Is your "experience" actually creating rigidity? In her first solo episode of Season 2, Ellen Whitlock Baker dives deep into the essential leadership skill of modeling. While many leaders espouse the importance of work-life balance and behavioral health, Ellen challenges us to look in the mirror: Are you actually living the values you’re teaching, or are you a "do as I say, not as I do" leader?

Drawing on insights from past guests like Kira Mauseth, Trystan Reese, and Britt Frank, Ellen breaks down why the "old school" management books from 20 years ago don’t cut it in today’s reality—especially when it comes to managing Gen Z and rejecting toxic, "always-on" work cultures.

• The Hidden Cost of After-Hours Communication: Why sending that "quick" 2:00 AM email ruins your team's ability to disconnect, and how to use delayed send or notes apps to protect your boundaries.
• The Science of the Nervous System: How true out-of-office time (no lurking on Slack!) is clinically necessary to move from "fight or flight" into a restorative parasympathetic state.
• The "Meeting Overload" Trap: Why a schedule with no breathing room makes you unavailable to your team and leads to systemic burnout.
• Micro Yeses for Leaders: Using Britt Frank’s philosophy to reclaim your calendar one hour at a time—without the world falling apart.

This episode offers you the ability to find one tiny, actionable thing you can do tomorrow to make your workplace healthier for everyone.

Tags: Leadership Development, Empathetic Leadership, Modern Management, Servant Leadership, Executive Coaching, Healthy Workplace, Toxic Productivity, Burnout Prevention, Work-Life Balance , Behavioral Health , Modeling Behavior , Micro Yeses , Time Management , Reducing Meetings , Out of Office Best Practices , Gen Z in the Workplace , Managing Younger Generations , Kira Mauseth , Trystan Reese , Britt Frank

In this episode of the Hard at Work podcast, host Ellen Whitlock Baker sits down with award-winning author, facilitator, and coach Trystan Reese to explore the transformative power of "adaptation skills" in the modern workplace.

Reese challenges the prevailing "throwaway culture" by arguing that no employee is truly disposable, particularly when harm is caused unwillingly due to a lack of awareness or a steep learning curve. By moving away from shame-based reactions and toward restorative coaching, organizations can help leaders transition from causing harm to becoming genuine accomplices in building more inclusive environments.

Reese introduces the "farming for dissent" framework—a strategy used by leaders like Barack Obama—to proactively seek out and reward disagreement as a means of building trust and improving project outcomes. Listeners will learn how to implement "pre-mortems" to identify risks before they become failures, turning potential workplace disasters into opportunities for collective growth.

For people who struggle with receiving feedback, Reese provides a masterclass on navigating rejection sensitivity and the physiological "tunnel" of emotional triggers. He shares practical "nervous system hacks," such as the power of starting a difficult conversation with a simple "thank you" to signal safety to both the speaker and the receiver.

The episode also highlights the importance of modeling self-awareness by allowing leaders to "tap out" of conversations when they are too emotionally activated to respond productively.

Finally, the discussion reframes the goal of workplace culture from "psychological safety" to "brave leadership". Reese explains that while safety can be misconstrued as mere comfort, bravery allows for the discomfort necessary to dismantle systemic biases and foster real change. By centering dignity and curiosity over defense mechanisms, teams can create higher-trust environments.

#BraveLeadership #WorkplaceCulture #ConflictResolution #TrystanReese #InclusionAndBelonging #FeedbackSkills #PsychologicalSafety #HardAtWorkPodcast #LeadershipDevelopment #FarmingForDissent

How burnout shows up when success is fueled by old wounds

What if the hardest part of being “hard at work” isn’t your workload — it’s everything underneath it? In this episode, Dr. Merary Simeon joins Ellen Whitlock Baker to talk about the invisible drivers that fuel ambition: old messages, past pain, and the pressure to prove you’re “enough.” Merary shares the moment she realized her success was being powered by survival mode — and why burnout often shows up when your body finally refuses to keep carrying what your mind has normalized.

Merary walks us through H.E.R.A.C.T., her framework for doing the work beneath the work: Healing, Elevating your mindset, Respect, Achieving confidence, and Transformation. Together, Ellen and Merary unpack why so many of us want to skip the healing step (because it’s personal, messy, and confronting) — and why it’s also the most freeing. They talk about grief, guilt, perfectionism, microaggressions, and the way “constant availability” gets confused with effectiveness… until it becomes burnout in disguise.

