Discover how to transform toxic workplace cultures and boost team innovation with organizational design consultant Jyoti Jani. In this episode of Hard at Work, host Ellen Whitlock Baker interviews the SPIL Play founder, former Boeing manager, and KEXP DJ on using the neuroscience of play to build psychological safety, flatten corporate hierarchies, and prevent workplace burnout. Learn how play acts as a biological hack for creative flow, problem-solving, and team trust in high-stakes environments. Jyoti defines culture as a shared nervous system and discusses power literacy, organizational change, boundary setting, and human creativity in the era of artificial intelligence. Featuring a live workplace improv demonstration, this episode delivers essential strategies for corporate leaders, managers, and professionals seeking human-centered workplace systems and sustainable career well-being.

Celebrate Episode 50 of the Hard at Work podcast with host Ellen Whitlock Baker as she reflects on core lessons from 50 episodes on dismantling toxic workplace culture. This milestone episode explores how modern organizations can achieve high performance without sacrificing employee mental health or personal well-being. Learn why challenging outdated corporate norms—like rigid 9-to-5 hours, constant availability, and excessive meetings—is essential for organizational health. Discover how to unlearn internal "shadow voices" that equate exhaustion with self-worth, while examining how legacy workplace systems fail human needs. Featuring insights from top workplace leaders and guests—including Erin Gallagher, Sarah Jaffe, Vu Le, Jodi-Ann Burey, Lindsay Jackson, and Minda Hart—this episode highlights real-world human-centric models like Her First $100K. Explore actionable strategies for remote flexibility, comprehensive parental leave, psychological safety, and sustainable leadership that prioritize human-first values while driving profitability, trust, and long-term team resilience.

In Part 2 of Hard at Work, Her First 100K COO Karina Patel joins host Ellen Whitlock Baker to explain how high-trust workplaces drive profitability. Learn how structured roadmaps, non-revenue health metrics, annual scope reviews, and psychological safety foster sustainable productivity without micromanagement or surveillance.

In this episode of Hard at Work, host Ellen Whitlock Baker sits down with Her First 100K COO Karina Patel to discuss building a human-first culture. Discover how progressive HR policies—like quarterly company-wide breaks, unlimited PTO, and firm communication boundaries—dismantle toxic productivity, prevent burnout, and drive sustainable operational growth.

In this episode, Ellen is joined by Matt Gilhooly to discuss the pivotal turning points that define our lives, how grief and perfectionism influence our career choices, and what happens when we choose authenticity over traditional success. Matt shares his personal story of loss, his experience asking for a career demotion after a high-stress role, and how listening to hundreds of life-shift stories transformed his outlook on healing and community.

In this episode, Ellen Whitlock Baker discusses the critical signs that indicate it might be time to leave your job, and empowers listeners to reclaim their self-worth and agency. If you're feeling burnt out, resentful, exhausted, or treated poorly, this episode offers practical insights and compassionate advice to navigate these challenging moments.

Ellen Whitlock Baker explores the realities of creating healthy workplaces, emphasizing that perfect happiness isn't achievable, but trust, support, and alignment with core values are key to a thriving environment. She discusses how leaders can navigate tough decisions, communicate transparently, and anchor themselves in their values to foster trust and respect.

Sarah Mosseri discusses her book 'Trust Fall' and explores the complex dynamics of trust in workplaces, revealing how systemic inequalities and managerial practices impact employee relationships and organizational culture.

trust in workplace, organizational culture, workplace inequality, management practices, employee relationships, ethnography, workplace trust, systemic bias, leadership, workplace research

In this episode of the Hard at Work podcast, host Ellen Whitlock Baker and Dr. Laura Suttin, author of The Purposeful MD, explore systemic solutions to healthcare burnout. They discuss the transition from clinical practice to healthcare leadership, the administrative burdens of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), and how AI tools are helping clinicians reclaim their time. Dr. Suttin provides a roadmap for clinician leaders to move beyond the "badge of honor" culture of self-sacrifice toward a team-based care model that prioritizes both provider well-being and patient safety.

Have you ever sat down to rest, only to find your brain spinning with a mile-long to-do list and a heavy dose of guilt? You aren’t alone. In this episode, Ellen dives deep into the "insidious inability to rest" and why our brains view healthy changes—like setting boundaries or recovering from surgery—as a threat to our comfort zones. Even as a coach who teaches burnout prevention, Ellen reveals her recent struggle with the "itch" of productivity and why choosing yourself can often feel countercultural.

It’s time to unlearn the belief that rest is a reward you have to earn. Ellen shares a practical, three-step process to navigate uncomfortable feelings: naming the emotion, locating it in the body, and using Susan David’s "what the func?" method to understand what your brain is trying to tell you. Whether you’re recovering from a setback or just trying to survive a Tuesday without a meltdown, this episode offers a compassionate roadmap for unravelling yourself from toxic productivity—one color-by-number page at a time.

