Coaching

Question: I’ve dealt with difficult managers throughout my entire career. I spent eight years in the military and another two decades in construction, so trust me when I say I’m not easily rattled. But I’ve never worked under a manager as bad as Brad. Here’s how he operates: He pits employees against each other by

Question: On my second week at a new state job, a coworker laughed and casually dropped, “Hitler had some good ideas.” I froze, thinking it a joke, until another coworker and added, “Yeah. He knew how to get people in line. That’s why they’re still talking about him.” I want to get along with my

Question: My boss thinks he’s the smartest person in the room. He’s not. He’s just the most arrogant. Here’s the problem. I like my job. I care about the work. There’s even a version of my boss I admire. He’s charismatic and knows how to sell himself and his ideas to senior management. But working

For decades, college-educated employees built a career on the assumption that if something went wrong: a bad job fit, a stalled role, a difficult manager, they could fix it. They would polish their resume, reach out to their network, scan LinkedIn or Indeed, and trust another opportunity waited nearby. That sense of professional mobility cracked

Maggie carried herself like the model professional—pressed blazer, polished nod, expression set to neutral. Her pen sketched blood. On the legal pad half hidden by her keyboard tray, she wrote in small script, Sixteen Ways to Kill Your Managers. Number one: staple gun to jugular. Efficient. No mess. No evidence trail.Number two: office chair ejector

Question: I’m starting to feel like I’m speed-dating managers. I’ve had five managers in four years, and every one of them turned out to be unethical, cruel or asleep at the wheel. I don’t want to keep job-hopping, I just want one emotionally stable manager who won’t derail my career and life. As an applicant,

Question: When leadership promoted me to team manager, the position came with a new title but not much of a raise. Still, I felt rewarded for my hard work and celebrated. I figured the extra effort would pay off, especially with the promise of a year-end bonus. Three weeks in, I understand why the two

You survived a full-scale workplace blow-torch of a moment—voices sharpened, tempers roared—and the next morning you crawl into the day. You feel scrambled: emotional static, adrenaline residue, and the sinking suspicion you said something you won’t be able to live down. Here’s what’s happened: When conflict spikes, your brain flips every survival switch it owns.

Some coworkers bring lunch into the breakroom. Others bring judgment. You’re reheating leftovers when a co-worker glances at your open laptop and spots your calendar—twelve color-coded blocks stacked on top of each other like Tetris pieces in their final moments. They gasp softly and gesture at your schedule like they’re unveiling a crime scene. Before

By 9:15 a.m., the newly hired manager, brought in to “turn things around,” realized no one in her department worked—they performed work. Laptops glowed, brows furrowed, Slack windows flashed like strobe lights. She hadn’t seen this much motion with so little progress since her Roomba tried to vacuum the stairs. Everyone looked slammed—syncing, circling back,

“Welcome to Job Huggers Anonymous,” chirps the facilitator, clutching her clipboard like it contains the secret to joy. “We’re here because we can’t stop holding jobs that no longer love us back. Let’s start with introductions.” Lila leans forward as if she planned to leak state secrets. “I hate my job so much I fantasize

“Of course, take your time,” Glenda the Good Frenemy purred, sliding the project update across the table like a cat presenting a dead mouse. An hour later she cc’d three senior managers “just to keep them in the loop,” helpfully implying I’d missed a handoff. By morning, my credibility had been neatly filleted—by the Queen

Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Δ View

From the employee: “I don’t trust any employer with my future. The only real protection is spreading the risk—keeping a few income streams so no one owns me. Besides, I want to retire at forty-five, and that’ll never happen on one paycheck.” From the employer: When I checked my inbox at 4:47 p.m., I found

A tumbleweed might roll through the corridors of power next, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it had a congressional pin on. Because here we are, more than a week into another federal government shutdown, and the only thing working full-time is political theatrics. It began innocuously enough: a failure to agree on a budget,

You thought you landed the one. The job listing flirted with you from across the internet—flexible schedule, generous pay, team that “feels like family.” The interviewers leaned in close, nodding earnestly, promising growth and opportunity. You accepted the offer, showed up on day one, and—bam, learned you’d been catfished. Instead of remote work, they hand

Picture this: a team meeting derails because two colleagues snipe at each other. The root cause: they’re on opposite sides of every issue that hits the headlines. It doesn’t matter that you’ve banned talking politics during the workday—each knows what the other believes. That scenario has become increasingly common. Ninety-one percent of employees report witnessing

Question: I never imagined I’d sit at my HR desk debating whether to fire two employees for cheering an assassination. Yet here I am. I work in HR at a left-leaning non-profit where most staff identify as progressive. That’s fine with me—I value a mix of voices—but it’s not a safe place to share right-of-center

Question: At 8:35 a.m., the man I live with, who also works remote, launches into a full-volume sales pitch two feet from the wall that separates us. At 8:40, his sister who temporarily lives with us while looking for a job, barges in to ask if I’ve seen her charger. At 9:05, the Wi-Fi collapses