A new study has revealed that we trust management decisions made by AI more than those made by humans. But what does the future of this digital co-worker look like? And how many of us actually trust the technology, and how does where we live change that level of trust?

“It’s not reasonable to ask people to function without daylight, sleep and proper food for weeks and months at a time” - Ruby, lawyer. There’s been a lot of talk lately about reasonable and unreasonable work hours, thanks to a certain high profile legal case. Research has found Australians are working some of the longest hours in the world. It’s costing us tens of billions of dollars in unpaid wages, with experts calling it 'time theft'. So when is it ok for your boss to ask you to work overtime? And what is overwork doing to our brains and bodies?

The weekends are easy to fill with a long list of things you want to get done. Chores, errands and, yes, even work make their way onto that list. Then all of a sudden it’s Sunday night and you feel like you haven’t rested at all, and another work week is right around the corner. So how can we better harness the power of the weekend for an energised and productive week ahead? The good news is that it’s a simple solution you can implement immediately.

It’s being called “world’s best practice” and we’re being told to take it seriously. A new code of practice and regulation will be protecting your psychological health at work from April 1st. It explicitly addresses psychological harm and the psychosocial hazards at work that can cause things like burnout, depression and anxiety. So what are these hazards exactly, and how will the code work in practice?

Picture a capital T.  The vertical line is the Expertise line - your deep experience in your field. Then the horizontal bar is the Generalist line - your other interests and experiences that can combine with your expertise to strengthen it. This is called the T-shape - and it’s being recognised as a powerful tool for people and teams to innovate at work.  But what exactly we can put into the horizontal line that can add to our vertical expertise line might surprise you.

Meaning, purpose, identity – all of these are wrapped up in our work and career. So it's no surprise that when we step away from work we can feel a bit unmoored. In the second half of our two-part special on the 'unretirement' movement, we look at what's underpinning this return to work in retirement years. It can come down to rediscovering purpose and meaning in both life and work. But how can we do that?

While you might be dreaming about the day you can clock off work forever — why are we instead seeing so many people leaving the green and re-opening the laptop? It's all part of a trend being dubbed the 'great unretirement', in which 40% of the nearly half a million people who entered the labour force in the last three years were over the age of 55. Which has led to Australian workers now retiring at the oldest age since the early 1970s. So, what's driving it? And who are the people getting back into work when they're meant to have their feet up?

We’ve all had to work with ‘that’ difficult person that we just clash with. It’s tense. It’s stressful. And it’s exhausting. So, do we have to get along to do our best work? Or is it in our best interests to make peace and move on? And how can we best do that? The solutions might surprise you.

We’ve seen the Great Resignation, Lying Flat in China and Quiet Quitting. And now we’re hearing murmurings of another movement that some are calling ‘Anti-Striving’. So what exactly is it? And what will making peace with feeling less ambitious bring us in the long-term?

How inclusive are workplaces for the rainbow community? What is working and what needs improving? We hear how small things like conversation starters can help LGBTIQ+ people feel more welcome and safe at work, and how larger things like equitable design in physical and virtual spaces can improve belonging and job satisfaction.

Our image and expectation of a good leader is changing, and increasingly we’re needing them to use both their head and their heart in making decisions. Dr Kirstin Ferguson argues that the art of this type of leadership is knowing what is needed when. So what does this balancing act really look like? 

Our image and expectation of a good leader is changing, and increasingly we’re needing them to use both their head and their heart in making decisions. Dr Kirstin Ferguson argues that the art of this type of leadership is knowing what is needed when. So what does this balancing act really look like? 

Saying "yes" too often can leave you feeling overwhelmed and perhaps a bit resentful. You might hear yourself saying "yes of course I can" when your inner voice is screaming "no!" So here's how you can say "no" more often at work, without feeling rude. 

We've learned about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and how they can influence each other. But if we go deeper into the heart of motivation, we find its kernel: engagement. So how can we be truly engaged in our work?

Forget what you think you know about motivation. We’ve done the work for you and found some science-based motivation hacks, so you can get the job done and actually enjoy it. We bust some myths and find out what really motivates us - from incentives, to mindsets and increased empathy.

