Working Conversations

Something disappointing happened at work, and now you're wondering if it's going to spiral. It doesn't have to. Dr. Janel Anderson introduces the OWN framework, a three-step process for metabolizing disappointment so it moves through you instead of taking over. She draws on Martin Seligman's research on explanatory style to help you spot the spiral before it starts, and shares a pe...

When a conversation turns into a standoff, both people stop listening and start loading the next argument. That need to be right feels justified in the moment, but it quietly erodes trust and relationships at work. Dr. Janel Anderson shares the 3 C's: Check the why, Catch the slide from disagreement into righteousness, and Get Curious. She explains why genuine conviction and the need to be rig...

Waiting to feel confident before you act? That strategy is keeping you stuck. Confidence is not something you find; it is something you build through repetition and accumulated evidence that you can do the thing. Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down why confidence follows action, not the other way around, and introduces the Reps Method: a three-step framework for building real, lasting confidence in any...

You've been waiting for your boss to notice: to offer the stretch assignment, the project, or the opportunity you've been quietly hoping for. But what if they simply don't know you want it? Dr. Janel Anderson argues that most managers aren't neglecting their people; they're working from incomplete information. She shares the Name It, Frame It, Say It framework: a three-step app...

That moment when feedback lands like a punch to the gut is not a sign you handled it badly; it is just your nervous system doing its job. Dr. Janel Anderson introduces the Receive and Recover Framework, a four-step process for handling hard feedback without letting that first raw reaction become your final verdict. She breaks down why "don't take it personally" is impossible advice, ho...

Your brain generates a story about everything that happens at work, and the problem isn't that it does that. The problem is that you believe the story. Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down the three most common cognitive distortions that derail careers and relationships at work: mind reading, fortune telling, and catastrophizing. She introduces the Story Audit, a three-question framework that helps...

If you've ever told yourself that you don't need friends at work, just good colleagues and clear expectations, this episode is going to challenge that assumption. Dr. Janel Anderson unpacks the growing research on workplace friendship, including data from KPMG's 2026 Friends at Work study showing that employees with close friendships are dramatically more engaged, more invested in thei...

Think about the last person at work you quietly labeled as difficult. What if it was never about their personality? Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down the four core communication styles at work: Director, Motivator, Analyzer, and Collaborator. She explains the two-axis framework behind each style, how to read someone's style in real time, and why small adjustments in how you open a conversation ca...

You might be getting more done working from home than you ever did in an office. But the research raises a harder question: is being more productive the same as being more visible, more connected, and more likely to advance? In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down what four significant studies found about remote work and career advancement, introduces the concept of career capital, and sha...

When AI can write faster than you can, analyze more than you can, and draft more efficiently than you thought possible, the real question isn't whether it will change your job. It already has. The harder question is what to do about it. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares a practical framework for deciding what to hand off to AI, where to stay in the loop, and what to protect as distinc...

The person across from you this morning may have argued with Medicare, scheduled an MRI, and gotten a teenager to driver's ed -- all before sitting down at their desk. Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down what the Care.com 2026 Sandwich Generation Report reveals about the 53 million Americans managing aging parents and children simultaneously. She covers the career cost of the invisible caregiving l...

If you have ever gotten to Friday and realized your strategic priorities sat untouched while you answered quick questions and jumped on calls all week, this one is for you. Dr. Janel Anderson reframes this as a supply and demand problem, not a time management problem. Urgent work always asks for your attention; strategic work never does. She identifies two types of pull that keep leaders in the we...

If you have ever said 'I should have seen that coming,' the problem probably isn't that you weren't paying attention. You were looking in the wrong places. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down three shifts that separate leaders with strategic foresight from those who are always catching up. She walks through real examples of signals that were hiding in plain sight for de...

Getting promoted and managing your former peers is one of the toughest identity shifts a new manager faces. Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down why managing former peers after promotion is less of a tactics problem and more of an identity problem, and what to do about it. She walks through the four-step Peer-to-Boss Reset, covering how to mourn the old relationship, have the explicit conversation about...

You have coached, redirected, tried every approach you know. Your employee says they will change. Then they don't. At some point, the question is no longer which technique you haven't tried: it is whether you can stop. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares the Paper Doll Tool, a framework she uses with her clients to help them discover when they have reached the limit of trying to cha...

Every conversation leaves a ripple, and most of us have no idea how far it travels. You might have forgotten the offhanded comment you made last week. The person who heard it hasn't. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares two conversations from her own college years that shaped her career for decades: one that held her back as a writer, and one question that propelled her forward. She intr...

When a coworker working from home with young kids is affecting the team, most managers and peers sit on it. They feel too guilty to name it. Dr. Janel Anderson tackles the discomfort directly: this is not a conversation about someone's parenting. It is a conversation about the work. She walks through a four-step framework for addressing this head-on, with distinct paths for managers and peers,...

When your best employee starts going quiet, most managers wait. They're busy. They tell themselves it will pass. But silence sends a message, and it is not the one you want to send. Dr. Janel Anderson shares a personal story about a top performer who checked out for weeks, and what happened when she finally sat down with her. She walks through a four-step framework for entering this conversati...

That long, complicated email you are about to send could be making things worse, not better. When topics involve complexity, disagreement, or ambiguity, email amplifies the confusion instead of resolving it. Dr. Janel Anderson walks you through the five signals that your email draft should become a meeting agenda: the ambiguity signal, Janel's Rule of Three, decision-making red flags, the avoi...

You have sat in that meeting, watching the clock, thinking this should have just been an email. And you were right. Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down the real reason unnecessary meetings keep getting scheduled: not poor planning, but a leadership confidence problem she calls the CYA meeting. She introduces the Meaning Making Test, a three-question framework to help you decide in 30 seconds whether so...

You have probably heard you should be doing skip-level meetings. But if you are not sure what the point is or what you are actually supposed to talk about, you are in good company. Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down why skip-level meetings are relationship infrastructure, not a surveillance tool, and lays out three compelling reasons every senior leader should have them on the calendar. She walks thro...

Executives are convinced their teams are embracing AI. Frontline employees are doing the opposite. And you, the middle manager, are absorbing the pressure from both directions with no clear playbook. Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down exactly why this gap exists, backed by Harvard Business Review research showing a 45-point perception gap between what executives believe and what employees are actually...

Your organization wants you to use AI, but nobody gave you training, context, or an on-ramp. That gap is real, and it is not your fault. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares four practical strategies for getting started with AI at work, including why picking a specific problem beats trying to learn AI broadly, how to use AI as a thinking partner rather than a ghostwriter, and a personal exam...

When a coworker takes credit for your work, the damage is not just frustrating. It is reputational. Dr. Janel Anderson breaks down three types of workplace credit theft, explains why the type matters for how you respond, and gives you four concrete techniques to protect your professional visibility. From creating a paper trail before the meeting to a specific, calm script for a direct conversation...

Most people know they should handle hard conversations better. What they do not know is which specific pattern their brain runs every time the pressure is on. Dr. Janel Anderson identifies four distinct patterns: the Improviser, the Avoider, the Escalator, and the Deflector. She explains what drives each pattern, why most people misidentify their own, and why that misdiagnosis is the real reason n...