The Anxious Achiever

Leaders of organizations have a large responsibility when it comes to their own mental health, and of those in their organization. When they speak up about mental health, others can too. But vulnerability comes with risks. How can leaders model openness around mental health without bumping up against stereotypes and judgment? In this roundtable conversation, host Morra Aarons-Mele speaks with Harv...

Burnout doesn’t come on because of weakness, and it doesn’t come about overnight. Many of us are walking around with some degree of burnout! On the flip side, it takes more than a vacation or loving your job to solve the problem. In this special Thinkers50 episode, host Morra Aarons-Mele explores some of the ways companies and individuals can more effectively avoid burnout and put in place more me...

As part of a month long series with Thinkers50 and The Silicon Guild, in this episode host Morra Aarons-Mele explores constructive ways we can improve our relationship with ourselves, instead of always being our harshest critic. She’s joined by Duke Professor Sanyin Siang, Lenny Mendoca, Senior Partner Emeritus at McKinsey, and Palo Alto City Council Member Julie Lythcott-Haims to talk about ways...

What are some of the most important management ideas out there in today’s world? Thinkers50 is an organization that aims to identify and share these important ideas day in and day out, and all month long host Morra Aarons-Mele is partnering with Thinkers50 and The Silicon Guild for a series of roundtable talks about mental health and work. In this episode, she speaks with Columbia Business School’...

Imagine you are having an anxious moment at work. Instead of letting yourself slip into old patterns of negative thoughts or self-criticisms, today’s guest says you can take a step back and try something new: maybe moving around, going out for lunch, drinking some water - but definitely not doom scrolling.  Emma Seppala is a lecturer at Yale and author of the book Sovereign: Reclaim Your Freedom,...

Burnout culture is everywhere - case in point, a lawsuit brought against Goldman Sachs earlier this year by a former employee claiming that the relentless workload required by the firm led to heart problems and depression. The firm’s response was of particular note to Sarah Green Carmichael, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.  In this LinkedIn Live, Sarah joins Morra as well as Cali Williams Yost, fou...

There was a time when everyone masked their mental and emotional struggles at work; or worse, didn’t even know that what they were experiencing might be anxiety, depression, or something similar. In this episode, host Morra Aarons-Mele first speaks with Kent Coules, co-publisher at Hawaii Business Magazine, about his long career in media, his path to sobriety, and what he learned about drinking an...

Just as members of a family have different roles to play and different patterns of behavior they keep, so too can our family dynamics play out in the workplace. We bring with us to work our feelings about how we should assert ourselves, ask for help, deal with failure and more - all behaviors we learn in our family system growing up. Deborah Ancona, a Professor of Organization Studies, and the Fou...

Anxiety rarely feels good, so it might feel counterintuitive to think about it as a positive thing. But in this episode, we revisit a conversation with Wendy Suzuki, an NYU neuroscientist who studies neuroplasticity. Anxiety can bring benefits to performance and work, and we can reframe our relationship with this challenging but necessary emotion. Suzuki is the author of the book “Good Anxiety: Ha...

In the quest to be a more empathetic and effective leader or manager, the lens of trauma-informed leadership might be helpful for you. It’s the idea that all people have various forms of trauma that they carry with them to the workplace, and that leaders should approach situations at work accordingly. Matthew Cooke, partner at the coaching, consulting and investment firm Evolution, is a big propon...

Heather Hansen challenges the notion of "good" and "bad" English. Good communication is about getting the message across. She’s based in Singapore and helps executives with their linguistic and communication skills. Hansen is helping us tackle a real problem in our increasingly globalized work world: accent bias. Hansen is on a mission to help increase awareness about our assumptions of what “perf...

Uncertainty and anxiety are highly linked in our brains: when we aren’t sure what will happen, we often go into planning, defensive mode, trying to come up with every possible scenario and ensure a good outcome. Author Maggie Jackson looks at the ways that better managing uncertainty - like anxiety - is an essential skill. Reframing uncertainty helps us perform in challenging times. Jackson shares...