Resolutions don't work. Set goals the right way. For us to really commit to a goal and achieve it, we should ensure we’re making a ‘worthy’ goal. That’s according to author Michael Bungay Stanier who, in his new book How To Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters, gives us nine steps to help us find our worthy goal, commit to it and just begin.

We all know the impact of stress on our minds and bodies. But it turns out that it’s not the stress itself that’s impacting our health - it’s how we think about it. We hear from people about their experiences of work-related stress and how it impacts them, and our expert panel tell us how to change our stress mindsets so we can harness its power to work and live better.

Mindfulness…being mindful,  meditating, you know it’s good for you, but it just never feels like there’s enough time.  Using meditation to create mindfulness is an ancient practice, and the science backing it has been piling in for years now. But how can we be motivated to make meditation part of our essential routine? How will it actually help our working lives? 

If we confront our regrets and use them as signals, they're a powerful force for working smarter and living better. That’s according to New York Times best-selling author Daniel Pink. He’s collected the regrets of thousands of people around the world and discovered what connects us in our regrets, and how we can use them to live and work better. So let go of any shame around your regrets, and learn how to harness their power.

Many of us are enjoying the flexibility of working from home - being able to organise our work time to suit our circadian rhythms, family responsibilities and health. But with this flexibility and freedom, has there been an erosion of the concept of a “work day”?  What boundaries should there be - in law or in your employment agreement?

Feeling a bit brain fried? Fatigued from the year… over stimulated from all that screen time?Maybe you need to head outside...We look at how getting out into the natural world can help you function better in your day to day work life. What’s going on here with our brains, what’s the science behind it?

Taking very small doses of magic mushrooms or LSD every few days in a bid to boost productivity, creativity, focus and mental health has become perhaps surprisingly popular in Australia and around the globe. People are experimenting with tiny doses of illegal psychedelic drugs to help them perform better at work. But why take this risk, and does it even work? Scientific studies on microdosing are in the early days but Vince Polito, cognitive psychologist and senior research fellow at Macquarie University, is at the forefront of research in Australia.  We also hear from workers microdosing around Australia. 

Premortems - How to practise hindsight in advance, by looking at what went wrong before it does. And on the flip side, imagining success and how you got there, with a previctorem.

When is an interaction an interruption? Why do we now feel the need to ask if it’s OK to interrupt a colleague, in the middle of a work day? And hybrid work has made managing communication even more nuanced, yet crucial. Our guests explore the benefits of talking, and what we lose when we stick to typing.

Office renos for the hybrid world....organisations with empty floors are figuring out how to make the office more useful and attractive. Guests: Evodia Alaterou - design strategist at Hassell, principal in the Melbourne studio  Ethan Bernstein - associate professor of business administration at  Harvard Business School. Peter Wheatley - PWC workplaces leader Presenter: Lisa Leong Producer: Sarah Allely

Tony Fadell was instrumental in creating the iPod and the IPhone.  He shares in his book Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making - that his greatest successes have come from his greatest failures. And he has some dooseys. 

Micro stressors - they’re just a normal part of the day, right? From when you wake up and check your messages, listen to the news, wrangle your kids, jostle your way to work, and then deal with that colleague…you’re stressed without anything major actually happening. Rob Cross says the people who maintain and prioritise their social connections, often through shared activities, are way less affected by these micro stressors. Guest: Rob Cross is a professor at Babson College, which teaches entrepreneurship. His latest book, The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems--and What to Do about It, comes out next year. Presenter: Lisa Leong Producer: Sarah Allely

This Working Life explores ideas that are shaping changes in workplaces.

What we want in our leaders has evolved; we’ve seen a growing desire for more ethical and empathetic leaders. But destructive leaders are still in charge in many workplaces and their impacts are far-reaching. So how can we identify them and, more importantly, change them? We look at the personality traits and four styles of destructive leaders and get some tips on how to avoid them to help improve employee and business wellbeing.

How’s your mental health? Is it affecting your work? Or maybe it’s the other way around and your work is affecting your headspace? Employee Assistance Programs….what are the pros and cons, and how could they work better? Is confidentiality actually a problem? And if so what can be done to make it safer?

