Working Conversations

You already know what the word no means. The fear is what you think it will cost you. Dr. Janel Anderson reframes the real career risk: it is not saying no, it is saying yes to more than you can deliver. She walks through five specific scripts for giving a strategic no at work, including the honest redirect, the trade-off ask, the soft hold, the values-based no, and the no with the bridge. Each on...

Most leaders ask this question at the wrong moment, when they are already stuck. But the leaders who benefit most from executive coaching are the ones who are already performing well. Coaching is not remediation. It is acceleration. Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down three signals that indicate you may be ready for a coach: the plateau, the transition, and the perception gap. She also clarifies the di...

That workplace issue that's been bothering you keeps taking up mental real estate during your commute, in the shower, and when you're trying to fall asleep. You know the feeling - there's this thing at work that's bothering you, but you keep telling yourself it's not really worth making a big deal of. So you let it slide, and then it happens again and again. In this episode, Dr...

Your boss is micromanaging you, made a decision you know won't work, or completely misunderstood a situation — and now you have to set the record straight. The power dynamic makes these conversations terrifying because they control your paycheck, projects, and daily happiness at work. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares her five-step framework for approaching your manager when they'...

You have a mentor, but your career still is not moving. That might be because mentorship and sponsorship are not the same thing. A mentor invests their time in you. A sponsor invests their reputation. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down the real difference between mentors and sponsors and shares four tactical steps for getting the career advocate most people are missing. She covers how...

You are doing all the right things at work, but somehow your name never comes up when promotion decisions are made. The problem is not your performance. It is the gap between the quality of your work and the breadth of your reputation. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares five strategies for building professional visibility without feeling like you are bragging. She covers how to identify th...

If you struggle to speak up in meetings, silence feels safe. But it isn't neutral. When you consistently hold back, people fill that quiet with their own assumptions about what you know and how much you have to contribute. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson reframes the real reason most people stay quiet at work: it isn't introversion, it's fear of judgment. She shares four concrete t...

Getting passed over for a promotion is one of the hardest career moments to sit with, especially when you were certain you were the obvious choice. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson walks you through exactly what to do next. She shares a framework for processing the disappointment without stewing in it, and then gets tactical: she identifies five specific gaps to diagnose (visibility, skills, ad...

Episode 259: You’re Probably Doing 1:1 Meetings Wrong In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explains the true purpose and importance of one-on-one meetings with employees. She introduces the “Focus, Friction, Forward Motion” framework, offering managers strategies to ensure these meetings foster alignment, psychological safety, and trust, rather than devolving into status updates or being canceled w...

Episode 258: How to Onboard a New Employee In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson dives into the art of effective onboarding for new employees. Drawing from personal experience and practical strategies, she explains how a thoughtful onboarding process shapes psychological safety, sets clear expectations, and leaves a lasting impression. From building relationships and limiting cognitive overload to e...

Episode 257: I Just Got Promoted. What Should I Do in My First 30 Days? In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down exactly what new engineering managers should focus on during their first 30 days. She offers a practical, phased approach: first observing and learning the team’s culture, then stabilizing through clarifying expectations and scoring quick wins, and finally aligning with both the...

Episode 256: When Everything Feels Urgent: A Smarter Way to Prioritize In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson tackles the challenge of prioritizing work when everything feels urgent, especially for new technical managers. She explains how sudden increases in cognitive load can lead to overwhelm and reactivity, rather than true prioritization. Drawing on user experience thinking and executive coaching...

Episode 255: Before Your Next Hard Conversation, Do This In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares her updated seven-step methodology for navigating difficult conversations at work. She breaks down the essentials, from naming the real issue and separating facts from assumptions to pressure testing your opening language and anticipating responses. With practical examples and guidance, Dr. Janel of...

Episode 254: Why Smart People Struggle with Change at Work In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson uses her own office relocation as a case study for understanding why organizational change is so challenging. She explores the emotional impacts of not having control, the meaning of resistance as feedback, and how shifting situations can disrupt our professional identities. Drawing from both her recent...

Episode 253: Hybrid Work Isn’t Broken. The Infrastructure Is. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson examines the true barriers to successful remote and hybrid work. Drawing on an opinion piece by Justin Harlan of Tulsa Remote, she argues that productivity and career stagnation aren’t failures of remote work itself, but rather the result of not intentionally designing for human connection. Dr. Janel...

Episode 252: What a Coffee Spill Taught Me About Leadership In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores how everyday mistakes, like forgetting a coffee cup under the Keurig, reveal deeper leadership lessons. She explains the difference between slips and mistakes, and why it’s important to design systems that can anticipate our human errors. Using relatable stories, Dr. Janel makes the case for bu...

Episode 251: What Your Calendar Says About Your Values In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores the connection between how we spend our time and what we truly value. She reveals that our calendars, as well as the daily routines outside of scheduled events, offer the clearest insight into our real priorities, often more so than mission statements or lists of stated values. Through personal stor...

Episode 250: Make it Obvious: The Leadership Cost of Being Unclear In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores the concept of affordances and how it applies to leadership. Affordances make the next action or purpose of something obvious. Through everyday examples like doors, curb cuts, captions, and kitchen tools, she highlights the power of affordances. Dr. Janel shares three key ways leaders ca...

Episode 249: Better Leadership by Design In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores the parallels between great user experience design and effective leadership. Drawing on principles from UX and situational leadership, she explains how leaders can optimize their approach by considering the specific context, task, and developmental stage of each employee. Rather than relying on a fixed leadership...

Episode 248: Leading Through Uncertainty: Three Bold Predictions for 2026 In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares her three bold predictions for 2026, focusing on the evolving landscape of leadership under uncertainty. She anticipates more frequent system outages in large cloud infrastructures, a greater need for partnerships with HR and legal teams as AI blurs the line between real and synthet...

Episode 247: Unleashing Your Creativity with The Artist’s Way In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores the transformative power of Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way . She walks listeners through its process aimed at unlocking creativity and designing a more intentional life and work experience. From the discipline of daily morning pages to the joy of weekly artist dates, she shares practic...

Episode 246: Culture Redesign: Instagram Eliminates Meetings and PowerPoint In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson unpacks Instagram’s bold organizational redesign. Moving far beyond a simple return-to-office mandate, Instagram is canceling most meetings, ditching habitual PowerPoint use, and ramping up prototyping as a core driver of collaboration. Dr. Janel Anderson explores how these changes are d...

Episode 245: The Best Email I Ever Wrote (Just Three Sentences) In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson unpacks the art of crafting ultra-effective, ultra-brief emails that get rapid, thoughtful responses, even from the busiest executives. Sharing a real-life example from her executive coaching practice, she breaks down why her three-option, 10-second check-in email worked so well and how you can appl...

Episode 244: Late, Over-Budget, and Totally Worth It: Behind the Scenes on a Big Project In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson takes listeners behind the scenes of her recent website and demo reel project, sharing three powerful lessons learned along the way. From scrapping an entire first draft to making tough choices for the sake of clarity and working with exceptional partners, she outlines how p...

Episode 243: Embracing Healthy Disagreement for Stronger Teams and Sharper Decisions In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores the strategic benefits of healthy disagreement in teams. Drawing on research and real-world examples from leaders like Jeff Bezos and experts in psychological safety, she highlights how thoughtfully managed disagreement leads to better decisions, sharper thinking, and s...