Do you expect and hope that you’ll have more time for yourself and for your career as your kids become teens and young adults? Amy G did. However, she didn’t fully anticipate the emotional intensity of being a working mom of a teenager. Responding to seemingly urgent texts, keeping track of an ever-changing after-school schedule, and being an on-call problem-solver would affect anyone’s ability to focus, including hers.

There’s little research on or conversation about this phase of working motherhood, and Amy wants to help other working moms not not only get through it but enjoy it as much as possible.

She’s joined by Babson College professor Danna Greenberg, who’s the co-author of Maternal Optimism and a mother of three twenty-somethings. Amy and Danna talk though questions like, How do I recover my focus after my kid calls to unload? How might I counter people’s judgy comments about how involved (or not) I am in my teen’s life? How can I avoid becoming my kid’s de facto boss?

Guest expert:

Danna Greenberg is a professor of organizational behavior at Babson College and the co-author of the book Maternal Optimism: Forging Positive Paths through Work and Motherhood.

Resources:

• “The Upside of Working Motherhood,” from Women at Work
• “How Being a Working Parent Changes as Children Grow Up,” by Danna Greenberg and Jamie Ladge
• “How Working Parents Can Manage the Demands of School-Age Kids,” by Daisy Dowling
• The HBR Working Parents Series Collection, by Harvard Business Review

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How much are you using ChatGPT or Claude or one of the other LLMs in your job? Have you, like the Amys, largely avoided it because you haven’t been impressed with what you’ve seen it do? Or you haven’t thought of a compelling use case? Or maybe you feel professionally threatened?

The Amys have gone from being skeptical dabblers to skeptical enthusiasts. Why? They heard several listeners describe how they’ve gotten surprisingly good results, not to mention mental relief, greater agency at work, and imaginative business leads.

If you haven’t yet tried your hand at GenAI, we hope these power users, along with our guest expert, data journalist Alexandra Samuel, inspire you to finally do that; and if you’re already using the technology, that you come away with new ideas.

Guest expert:

Alexandra Samuel is a tech speaker and data journalist who creates data-driven reports and workshops for companies around the world.

Resources:

• “How the Next Generation of Managers Is Using Gen AI,” by Gabriele Rosani and Elisa Farri
• “Using ChatGPT to Make Better Decisions,” by Thomas Ramge and Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
• “The AI Skills You Should Be Building Now,” from the HBR IdeaCast
• “A Toolkit to Help You Manage Uncertainty Around AI,” by Oguz A. Acar and Bob Bastian
• “Embracing Gen AI at Work,” by H. James Wilson and Paul R. Daugherty

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Worrying is a fact of life; it comes and goes—usually. But what do you do when it doesn’t go away? And starts to disrupt your work? Women are twice as likely as men to develop an anxiety disorder, which can show up as physical symptoms like dizziness and nausea and as mental symptoms like repetitive and catastrophic thinking. If you’ve been worried for a while, wondering if you should see a therapist, take time off, tell your boss, or even quit your job, clinical psychologist Michelle Drapkin has advice.

She and the Amys discuss the differences between run-of-the-mill anxiety and a disorder. They also get into practical advice, like how to keep yourself from spiraling after a mistake, what to say when you wake up too anxious to do your job that day, and how managers can sensitively approach an employee who appears to need help.

Guest:

Michelle Drapkin is a clinical psychologist and behavioral scientist who specializes in anxiety and panic disorders.

Resources:

• “Women @ Work 2024: A Global Outlook,” from Deloitte
• “How High Achievers Overcome Their Anxiety,” by Morra Aarons-Mele
• “Managing Anxiety When There’s No Room for Error,” by Alice Boyes
• “How to Talk About Your Mental Health with Your Employer,” by Kelly Greenwood

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When you’ve gone after something you want, like a promotion or less boring work, did you follow the typical advice to lean hard into your confident, forceful side? When you’re interacting with people at work, how often do you find yourself deflecting praise, downplaying your accomplishments, or responding “busy!” when someone asks how you’re doing? We often make a tradeoff between being likable and being strong, but is it possible to be both assertive and warm?