Workplace bullying is a complex and insidious problem that one in 10 of us in Australia experience at some stage in our careers. We look at the organisational structures behind bullying itself, how many of us might be unwilling bystanders, and the impact it has on us physically and mentally.

When’s the last time you had fun at work? Really had fun? FUN. What is it, and how can it  help us enjoy work more, which of course will help us work better! How can we bring more fun into our working lives?  Catherine Price is a science journalist and author of The Power of Fun. She also wrote How to break up with your phone. 

Are you seeking leadership nirvana? Is there even such a thing? Leadership development is such a lucrative, multi-million dollar industry but are we just throwing resources at the executive level managers with little benefit to the broader organisation? Are we going about leadership development all wrong?

Burning out has become a phrase thrown around almost as often as anxiety. But being stressed and overworked is not actually burnout. There is  more to it. Individuals can’t fight burnout alone - things have to change in our organisations. This is what the ‘pioneer’ of burnout theory and research has found. It’s Christina Maslach's measurement tool that’s been used by workplaces and the World Health Organisation to assess if someone’s burning out - the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

What's it actually like to be a teacher these days? There’s a worldwide shortage of teachers at the moment, so what’s going on in the classroom and school yards? In this episode we meet a bunch of teachers and former teachers and hear first hand about the new pressures, and what’s driving them out of the profession. What needs to change about the working lives of teachers?

Have you heard of the Dunbar number?  It’s the number of social connections one person can maintain at any one time.  It turns out that this also plays out at work.  How is Robin Dunbar’s  research relevant for your workplace? What are the optimum numbers for teams and factories?  How important are social connections and friendships at work, and how do these affect our productivity? Guest: Robin Dunbar is professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford. He wrote Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships and his new book, The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups, comes out next year.

Mindfulness … being mindful,  meditating, you know it’s good for you, but it just never feels like there’s enough time. Using meditation to create mindfulness is an ancient practice, and the science backing it has been piling in for years now. But how can we be motivated to make meditation part of our essential routine? How will it actually help our working lives? 

What’s your relationship with feedback? Maybe you’ve thought you could learn how to be better at giving it…but how about switching it round and considering how you receive it? Turns out, if we hone our skills at receiving we also get better at giving feedback.

What happens when the career you chose at 18 just isn't you anymore?

Have you ever sat at work thinking “Houston we have a problem, common sense has left the room!”? Brand and culture transformation expert Martin Lindstrom, walks us through how to bring common sense back into our workplaces by establishing what he calls a “ministry of common sense”.  Martin has advised multinationals including Pepsi, Google, Burger King and Swiss Air but he started this movement in what traditionally has been a bastion of bureaucracy, banks.

Does your inbox make you miserable? Cal Newport walks us through why our relationship with email is dysfunctional and what a world without email looks like. Cal's book: A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in the Age of Overload Producer: Maria Tickle

What if ADHD wasn't seen as a deficit or a disorder? What if it's actually harnessed as a superpower? We show how, given the right support and understanding, workplaces have the ability to turn ADHD into an asset and create environments where everyone thrives.

We speak with proud Torres Strait Islander woman (Kubin; Moa Island descendant) Carla McGrath and proud Yorta Yorta man Ian Hamm about what First Nations perspectives bring to governance and management.

Emotions at work - do you repress or ruminate? Both could be dangerous for your career. Harvard Medical School psychologist Dr Susan David is one of the world's leading management thinkers. Her Ted talk has been viewed more than five million times and her book Emotional Agility is a bestseller. Susan discusses the benefits of bringing our whole selves to work; emotions as data not directives (we shouldn't let them boss us around) and why emotional agility is important for teamwork and creativity.

We take a deep dive into this medical mystery and look at how workplaces and individuals can navigate the world of work as they recover from long COVID.

Teamwork, resilience and grit – just some of the skills from sport that we can all learn from when it comes to our work. So how can the corporate world harness these skills, and what can we learn from the athlete’s mindset?

