Welcome back to This Week in Work, your Tuesday news round-up where workplace culture meets behavioural science. This week: political shockwaves for DEI, an unexpected quiet-quitting success story, retail workers pushed to the brink by Christmas music, a myth-busting Truth or Lie, and three big Workplace Surgery questions.

🔥 Stories Covered

1. Trump appoints DEI critic to lead the EEOC

The AP reports that Andrea Lucas is now chair of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Critics say she has already reduced protections for transgender workers and limited investigations into discriminatory practices. Supporters frame her appointment as a shift toward “merit-based, race-neutral equality.”

2. The quiet-quitter who rose to senior leadership

A mid-level manager shared how a decade of reduced overwork, firm boundaries and radical delegation lowered stress and unexpectedly accelerated both career progression and wealth. It raises practical questions about sustainability, workload design and the hidden rewards of saying no.

3. The impact of music misfit at work

New research shows that when background music doesn’t match what employees need, mood declines and mental fatigue increases. In retail and hospitality settings, “misfit” days also reduce cooperation and customer-facing helpfulness.

🧠 Truth or Lie: Can you really spot a liar by their body language?

Inspired by Celebrity Traitors UK, where confident guesses were almost always wrong, we look at what the evidence shows. Across decades of studies, accuracy rarely rises above chance. Common cues like eye contact, posture shifts or nervous gestures have no reliable link to dishonesty. Real insight comes from analysing story structure, consistency and detail, not fidgeting or facial expressions.

💬 Workplace Surgery

This week’s dilemmas:

🎧 Coming Up Thursday

A conversation with Nick Power, one of LinkedIn’s most distinctive voices and a leading figure in Weird LinkedIn, on authenticity, burnout and the changing face of professionalism.

🧠 Wellbeing Support

Mind UK: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork

It’s Thursday, and we’re back with a guest conversation built for leaders who want practical psychology without the fluff. Today: how to feel better, think clearer, and lead smarter with Dr Ryan Martin — The Anger Professor.

Guest intro

Dr Ryan Martin is a psychologist and emotion researcher known as The Anger Professor. In this conversation he explains why emotions are information, not emergencies, and how small, upstream decisions shape how you feel hours later. His new book lays out 50 research-backed “emotion hacks” that anyone can use at work and at home.

Episode summary

We start with a classroom exercise that reveals our brains still run ancient threat software. Ryan’s Why We Feel model shows how stimuli, mood, interpretation, feeling, and expression combine to create what we experience as emotion. He shares practical in-the-moment tools, then challenges leaders to address root causes: sleep, hydration, nature, worldview, and daily choices. We finish with a manager’s checklist for mapping emotional incidents and a simple mantra method for tough moments.

Key takeaways

Treat emotions as signals. They give you information and energy to act.

Most regulation happens upstream. Sleep, hydration, nature, movement, and digital boundaries set your baseline.

Worldview matters. Beliefs about people, self, and the future can drive anger, anxiety, or resilience.

Use in-the-moment tools wisely. Breathing, grounding, and naming the feeling help you de-escalate and think clearly.

Leaders need a map. Diagram the stimulus, mood, interpretation, feeling, and behaviour for yourself and for your team before you act.

Practical tools mentioned

Grounding: 5 things you can see, 4 you can hear, and so on.

Mantras: a short phrase to anchor attention and guide the next step.

Nature with attention: unplug and actively notice what you see to reduce rumination.

Recognition over suppression: acknowledge the feeling, then choose the response.

Worldview audit: do I trust people, see myself as capable, and view the future as hopeful?

Resources and links

Pre-order Dr Ryan Martin’s new book, Emotion Hacks: 50 Ways to Feel Better Fast
https://www.amazon.com/Emotion-Hacks-Ways-Feel-Better-ebook/dp/B0F3WNB6HP

Find Ryan

Support with Mental Health and Well-being

Mind UK: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/

Connect with Al and Leanne

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork

It’s time for another This Week in Work — your Tuesday round-up of workplace news, research and real-world dilemmas. Hosted by Leanne Elliott, Chartered Occupational Psychologist, and Al Elliott, business owner.

This week: fake job ads, clever interview hacks, the power of recognition, and whether it really takes 10 000 hours to master anything.

🔥 Stories Covered

Career Catfishing

Why People Keep Giving

Interview Hack or Workplace Deception?
A Reddit user says calling employers and claiming “I was told to schedule my interview” landed five callbacks. Smart or dishonest? It’s forcing everyone to rethink how hiring really works.

🧠 Truth or Lie — The 10 000-Hour Rule

Does it truly take 10 000 hours to master something?

💬 Workplace Surgery

• Should you give a Christmas bonus or gift?

🎧 Coming Up Thursday

Dr Ryan Martin — better known as The Anger Professor — joins Leanne and Al to explore how we can hack our emotions to perform better in life and work.

