Everything is NOT fine.

Hey Besties!

It’s Wednesday, and hopefully you’re sipping on something delicious as you read this. But warning - you might spit it out during today’s intro story.

In this week’s episode:

• Intro Story: Listen to Ashley’s story… it’s the first time that we’ve proactively bleeped out words in an episode (if you’ve been a listener since Episode 1, you know that’s really saying something).

• Corporate Cringe Speak: What do you call it when you have too much going on? (as always, we’ll tell you what not to say).

• Hot Topic - Toxic Positivity: There’s a reason the “Everything is fine” memes exist, with bosses surrounded by flames. Jamie calls it “corporate gaslighting” (and we’ll talk about why it can be especially challenging in HR, when you’re the getting questions from employees, but aren’t allowed to give answers).

• Questions & Comments: A manifesto from our dear HR Manifesto (it hit us deeply - you too?).

Discussion Guide - Your weekly podcast club or team meeting questions:

• Non-Toxic: How have we addressed challenging times - have we focused too heavily on trying to motivate the team? How have you seen a leader do a good job of balancing being candid without bringing doom and gloom?

• Left Behind: When colleagues leave, whether by resignation or layoff, are managers adequately supporting the remaining team members? How can they improve?

• Balls in the Air: Can anyone on the team juggle? If so, did you start with scarves? (Sometimes, we need to spice up our discussion questions!)

  Enjoy this week’s episode and listen up on Friday for our Happy Hour episode (and as always, if you like it, ratings and reviews help us greatly)!

We love hearing from our listeners. Send in your stories, questions, and comments below.