It’s not just about getting the job done when we’re working hybridly, it’s about the connections we make. And this has been lost when we’re working from home, and this is making us feel lonely. In the second part of our hybrid work feature, we look at how hybrid work can leave us feeling lonely and disconnected, and what we can do about it.   Guests: Mark Mortensen - Associate Professor, INSEAD Dr Caroline Knight - Research Fellow, Curtin University’s Future of Work Institute Sasha D’Arcy - Psychologist and ‘Inventiologist’ at Inventium

Hybrid is here to stay. So, what is pandemic-driven hybrid work doing to our ability to focus and what do we need to do to find that elusive flow state in this brave new world of work? In the first part of our hybrid work feature, we look at hybrid work and our level of focus when working from home, compared to in the office, and along the way we’ll bust some myths and get some attention hacks.   Guests: Sue Williamson - Associate Professor of Human Resource Management in the School of Business at UNSW, Canberra Katherine Johnson - Associate Professor in Psychology in the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne Sasha D’Arcy - Psychologist and ‘Inventiologist’ at Inventium

What is your role in your family of origin? Jester, responsible one, black sheep or peacemaker, we all have one. But did you know the role you have inherited or the values and beliefs your family held could be holding you back at work? Professor Deborah Ancona runs us through how to recognise the “family ghosts” and how to bust them.   Guests: Deborah Ancona, Seley Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT’s Sloane School of Management Rebekah Donaldson, executive manager, people group at Qantas Anetta Pizag, workplace design consultant, strategist and author. HBR article Deborah co-wrote, Family Ghosts in the Executive Suite Producer: Maria Tickle

Would you call yourself an introvert, or an extrovert? Or are you a bit of both? When it comes to personality traits and states, it’s not black and white. It’s a spectrum. But sometimes we still desire a label or a name for what we are. Many of us have done personality tests for fun, or have been asked to do a psychometric test when applying for a job. Here in Australia, around 40 per cent of recruiters and employers ask candidates or employees to do one of these tests. But how helpful are they, really, when it comes to our work? Guests: Luke Smillie - Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne Nick Haslam - Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne Dr Martin Boult - Psychologist and Senior Director Professional Services at The Myers-Briggs Company, Asia Pacific

What was your first job, and what did it teach you? We’re turning back the clocks and heading back into the supermarket and greasy fast-food joints to find out just why first jobs are so crucial in our careers and what they can teach us. If we put on our detective caps, we can look at our first jobs and pick up the little clues and insights about ourselves that can help us navigate our current career. And if you have kids, or are mentoring young people, we learn how we can advise teenagers on what to look for in their first job. Guests: Professor Julia Richardson, Curtin University School of Management and Marketing Daisy Turnbull, teacher and author 50 Questions to Ask Your Teens: A Guide to Fostering Communication and Confidence in Young Adults

Cryotherapy, sleep apps and binaural beats, are just some or the more than 20 biohacks Lisa Leong uses to perform her best at work. Are they useful or a complete waste of time and or money? We recruited three scientists to run the research filter over these hacks. This episode was originally broadcast on Tuesday 12th November 2019

Even today, the class you are born into can largely determine your career. Research by Diversity Council Australia shows that more than any other diversity demographic, it was social class which most determined Australian workers’ experience of inclusion or exclusion at work.  Talking about class at work can be awkward, especially when most Australians believe we live in the land of a “fair go”. But, talk about it we must. Amanda Rose, Western Sydney Women founder Author and journalist Rick Morton Lisa Annese, CEO of Diversity Council Australia Producers: Kara Jensen-Mackinnon and Maria Tickle This episode was first broadcast on 31 May 2021

Imagine you’re applying for a job. You’re asked a few questions and have a conversation online. But it’s not with a human. It’s with a chatbot. How would you feel? Possibly relaxed? Maybe even a bit more confident? More likely to apply for that job, if there’s no intimidating interview panel? Probably. AI is increasingly being used in recruitment and it’s being employed to make the hiring process more efficient, less daunting, and some argue, free from bias... so how does it stack up? And given these technological advancements, is it time to call the CV obsolete? Guests: Charles Cameron -  CEO of RCSA Australia & New Zealand (Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association) Barb Hyman - CEO of PredictiveHire Professor Andreas Leibbrandt - Monash University