They also zoom out to what needs to change inside workplaces — not just inside individuals — including the power of sponsorship, sharing power, and building real relationships across difference. If you’ve ever felt trapped by a job, haunted by what work has taken from you, or stuck in a loop of trying harder while feeling worse, this conversation offers a grounded path forward — and one unforgettable reframe: forgiveness is the hidden reset button.

Tags: Dr. Merary Simeon, Hard at Work Podcast, The Work Beneath the Work, HER ACT Framework, Multicultural Women in Power, Executive Leadership, Inner Work, Burnout Recovery, Healing at Work, Leadership Development, Diversity and Inclusion, Career Transformation, Sponsorship vs Mentorship, Professional Growth, Overcoming Adversity, Work-Life Integration, Women of Color in Leadership, Code AM, Forgiveness as a Reset, Holistic Leadership, Ending Constant Availability, Sharing Power

Chapters:

00:00 – The Work Beneath the Work Dr. Merary introduces the concept of inner healing and doing the "invisible" work required to show up strong in the professional world.

04:00 – Recognizing and Resetting from Burnout A candid discussion on how burnout manifests physically and the importance of being intentional about resetting over and over again.

06:05 – The HER ACT Framework Breaking down the five pillars of Dr. Merary’s research-based framework: Healing, Elevating, Respect, Achieving confidence, and Transformation.

08:10 – Why You Can’t Skip the Healing Step Exploring why healing is the most difficult but freeing stage, and how it provides the clarity needed to regain personal integrity.

17:05 – Reclaiming Power and Prioritizing Family Dr. Merary shares her personal journey of choosing her family over the trap of "constant availability".

22:11 – Building Multicultural Women in Leadership Strategies for closing the pay gap and moving more women of color into executive positions through the "Code AM" framework.

29:30 – The Power of Connection and Community The importance of finding "truth-tellers," mentors, and good friends to ensure you don't isolate yourself during hard times.

35:45 – Sponsorship: Sharing Your Power How leaders can proactively expand their networks and use their influence to create seats at the table for others

Show Notes:

• Book: H.E.R.A.C.T. by Dr. Merary Simeon.

• Podcast: What Rules!? (Co-hosted by Dr. Merary Simeon, Alisa Manjarrez, and Courtney Copelin).

• Website: Merarysimeon.com

• LinkedIn: Dr. Merary Simeon

• Instagram: @MerarySimeon

How people-pleasers stop outsourcing their decisions and reconnect with their inner knowing

For anyone who has ever hit every goal and received all the praise yet still felt profoundly miserable, this episode offers a roadmap out of the "A-student" trap. Host Ellen Whitlock Baker is joined by Lauree Ostrofsky—coach, business and marketing consultant, and two-time author—to explore what happens when high achievers realize their current career no longer fits. Ellen and Lauree dig into the classic people-pleaser trap: being valued for one set of skills while the work that lights you up gets sidelined—and how that disconnect can keep you stuck longer than you want to admit.

Lauree shares the reinvention lessons she’s seen in her most successful clients, including: “find the linchpin.” She and Ellen talk about the small, crucial people and moments that bolt your next chapter into place (even when you don’t have a perfect plan), how gratitude helps you notice new doors, and why change doesn’t have to be a brutal, hustle-y leap off a cliff. If you’re burned out on overthinking and constantly needing a second opinion, you’ll love Lauree’s take on building self-trust and making decisions without outsourcing your confidence.

• The "Linchpin" Strategy: Lauree breaks down how to identify the small, crucial moments and people that anchor a new chapter, just like a linchpin holds parts of a car together. By practicing gratitude for past "linchpins," listeners can open themselves up to noticing the new doors and connections appearing in their current lives.

• Building Self-Trust: A look at how to stop "outsourcing confidence" and overthinking every move. Lauree shares a challenge from her own coach that forced her to send proposals without a second opinion, highlighting how ingrained the need for permission can be.

• Fear with Compassion: Lauree explains the origin of her mantra, "I’m scared, but I’m doing it anyway." This philosophy was born from a life-altering brain tumor diagnosis at age 28, which forced her to redefine what was truly scary versus what was merely uncomfortable.

• The "First Day of School" Approach: Instead of "muscling through" fear, Lauree suggests treating your inner anxious self like a child on their first day of school—offering snacks, comfort, and kind words to move gently over the start line.

• Certainty in the Chaos: From keeping a puzzle in her office to finding "soft" ways to pivot, Lauree emphasizes that reinvention doesn't have to be a "hustle-y" leap off a cliff. It can be a series of kind, intentional shifts that prioritize personal happiness over corporate praise.

