Dr. Kelly Monahan has spent twenty years researching the future of work, first as the lead future of work researcher at Deloitte, then at Meta, then running the Upwork Research Institute. When I admitted that my AI usually tells me I did a great job, she stopped me: AI is not your bestie. It's a mirror. And if you're already flattering yourself, it will help you do it.

We get into where AI actually came from (1955, not 2022), and what happens to a profession when the entry-level work disappears. Kelly also walks through what she found when she set out to study the people getting the most out of AI and discovered they trust it more than they trust their own coworkers.

Her book Reclaim the Plot: How Leaders Rewrite the Story When AI Rewrites Work is out September 29.

What we cover:

🔹 AI has been around since 1955. The panic about it replacing us is nearly as old.

🔹 Three kinds of AI, and only one of them can do parts of your job

🔹 How accurate does a machine have to be before we trust it, and who takes the blame when it's wrong

🔹 The mirror problem: AI amplifies whatever bias you bring to it

🔹 Ads are coming to AI. Kelly explains what that does to a tool acting like it's on your side.

🔹 How to prompt for actual critique

🔹 What happens to a profession when nobody does the junior work anymore

🔹Data centers, energy costs, and the communities that absorb them

🌐 Connect with KellyBeyond the Desk: https://www.beyondthedesk.com/Speaking and keynotes: https://www.drkellymonahan.com/

Kelly's books📚 Reclaim the Plot (out September 29): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1394426178Sneak peek: https://www.reclaimtheplotbook.com

📚Essential, with Christie Smith (Wiley, 2025), a USA Today bestseller: https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Distributed-Generative-Human-Powered-Leadership-ebook/dp/B0DT4XY29R

🖥️ Watch her TEDxFuture of Work: Hiding in Plain Sight, TEDxHartford, 2019https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_monahan_future_of_work_hiding_in_plain_sight

Research referenced in this episode

📘 From Tools to Teammates, Upwork Research Institute, July 2025, by Kelly Monahan and Gabby Burlacu: https://www.upwork.com/research/navigating-human-ai-relationships

📘 Work AI Index, Glean Work AI Institute, with Rebecca Hines https://www.glean.com/work-ai-institute/reports/work-ai-index

Two notes on the episode

Herbert Simon, whose prediction about AI replacing human work comes up early on, won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1978, not the Peace Prize. Kelly flags on air that she'd want to check the date.

Kelly mentions a follow-up study on AI users and loneliness. A December 2025 BMJ feature by Susan Shelmerdine and Matthew Nour is a close match, though it may not be the exact study she meant.

About Kelly Monahan

Dr. Kelly Monahan co-founded Beyond the Desk with organizational psychologist Kim Fazio. She was the lead future of work researcher at Deloitte, Principal Director of Global Talent Research at Accenture, Director of Future of Work at Meta, and Managing Director of the Upwork Research Institute. Her work has been published in MIT Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, and Strategic Management Journal, and she's appeared on Bloomberg, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.

About Motivation N'at

Hot Mess to High Potential®

Hosted by Natalie Bulger.https://www.ncbulgersolutions.com

Complex PTSD isn't a recognized DSM diagnosis. That doesn't mean it isn't shaping your marriage, your parenting, or your health.

This week Natalie talks with Kayla Licari, a former physician assistant who left a six-figure career after fifteen years once she realized what it was costing her body, her marriage, and her kids. They get into what complex PTSD actually looks like day to day, why it shows up as anxiety, people-pleasing, and chronic pain instead of the flashbacks most people picture, and how it forms long before anyone's old enough to remember it happening.

Kayla and Natalie also talk about what it took to rebuild trust in her marriage once she and her husband realized they were speaking two completely different emotional languages, how their kids have responded to watching them mess up and repair it in real time, and the small daily habits, like learning to actually say no, that ended up mattering more than any single therapy session.

Resources mentioned:
🔹 Somatic exercises playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWdxbsYN5kBDoKA3WUOZM5WvhDBtTeGBR&si=zXJmKoMdplNiwZRC
🔹 Bilateral beats playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ROcdCaBQ9EqR4WYOAEeOM?si=KmvxPzTKSf-oa3qZdPOjYg&pi=wXmd2S4jTcqmp
🔹 Be Magnetic (code KAYLA4434 for 15% off): https://tobemagnetic.com/whats-the-pathway
🔹 "When the Body Says No" by Dr. Gabor Maté: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470923350?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
🔹 Kayla on Instagram: @kayla.licari

Stef Vachon spent decades performing a version of himself just to survive. A former international figure skater who came up through relentless homophobic abuse, he walked away from the sport as a teenager, and it took him years, and a total breakdown, before he found his way back to who he actually was.

In this conversation, Stef and Natalie talk about what it costs to hide who you are, what it takes to finally ask for help, and what it means to reclaim your identity instead of reinventing it. Stef is now a husband, an adoptive father, a competitive adult figure skater again, and the host of the Together Moving Forward podcast, a platform for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community built on healing and self-respect.