Call it what you like, The Great Resignation, The Great Reshuffle, or even The Great Reimagination, the employment landscape in Australia has changed radically in the past two years.  CEO of the Australian HR Institute Sarah McCann Bartlett and career coach Kate Richardson talk us through how can you use this moment in time to your career advantage and what businesses need to do to get through it. We also hear stories of pandemic career changes from software engineer Zubin, UX designer Fern and clinical researcher Fay. Producer: Maria Tickle

Australia’s renowned for its multiculturalism. But when it comes to the workplace and leadership positions, that diversity isn’t represented. So, what’s going on? In part two of our special series, we dive into some solutions to improve diversity and inclusion at work to see Australia's multiculturalism reflected in leadership positions.   Guests: Daisy Auger-Dominguez - Chief People Officer, VICE Media Group and author, Inclusion Revolution Juliet Bourke - Professor of Practice and non-executive director at the UNSW Business School

Australia’s renowned for its multiculturalism. But when it comes to the workplace and leadership positions, that diversity isn’t represented. So, what’s going on? In part one of our special series we dive into cultural diversity and inclusion at work - what’s behind the lack of diversity in leadership roles, and what can be done about it. Guests: Jieh-Yung Lo – Director, Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership at the Australian National University Tim Soutphommasane – Director, Culture Strategy & Acting Director, Sydney Policy Lab, and Professor of Practice (Sociology and Political Theory) at the University of Sydney. Former Race Discrimination Commissioner (2013-2018) Octavia Goredema – Career Coach & Author of PREP, PUSH, PIVOT Jean Jing Yin Sum – Life Transformations Coach & Host, Asian Women Rising

We’ve been living through the greatest workplace disruption in generations. Now, two years and counting of Covid here in Australia, that volatility isn’t going anywhere and business managers are struggling. Energy is low, resilience is low, and staff numbers are fluctuating as people fall ill to Covid. Combine, mix and stir and you’ve got the ‘Covid shiftstorm’. We go inside the world of managers and hear what’s happening, how they’re feeling and get some tips on how to get through this tough period. Guests: Professor Kim Felmingham - Chair of Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne Karen Gately - Founder, Corporate Dojo With thanks to the managers who shared their stories with us: Natalie Feehan - Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, EstimateOne Lia Pacquola - Head of PR and Corporate Communications MYOB Adam Chalk - Owner and Manager, Buddha Bowl Cafe

We all know the impact of stress on our minds and bodies. But it turns out that it’s not the stress itself that’s impacting our health - it’s how we think about it. We hear from people about their experiences of work-related stress and how it impacts them, and our expert panel tell us how to change our stress mindsets so we can harness its power to work and live better. Guests: Alison Earl, Author, speaker and trainer on mindset and resilience Dr Kari Leibowitz, Health psychologist and mindset researcher, Stanford University

What we want in our leaders has evolved; we’ve seen a growing desire for more ethical and empathetic leaders. But destructive leaders are still in charge in many workplaces and their impacts are far-reaching. So how can we identify them and, more importantly, change them? We look at the personality traits and four styles of destructive leaders and get some tips on how to avoid them to help improve employee and business wellbeing. Guests: Professor Paula Brough, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Director of the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing at Griffith University Dr Vicki Webster, Founder and Director of Incisive Leaders

Since the start of the pandemic, the global take-up of the four-day work week has accelerated. We first looked into the pros and cons of the four-day work week back in 2020 when it was very much in its early days in Australia. Since then, more companies and industries in Australia and around the world have adopted the four-day work week. We get the latest on what is and isn’t working in this global workplace experiment and what we can learn from the early adopters.   Guests: Andrew Barnes – Founder, Perpetual Guardian and 4 Day Week Global Alex Pang – Founder, Strategy and Rest Nikki Beaumont - Founder and CEO, Beaumont People Kath Blackham – Founder and CEO, Versa Sasha D’Arcy – Four-day-week employee at Inventium

Workplace bullying is a complex and insidious problem that one in 10 of us in Australia experience at some stage in our careers. We look at the organisational structures behind bullying itself, how many of us might be unwilling bystanders, and the impact it has on us physically and mentally.   Guest: Michelle Tuckey, Professor of Work & Organisational Psychology within UniSA Justice & Society and the Centre for Workplace Excellence. With thanks to Jessica, Neil and Therese for sharing their stories of experiencing workplace bullying.