In this solo episode of Hard at Work, Ellen Whitlock Baker explores why modern leadership requires a shift from "do as I say" to active behavioral modeling. As workplace dynamics evolve, Ellen argues that many traditional management books are outdated, having been written by a thin, homogeneous slice of society. To foster a healthy culture, leaders must move past the "eye-roll" often directed at Gen Z and instead learn from their rejection of toxic, burnout-inducing norms.

Ellen identifies three critical areas where leaders must lead by example:

• Communication Boundaries: Sending emails after hours—even with a "no need to reply" disclaimer—pressures teams to stay "on," so Ellen suggests using delayed delivery or notes apps instead.

• True Time Off: Senior leaders often feel obligated to work during vacation, but Ellen emphasizes that uninterrupted leave is clinically necessary to reset the parasympathetic nervous system.

• Meeting Culture: Over-scheduled calendars signal that "busy-ness" equals value; Ellen recommends aiming for a significant reduction in meetings to prioritize deep work.

Drawing on wisdom from experts like Kira Mauseth, Trystan Reese, and Britt Frank, the episode introduces the concept of "micro yeses"—tiny, manageable changes to unlearn unhealthy habits. By modeling self-critique and healthy boundaries, leaders can move from rigidity to a braver, more human way of working.

In this episode of Hard at Work, host Ellen Whitlock Baker sits down with Trystan Reese—author, consultant, and master of adaptation skills—to dismantle the myth that "professionalism" means checking your humanity at the door. If you’ve ever felt your face get hot during a performance review or your heart race before a difficult conversation, this episode is for you.

In this episode of Hard at Work, Ellen Whitlock Baker sits down with Dr. Merary Simeon—executive leader, author, and multicultural advocate—to discuss the invisible labor that fuels visible success. Dr. Merary shares her personal journey through burnout and how she developed a research-based framework to help women, particularly multicultural women, reclaim their power and lead with integrity.

Are you a high achiever who is tired of people-pleasing? In this episode of Hard at Work, coach Lauree Ostrofsky shares how to navigate career reinvention using her "linchpin" strategy. Discover how to move past the fear of "doing it wrong" and build the self-trust needed to leap into a career that actually lights you up—without the hustle or burnout.

Are you ready for a career change but feeling stuck at "Step Zero"? In this episode of Hard at Work, Ellen Whitlock Baker and Aleenah Ansari discuss how to own your story before someone else writes it for you.

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.

What if the problem isn’t that you’re not authentic enough at work—but that authenticity was never meant to protect you in the first place? 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 a deeply 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 breaks down how calls for authenticity shift responsibility away from institutions and onto individuals, especially people of color, women, queer folks, and people with disabilities. They talk about “agents of the status quo” (or “ops”), how power gets protected even in mission-driven organizations, and why diversity in bodies without diversity in decision-making doesn’t change anything. From return-to-office surveillance to nonprofit harm masked by “doing good,” this conversation names what many workers feel but rarely hear said out loud.

Instead of urging people to be braver, louder, or more exposed, Jodi-Ann offers a different framework: access over authenticity. They talk about “stealing access,” building community instead of going it alone, and recalibrating work decisions around survival rather than status. If you’ve been feeling stuck, exhausted, or quietly disillusioned—and wondering why self-expression hasn’t fixed it—this episode offers language, clarity, and a way forward that doesn’t ask you to sacrifice yourself to a broken system.

What if it’s not you — it’s work that’s broken? In this episode, Ellen sits down with labor journalist and author Sarah Jaffe to unpack the brutal truths behind burnout, grief, and the lies capitalism tells us about "loving our job." They dive into the emotional toll of toxic expectations, the myth of meritocracy, and the politics of workplace culture. From unpaid emotional labor to the exploitation built into nonprofit work, this conversation is a must-listen for anyone wondering why work feels so unsustainable. Jaffe offers both systemic insight and deeply personal stories that validate your exhaustion and fuel your curiosity. If you’re tired, disillusioned, or asking "is it just me?" — it’s not. Let this episode be your reminder that the system isn’t working, but you’re not alone.

What if the reason work feels exhausting, isolating, or unsafe isn’t your performance—but a breakdown of trust? In this episode of Hard at Work, Ellen is joined by author, keynote speaker, and workplace thought leader Minda Harts (Talk to Me Nice, The Memo) for a deeply practical conversation about why trust is missing in so many workplaces—and how rebuilding it changes everything.

Minda reframes trust not as a “soft skill,” but as the foundation of healthy workplace culture, psychological safety, and strong leadership. Together, they explore why mistrust has become normalized at work; how ambiguity, control, and outdated leadership models quietly erode trust; and why burnout, disengagement, and loneliness are often symptoms of trust breakdowns rather than individual resilience failures. Minda introduces her seven trust languages—including transparency, follow-through, feedback, security, and acknowledgement—and explains how small, intentional leadership behaviors can rebuild trust even inside rigid or fast-moving systems.

This episode is especially relevant for leaders and managers navigating return-to-office mandates, constant change, and pressure from above while trying to support teams below. It’s also for employees wondering what to do when trust feels broken. You’ll leave with practical scripts, reflection questions, and a powerful reframe: trust is not about being perfect—it’s about being human, communicative, and consistent. And when trust is present, work doesn’t just feel better—it actually works better.