In this episode:

🔹 Growing up in survival mode — how constant abuse as a young skater shaped Stef's relationship with his own talent and identity
🔹 The therapist who saved his life — what changed when Stef finally asked for help in his early thirties
🔹 Reclaiming, not reinventing — why Stef rejects the idea of becoming someone new and instead talks about returning to who he was
🔹 Back on the ice — Stef's return to competitive figure skating in his fifties, and what it's taught him about safety and self-trust
🔹 Building chosen family — marriage, fatherhood, and what it means to finally feel safe being fully himself

Listen. Like. Share. That's all I ask.

🎧 Together Moving Forward Podcast: togethermovingforwardpodcast.com
📺 YouTube: youtube.com/@TogetherMovingForwardPodcast
📘 Facebook: facebook.com/togethermovingforwardpodcast
🎵 TikTok: tiktok.com/@togethermovingforward
📷 Instagram: @stef_vachon @stefvachonspeaker @togethermovingforwardpodcast

Peter Young spent almost twenty years surviving a cult inside his own family, and he didn't know it was happening until it was almost too late.

Peter Young is the author of Stop the Tall Man, Save the Tiger, and he joins the pod to talk about the man his family called Uncle Robert, and how one person slowly took control of a marriage, a family, and twenty years of his life.

We get into:

🔹 How a family gets pulled into a cult without ever "joining" one
🔹 The guilt and shame cult leaders use to keep control
🔹 What it actually took to get out
🔹 Rebuilding faith and reclaiming a family afterward

If you've ever wondered how something like this could happen to someone without them realizing, or you're trying to make sense of something similar in your own life, this conversation might give you a starting point, and, more importantly, hope.

MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential®

The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.

RESOURCES

📖 Stop the Tall Man, Save the Tiger: https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Tall-Man-Save-Tiger/dp/B0BW384Q2W/📩 Connect with Peter Young: [email protected]🌐 Peter's website: https://www.authorpeteryoung.com/

📲 Follow Peter:Instagram: @peterbyoungYouTube: @authorpeteryoung

📲 Follow Natalie:Instagram: @Sincerely__NatalieYouTube: @motivation-nat-pod

Grief after losing a parent doesn't follow a timeline, and it definitely doesn't come with a manual.

Caroline Degnan is a licensed professional counselor in the Pittsburgh area specializing in grief and bereavement, and she lost her own father at eighteen, the exact same age I lost mine. This conversation is a reflection on what that loss taught us both, and how Caroline turned hers into the career and calling she has today.

We get into:

• What it means to lose a parent at eighteen and rebuild a life around it
• Why the five stages of grief aren't actually meant for the grieving
• What intentional grief looks like in practice, and how to build it
• Grief camps for kids who've lost a parent or sibling

• Staying connected to someone after death through signs and memory

If you've been carrying grief quietly because you don't know how to talk about it, this conversation might be the permission you didn't know you needed.

RESOURCES

📖 Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe by Laura Lynn Jackson

📖 The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

📩 Connect with Caroline: [email protected]

🌐 I Am As I Am Counseling: https://www.iamasiamcounseling.com/counselors

🌐 Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us

🌐 Experience Camps: https://experiencecamps.org

🌐 Hospice Nurse Julie: https://www.hospicenursejulie.com

📲 Follow Natalie:

Instagram: @Sincerely__Natalie

YouTube: @motivation-nat-pod

MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential®

The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.

This episode contains an open conversation about suicide and self-harm. If you're currently navigating this, it's okay to pause, skip, or come back when you're ready. If you need support, call or text 988. Free, confidential support is available 24/7.

Surviving a suicide attempt is isolating. Add a stigma that keeps people silent and a system too overwhelmed to support them, and you're left with a gap that many survivors fall through.

Jeremy Carter is a social worker who fell through that exact gap after his own attempt, and built Still Here PGH, a peer-led support group for people who have attempted suicide or struggle with suicidal thoughts, because nothing like it existed yet.

Topics we cover:

• Surviving a suicide attempt and what came after

• Why peer-led support for suicidal thoughts didn't exist in Allegheny County until he built it

• What to say to someone suicidal, and what not to say

• Recognizing numbness as a warning sign, not an absence of feeling

• Why the system failed him even as a social worker who knew how it was supposed to work

If you've ever wondered what to say to someone who's struggling or what to seek if you’re feeling this way yourself, this conversation gives you a place to start.

MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential™

The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.

🌐 Still Here PGH: stillherepgh.org

📲 Follow Natalie:

Instagram: @Sincerely__Natalie

YouTube: @motivation-nat-pod

During his time as CFO, Charles Tapp II spun up the Enterprise Risk Management program at Veterans Benefits Administration which paved the way for me to do the same in Veterans Health Administration a year or two later. The dual effort was making its way to major impact when Charles and I both decided to step away, leaving the programs in the hands of our amazingly talented staff. Now we can talk candidly about what it actually takes to embed risk management into a multi-layered and complex corporate system.