Do you feel exhausted after being on Zoom? You’re not alone. Thanks to COVID-19, we’ve been on Zoom more than ever. From our day-to-day work to meetings and after-work social catch ups, our time spent video conferencing seems endless and it’s tiring us out. Studies have shown that our brains are in overload during these video meetings, and that’s leading us to feel emotionally and motivationally exhausted. We’ve asked the experts what exactly is going on in our heads when we’re in an online meeting and how we can reduce and prevent fatigue so we can feel energised and work better.   Guests: Professor Julie Bernhardt, Florey Institute of Neuroscience & Mental Health Professor Jeff Hancock, Stanford University

Do you feel exhausted after being on Zoom? You’re not alone. Thanks to COVID-19, we’ve been on Zoom more than ever. From our day-to-day work to meetings and after-work social catch ups, our time spent video conferencing seems endless and it’s tiring us out. Studies have shown that our brains are in overload during these video meetings, and that’s leading us to feel emotionally and motivationally exhausted. We’ve asked the experts what exactly is going on in our heads when we’re in an online meeting and how we can reduce and prevent fatigue so we can feel energised and work better.   Guests: Professor Julie Bernhardt, Florey Institute of Neuroscience & Mental Health Professor Jeff Hancock, Stanford University

If we confront our regrets and use them as signals, they're a powerful force for working smarter and living better. That’s according to New York Times best-selling author Daniel Pink. He’s collected the regrets of thousands of people around the world and discovered what connects us in our regrets, and how we can use them to live and work better. So let go of any shame around your regrets, and learn how to harness their power. Guest: Daniel Pink, New York Times bestselling author, most recently The Power of Regret.   With appearances from people who proudly have regrets: Dr Tim Sharp, Chief Happiness Officer, The Happiness Institute Ginger Gorman, Award-winning print and radio journalist Mark Brandi, Author Janelle Delaney, Partner at IBM Amanda Rose, Founder of Western Sydney Women, #bosslady Juliet Bourke, Author and Adjunct Professor UNSW Business School

If we confront our regrets and use them as signals, they're a powerful force for working smarter and living better. That’s according to New York Times best-selling author Daniel Pink. He’s collected the regrets of thousands of people around the world and discovered what connects us in our regrets, and how we can use them to live and work better. So let go of any shame around your regrets, and learn how to harness their power. Guest: Daniel Pink, New York Times bestselling author, most recently The Power of Regret.   With appearances from people who proudly have regrets: Dr Tim Sharp, Chief Happiness Officer, The Happiness Institute Ginger Gorman, Award-winning print and radio journalist Mark Brandi, Author Janelle Delaney, Partner at IBM Amanda Rose, Founder of Western Sydney Women, #bosslady Juliet Bourke, Author and Adjunct Professor UNSW Business School

Forget what you think you know about motivation. We’ve done the work for you and found some science-based motivation hacks, so you can get the job done and actually enjoy it. We bust some myths and find out what really motivates us - from incentives, to mindsets and increased empathy.

Resolutions don't work. Set goals the right way. For us to really commit to a goal and achieve it, we should ensure we’re making a ‘worthy’ goal. That’s according to author Michael Bungay Stanier who, in his new book How To Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters, gives us nine steps to help us find our worthy goal, commit to it and just begin.   Guest: Michael Bungay Stanier, Author of The Coaching Habit and How to Begin.

Let's kickstart this 2022 working life with a few transformative ideas.

Beauty industry entrepreneur Kate Morris has given her imposter syndrome's voice in her head a name: "That's just Kevin, you can zip it Kevin," she laughs. And she gets on with her day. And she's not alone. Researchers have found around 70 per cent of us feel like an imposter some of the time at work (...and let’s face it the other 30 per cent are probably lying).  So since these feelings are so common, we've decided it's time we gave this ‘syndrome’ a rebrand and learned how use it to help, not hinder, our careers. (This program was first broadcast on Monday June 28, 2021.)

