that help independent workers keep themselves motivated, productive, and developing professionally.
Which feelings (and shoes) are work-appropriate these days? An expert on authenticity joins us to share impressions of how professional behavior and dress are changing, plus advice for deciding how transparent and comfortable to be.
How can you be seen as a leader, especially when you’re not even “seeing” the people you work with? We revisit an interview with two leadership development experts — essential listening for any woman who’s ready to step up — and share an update on how their advice applies in the context of remote and hybrid work.
How are women who started a job remotely during the pandemic faring? We hear from several new hires about the hurdles they encountered and how they overcame them with the support of their managers. Then, HR executive Amelia Ransom and management professor Beth Schinoff share advice for onboarding, whether you’re starting a new position yourself or supporting a new member of your team.
One way to help close the gender earnings gap? Deliberate redundancy at work, according to economic historian Claudia Goldin. Claudia expands on this idea and shares other insights about the U.S. female labor force. Emily and the Amys reflect on the career-family decisions they’ve made (or plan to make) and imagine what it would be like to have a colleague who could fill in for them whenever they needed time off.
How can you be confident that quitting your job is a good move for your career? And how do you handle the feelings — guilt, fear, anxiety — that come up? These are questions we’ll all face at some point, so we talk through which factors to consider before making the decision and best practices for giving your notice when it’s time.
Managers are told that when an employee resigns, they should be professional, reassure their team, and wish the person well. But we also know that resignations bring up a lot of feelings: panic, loss, self-doubt. Five managers acknowledge those emotions and share how they’ve learned to cope.
In leading their teams and organizations through a crisis, women have repeatedly stepped up to the plate. We celebrate four of these women and highlight the ways they’ve been resetting priorities, demonstrating resilience and agility, and communicating effectively. Then, leadership coach Muriel Wilkins gives advice for taking care of yourself while taking care of the people you manage.
If you’re looking to upgrade your work life, know that it’s possible, manageable, and worth the effort. Two women reflect on the actions they took that ended up elevating not only their careers but also their all-around satisfaction.
Starting October 11, a new collection of perspectives to learn from, advice to act on, and takeaways that buoy you up.
How can we get better at negotiating? We hear from a butter maker and entrepreneur about a sensitive deal she recently navigated and then use that experience to draw out the principles and practices essential to any negotiation. Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, a professor who studies and teaches negotiations, gives advice on achieving our objectives in a deal, no matter the context.
Alice Boyes, a writer and former clinical psychologist, shares the principles and practices that keep her creative and productive, but not busy. She gives Emily and a social worker guidance on where to focus their energy, as well as paring down their (and your) to-dos to what’s feasible? and actually worth doing.
A nurse practitioner joins Amy B and an expert on workplace well-being to discuss different aspects of stress, plus principles and practices for managing it.
Giving feedback is critical to being a good manager, somebody people look up to and not just report to. But very few of us actually like to do it. So how can we get better at this essential skill? Amy G is joined by a school principal to interview a feedback expert.
As more and more people get vaccinated against Covid-19, how do you lead your family through this safer but not coronavirus-free new world? Two parents in Israel — a child psychologist and an infectious disease doctor — describe the approach they’ve been taking with their three kids. Because when only one child is old enough to receive the vaccine, making your way out of lockdown is even more of a process.
We get inside the head of a woman whose due date is just days away. She shares with Erica her worries, hopes, and questions about how having a baby will change her career. Erica offers practical advice for managing a new identity and new work-family demands.
Everyday joys can boost our energy and productivity, so long as we’re able to notice and appreciate them. Kevin reflects on the presence of joy in his life and what keeps him from feeling it. Then, leadership development coach Amy Jen Su gives advice for getting into a mindset that primes us to experience joy and function better all around.
Erica and Kevin show snapshots of life for them these days — basically, frantically working when not giving their all to childcare. They discuss how they’re handling the latest challenges working parenthood has thrown at them, highlighting tools and tips that are helping them cope.
Amy Gallo introduces Erica Truxler and Kevin Evers, two HBR editors hosting a series in which they confront the challenges of managing everything and everyone.
