In today’s Ask a Manager podcast, I talked to someone who’s worried her tone sounds mean. Here’s the letter: I really appreciated your episode about tone and I was just listening to it again today because I’ve realized that *I* am the coworker who is too direct and makes people feel defensive. This problem has […]

A while back, I encouraged people to record shorter questions for the Ask a Manager podcast on the show voicemail — questions that wouldn’t take a whole show to answer. I ended up receiving so many of them that we’re moving the show to two episodes a week. Starting today, you’ll be able to listen […]

This week on the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked to an intern who’s worried that she might be the annoying intern in her office. Here’s the letter: I have been an intern with a small government agency for a month. I personally love the mission and work of this agency beyond words, and have […]

This week on the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked to a guest who has too much downtime at work. Here’s the letter: I have never had a job without significant downtime. I make myself available for new assignments and readily volunteer to take on work from stressed colleagues. The problem is that there’s just […]

This week on the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked to a guest whose boss yells — and is making things quite unpleasant. Here’s the letter: My boss can get worked up when things are not going according to plan and will often end up yelling for minutes on end. This usually happens in group […]

This week on the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked to a guest who doesn’t take feedback well. Here’s the letter: I would love to talk more about accepting negative feedback or just criticism in general. I’m finishing my PhD in chemistry and am currently interviewing for jobs. I have gotten feedback a few times […]

This week on the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked to a guest who struggles with worries that she’s not good enough at her job — and it can affect the way she deals with coworkers. Here’s the letter: I work as a chef and am currently four months in to a new job at a […]

Emotions and work are a weird thing. Part of being professional is keeping your emotions in check – but that doesn’t mean that you magically stop having them. This week on the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked to a guest who’s worried that she has a habit of emotional outbursts at work — and […]

On today’s episode of the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked with Suzanne Lucas of Evil HR Lady, which was a major inspiration for me in starting Ask a Manager a decade ago. We talked about Suzanne’s goal of demystifying HR for people, some of the weird misconceptions people have about HR, how to know if your […]

This week on the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked to a guest whose assistant mothers her in a way she’s uncomfortable with — and some gender dynamics are making it weirder. Here’s the letter: I am a young(ish) female who works in a department with two slightly older men and one female administrative assistant. The […]