How do you know how diverse your company?s workforce is, how equitable its processes are, and how included people feel if nobody is using any metrics? DEI strategist Lily Zheng explains the power of data to track a company?s progress, fix unfairness, and hold people to their promises. They have advice for measuring and improving diversity, equity, and inclusion even when you don?t have a budget or you?re starting from scratch.

Is mid-level management a stone you?re ready to step off of? Making that move is difficult but doable, and Amy B and her three guests will direct, inspire, and reassure you. An executive coach validates the challenges of scoring a position that?s scarce. Then, two COOs whose careers stagnated in mid-level management before accelerating again, recount the conversations, decisions, and networking that jump-started them.

As a mid-level manager, when you spot an opportunity for the business to adopt a new technology, enter a different market, or improve a process, how should you approach the people above you so that they listen to your idea and act on it? Executives have a reputation for dismissing suggestions that aren?t theirs. Amy B and her two guests, Sue Ashford and Ellen Bailey, suggest ways to frame the issue, involve others, and manage emotions so that your idea comes to fruition.

Strategist Andrea Belk Olson spells out how to make the most of the latest corporate master plan that?s now your job to put into action. She suggests important questions to ask yourself before hitting the ground running, ways to handle resistance from team members, what to do when the plan isn?t working well, and points to include in progress updates.

What?s the happy middle between micromanaging and being too hands off? Amy B and three other experienced mid-level managers describe how they think about when to intervene and when not to so that they are empowering their teams and freeing up their own minds to do more of their most strategic work.

Register for a lively four hours with the Amys, their guest experts, and fellow fans of the show. Dorie Clark will talk about working with the ambition you?ve got right now; Ruchi Sinha building teams? trust in you as a leader and in one another; and Lily Zheng, on where we are now with DEI and where they?d like to see organizations go from here. We?ll end with an advice hour, where Amy B and Amy G answer audience questions about leading a team, dealing with conflict, negotiating, or whatever else comes through the chat.

If you?re in a leadership role, or any role where you are outspoken and visible, chances are that at some point people are going to criticize you, sometimes fiercely, sometimes publicly. Are you ready for that? Two women who?ve felt the heat because of decisions they?ve made or arguments they?ve put forward?or simply because of who they are?reflect on the ways they?ve steeled themselves and dealt with the fallout. Listening to them recount how they responded to fierce criticism will hopefully help you think about how you might respond, both when you see it coming and when you don?t.

We all need to set boundaries, even in the most structured jobs, because work has its way of encroaching on the rest of our life. Ashley, a senior analyst for the federal government, recently shifted to a schedule that helps her do her most important work and have some alone time before her family gets home. Now she?s trying to figure out how to further minimize interruptions, deal with slow and busy stretches, and get out of unproductive meetings. Amy G and executive coach Melody Wilding talk through adjustments Ashley can make and things she can say to achieve those goals. They also offer strategies for how to communicate your new limits with colleagues and how to hold the line when your boundaries inevitably get tested.

Trust smooths the way for collaboration, conflict resolution, and influencing. But how do you build this asset? And how do you repair it when you?ve missed a series of important deadlines or otherwise messed up? Organizational psychologist Ruchi Sinha talks with a listener who?s struggling to restore skeptics? confidence in her and her team. Ruchi shares the three elements of trust and how to convey each one. She also offers advice on what to do if you?ve failed to acknowledge a broken promise and how to communicate practically when confidentiality prevents you from being totally transparent.

Executive presence is a mix of gravitas, communication skills, and appearance. But what does that look and sound like in practice? To help a fully remote insurance underwriter think through ways she can act like a leader, we bring in a role model of hers and an expert in strategic communication.

Is there any way to know for sure whether something that someone did?or neglected to do?is rooted in sexism? When is confronting that person worth it? And if you?ll never know what drove their actions, how do you make peace with the uncertainty? Amy G talks through these questions with two professors who study perceptions and gender stereotypes.

It?s a question that so many of us are grappling with. Should I quit corporate life and pursue my passion project? Today in this episode from our colleagues at New Here?HBR's podcast for young professionals?we?ll help you think through the possibilities and trade-offs, as we learn from one woman?s experiences leaving corporate life to build her own business. You?ll learn which of her fears were warranted, how she battled loneliness, managed her money, and whether or not she is actually happier working for herself.

Eight women who?ve been on boards share how they landed a seat, gained confidence in the role, and found unexpected personal and professional benefits in the work. We hope their perspectives and advice will encourage you to consider trying it yourself some day. Ellen Zane, who runs a Harvard workshop for women interested in board work, gives further insight based on her deep experience as a director for nonprofits and private and public companies.

What if one of your first assignments at a new job was to fire people? What should you do if the person leading a project you?re on isn?t giving clear direction, demands that you work nights and weekends, bristles at your feedback?and leadership tells you to fall in line? These are two of the five situations that Amy B and Amy G talk through in this episode. They offer advice to the women who wrote in with their questions, with the hope that it will help them and anyone who?s been in a similar situation, or might be one unfortunate day.