Leadership coach Muriel Wilkins has shared her wisdom on our show multiple times. Now you can listen to and grow from it regularly through Muriel’s new podcast, Coaching Real Leaders. The show takes you inside real-life coaching sessions with executives who’ve hit a bump in the road. In this episode, Muriel speaks with a VP who’s been passed over for a promotion and needs help figuring out how to overcome the setback and get to where she wants to be.
We talk through questions from listeners seeking advice on the challenges they’re facing early in their career — from being excluded from meetings to how to be more assertive.
Coming back to work after parental leave, after having a baby during a pandemic, when you and your colleagues are still working remotely — is complicated. Our colleague describes how she’s approaching remote reentry, and we turn to an expert on all things career and motherhood for guidance on handling childcare, boundaries, and professional relationships during this transition.
After a team member of ours faced a serious medical problem, we recognized how little guidance there was for communicating a health crisis or chronic illness. We talk through common decisions, fears, and conversations.
As we wait for company leaders to make good on the anti-racism commitments they made earlier this year, we check in with four Black women about how their work lives have and haven’t changed. Then we talk with an expert who helps us understand how to keep pushing forward and supporting our Black colleagues while we wait for long-overdue change.
Sometimes you want to make a career change, like a big one. We hear from a woman who is in the process of navigating a bold transition. Then we talk with an expert about how to clarify your goals and ask for what you need to make your next move.
With the help of an expert in side gigs, Emily confronts the hobbies, projects, and pursuits that she’s neglected, in hopes of helping herself and others invest in interests outside of a full-time job.
We’re wiped out and finding it tough to stay focused, present, and optimistic. So we decided to revisit conversations that explore how and why we get worn out and that have advice for building ourselves back up.
Three women who’ve lost work because of the pandemic open up about how they’re processing what's happened and finding a way forward
As offices — including HBR’s — carefully reopen after being closed for months because of the pandemic, we describe what it’s like there and discuss the risks and rewards of being back in person.
One woman’s struggle with shyness prompts us to explore the seeming conflict between being shy and being a leader. We offer strategies for overcoming anxieties that may be keeping you from going after your career goals, as well as advice for supporting socially anxious colleagues. Guest: Alice Boyes.
We continue tracking the ways the pandemic is impacting women’s lives and careers, and discuss how to not only manage the challenges but also shape a more equitable future. Guests: Kathleen McGinn and Katherine Goldstein.
Women don’t always feel entitled to ask for help at work — even when we need it the most. But Heidi Grant says asking has psychological benefits for you and your colleagues. She explains how to approach your request strategically and why lending a hand to others can be good for you too.
Women at Work returns October 5 with candid conversations and practical advice that’ll help get you through the messiness of 2020. Plus, we have a new host!
Young women who are wrestling with the impact of the coronavirus crisis on their early-stage careers share how they’re managing the unfamiliar and unexpected. Plus a career coach gives advice for young women striving to establish themselves at work in less than optimal circumstances. Guests: Rachel Bronstein, Nina Jones, Hana Ayoub, and Alex Hemmer. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
We reflect on what moving ahead means now and give advice on when and how we should be pushing ourselves, as well as ways to protect a job you love. Guests: Kathleen McGinn and Daisy Wademan Dowling. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
To push for a racially just workplace, white women must put in the effort to understand black women’s experiences. We talk about what has historically driven women of different races apart at work and about how we can stick together and support one another. Guests: Ella Bell Smith, Stella Nkomo, Tina Opie, and Verónica Rabelo. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
We get an update on what men are doing or should be doing to support the women they work with. And we talk about our role in helping them help us. Guests: Brad Johnson, David Smith, and Lily Zheng. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
We talk about why menopause shouldn’t be a taboo topic at work, how managers can be supportive, and what to say when you’re having a hot flash in the middle of a meeting. Guests: Dr. Heather Hirsch, Jeneva Patterson, and Tina Opie. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
We talk through questions from listeners seeking advice on dealing with the challenges they’re facing right now—from how to handle pandemic-related burnout to how to increase their company’s diversity in hiring. Guest: Alison Beard. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
We talk about the different professional setbacks women are facing because of the coronavirus crisis and offer advice for dealing with a promotion, project, career move, or entrepreneurial endeavor on hold or lost forever. Guests: Alexandra Kalev and Daisy Auger-Domínguez.
