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 …
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 …
The workplace demands more than just labor — it demands performance. “What are your weekend plans, Corinne?” 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 …
People are staring at me. I’m sitting at LAX Gate 12 after a week-long vacation. I can’t stop crying. My flight home leaves in an hour and I’m overcome with sadness. As the tears fall down my face, a woman with kind eyes sits beside me and asks, “Are you okay?” I consider saying something …
“You’re right, but it doesn’t matter,” my sister Helene said. This was her response after I shared about my refusal to comply with a background check request. The company I worked for ran one when I was hired. A client wanted to run their own. I said no. “What do you mean?” I asked. “You’re …
Insomnia has never been convenient. At 2:13 AM in a Las Vegas hotel, it became unexpectedly enlightening. Pacing the carpeted corridor of the 23rd floor, I crossed paths with my colleague Sarah exiting our boss David’s room. She wore yesterday’s conference attire, hair disheveled, heels in hand. Our eyes met briefly before she hurried toward …