We all have big moments that shift the course of our life - and our relationship with those moments also change over time. Dan Harris was a long time TV journalist when he had a panic attack on air in 2004. That set in motion a different course in his life - where he began meditating, finding healthier ways to manage his anxiety, and hosting the podcast 10 Percent Happier. On the tenth anniversary...

You know the feeling when you know that something is off with a relationship at work, but feel like you can’t speak up? Many of us have felt this feeling but haven’t known how to describe it or work through it in a healthy way. Toxic bosses and coworkers are super common, and can send negative ripple effects throughout the organization, far beyond a one on one relationship.  Benish Shah was a trus...

We put so much of ourselves and our identity into our work; that’s especially true for entrepreneurs. It can be hard to deal with the emotions of selling the business you started, even when it’s the outcome you dreamed of. In this episode, we speak with two very different entrepreneurs about how their lives and mental health have changed over time, as they’ve created and sold businesses and change...

For many of us, anxiety is a partner on our journey of life: it is always there. But a helpful reframe could also be the idea that anxiety is a habit. And the good news is: habits are something we can break. We’ll learn about how to recognize these habits and change them, especially at work.  In this episode Morra speaks with Dr. Judson Brewer, author of “Unwinding Anxiety” and journalist Charles...

How far have we come in terms of mental health at organizations, and how far do we still need to go? Kristin Maczko leads Strategic People Programs for Synopsys, but formerly served as the Head of Health and Wellbeing at Google before recently being laid off. She speaks with host Morra Aarons-Mele about how she’s seen workplace structures around mental health shift over time, the mistaken idea of...

Studies show that over 70 percent of us feel imposter syndrome at one time or another. But there’s a lot we still don’t know about the why, the how, the what. In this episode, imposter syndrome expert Lisa Orbe-Austin returns to the show to talk about the latest research, how we can start fresh this year, and what’s really holding us back in our careers.  Learn more about Lisa Orbe-Austin here: ht...

Congressman Adam Smith spent years quietly struggling with both anxiety and physical pain, while serving the people of his state and the entire country in Washington D.C. For many years, holding public office meant hiding things like mental health struggles, but things have changed recently. He speaks with host Morra Aarons-Mele about what his anxiety felt like (running on a treadmill that was slo...

Leaders out there who are guilty of micromanaging might not immediately realize that it comes from a need for control, and probably a bit of anxiety. On the other side of the table, being micromanaged can have really negative impacts on our mental health. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Julia Milner, a leadership professor at EDHEC Business School, about how to recognize, handle, and prevent mi...

Charlene Li is someone who has spent her career focusing on digital transformations and disruptive leadership. And she practices what she preaches - she even helped host Morra Aarons-Mele set up an AI (check out morra.ai). Li shares how to define your individual purpose and find the motivation to “be great” in this special LinkedIn Live.  Read more: https://charleneli.com/thinking/

What can we learn about performance and mental health from professional athletes? As we start a new year off, Morra Aarons-Mele revisits her conversations with sports and performance psychologist Alex Auerbach, who works with the Toronto Raptors; and with former NFL star Ryan Mundy, who now runs a mental health start-up called Alkeme Health.  Learn more about Alex: https://twitter.com/AlexAuerbach...

The limelight - and appreciation - given to medical professionals early in the pandemic has largely faded, but the stresses they face continue. In this episode, Morra speaks to a veterinarian and a physician about their personal mental health, compassion fatigue, and making decisions that go against the grain. Her guests are Chief Medical Officer at Mars Veterinary Health Molly McAllister and Dr....

Do you feel lonely, even when you’re almost never alone? It’s a common feeling for many workers in the U.S. right now - with around 50 percent of Americans experiencing measurable levels of loneliness. That sense of loneliness has a huge impact on our collective mental health as well. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy speaks with host Morra Aarons-Mele in this special LinkedIn Live episode abo...

 Ever been at work and everyone starts talking about their recent trip to Italy, or their Ivy League college reunion coming up… and you just feel left out? Beyond money, class is something that also involves culture and it shows up everywhere - including at work. The stress we feel around class can have a big impact on our mental health, and it’s likely that our class also impacts how we approach...