A nurse who’s risen to CEO talks about the leadership skills she’s learned through her experience managing global health crises and how she’s applying those skills to the Covid-19 crisis. Guest: Sheila Davis. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
There’s often pressure to keep it together at work. But is that even possible right now when we’re all feeling so many intense feelings? Understanding when and how to express fear, anger, sorrow, and stress isn’t easy, but it’s crucial. Guests: Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
A behavioral scientist gives advice on how to better muddle through working from home during the crisis. She also points out the long-lasting positive changes in women’s personal and professional lives that may come from having to reset expectations and boundaries right now. Guest: Ashley Whillans. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Women from around the world tell us how the coronavirus crisis is impacting them both professionally and personally. We share how we've been coping and give advice for handling all of this extra stress. Guests: Aliya Hamid Rao and Ruchika Tulshyan. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Women at Work is back April 13 with stories, conversations, and practical advice about being a woman in the workplace. Expect to hear from us every Monday through the spring.
Our dear co-host is leaving the show.
Stepping into a leadership role doesn’t always require permission — but it can require some soul-searching. We speak with leadership development experts on how to be seen as a leader by others and feel like one yourself. Guests: Muriel Wilkins and Amy Su. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
For women in male-dominated fields like engineering, there are lots of stressors, both subtle and overt. As a result, many end up leaving the field altogether. But the ones who stay develop strategies to survive and to even challenge the status quo. Guests: Jessica Townsend, Ana, Elena, and Teresa Cardador. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
As we grow older, we have to deal with not only sexism at work but ageism too. Still, age has its advantages. We talk with an expert on aging, and then we share personal experiences and answer questions from listeners. Guests: Nancy Morrow-Howell and Maureen Hoch. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Conflict at work is inevitable, and resolving conflicts can lead to higher job satisfaction, stronger relationships with colleagues, and innovation. But dealing with conflict becomes especially difficult when we feel pressure to be likeable or accommodate others. In this live show we talk through a general plan, as well as common situations. Guest: Linda Hill. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Going from full time to part time is a complicated career move. First we talk with a woman who’s made part time work well for her about how she set expectations and boundaries. Then we get advice from an expert on work-life balance on how to manage the risks of being part time. Guests: Kristin McElderry and Linda Duxbury. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
At work, self-care might mean asking for a deadline extension, going to the gym in the middle of the day, or blocking off a few hours to prioritize tasks for the week. But that’s all easier said than done. We speak with a happiness researcher about how to find the time we need to take care of ourselves (and then actually do it). Guest: Ashley Whillans. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Anxiety comes up in our conversations on the show from time to time, and we think it’s important to think about and talk about mental health. That’s why we’re recommending you listen to The Anxious Achiever, a new podcast by HBR Presents that’s all about dealing with anxiety at work.