Charles walks through how his team turned risk registers into real budget decisions, including how a risk-informed approach helped VBA secure millions in PACT Act startup funding by identifying HR as a critical risk area before the legislation even passed. We also cover the difference between risk in the Department of Defense, federal civil service, and private industry; how black swan events like COVID reshaped risk appetite across government; and why it took a full year just to establish a shared risk vocabulary before any real progress could happen.

This conversation is for anyone trying to wrap their head around instituting a risk-informed culture inside an organization that's resistant to change, whether that's a federal agency, a nonprofit board, or other institution.

In this episode:

• The critical components of a starter enterprise risk management program
• Turning overwhelming risk registers into risk-informed budget decisions
• The PACT Act, VBA's HR pipeline, and $302 million in startup funding
• Black swan risk: what COVID taught federal agencies about risk appetite
• Risk management differences across DoD, federal civil service, and private industry
• Why things like shared language and escalation channels have to come first

Connect with Charles Tapp:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlestapp2/

Further reading:

• Federal News Network: VBA Steps Up Veteran Outreach to Complete 300,000 Pending PACT Act Benefits Claims — https://federalnewsnetwork.com/veterans-affairs/2024/05/vba-steps-up-veteran-outreach-to-complete-300000-pending-pact-act-benefits-claims/
• VA News: World-Class Veterans Benefits Banking Program — https://news.va.gov/110704/world-class-veterans-benefits-banking-program/

MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential™

The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.

📲 Follow Natalie:

Instagram: instagram.com/@Sincerely__Natalie

YouTube: youtube.com/@motivation-nat-pod

A year ago, I left a job that had shaped seven years of who I was, and I thought the hardest part was already behind me. It wasn't. This is what a year of hosting more than 50 conversations with over 40 guests on the Motivation N'at Podcast has taught me about myself.

Josh, my husband, was the very first guest on Motivation N'at when this show launched. A year later, he's back to interview me for the season two premiere.

We get into:

• What actually changed in the year since I left federal government
• How hosting a podcast pushed me outside my comfort zone in ways I didn't expect
• What I learned about my own healing by listening to other people's stories
• All of the other things I'm building beyond this podcast because.... bills

If you've ever wondered whether leaving something familiar actually leads anywhere, this conversation won't hand you an answer. But it might help you ask the question more honestly.

MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential™

The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.

📲 Follow Natalie:Instagram: @Sincerely__NatalieYouTube: @motivation-nat-pod

If one more person tells you the answer is a new system, a new tool, or a new platform, you might lose your mind. Because you've watched the stack grow and the problems stay, and nobody seems to want to talk about what's actually broken underneath it.

Dr. Shannon Gregg is the president of Cloud Adoption Solutions and holds a PhD in CRM user adoption. She has spent her career inside the gap between what technology promises and what organizations actually need, and she doesn't let either side off the hook.

We get into:

— Why simplifying your tech stack is harder than building it out, and why it matters more

— The difference between waterfall and agile development, and what actually happens when you skip the human in the middle

— Where AI gives buyers false confidence and what a responsible seller does about it

— How over-customization quietly breaks the systems you paid to fix

— Why the process has to come before the platform, every time

If you've been handed another solution before anyone finished diagnosing the problem, this conversation might make you feel a little less alone when it comes to what to do next.

MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential®

The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.

📩 Connect with Shannon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonjgregg/

🌐 Cloud Adoption Solutions: https://cloudadoption.solutions/

📖 It's About Time: How to Do More of What Matters in the Time You Have - https://www.amazon.com/Its-About-Time-More-Matters/dp/1945605014

📖 Sales Ops Design Shop: Grow Revenue without Adding Sales Headcount - https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Ops-Design-Shop-Headcount-ebook/dp/B0D8KC3GZZ?ref_=ast_author_mpb

Life Sciences Sales Lab Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-sciences-sales-lab/id1853940547

📲 Follow Natalie:Instagram: @Sincerely__NatalieYouTube: @motivation-nat-pod

Motherhood didn't break Samantha's career, but instead, it taught her everything the rulebook missed. It's something all of us, parents or not, should take some time to think about.This week I sat down with Samantha Swan, a senior manager in healthcare strategic planning and a mom of two, who has lived the tension between ambition and motherhood in real time and brought her insights and honesty to this conversation.We get into:— Why the old career rules stop working the moment life changes— The working mom identity crisis nobody prepares you for— What it actually looks like to return to work after maternity leave— How to stop juggling everything equally and start knowing which balls are glass— Why "you can have it all" is true — just not all at once— What parenthood actually adds to your leadership skills that hiring managers keep missingParent, non-parent, early career, mid-career... if you've ever felt like the rules stopped fitting, pull up a chair and take a listen.___________________________________MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential®The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.___________________________________Connect with Samantha Swan on LinkedInFollow Natalie:Instagram: @sincerely__natalieYouTube: @motivation-nat-pod