This episode, I speak with Rachel Goodwin, Assistant Professor of Management at Syracuse University in the Whitman School of Management. In this episode, we dig into her recent AMJ article on perfectionism, based on a compelling study of professional ballet - a context where the stakes are high, the standards are exacting, and pressure to be flawless is constant. We discuss what perfectionism looks like in everyday organizational life, why high performers move between healthy and harmful forms of perfectionism, and what leaders, mentors, and peers can do to create environments where people pursue excellence without compromising their well-being.

Rachael D. Goodwin, Lyndon E. Garrett, and Ali P. Block Under Pressure to Be Perfect: How Dehumanizing and Rehumanizing Social Cues Lead to Maladaptive and Adaptive Perfectionism in Professional Ballet. 

https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2023.0187