If you're looking for a smarter way to pivot without losing your sense of self in the process, this conversation provides the permission and the tools to begin.

Tags: Career Reinvention, Overcoming Burnout, Self-Trust, People Pleasing, Women in Business, Professional Coaching, Mindset Shift, Career Change, Overcoming Fear, Personal Development, A-Student Syndrome, Intuition at Work, Life Transitions, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Mental Health, Work-Life Balance, Self-Compassion, Pivot, Career Growth

Show Notes:

• Simply Leap by Lauree Ostrofsky
• I'm Scared, But I'm Doing It Anyway by Lauree Ostrofsky
• The Science of Stuck and Align Your Mind by Britt Frank
• Learn more about Lauree’s membership program

Connect with Lauree:

• Website

• Instagram

• Facebook

• LinkedIn

Whether you’ve spent 20 years in one field and realized you’re unfulfilled, or you’re just a few years into your first job and realizing the path you were "supposed" to take doesn't fit who you are, this episode is for you. Ellen is joined by Aleenah Ansari—a writer, content creator, and strategic creative who specializes in helping people find and amplify their own stories.

Ellen and Aleenah dive deep into "Step Zero" of a career pivot: reclaiming your narrative. Aleenah shares why jealousy might actually be your most honest career coach and how to perform a skills audit that honors your humanity, not just your job titles. They also explore how to apply human-centered design to the workplace, reimagining our environments to work for us rather than feeling like something we need to escape.

This conversation is a masterclass in owning your story before someone else writes it for you. They discuss how to make networking feel authentic to the current version of you and why being honest about being in transition is the key to building a supportive community. For anyone ready to stop starting from scratch and start designing a career with agency, Aleenah’s insights provide the roadmap to get there.

In this episode, Ellen and Aleenah discuss:

• Step Zero: How to reclaim your professional narrative during a career transition.
• The Jealousy Compass: Using envy as a data point to identify what you actually value.
• Skills Auditing: Why you aren't starting at zero and how to identify your transferable "human" skills.
• Human-Centered Design: Applying design thinking to your career and your workplace.
• Authentic Networking: Building a community that supports the version of you that exists today.

Show Notes:

Aleenah’s Website: AleenahAnsari.com

Aleenah’s TEDx Talk: "How to Reclaim Your Narrative"

Book: Uncompete by Ruchika Malhotra

Book: The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

Tags: Career Pivot, Personal Branding, Transferable Skills, Human-Centered Design, Career Change, Narrative Identity, Professional Development, Networking for Introverts, Workplace Culture, Design Thinking, Mid-Career Transition, Women in Business.

What if the nonprofit sector isn’t broken because people don’t care—but because we’ve been taught a whole lot of nonsense about how work, funding, and leadership are “supposed” to function? In this episode of Hard at Work, Ellen is joined by writer, activist, and nonprofit truth-teller Vu Le, author of Unicorns Unite and the mind behind the long-running blog Nonprofit AF, for a wide-ranging, funny, and deeply honest conversation about why nonprofit work is exhausting—and how it could be radically better.

Vu breaks down the biggest myths holding the sector back: risk aversion driven by short-term funding, performative accountability obsessed with metrics instead of impact, and workplace structures borrowed from corporate culture that burn people out instead of supporting them. Together, they explore alternatives like four-day workweeks, co-director leadership models, advice-based decision making, and community-centric fundraising—approaches that prioritize trust, expertise, and shared power rather than hierarchy and control. Vu also names how philanthropy’s refusal to fund operations, salaries, and long-term work keeps nonprofits stuck in survival mode while pretending that’s “responsible.”

This episode is especially for fundraisers, nonprofit leaders, and mission-driven professionals who feel tired, disillusioned, or trapped in systems that don’t align with their values. It’s also a reminder that hope doesn’t only live inside institutions. Vu shares powerful examples of community-led action, mutual aid, and collective care that exist beyond nonprofit status—and why reconnecting to community is often the antidote to burnout. Expect laughter, righteous frustration, praise of the Oxford comma, and a new way of thinking about the future of work.

Show Notes

• Get Vu's book, Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy, here
• Check out Vu's blog, Nonprofit AF

Keywords: workplace culture, burnout, nonprofit leadership, toxic work culture, equity at work, systems change, moral injury, emotional labor, mission-driven work, nonprofit burnout, values-driven leadership, women at work, humane workplaces

In this episode of Hard at Work, Ellen is joined by critic, speaker, and author Jodi-Ann Burey (Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work) for an honest conversation about why “bring your whole self to work” has become one of the most misleading—and dangerous—ideas in modern workplace culture.

