Honest conversations about the psychology of modern work culture
The annual performance review sat on my calendar like a flashing hazard sign. I had stared at the form enough times to know exactly what it said. Meets Expectations. Exceeds Expectations. Needs Improvement. The script never changed, but every year, my stomach still tightened. Six years in, I knew the drill. I worked at a …
When leadership announced my promotion to principal technical architect, my colleagues applauded. Six people stopped by my office with congratulations. The CFO called me the “perfect culture fit.” Nine months later, HR called me into a conference room and slid a severance package across the table. Organizational restructuring. My working style no longer aligned with …
Diane had a way of making even a casual coffee meeting feel like a battlefield strategy session. The espresso machine hissed behind us as she dissected my latest career mistake. I’d shown empathy to a struggling team member, offered flexibility when she was going through a divorce. “Never expose yourself like that,” Diane said, stirring …
Claire had mastered the art of not caring. For a while, I mistook that for power. Corporate America loves a woman who never cries. A leader who fires employees with a steady voice, delivers bad news without flinching, moves through crisis with mechanical precision. When my manager introduced me to Claire in 2019, she presented …
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 …