Liz Fosslien believes ?the future of work is emotional.? The Amys revisit our 2020 conversation with her and fellow organizational consultant Mollie West Duffy about the good that can come from being vulnerable with colleagues, and Fosslien returns to reassess where the line between vulnerability and oversharing is today.

If you plan to get married, do you see yourself keeping or changing your last name? How much, if at all, does your career factor into that decision? Our associate producer, who?s engaged, spoke with three recently married women about the professional considerations that factored into their decisions. Hannah and the Amys then join former co-host Nicole Torres to discuss how their names are connected to their personal brands.

Two women who have ADHD?one?s a psychologist and the other a life coach?describe what the disorder is and how it messes with the brain?s executive functions, like inhibition and emotional regulation. They give advice for managing the symptoms, asking for help at work, and what to do if what we?re talking about sounds an awful lot like your life.

Meredith Koch and Nicole Bettè are engineers who?ve bonded over conversations about their apparent and non-apparent disabilities. They recount how at different moments in their careers they?ve gotten the understanding and assistive technology necessary to do their jobs?and when they haven?t, all with the hope that you?ll be able to better advocate for yourself and your colleagues.

The Amys and their former co-host Sarah Green Carmichael revisit times they majorly messed up, in hopes that you?ll feel better about your experiences with failure. We?re not talking about honest mistakes with simple solutions; we?re talking about larger problems that were difficult and costly to correct. They share what happened, how they recovered, and what they learned.

In this ninth season of the show, these are some of the big questions they?ll explore: How do you recover from a failure? What?s it really like to serve on a board? Do our careers influence the decision to keep or change our last name? How does going through a divorce affect us at work? If we have a disability, how can we get the understanding and assistive technology we need to do our job? Amy G and Amy B will talk with women who?ve been there, bringing in advice, stories, and expertise.

When you see potential for your company to improve in some way?whether it?s to overhaul an outdated policy, round out benefits, or to make jobs more workable, how can you instigate change? Three women who saw that potential and carried it through describe what they did at their companies, the results so far, and how you can follow their lead.

Leadership development coach Muriel Wilkins talks us through communication techniques that meet you where you?re at mentally and emotionally so that you can rise to the moment (even when you?re worried you can?t).

Who are you now, who do you want to be, and how can you stretch without taking on too much? Jen Dary regularly coaches first-time managers on these questions. She shares advice for finding yourself anew at work, dealing with disillusionment, and setting priorities and boundaries. Then, a former guest who?s one year into leading a major project tells us about her aha moments. Finally, Kelsey answers the question of whether or not she?s ready to try management again.

When you manage people, they ask you for things: to extend a deadline, to make an exception, to give them a raise or more resources. Maybe they don?t even have to ask; you notice the need and start thinking about how to meet it. Negotiations professor Martha Jeong explains the mindset, framing, timing, and tone that?ll position you to get the most mutually beneficial solution.

People management consists of a fair amount of mediation and diplomacy, and you can?t expect to get the hang of it right away. You?re in the middle of a lot now, and holding tension and resolving disagreements takes planning, practice, and restraint. Amy G teaches us about different types of conflict, natural tendencies, and options for responding.

If you?re a woman who?s a new manager, people will probably push back on your authority. As difficult as defiance is to face?especially when you?re settling in yourself?we have ideas for making it clear that you?re in charge. McKinsey?s Lareina Yee recounts the actions that senior leaders took that affirmed her position. Kelsey reflects on the disrespect she felt as a first-time manager, as well as her discomfort with power, and Amy B helps her make sense of those experiences and feelings. If you manage a woman who?s a new manager, this episode is for you too!

Are you a new manager? You may have some?er, a lot?of questions. How do you gain your employees? trust and respect? How should you handle the inevitable conflicts that come up? And how much power do you actually have, and how do you use it for good? In this special series, we?ll address these questions and many others?including any you send our way.

We?ve planned a half-day of learning, guidance, and inspiration?all virtual. Here?s the session lineup, hour by hour: 1) Communicating effectively when you?re running on empty, 2) Lessons from women making work better for women, 3) The latest gender research and what it means for you, and 4) Ask the Amys. Register here.

A dentist joins Amy Gallo to ask a behavioral scientist about the fundamentals of sound decision making: when to use a process, how to handle resistance to a call you?ve made, and making peace with a tough call.

We need actionable, useful feedback to grow and advance professionally. But our guest, an aerospace engineer, hasn?t received any of that for years, and she feels like she?s missing out on information that would clarify her standing at her company and secure her future success there. We bring in Ella Bell, an expert on interpersonal communication and organizational behavior, to offer advice, including suggestions on how to respond to, make sense of, and act on feedback you receive.