Alison Fragale, a professor of organizational behavior, says yes. She argues that women can—and should—embrace warmth and assertiveness to build respect, elevate their status, and gain power. Alison shares practical ways to show up as strong and personable and offers advice on how to approach negotiations, networking, and other everyday interactions, including your out-of-office message.

Guest:

Alison Fragale is a professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina’s business school. She’s the author of the book Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve.

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How would having a woman in the most powerful position in the United States affect how Americans perceive women as leaders? What changes have resulted from this type of representation in other countries, like Pakistan, Brazil, and New Zealand?

Political scientist Farida Jalalzai and organizational psychologist Laura Morgan Roberts unpack the symbolic and practical effects of having a woman in a top leadership position. They explore how Kamala Harris’s potential presidency could challenge and shift our notions of leadership and change the way that women understand what’s possible for themselves. They also dive into the realities Harris might face if elected—like juggling high expectations and navigating the complexities of representation.

Guests:

Farida Jalalzai is a political scientist and professor at Virginia Tech.

Laura Morgan Roberts is an organizational psychologist and professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

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We’re back with another season! How are women using GenAI to transform their work? What can we learn from the listeners who identify as “AI power users” about how to boost our productivity, creativity, and confidence?  Why is working while parenting a teenager so much harder than Amy Gallo expected, and how can she and other moms navigate this emotionally demanding phase of motherhood? If you’re mid-career and thinking about switching industries, what should you know before making the leap?

These questions are at the heart of some of the conversations the Amys are having this season. As always, they’ll bring you expertise, stories, and advice.

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Do you know how your company’s DEI efforts are going? What data does your company collect  to track and shape these efforts?

In this episode, DEI strategist and consultant Lily Zheng explains why data-driven efforts are everything. The way people make lasting progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion is to measure outcomes.

During this year’s Women at Work Live event, DEI strategist Lily explained the opportunities that data can create for DEI. They give examples from different companies, including one that was able to discern where exactly their recruiting efforts became inequitable and how the company fixed it. Lily also has advice for making a difference with data even when your company is tiny or you’re starting from scratch or there’s no budget.

Guest experts:

Lily Zheng is a diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist, consultant, and speaker who works with organizations to achieve the DEI impact and outcomes they need. They are the author of DEI Deconstructed: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Doing the Work and Doing it Right.

Resources:

• “What Needs to Change About DEI — and What Doesn’t,” by Lily Zheng
• “To Make Lasting Progress on DEI, Measure Outcomes,” by Lily Zheng
• “The Failure of the DEI-Industrial Complex,” by Lily Zheng
• “To Avoid DEI Backlash, Focus on Changing Systems — Not People,” by Lily Zheng
• “To Build a DEI Program That Works, You Need Metrics,” by Joan C. Williams et al.
• “How to Push for Policy Changes at Your Company,” from Women at Work

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No matter how ambitious and talented you are, rising up and out of mid-level management can be slow going for reasons beyond your control. Maybe it’s because your company doesn’t have a business need—or budget—to upgrade your job title and salary from senior to executive. Or maybe it’s because the person in the position you want has been there forever—and has no plans to leave any time soon.

Still, there are plenty of factors that you can control, and Amy B and her three guests cover them in this episode. Leadership development coach Cynthia Pong first validates the challenges of scoring a position that’s scarce. Then, Lauren Reyes and Megan Bock, both COOs whose careers stagnated in mid-level management before accelerating again, recount the conversations, decisions, and networking that jump-started them.

Guest experts:

Cynthia Pong is the CEO of Embrace Change, a leadership development and executive coaching consultancy.

Megan Bock is the COO of Federato, a company that uses machine learning to assess risk. 

Lauren Reyes is the COO of the YMCA of Greater Boston.

