Honest conversations about the psychology of modern work culture
The fastest way to learn a company’s true culture is to tell the truth in an exit interview. I learned this lesson in a glass-walled office, watching an HR representative’s pen race across her company-branded notebook, transforming my candid feedback into something I would barely recognize. Promises and pretense Eight weeks earlier, I’d bounded through …
I didn’t set out to become the office weirdo who ate lunch in their car, but corporate survival sometimes means finding a place to hide. A silver Honda became my lunchtime sanctuary in 2004, complete with crumbs between the seats and a view of the sprawling suburban office park. The decision stemmed from pure survival …
Work made me a better mother, though no one wanted to hear it. “Don’t you miss them terribly?” The question came from a colleague at a business lunch, her voice thick with judgment. I should have lied, should have manufactured the expected tears of maternal separation. A better mother would have, wouldn’t she? Instead, I …
Some meetings exist only to prove they happened. I recognized the exact moment my meeting with the company’s chief technology officer shifted from possibility to performance. His eyes glazed over at my proposal like I’d just started reading him the tax code. His thumb flicked up lazily on his phone. A barely contained sigh. A …
A young mother sits across from me, dark circles betraying her exhaustion. She absently bounces an invisible baby—a muscle memory from months of soothing her colicky infant. Between halting descriptions of overwhelm and doubt, she asks the question I’ve learned to anticipate: “Do you have children?” The words hang in the air. A familiar tightening …
The workplace demands more than just labor — it demands performance. “What are your weekend plans, Victoria?” my manager asked, coffee mug in hand. Her smile carried the expectation of enthusiastic sharing, of keeping up our daily performance of workplace intimacy. I had played this scene before. The script called for something upbeat — maybe …