Less Stress, More Joy with Amy Leneker

Stress isn't the price of success—it's the thing getting in the way of it. On this episode, Amy shares five practical actions leaders, teams, and organizations can take right now to reduce workplace stress and create the conditions for greater joy, engagement, and performance. Drawing on insights from her national State of Stress and Joy at Work research study, Amy explains why overwhelmed...

Stress isn’t the price of success. According to Amy Leneker’s latest national research study, it may actually be the thing stealing success from us. On this episode, Amy breaks down the top drivers of workplace stress and the biggest contributors to joy at work — and why both ripple far beyond the office into our homes, relationships, and communities. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and Big Myth 00:56 Rese...

What if one of the biggest sources of stress at work is everything you keep fixing that was never yours to carry? On this episode of Less Stress, More Joy , Amy Leneker explores Quadrant 4 of the Un-Stressing Matrix: stressors that are within your control, but not actually important for you to solve. Through a personal story about boundaries, leadership, and people-pleasing, Amy unpacks why “just...

When was the last time you asked for help? Not offered it. Not powered through on your own. But actually paused and said, “I need support.” On this episode, Amy explores why asking for help feels so difficult—even for high-performing, self-aware leaders—and what the research says about how to do it more effectively. You’ll learn: Why we associate asking for help with weakness or incompetence How p...

Comparison doesn’t just “steal joy”—it actively increases stress and keeps you stuck. On this episode, Amy shares a personal story of rejection (including her latest pitch to Harvard Business Review ) and the simple, practical method she’s using to move through comparison and rejection without spiraling. If you’ve ever felt behind, not good enough, or stuck measuring yourself against others—this e...

Amy's new book, national bestseller 'Cheers to Monday' was selected by the The Next Big Idea Club as one of their must reads, and they invited Amy on their podcast to talk about her big takeaways from the book. This week's episode of 'Less Stress, More Joy' is a feed drop of Amy's episode on 'The Next Big Idea Club Daily' podcast . Amy shares a practical, resear...

What if your stress at work isn’t just about your workload—but a misalignment with your values? On this episode of Less Stress, More Joy , Amy Leneker explores how identifying and aligning with your core values can transform how you experience stress, conflict, and joy at work. Drawing from leadership coaching, workplace mediation experience, and research featured in her bestselling book Cheers to...

Stress is not just a personal problem — and joy is not just a nice-to-have. On this episode, recorded live during the " Cheers to Monday " book launch, Amy Leneker shares the Un-Stressing Method, a simple but powerful framework for understanding stress, responding with compassion, and creating more joy at work and in life. Drawing from national research on stress and joy in the American wo...

The RIGHT Questions: Acting on the Next Right Thing at Work What if the biggest thing we’ve been taught about success at work is wrong? This week on Less Stress, More Joy , Amy Leneker challenges the belief that stress is simply the price we pay for achievement. Instead, she argues that stress is often a signal that something in the system needs to change. Amy shares a personal leadership story sh...

Why are younger generations experiencing more stress at work than everyone else? On this episode of Less Stress, More Joy, leadership coach Amy Leneker shares new insights from her national study on stress and joy at work — including why Generation Z is experiencing significantly more workplace stress than older generations. Amy explains the five types of work stress that affect employees, why sud...

On this episode of Less Stress, More Joy , Amy Leneker unpacks one of the most well-intentioned — and most damaging — leadership habits in modern workplaces: toxic positivity. From “good vibes only” messaging to cringe-worthy icebreakers, forced joy often increases stress, reduces trust, and disconnects teams. Drawing from her national study, The State of Stress and Joy at Work , Amy shares powerf...

How do you lead high-stakes, no-fail work without burning out yourself or your team? On this episode of Less Stress, More Joy , Amy sits down with Shelley McDermott, President of FirstRule Group, to explore leadership, stress management, boundaries at work, and building a high-retention team culture. Shelley leads complex public sector consulting projects — from retirement systems to opioid respon...

On this episode of Less Stress, More Joy , leadership coach Amy Leneker explores why feedback conversations so often go wrong — not because of bad intent, but because they activate deep psychological triggers tied to trust, identity, and belonging. If you care about building high-trust teams, creating psychological safety at work, and leading with both clarity and compassion, this episode will res...

Feedback is one of the most stress-inducing parts of work — for leaders and for employees. On this episode of the Less Stress, More Joy podcast , Amy Leneker breaks down why feedback so often goes wrong and how to do it in a way that actually builds trust, connection, and performance. Drawing on her experience as a certified mediator and workplace conflict specialist, Amy explains the three types...

Stress spreads faster than we realize — and not just in person. On this short episode of the Less Stress, More Joy podcast, Amy Leneker breaks down why stress is contagious in workplaces, how it travels through emotional pathways, and what leaders and teammates can do to stop the ripple before it impacts an entire organization. If you’ve ever walked into a meeting and felt the tension — or noticed...

In this deeply human and hopeful conversation, Amy Leneker welcomes her very first podcast guests to Less Stress, More Joy: Dr. Lizzy Perez and Joni Goodman—both leadership coaches, certified Dare to Lead facilitators, and champions of emotional intelligence and nervous system regulation. Together, they explore the real cost of hustle culture, the hidden stress messages many leaders inherit, and w...

What if the questions keeping you up at night as a leader are the same ones everyone else is quietly asking? On this Q&A episode of Less Stress, More Joy , Amy Leneker answers six real questions submitted by leaders across the country — all centered on stress, burnout, relationships, and how to lead with more clarity and humanity at work. From debunking the myth of work-life balance to navigat...

Stress doesn’t stay neatly at work or at home—and neither do we. On this episode of Less Stress, More Joy , Amy introduces The Stress Ruler , a simple, powerful tool you can use anywhere in your life: before a tough meeting, during a one-on-one, or even at the dinner table. The Stress Ruler asks just one question: How challenging has your stress been on a scale of 0–10? And what makes it effective...

If you’ve ever woken up on a Monday already exhausted, this episode is for you. In the premiere of Less Stress, More Joy with Amy Leneker , Amy introduces the “joyful rebellion” against burnout and toxic positivity. She unpacks why stress is at an all-time high, why so many teams are stuck in chronic stress, and why the most dangerous belief in modern work culture is that stress is the price of su...

Hi friend — I’m Amy Leneker, and welcome to the Less Stress, More Joy podcast. I created this podcast because I made every burnout mistake in the book… truly, all of them. If I can help even one person avoid the absolute hell I went through, this show will be a wild success. Here’s what I know: you were meant for a joy-filled life. We spend a third of our lives at work, and you deserve to lead — a...