🧠 Support with Mental Health and Well-being

– Mind UK: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork

In today’s episode, Leanne and Al are joined by Angela Foster, an expert in the fashion and beauty industry with over 20 years of executive experience.Angela empowers high-achieving women to craft wardrobes that radiate confidence and align with their professional and personal goals.

Through her SPARK method, Angela has transformed how her clients think about fashion, helping them dress for success and feel their best every day.

In this episode, we explore:

Key Takeaways:

Angela’s Free Gift:

Take Angela’s Body Shape Quiz to discover the styles and silhouettes that suit you best. Visit ⁠AngelaFoster.co/Leanne⁠ to get started!

Connect with Angela:



Support with Mental Health and Well-being

If any of the topics in this episode have affected you, or if you need mental health support, please reach out to one of the following resources:

Connect with Truth, Lies & Work

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work — the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

Hosted by Chartered Occupational Psychologist Leanne Elliott and business owner Al Elliott, this week’s stories dig into workplace trust, exploitation, and the psychology of staying too long.

🔥 This Week’s Stories

🛒 Waitrose Under Fire for Axing Autistic Volunteer
A 27-year-old man with severe autism was reportedly “sacked” after his family asked if he could be paid for some of his work. After volunteering at Waitrose for four years and clocking up more than 600 hours unpaid, his placement was suddenly suspended.

🧠 AI Clones Are Coming for Your Coworkers
Two co-founders from the $2.1B AI recruiting startup Eightfold just raised $35M for a new company, Viven — an AI “digital twin” of every employee that lets coworkers message your clone when you’re offline.

📅 The 3-Month Notice Period Problem
Three-month notice periods used to be for senior executives. Now they’re everywhere — from middle management to entry-level jobs. We ask whether forcing people to stay longer is about succession planning or control — and what it’s doing to motivation and trust.

🧩 Truth or Lie: Are Firstborn Children Natural Leaders?

Firstborns dominate CEO lists and political leadership — but is it nature or nurture? We explore decades of research showing that while firstborns do have a statistical advantage, it’s more about parental attention and early responsibility than genetic destiny.

💬 Workplace Surgery

“How do I manage chaos when hiring without spending a fortune?”

“My manager invited me to lunch — do I have to go?”

“Can I opt out of birthday collections at work without looking antisocial?”

🧠 Support with Mental Health and Well-being

– Mind UK: ⁠https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/⁠– Samaritans (UK): Call 116 123 or email ⁠[email protected]⁠

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork⁠– Al Elliott: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott⁠– Leanne Elliott: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne⁠– Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠– Book a call: ⁠https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work — the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

This week, Al and Leanne talk to Danny Wareham, organisational psychologist and author of Constellation Leadership: Reimagined for a Connected Age, about why leadership might not need a single leader at all.

From Navy SEALs to small business teams, Danny’s research explores what happens when you remove the leader from the room — and discover that, in the right conditions, performance can actually increase.

🔥 What We Cover

📘 What is Constellation Leadership?
Danny introduces his model — a flexible, culture-driven approach where leadership shifts based on context and capability, not hierarchy or titles.

🧭 Why culture can replace hierarchy
Learn why clear purpose, shared trust and behavioural norms can guide teams more effectively than top-down control.

💡 The North Star principle
Before defining roles, policies or perks, Danny says every organisation must answer one question: why do we exist? That North Star then becomes the anchor for every decision.

⚙️ How small organisations have a natural edge
Danny’s research shows that companies under 150 people — below Dunbar’s number — perform best when they keep teams small, autonomous and purpose-led.

💬 The Navy SEAL mindset
We unpack “mission command” — how elite teams rotate leadership fluidly, with the person best equipped for each situation taking charge in real time.

🧠 The psychology of trust and autonomy
From imposter syndrome to cultural alignment, Danny explains what it really takes to create teams that lead themselves.

🎧 Want more from Danny Wareham?

– Website: dannywareham.co.uk
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-wareham/
– Constellation Leadership: https://dannywareham.co.uk/constellation-leadership/

🧠 Support with Mental Health and Well-being

– Mind UK: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/
– Samaritans (UK): Call 116 123 or email [email protected]

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work — the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

Hosted by Chartered Occupational Psychologist Leanne Elliott and business owner Al Elliott, this week’s headlines dive into generational friction, AI disruption, and Amazon’s latest layoffs — plus the psychology behind “Your vibe attracts your tribe.”

🔥 This Week’s Stories

🧃 Gen Z vs Everyone Else

📰 Source: The Telegraph – Six ways Gen Z are “ruining” the workplace

🤖 40 Jobs AI Might Replace (and 40 It Can’t)

📰 Source: Sky News – The 40 jobs most at risk from AI

📦 Amazon’s AI-Fuelled Layoffs

📰 Source: Fortune – Amazon plans new round of layoffs

🧠 Truth or Lie: “Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe”

Does your energy really shape the people around you — or is it just another social media myth? Leanne examines the science behind attraction, similarity, and social mirroring. From the “chameleon effect” to homophily, find out what really draws people together (and what pushes them apart).

