Office Hours at The Alignment Lab

In this solo episode, Hannah takes a closer look at introversion within the extraversion ideal: that we live and work in environments largely built for extroverts – and that this carries costs that most of us haven't fully reckoned with. This episode isn't self-help for introverts. It's a critical examination of the extroversion ideal: the cultural and structural assumption, embedded i...

In this solo episode, Hannah wraps up the career development series by synthesizing insights from across the four guest conversations, pulling on a few threads that are still in progress, and looking ahead to what's coming next on the podcast. Concepts and Resources Mentioned: Career development as a concept Arulmani, Gideon., Bakshi, A. J., Leong, F. T. L., & Watts, A. G. (Eds.). (2014)....

What does it actually take to build systems that support people's development – not just in theory, but in practice? In this episode, Hannah sits down with Stephanie Turner and Larissa Pyer, colleagues at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and co-founders of Better Together, to explore what human-centered career development actually looks like as a system. They get into the defaults that no...

What is a calling – and are there any downsides to having one? In this episode, Hannah sits down with Dr. Steven Zhou, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at Claremont McKenna College, whose research sits at the intersection of leadership, personality, and career development, using methods ranging from traditional statistics to natural language processing (NLP) and AI. Steven brings a ref...

In this episode of Office Hours , we continue our series on career development, exploring the ways managers can enable, support, and guide the career development of their direct reports. I’m joined by Nick Denstaedt, a talent management leader with a background in operations, systems improvement, and industrial-organizational psychology. Nick and I discuss how managers can more intentionally devel...

In this episode of Office Hours , we explore what it looks like to take a more self-directed approach to career development. I’m joined by Elizabeth Cook, a career strategy coach who helps professionals navigate burnout and career transitions with greater clarity. We discuss navigating uncertainty, building self-awareness, and creating more agency in your career. We also talk about the importance...

In this kickoff episode of Office Hours at The Alignment Lab , we launch the podcast and introduce our first mini-series on career development, focused on how to approach it in practice. This episode also sets the stage for the series ahead, which examines a central question: where does responsibility for career development really sit? You’ll hear how this tension shows up across individuals, mana...