Having a close friend at work feels great. You have someone to laugh with, confide in, and exchange glances with during a meeting. But we often fail to anticipate how the conflicting demands of work can occasionally strain that relationship. We talk through common tensions and how to handle them, either to maintain the friendship or to ease off of it. Guests: Nancy Rothbard and Julianna Pillemer. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Sponsorship is when someone influential in your organization advocates on your behalf to get you where you want to go. But the sponsor-protege relationship isn’t always clear-cut. We talk about what sponsors really do and what the protege’s role is. Guest: Rosalind Chow. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Building relationships that benefit our careers isn’t about exchanging business cards at work events; it’s about getting to know people we can learn from. We discuss how to develop a strong network and what the very best women networkers do. Guest: Inga Carboni. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Talking with colleagues about how much we earn can help us figure out if we’re being paid fairly, but sharing those numbers is stressful. With the help of experts, we discuss the tricky practicalities of salary disclosure and what to do with that sensitive information once we’ve got it. Guests: Zoë Cullen, Gaby Dunn, and Amelia Ransom. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Women at Work is back Oct. 14 with stories, conversations, and practical advice about being a woman in the workplace. Expect to hear from us every Monday for the next couple of months. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
High-quality relationships with other women at work, and the productivity and creativity those connections bring, are built on trusting one another with our emotions. Two researchers share findings from their recent survey about emotional vulnerability in the workplace. Guests: Beth Livingston and Tina Opie. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Many companies are still sorting out the right policies to put in place around sexual harassment. But even where good policies exist, we all need the skills and confidence to respond to and prevent inappropriate behavior at work. Guests: Marianne Cooper and Sarah Beaulieu. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Women are responsible for most eldercare, and it’s often an exhausting, isolating job that has to be done on top of your paid work. We talk with a researcher who’s gone through it herself; she shares coping strategies and advice on how to support the caregivers on your team. Guest: Anne Bardoel. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Thinking of gender as man/woman and masculine/feminine leaves out a lot of people. We talk about the problems the gender binary causes at work and get advice on how to support transgender and nonbinary colleagues. Guest: Lily Zheng. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
We discuss how women think about and approach competition at work and get advice on how to keep our disagreements — and people’s perceptions of them — from turning negative. Guest: Leah Sheppard. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Do women really apologize more than men at work? We speak with a psychology professor and a leadership consultant about the impact that saying “sorry” and using other minimizing language has on job success, and what words and phrases to use instead. Guests: Karina Schumann and Sally Helgesen. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Just because some of us are single and childless doesn’t mean we don’t have problems at the office or responsibilities outside of it. We talk with a woman who’s been writing a series of essays about her singlehood, as well as a researcher who studies this demographic. Guests: Shani Silver and Tracy Dumas. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
There are a lot of reasons women should feel optimistic about having both a career and children. Two professors tell us about the takeaways from their research on working motherhood and from their experience raising three kids each. They give advice about managing expectations, transitions, and difficult times. Guests: Danna Greenberg and Jamie Ladge.
Visibility at work is important for our professional advancement — and tricky, especially for women. In this live episode, we talk about navigating the risks and rewards of being in the spotlight, as well as the best ways to increase our visibility. Guest: Muriel Maignan Wilkins. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Stress can enhance our performance at work, but not if it leads to burnout. We talk with an expert on workplace well-being about how women experience burnout and how to manage its causes, symptoms, and repercussions. Guest: Mandy O’Neill.
Women at Work is back April 15 with stories, conversations, and practical advice about being a woman in the workplace. Expect to hear from us every Monday for the next couple of months.
Amy Gallo is a contributing editor for HBR, an expert on conflict and difficult conversations, a prolific giver of advice — and now she takes up the baton of co-hosting the show from Sarah Green Carmichael. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
In this special live episode, we share stories, research, and practical advice for strategic self-disclosure, and then take questions from the audience. Guest: Katherine Phillips. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Women will be a stronger force against sexism and racism at work if we know and trust each other. We talk through best practices for listening to, learning about, and advocating for women who are different from us. Guests: Tina Opie and Verónica Rabelo. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
We bring you three stories about parental leave, from listeners whose experiences with it changed them, for better or for worse. They talk about having to fight for more time off, go back to work before they were ready, care for sick babies, and try to hide their exhaustion and stress. Ultimately, they’re stories about how inadequate leave policies hurt families and companies.
We hold ourselves back when we let differences like race or class divide us from other women. We talk about the very different experiences and professional relationships black and white female managers had in 1970s and 1980s corporate America, and how workplace sisterhood is still in short supply. Guests: Ella Bell Smith and Stella Nkomo. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
If you’re your family’s chief breadwinner, research suggests that the pressure you’re feeling is different from what men have been dealing with for eons. We talk about the highs and lows of being in this role and examples of support at work and at home that can make it more manageable. Guest: Alyson Byrne. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Women have to work harder to be recognized for our ideas. And that recognition is essential for getting the assignments and the promotions we deserve — for moving our careers forward. We talk about how to present an idea in a group so that you come out owning it. Next, we cover how to respond when someone takes credit for your work. Guests: Amy Jen Su and Amy Gallo.