Stay curious, find comfort in being wrong and create a "challenge circle" of people who actively challenge your beliefs - these are all steps towards knowing what you don't know according to Adam Grant.

Changing careers isn’t easy - overcoming inertia is hard and knowing where to start can seem really difficult. Career coach Kate Richardson debunks some myths and steps us through the process. We also meet some brave souls who’ve pulled it off including criminologist turned crime writer Mark Brandi, former lawyer now psychiatrist-in-training Nicca Grant and Monique Ross who left a 12-year career in digital media to follow her passion and become a forest therapy guide. (This program was first broadcast on Monday August 9, 2021.) Producer: Maria Tickle

Owen Eastwood shares how the Maori principle of whakapapa has helped create dynamic, inclusive cultures in some of the world's most diverse elite teams, including the England Football team for the past five years. (This program was first broadcast on Monday 12 July 2021.) Producer: Maria Tickle

Do more of what matters without burning out. In Effortless Greg McKeown implores us to move away from the cult of busy and overwork.  He argues to achieve breakthrough results, we need to save our energy by inverting the question “How can I work harder?” to become “How can I make this easier?” (This program was first broadcast on Monday 19 July 2021.) Producer: Maria Tickle

How do you turn a hobby into a career?

How do you avoid the stress and burnout from too much collaboration?

How reliable is that research data you are collecting and analysing?

How reliable is that research data you are collecting and analysing?

How might we individualise our work environment to optimise our performance

Board members play a pivotal role in influencing the culture of their organisations. 

What role do your organs and the inner workings of your body play when you're making decisions?

Are you willing to recognise that a different way of thinking is required when you're stuck in a rut?

How do you prove yourself or foster trust when you're seen as just the tech savvy junior or if you haven't worked for an organisation for very long?

Not everyone wants to stop working when they reach retirement age.

How do we tap into our inner captain to better lead ourselves and others in times of crisis?

From finding love to making the incredibly weighty call to lockdown a city, when you put yourself out there and accept a secondment, you never know where it might lead. And if you have a hunger to learn on the job, there is no faster way. GUESTS: Professor Allen Cheng, former Victorian Deputy Chief Health Officer, director of infection prevention at Alfred Health Dr Amanda Lizier, workplace and professional learning lecturer and researcher, University of Technology, Sydney Kearyn Klue, operational performance consultant on secondment in gas industry James Law, chief people officer at Estimate One

Women at the top of their game share their stories about the good, the bad and the ugly of power in the workplace. And to you blokes out there, this isn't a "stacks on men", it's really worth a listen. (Hear part one from last week about why power makes you more likely to cheat, steal, talk over people and swear at work here.) GUESTS Laura, former analyst turned entrepreneur Juliet Bourke, adjunct professor at UNSW Business School Kate Jenkins, Sex Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission. Zoe Routh, leadership expert and trainer and author of People Stuff Producer: Maria Tickle (This program was first broadcast on February 15, 2021.)

The cliche of bright red lipstick and shoulder pads as symbols of power for women went out of style in the 80s, thank goodness. But who gets power at work today and why? And what do you need to do to keep it? Social psychologist Professor Dacher Keltner, from the University of California, Berkley has studied power for 25 years. He has found the Machiavellian approach to power (force, deception, manipulation) is not what keeps you in power. Neither does red lipstick. We also hear from Chief People Officer, Estimate One, James Law and executive coach Cassandra Goodman. (This program was first broadcast on Mon 8 Feb 2021.) Producer: Maria Tickle

Thinking of quitting your job? Join the club! The COVID pandemic has led to what’s being dubbed The Great Resignation in the US. And apparently this seismic shift in the workforce is about to hit our shores, especially in the tech industry. Aaron McEwan from global research and advisory firm Gartner shares industry trends and what organisations need to do to head it off at the pass. With stories from Anna Burgess Yang, Chicago-based content marketing manager; Cathy, Australian start up founder; and Deb Mavric, community innovation director, Culture Amp Producer: Maria Tickle