💬 Workplace Surgery

A remote employee might secretly be working two full-time jobs — what should you do?

How do you motivate your team to actually upskill?

You’ve started a new job full of red flags — do you fix it or flee?

🧠 Support with Mental Health and Well-being

– Mind UK: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture — brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

Our guest is Mamie Kanfer Stewart — host of The Modern Manager podcast, author of Momentum, and founder of Meeteor — who has dedicated her career to transforming meetings from time-wasting nightmares into spaces for decision-making, creativity, and genuine collaboration.

🔥 What We Cover

📌 Why most meetings fail
Mamie shares how growing up in a culture that encouraged open, challenging conversations gave her a unique perspective — and why most organisations get the fundamentals of meetings wrong.

📌 Feedback conversations that don’t implode
Learn Mamie’s frameworks for difficult one-to-one meetings, including how to give feedback to someone more senior without tanking your reputation.

📌 Group decision-making without the chaos
From dominant voices to silent stakeholders, Mamie explains how to prepare for and run complex meetings that lead to real decisions instead of endless back-and-forth.

📌 The “zero to five” strategy
Mamie reveals a simple but powerful technique that turned a potentially hour-long battle into a 15-minute consensus — and how you can use it too.

📌 When meetings should be emails — and when they really shouldn’t
We tackle the internet’s favourite complaint. Mamie explains the real issue behind “this could’ve been an email” and why the answer isn’t fewer meetings, but better ones.

🎧 Want more from Mamie Kanfer Stewart?
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mamiekanferstewart/
– Meeteor: https://www.meeteor.com/
– The Modern Manager: https://www.themodernmanager.com/
– Mamie KS: https://www.mamieks.com/

🧠 Support with Mental Health and Well-being

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work — the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. Hosted by Chartered Occupational Psychologist Leanne Elliott and business owner Al Elliott, every Tuesday we unpack the biggest workplace news stories, decode the psychology, and tackle real listener dilemmas.

🔥 This Week’s Stories

🍞 Breadcrumbing at Work
A new HR buzzword has arrived. Originally a dating term, “breadcrumbing” describes when managers hint at promotions, raises, or development opportunities but never follow through. In a shaky economy where pay rises and mobility are stalling, leaders may be tempted to keep talent with vague promises — but the psychology shows this kills trust and motivation.

Source: Cangrade, “2025 HR Buzzwords”
https://www.cangrade.com/blog/talent-management/24-hr-buzzwords-to-know-in-2025/

☕ Starbucks’ “Fabricated Empathy” Problem
New CEO Brian Nichol’s “Back to Starbucks” plan mandates scripted customer interactions — eye contact, cup messages, four-minute service times — alongside tighter dress codes and reduced remote work. The goal: revive sales. The risk: forcing fake connection and alienating both staff and customers.

Source: Minda Zetlin, Inc.com
https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/starbucks-just-announced-a-new-policy-its-a-failure-of-leadership/91243638
https://x.com/mindazetlin

📞 The Dubai Sales Machine
Would you make 100 calls a day for £24,000 a year? A London firm is hiring trainee wealth managers in Dubai with brutal daily quotas and little base pay. They call it “resilience.” We break down why high pressure without autonomy or purpose can wreck motivation.

Source: Louis Goss, The Telegraph
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/l/lk-lo/louis-goss/

🧠 Truth or Lie

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is on every business school slide, but is it actually true? We dig into the real history — including the missing “sixth level” Maslow added — and what modern psychology says about human motivation.

💬 Workplace Surgery

What do you do when your top performer is destroying team morale?

How can you keep remote teams genuinely connected?

And how do founders protect their wellbeing when the business never switches off?

🧠 Support with Mental Health and Well-being

– Mind UK: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioral science meets workplace culture.

Hosted by Chartered Occupational Psychologist Leanne Elliott and business owner Al Elliott, this episode features Josh Levine, work futurist, author of "Great Mondays," and culture consultant who's helped companies like Credit Karma navigate the treacherous waters of hypergrowth.

Episode Summary

Picture this: You've built something special. Your team of 15 feels like family. Everyone knows everyone. The culture just works. But now you're staring down growth - maybe to 50, maybe to 100 employees. And there's this gnawing fear: what if scaling breaks everything we've built?

What We Cover

The 50-Employee Breaking Point

From Implicit to Explicit

The Three-Step Framework

Why Most Values Fail

Recognition Done Right

Trust as Infrastructure

The WD-40 Case Study

Measuring Culture at Scale

Resources

Connect with Josh Levine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akajoshlevine

Mental Health Support

This episode discusses workplace stress, burnout, and the challenges of scaling culture. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health:

UK:

US:

International:

Connect with Your Hosts

Want a chat about your workplace culture? [email protected]

Got feedback/questions/guest suggestions? Email [email protected]