Jodi-Ann shares that she wrote the book because she wanted to have a conversation about authenticity that she could recognize. She explains the concept of "ops," or the "agents of the status quo," who she describes are the people in the workplace who help to keep things the same when they really need to change. Ellen and Jodi-Ann get into how the fear of losing power keeps these agents of the status quo working against the best interests of employees, and leads them instead to practices like employee monitoring (checking badge swipes, whether you're active on teams), which, instead of creating productivity, create an environment of unease and distrust.

Jodi-Ann explains that when we ask people to "bring their whole self to work" we are pushing off the work of creating a protective environment to the individuals who are most vulnerable to the workplace's harms. Ellen and Jodi-Ann also discuss how toxic and corrosive the nonprofit sector can be, particularly for people of color, whose individual stories Jodi-Ann shares in the book.

How do you avoid being an op? Jodi-Ann suggests building community connections and performing an audit of your personal and professional life -- asking yourself what communities are you connected with? Who are you getting feedback from? Who might be missing? And answering honestly.

If you're in the workplace in 2026, especially if you're a leader, this is an episode not to miss. It may be uncomfortable to investigate your own history with asking team members to bring their whole self to work, or encourage authenticity for everyone, but Jodi-Ann's thought leadership helps us all more deeply understand why it's time for change in the workplace.

Show Notes

• Buy Jodi-Ann's book here
• Jodi-Ann's website, LinkedIn, and Instagram
• Watch Jodi-Ann's TED Talk, The Myth of Bringing Your Full, Authentic Self to Work
• Read Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome, an HBR article by Jodi-Ann and Ruchika Malhotra, and their follow up, End Imposter Syndrome In Your Workplace.

Sarah Jaffe on capitalism’s “labor of love,” grief, and why you can’t meditate your way out of a rigged system

What if the heaviness you feel at work isn’t a personal failing — but capitalism doing what capitalism does? Labor journalist and author Sarah Jaffe (Work Won’t Love You Back and From the Ashes) joins Ellen for a wide-ranging, deeply grounding conversation about why so many of us feel exhausted, disillusioned, and even heartbroken by our jobs. Together, they explore how “do what you love” culture, hustle narratives, and nonprofit martyrdom have trained us to expect meaning, identity, and emotional fulfillment from work — and how devastating it can be when those promises inevitably fall apart.
Sarah breaks down why burnout is not an individual resilience problem but a structural feature of capitalism, especially in nonprofit, public-sector, care, and mission-driven work. Ellen and Sarah dig into how love-based narratives are used to justify low pay, chronic overwork, and understaffing; why crises like the 2008 financial collapse and COVID made these systems suddenly visible; and how gender, race, and class shape who is expected to sacrifice the most. If you’re a leader who feels trapped by money, healthcare, responsibility to your team, or a lack of alternatives, this episode names that reality without judgment — and without pretending there’s a simple solution.
This conversation also offers a different way forward. Instead of self-care checklists or meditation apps that ask you to adapt to a broken system, Sarah and Ellen talk about grieving what we thought work would be, reclaiming agency inside imperfect conditions, and thinking collectively rather than individually. You’ll hear practical ideas like power-mapping your workplace, building community instead of self-blame, and understanding why “it’s not your fault” is both emotionally freeing and politically important.

Show Notes

Find Sarah on her website and Twitter.

Books by Sarah Jaffe:
• Work Won’t Love You Back
• From the Ashes: The Remaking of the World

Listen to Sarah narrate both books on Audible.

Resources mentioned during the episode:

• Mia Tokumitsu’s book Do What You Love

• Kathi Weeks’ book The Problem With Work

• Karl Marx’s book Das Capital (where he compares capitalism to a Gothic monster as discussed)

• Molly Crapapple’s website

• Joshua Clover’s many books

• Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s works (she coined “capitalism saves capitalism from capitalism”)

• Your nonprofit boss Instagram (by Nicole Olive, follow her, she’s amazing)

• Melinda Cooper’s books

• Samhita Mukhopadhyay’s The Myth of Making it: a Workplace Reckoning

  
  

  Tags: burnout, work culture, labor, capitalism, workplace systems, productivity myths, hustle culture, emotional labor, grief at work, exploitation, management, leadership, toxic workplaces, women at work, gender and labor, class and work, workplace power, work and identity, modern work, organizing, collective care, boundaries at work, work isn’t broken—it’s working

  
  

A practical conversation about leadership and how trust (not control) drives retention, productivity, and healthier workplaces.