Perfectionist tendencies are a trap that can be difficult to avoid, but we’ll be more productive and advance faster if we don’t worry so much about making the occasional mistake. We talk about how perfectionists can get out of their own way, and how to effectively manage a perfectionist. Guest: Alice Boyes. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Both male and female managers tend to give women low-quality feedback. And when we don’t hear how we’re really doing at work and what we can do to improve — and men do — we’re put at a disadvantage. We talk about how to get high-quality feedback that is direct, specific, and focused on behavior we can change. Guests: Robin Ely and Ella Bell Smith.
Being a great decision maker is uniquely challenging for women. It’s not us; it’s sexism. Stereotypes about the way we make calls can be insulting and distracting. Knowing that we’ll be judged more harshly than men when we make mistakes is discouraging. We talk about how to make informed decisions that stick, despite gender bias. Guest: Therese Huston.
Women around the world have access to vastly different amounts of paid parental leave. In some countries, they can take a year or more. In the U.S., they’re not guaranteed any paid leave at all. We talk about how to manage your leave, or someone else’s, no matter how long it is. We also hear from a woman in Washington, DC, who had the rare opportunity to take a year of paid leave. Guest: Daisy Wademan Dowling. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Women are expected and asked to do thankless tasks — order lunch, handle less-valued clients — more than men, and research shows that doing those tasks slows down our career advancement and makes us unhappy at work. We talk about why we wind up with so much office drudgery and how to get some of it off our plates. Guests: Lise Vesterlund and Ruchika Tulshyan.
Women at Work is back Sept. 17 with stories, conversations, and practical advice about women and work. Expect to hear from us every Monday for the next couple of months. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
We’re delighted to be making more episodes for you. And we’re asking you to help shape this next season to fit what you’re dealing with and needing guidance on. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.
Professional women get all kinds of advice — some of it helpful, some of it really unhelpful, and some of it nice-sounding but pretty impossible to use. We question some of the classic advice women get (and give) on asking for more money, achieving more by doing less, and not burning out. Guests: Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, Arianna Huffington, Tiffany Dufu, Susan Orlean, and Alison Beard. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.
While once accusations of sexual harassment would be met with — at most — a monetary settlement and a non-disclosure agreement, today they are more likely to be publicized and investigated. Now, the challenge is, how do we harness this new attention to sexual harassment to make work a safer place for women? Guests: Joan Williams, Amy Gallo, and Michael Kimmel. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.
The gender wage gap is the lifetime financial curse that punishes so many of us. What’s going on in women’s careers that causes us to earn so much less? Guests: Claudia Goldin and Margaret Gullette. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.
As leaders, we know we’re supposed to be authentic, but for women, that can be tricky. For one thing, it can be hard to even know what our “true selves” want with all the demands competing for our attention. For another, there are different expectations about how women should look, and behave. In this episode, we talk with an expert on authenticity, as well as a woman trying everyday to bring her best self to work and help others do the same. Guests: Tina Opie and Candice Morgan. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City in Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.
Simmering resentments over whose career comes first. Bickering over household tasks. Arguments over who should pick up the kids this time. This is the portrait of two-career coupledom in much of the popular media. But for a lot of couples, the reality is much rosier. Mutually supportive relationships let us take career risks, help us be more resilient to setbacks, and even “lean in” at work. In this episode, we talk with three experts to help us paint a picture of what a truly supportive dual-career relationship looks like, and understand how to get our own relationships closer to that ideal. Guests: Jennifer Petriglieri, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, and Stephanie Coontz. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.
Have you ever been in a meeting and shared an idea, only to have it ignored? Then, 10 minutes later, a guy shares the same idea, and your boss says “Great idea!” (Grrr.) Or maybe you’ve been told you apologize too much, don’t speak up enough, or that you need more “confidence” or “leadership presence.” (Ugh.) In this episode, we tackle three aspects of communication: first, how and why women’s speech patterns differ from men’s; second, how women can be more assertive in meetings; and third, how women can deal with interrupters (since the science shows women get interrupted more often than men do). Guests: Deborah Tannen is a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University.  She is best known as the author of the bestseller “You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation.” Jill Flynn is a founding partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership. Amy Gallo is an HBR contributing editor and author of the “HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict.” Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.
Conversations about the workplace, and women's place in it.