The Gen Mess with Tess

Think you're not a morning person? Think again. This week, Tess sits down with Amy Landino, bestselling author, content creator, and founder of Vlog Boss Studios. Together, they blow up everything you think you know about morning routines, productivity, and what it actually means to start your day on your own terms. Amy's newly expanded book, Good Morning, Good Life , isn't about waking up at 5am...

Why does one vague comment from your boss stay in your head all day? Why does being left off a meeting invite suddenly feel personal? Why can work feel emotionally exhausting even when you’re technically “doing fine”? In this episode of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess Brigham explains why work is never just about tasks, productivity, or performance—it’s psychological. From feedback and comparison to...

In Episode 53 of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess Brigham sits down with Amy Leneker , founder and CEO of the Center for Joyful Work, to explore why burnout keeps happening even to highly successful leaders who know better. Amy has helped more than 100,000 leaders and teams, including Fortune 100 companies, rethink leadership, workplace stress, and employee well-being. A former public policy executiv...

In Episode 52 of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess explores one of the most misunderstood workplace dynamics right now: why younger employees keep asking for transparency, and why many leaders misread that as entitlement. While transparency is often described as a Gen Z workplace preference, Tess argues it is something much deeper: a psychological response to growing up in a world where trust has beco...

In Episode 51 of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess is joined by Corrine Ishio , founder of My Working Soul, to explore a challenge many fast-growing companies face but rarely talk about: scaling the business faster than the culture can keep up. When organizations grow quickly, hiring often becomes reactive. Leaders focus on roles and results, while the human side of the company quietly gets lost. The...

In Episode 50 of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess explores a dynamic that quietly derails high performers at every level: the moment work starts to feel like a test. When every meeting feels evaluative and every decision feels like it determines your worth, anxiety rises, and performance often drops. Tess unpacks why this happens and why the solution isn’t caring less, but redefining what actually be...

Tess sits down with Trent Cotton - self-described “non-HR HR executive,” author of Sprint Recruiting and High Performance Recruiting , and Head of Talent Insights at iCIMS. Discussing the nuanced conversation about what the data tells us about AI, generational skepticism from Gen Z to Boomers, and what leaders are getting wrong about the future of work, including: Why leaders often hide behind dat...

In Episode 49 of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess tackles a reality many professionals experience but rarely have language for: what to do when your manager does not create psychological safety and you cannot simply walk away. Drawing on the research of Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, who coined the term psychological safety , Tess breaks down the difference between discomfort and ha...

In this episode of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess is joined by Ashley Herd , founder and CEO of The Manager Method , employment attorney, former HR leader at McKinsey & Company and Yum Brands, co-host of the HR Besties podcast, and author of the newly released book The Manager Method: A Practical Framework to Lead, Support, and Get Results . Ashley brings a rare, inside view of management from...

On this episode of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess is joined by Jenny Calcoen, CEO and founder of Inner Earthquake LLC, former executive, and private coach to high-achieving women navigating burnout, grief, and major life transitions. Jenny shares her own “inner earthquake” - the moment when outward success no longer matched inner truth - and how a life-altering diagnosis forced her to confront the...

In this solo episode of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess Brigham explores a surprising social experiment that connected strangers across political divides and why it offers a powerful lesson for today’s leaders in the workplace. Drawing from her background as a therapist and her coaching work with organizations, Tess unpacks what HR leaders and managers are experiencing in 2026: burnout that isn’t dr...

In this solo episode of The Gen Mess with Tess , host Tess Brigham addresses a question she hears from HR leaders, managers, and employees alike: Why does work feel so heavy right now, even when things look better on paper? Drawing from her background as a therapist and her work with organizations, Tess explains the challenges HR leaders are facing in 2026: burnout is no longer just about workload...

In this solo episode of The Gen Mess with Tess , Tess Brigham unpacks one of the most emotionally charged conversations happening right now: adult children going no contact with a parent. Drawing from her work as a therapist and her own lived experience, Tess challenges the oversimplified narratives dominating social media and reframes "no contact" not as a trend, punishment, or failure, but as a...