In this episode of the Hard at Work podcast, host Ellen Whitlock Baker sits down with Minda Harts—author of Talk to Me Nice and a leading voice on workplace trust and leadership—to explore why trust is the missing foundation in so many modern workplaces. Drawing on Minda’s concept of the seven trust languages, the conversation breaks down how trust is built, eroded, and repaired at work—and why its absence fuels burnout, disengagement, turnover, and loneliness.

Minda explains that trust failures are often mistaken for performance issues, attitude problems, or resistance to change. In reality, mistrust grows through ambiguity, lack of transparency, inconsistent follow-through, poor feedback practices, and leadership behaviors rooted in control rather than care. The episode examines how these patterns show up in real workplace challenges, including return-to-office mandates, rigid policies, micromanagement, and fear-based leadership.

Listeners will learn how trust impacts productivity, retention, and workplace health—and why rebuilding it is both a human and a business imperative. Minda offers practical tools for leaders, managers, and individual contributors alike, including how to ask “What does trust look like to you?” in one-on-ones, how to repair trust after harm, and how to communicate difficult information without stripping people of dignity.

This episode is ideal for leaders seeking to create healthier workplace cultures, managers caught between pressure from above and responsibility to their teams, and employees navigating environments where trust feels fragile or broken. Rather than offering vague advice or toxic positivity, the conversation provides clear language, real examples, and actionable ways to rebuild trust one interaction at a time.

Show Notes

Get Minda's Book, Talk to Me Nice: The Seven Trust Languages for a Better Workplace here

Minda's website

Follow Minda on LinkedIn

Minda's LinkedIn Learning course on trust
Minda as a Trust Coach on Google Labs’ Portraits

And if you're interested in learning more about the Momentum Sessions, the three-session coaching package I mentioned during the episode, you can find out more on my website.

Tags: trust at work, workplace trust, rebuilding trust, trust languages, Minda Harts, Talk to Me Nice, leadership trust, manager employee relationship, psychological safety, workplace communication, feedback culture, employee retention, workplace culture, healthy workplace, leadership development, modern leadership, HR and trust, burnout and boundaries, workplace burnout, toxic workplace recovery, return to office, remote work culture, hybrid work, change management, belonging at work, employee engagement, difficult conversations at work, boundary setting at work, equity at work, women at work, women leaders, women of color at work, inclusive leadership, humane leadership, workplace well-being, Hard at Work podcast, Ellen Whitlock Baker

A systems-level look at why “do more with less” is collapsing nonprofit leadership—and what sustainable organizations do instead.

What happens when passion-driven missions collide with unrealistic growth goals, broken governance, and chronic underfunding? In this episode of Hard at Work, I’m joined by nonprofit strategist and systems thinker Ariel Glassman Barwick for a powerful, honest conversation about what she calls the nonprofit death spiral—the cycle of overextension, undercapitalization, burnout, turnover, and declining impact that’s quietly unraveling organizations across the sector. We unpack how aggressive revenue targets, pressure to “do more with less,” and misaligned board dynamics create downstream harm for staff, fundraisers, and the communities nonprofits exist to serve.

We take a deep dive into fundraising burnout, moral injury, and governance failures, including why development roles are some of the most misunderstood and overloaded jobs in the nonprofit world. Ariel breaks down the constant “whiplash” fundraisers experience as they juggle wildly different skill sets, shifting expectations, and impossible goals—often without adequate training, staffing, or protection from inappropriate donor behavior. We explore how outdated donor-centric models, lack of management training, and inequitable power structures create ethical stress that drives talented professionals out of the sector altogether.

This conversation is also a roadmap forward. We talk about community-centered fundraising, human-centered leadership, contraction as a strategic choice (not a failure), and the real skills nonprofit leaders need right now—including patience, systems thinking, and the ability to truly receive feedback from their teams. If you’re an executive director, fundraiser, board member, or nonprofit professional feeling the strain of an unsustainable system, this episode will help you name what’s actually happening—and imagine what a healthier, more resilient nonprofit future could look like.

Show Notes:

Find Ariel on the Common Great website and LinkedIn.

Vu Le's book, Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy: Unlocking the Full Potential of a Vital and Complex Sector

Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy study

Keywords: burnout in nonprofits, nonprofit leadership, nonprofit fundraising burnout, nonprofit governance, community-centric fundraising, moral injury at work, nonprofit death spiral, nonprofit executive director support, leadership coaching for EDs, sustainable fundraising strategy, toxic workplace culture, capacity building in nonprofits, nonprofit staff burnout, managing nonprofit boards, nonprofit sector challenges