Resources:

• “How to Beat Mid-Career Malaise,” by Rebecca Knight
• “Overcoming Self-Doubt in the Face of a Big Promotion,” by Evelyn Hsu and Sabina Nawaz
• You, the Leader, from the Women at Work Series
• “Research: How Women Can Build High-Status Networks,” by Carla Rua-Gomez et al.
• “Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership,” by Alice Eagly and Linda L. Carli

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Think back to the last time you pitched an idea to upper management on how to change the way your company does business. Perhaps you proposed an improvement to an existing process, a new technology that would help things run smoother, or a different market you all could break into. How’d that go over?

As a mid-level manager, your involvement in day-to-day operations positions you to propose change that’s innovative and achievable. Amy B and her two guests, Sue Ashford and Ellen Bailey, give suggestions for framing those ideas so that executives buy into them. They’ll talk about the research findings they keep in mind, questions they ask themselves and others when vetting something, and what they learned from the times they missed the mark.

Guest experts:

Sue Ashford is a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. 

Ellen Bailey is the vice president of business and culture transformation at Harvard Business Publishing.

Resources:

• “Middle Managers Should Drive Your Business Transformation,” by Michael Mankins and Patrick Litre
• “Do You Understand the Problem You’re Trying to Solve?” from HBR on Leadership
• “Get the Boss to Buy In,” by Susan (Sue) Ashford and James R. Detert
• HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, by Ray Sheen and Amy Gallo
• “How to Push for Policy Changes at Your Company,” from Women at Work
• “The Essentials: Persuading People,” from Women at Work

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Your company’s executive team has just announced their new master plan for growing the business. Now it’s your job, as a mid-level manager, to put it into practice. Deep breath. Apart from the inevitable interpersonal and operational drama that change management causes, this is an opportunity to show that you know your stuff.

Strategist Andrea Belk Olson spells out how to make the most of a plan that you may or may not agree with and that you may or may not have had any input into. She suggests important questions to ask yourself before taking action, ways to handle resistance from people you manage, what to do when the plan isn’t working well, and points to include in progress updates.

Then, Amy B and two of her colleagues, Jennifer Long and Gabriella Spatolisano, chat about how they’ve handled skepticism and spoken up about their reservations when leading change initiatives in the past.

Guest expert:

Andrea Belk Olson is a differentiation strategist, speaker, author, and customer-centricity expert.

Resources:

• “Why Isn’t Your Strategy Sticking?” by Andrea Belk Olson
• “3 Reasons Why Every Department Needs Its Own Strategy,” by Andrea Belk Olson
• “Getting Employee Buy-In for Organizational Change,” by Andrea Belk Olson
• “4 Common Reasons Strategies Fail,” by Andrea Belk Olson
• HBR Guides to Building Your Strategic Skills Collection, by Harvard Business Review

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Before you became a mid-level manager, you were probably doing some individual contributor work: designing, producing, or selling something. Now your workday is likely focused on people and project management, including ensuring that everyone and everything is fulfilling a vision. Filling this more strategic role can feel  uncomfortably abstract, making you want familiar and tangible tasks—to meddle in what used to be your business.

Amy B and her three guests have been there, and they’re here to offer advice on how to let go of your previous tasks and mindset so you don’t fall into micromanaging. Instead, they say, why not set clearer expectations, increase your team’s skills, and create a culture of accountability? They’ll share what they’ve said and done to get those results—and how loosening their grip ended up serving them well and offering relief.

Guest expert:

Lia Garvin runs a consulting business that advises companies on team operations, which was her specialty when she previously worked at Google. She’s the author of The Unstoppable Team and Unstuck.

Resources:

• “How to Stop Micromanaging and Start Empowering,” by Lia Garvin
• “How to Get Involved Without Micromanaging People,” by Linda Hill and Kent Lineback
• “A Guide for New Middle Managers,” by Gloria St. Martin-Lowry
• HBR’s 10 Must Reads for Mid-Level Managers, by Harvard Business Review

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