What if the person giving you life advice is, behind the scenes, completely falling apart? In this deeply moving solo episode of Gen Mess with Tess, Tess Brigham pulls back the curtain, sharing the raw, unfiltered story of a year that shook the very foundations of her life. From the staggering loss of her father to the painful journey of caring for her mother as dementia set in, Tess Brigham—the c...

What if finding your dream job actually takes a year—or even longer? In this eye-opening episode of "Gen Mess with Tess," host Tess Brigham sits down with career strategist Liz Helton to pull back the curtain on the realities of job searching and career transformation in today's ever-evolving workforce. If you've ever wondered why sending off hundreds of applications can feel like shouting into a...

What if the brutal truth is that your corporate job is more likely to slowly kill you with stress than set you up for a dream retirement? In this episode of Gen Mess with Tess, host Tess Brigham sits down with powerhouse business mentor, international speaker, and award-winning author Katrena Friel for a candid and eye-opening conversation about breaking free from the golden handcuffs—and finding...

What if the secret to building a thriving law firm wasn’t about grinding out endless billable hours—but about rethinking the entire way attorneys work and lead? In this eye-opening episode of Gen Mess With Tess , host Tess Brigham welcomes law firm growth expert Alay Yajnik for a candid conversation that shakes up everything you thought you knew about legal hustle and business success. Discover ho...

What if the only way you could escape your toxic work environment was being hit by a bus—not to die, but just to get a break? Shocking as it sounds, that’s the level of desperation bestselling author and executive coach Diana Lowe once felt, and she’s not alone. In this riveting episode of "Gen Mess with Tess," Tess Brigham pulls back the curtain on the hidden emotional toll of modern workplaces a...

What if everything we thought was “wrong” with Gen Z was actually the outcome of generations striving to do better for their children? In this solo episode of Gen Mess with Tess , host Tess Brigham turns the tables on common complaints about today’s youth and boldly reveals how every “mess” in the workplace and at home is really generational evolution in real time—and a sign of remarkable progress...

What if you could overcome a lifelong fear—like a spider phobia—in under ten minutes? In this episode of "Gen Mess with Tess," host Tess Brigham sits down with Viki Johnston, founder of Accelerate and master practitioner of NLP (neuro linguistic programming), for a fascinating deep-dive into the secrets of learning, growth mindset, and generational shifts in the workplace. Viki reveals how she con...

What if every time you judged a younger generation for having it "easy," you were really just grieving your own unmet dreams? In this revealing solo episode of Gen Mess with Tess , host Tess Brigham turns the generational blame game upside down, making a powerful case that beneath every eye-roll and stereotype—Boomers are out of touch, Gen Z is fragile, Millennials are entitled—there’s a shared ex...

What if the secret to surviving career chaos isn’t more hustle—but smarter engineering? In this eye-opening episode of Gen Mess with Tess, host Tess Brigham sits down with systems architect and organizational consultant Belle Walker, who reveals why most companies—and leaders—are fighting the wrong fires, and how “engineering thinking” can fundamentally change how we navigate the messiest parts of...

What if the real badge of honor isn’t how hard you work, but how well you rest? In this eye-opening solo episode of Gen Mess with Tess, host Tess Brigham pulls back the curtain on the cultural obsession with burnout—and exposes how every generation has unwittingly contributed to making exhaustion seem like a symbol of strength. Tess traces the roots of hustle culture from Gen X’s independent “latc...

What if your quest for love is actually a quest for safety? In this eye-opening solo episode of "Gen Mess with Tess," host Tess Brigham dives deep into the messy reality behind the hit TV show Love is Blind —and reveals the uncomfortable truth: the show isn’t just a high-drama dating experiment, it's a mirror reflecting how we all perform, protect, and hide in our own relationships. Tess explores...

What if the secret to unlocking true leadership isn’t about knowing all the answers, but about learning to ask the right questions—especially across generations? In this eye-opening episode of the “Gen Mess with Tess,” host Tess Brigham sits down with powerhouse executive coach Kristi Royse, founder of KLR Consulting, to uncover the real challenges—and unexpected opportunities—leaders face in toda...