What?s a project charter? Why does this one person keep trying to derail our progress? Are our planning meetings effective? How do I actually get people to follow through? Figuring out how to successfully manage a project can make any professional?s head spin. One woman, new to this type of work, shares the challenges she?s already facing, including uncertainty, interpersonal conflict, and lack of responsiveness from the team. And an experienced project manager shares tips for motivating and influencing others, communicating effectively, and solving problems.

Everyone at work has their own priorities, concerns, and agendas, and knowing what those are allows us to navigate meetings and projects more deliberately and successfully. Organizational psychologist Madeleine Wyatt explains the interrelated skills that enable us to influence others, in conversation with a transportation planner who?s trying to figure out how to maneuver her way up in an often-exclusionary, male-dominated industry.

Former co-hosts Sarah, Nicole, and Emily reunite with the Amys to talk through the insights and advice that most resonated with them from this season, from how they gained their team?s trust as a first-time manager to how they?re now thinking about retirement. They also share how they?ve been doing since they left the show and HBR.

Want to modernize a program or enact a policy that would benefit women in your workplace, but don?t know where to begin? Learn how to build a grassroots initiative, no matter your job title. Two experts in systemic, organizational change explain the many different roles critical to sustaining a movement. They also share tried-and-true ways to keep everyone invested in the cause, aligned, and on track.

Tending to a child?s mental health challenge is a critical job that deserves support from employers. Many parents, however, aren?t getting the understanding, flexibility, and paid time off they need. What can we do to make work more manageable for parents struggling to keep their children safe and well while trying to keep up at work? The executive director of a children?s mental health advocacy group shares ideas and advice.

The people we love have a great influence on our professional success. But when?s the last time you and your partner checked in about each other?s priorities and needs? Jennifer Petriglieri, an expert on dual-career couples, advises one woman on how to get out of the relationship traps she and her husband have fallen into as the parents of young children, and offers practical tips for how she can have more productive conversations with her partner to realize her career ambitions.

Two women who have studied weight bias at work help us understand the ways larger-bodied employees are stigmatized, as well as our role in reducing the stigma and creating a positive body culture.

Once you?re ready to retire, you?ll need a plan for how to spend your time. And once your job title is gone, you?ll need to figure out who you are now, not to mention what brings you joy. Finding purpose and a new identity are key to living a healthy, happy post-work life. Women who have very recently retired describe what they?ve been up to (it sounds rewarding!), as well as the unexpected emotions that the transition has brought up. They also reflect on the questions they asked themselves (or wished they had) before leaving their careers behind.

When managing other people for the first time, what should we expect, and how can we prepare? Three new managers describe their growing pains, reflect on what they find most rewarding, and talk through their latest challenges ? with an assist from Amy B?s managerial wisdom. You?ll come away with a better idea of what becoming a boss means and confident that you can do it too.

To cap off our Getting Along series, Amy Gallo shares advice, in front of a live audience, on how to deal with all different types of ?difficult? coworkers ? from the tormentor to the know-it-all.

How do you bring about positive change ? or just keep a workplace functional ? when the person in charge won?t listen? Amy Gallo recommends tactics to try and phrases to use.

How do you interact with a senior person who should be mentoring you but is instead giving you every reason not to trust them? Amy G recommends tactics to try and phrases to use.

How do you stay in the loop when someone keeps kicking you out? Amy G recommends tactics to try and phrases to use.

How do you work with someone who?s encroaching on your job, bad-mouthing you, and refusing to acknowledge there?s any tension or problem? Amy G recommends tactics to try and phrases to use.

No one should have to put up with rude, unprofessional, or hostile behavior from a colleague. You can counteract and even preempt it by using certain tactics and phrases. Amy Gallo will teach you which ones, plus how and when to deploy them, through coaching sessions with real women dealing with different types of difficult people.

Our free-spirited, entrepreneurial co-host is applying advice from all our episodes on side gigs, freelancing, starting a small business ? and quitting ? to her own life. Emily reflects on her decision to leave her design job at HBR to fully focus on a long-time creative passion, as well as how she's thinking about her career going forward.

How do you address a falling-out with a teammate when they either won?t acknowledge you or just lash out? Amy Gallo brings her conflict management expertise to a coaching session for a woman whose project manager and former work friend went from helpful to hostile. The approaches that come out of the conversation are ones that anyone facing tension in a work relationship can use to find a way forward.

Let?s be real: You can?t do everything yourself. Delegating to others helps you manage your workload and helps your colleagues who take on the tasks, decisions, and responsibilities to learn and grow. That doesn?t mean it?s always easy to do though. A leadership coach shares practices that will ensure the work gets done and will leave you and the person you delegated to feeling good about the experience.

Having a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship with your boss doesn?t require accommodating their every quirk, demand, and weakness. We discuss respectful, constructive ways to meet in the middle, set boundaries, and help them achieve their goals while making your competence known.

We all need to sell others on our ideas and offerings. Oftentimes that requires planning, perspective taking, and patience. A social psychologist highlights principles and tactics that?ll help you preempt colleagues or clients from doubting your expertise and get them to start or stop doing something.