Australians are constantly told the only way out of rolling lockdowns is vaccination. So why aren't most workplaces mandating COVID-19 jabs so everyone get back to business? We dig into tricky legal, ethical and practical issues with workplace relations lawyer Michael Byrnes (partner at Sydney firm Swaab) and infectious diseases social scientist Dr Holly Seale (UNSW). Producer: Maria Tickle

Does your inbox make you miserable? Is the constant barrage of back and forth emails stopping you from doing deeper, more focussed work you actually need to do? You are not alone. According to Cal Newport, on average, email interrupts knowledge workers work every six minutes. There is an alternative. Cal walks us through why our relationship with email is dysfunctional and how to break up with it. Cal's book: A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in the Age of Overload Producer: Maria Tickle

On the verge of burnout or feeling disconnected from your workmates? Don't underestimate the power of working music into your workflows and even meetings. Psychologist and classical musician Greta Bradman explains how our brains respond to music and runs through research-backed ways we can use music to connect, help focus and manage stress. Greta consults on culture with organisations across technology and creative industries. She also hosts ABC Classic weekend mornings. Hear the playlists from her series Music For Wellbeing. Producer: Maria Tickle

What do psychometric tests, workers comp and Sydney bin chickens have in common? Well they can be all in a day’s work for human resources professionals. But their responsibilities and place in the company is rapidly changing in organisations today. Jacqui Curtis is chief operating officer of the Australian Tax Office and is also in charge of this change in HR for the Australian Public Service. Jacqui explains why HR must have a seat at the boardroom table and how AI and data analytics can help the people management. Producer: Maria Tickle Illustrator: Tatum Kenna

Changing careers isn’t easy - overcoming inertia is hard and knowing where to start can seem really difficult. Career coach Kate Richardson debunks some myths and steps us through the process. We also meet some brave souls who’ve pulled it off including criminologist turned crime writer Mark Brandi, former lawyer now psychiatrist-in-training Nicca Grant and Monique Ross who left a 12-year career in digital media to follow her passion and become a forest therapy guide. Producer: Maria Tickle

Routines and rituals boost productivity and wellbeing - but how? We explore why we need routines and rituals, how to create your own and how they can improve your work ethic, output and satisfaction. (This show was first broadcast on Radio National July 20, 2020.) GUESTS: Dr Sean O’Connor, Director of Sydney University’s Coaching Psychology Unit Casper ter Kuile, Harvard Divinity School fellow and author of The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices With thanks to:  Kate Christie, time management expert Steph Clarke, podcaster Susie Hopkins, TWL listener Producer: Zoe Ferguson

Are you feeling absolutely exhausted at work right now? What you are feeling may be uncertainty fatigue. For ideas on how to work through the overwhelming and heavy feelings that come with yet another lockdown, psychologist Dr Shanta Dey from the University of Sydney Business School and leadership expert and coach Julia Steel share what they’ve learned through the COVID chaos. Producer: Maria Tickle Researcher: Kara Jensen-McKinnon

Do more of what matters without burning out. In Effortless Greg McKeown implores us to move away from the cult of busy and overwork.  He argues to achieve breakthrough results, we need to save our energy by inverting the question “How can I work harder?” to become “How can I make this easier?” Producer: Maria Tickle

Owen Eastwood shares how the Maori principle of whakapapa has helped create dynamic, inclusive cultures in some of the world's most diverse elite teams, including the England Football team for the past five years. Producer: Maria Tickle

What getting sacked taught former journalist Andrea Clarke about future proofing her career and the the pros and cons of a career break.

Beauty industry entrepreneur Kate Morris has given her imposter syndrome's voice in her head a name: "That's just Kevin, you can zip it Kevin," she laughs. And she gets on with her day. And she's not alone. Researchers have found around 70 per cent of us feel like an imposter some of the time at work (...and let’s face it the other 30 per cent are probably lying).  So since these feelings are so common, we've decided it's time we gave this ‘syndrome’ a rebrand and learned how use it to help, not hinder, our careers.