By Kathy Miller Perkins

John, the CEO of a financial services firm, could be the poster child for ignoring a toxic organizational culture both before and during the pandemic. Yet, he demands all employees return to the office for the sake of the company culture.

While the irony in John’s argument is inescapable, he is not alone in calling for a return to the office based on the rationale that the company culture depends on it.

This justification for a return to a physical workplace appears suspect when offered by leaders who show little interest in the other more challenging…

By Adrian Gostick

When I was in university, we were advised that “I’m a perfectionist” was the best answer to the common job interview question: “What’s your biggest flaw.” It’s become such a cliché that it was mocked by The Simpsons. When asked in a job interview at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant for their worst quality, those applying answered:

Applicant 1: I’m a workaholic.

Applicant 2: I push myself too hard.

Only clueless Homer Simpson answered honestly.

Homer: Well, it takes me a long time to learn anything. I’m kind of a goof-off. …

By Abdo Riani

After 2020, chances are you’ve experienced some of the pros and cons of working from home yourself. Once employers found out that remote work doesn’t lead to feared losses in productivity thanks to modern technology, it’s a virtual certainty that remote work is here to stay in one way or another.

Early-stage startups, who are usually struggling for cash and who are looking to offer flexibility to their first employees, are some of the companies that can benefit from this trend the most. …

By Denise Brodey

Maybe it was the torrential rain that kept many job hunters I know tethered to their computers. Or maybe it was job-seekers FOMO. Either way, the misery of job searching, particularly for people with disabilities who are chronically unemployed, has risen to new levels.

Friends and family continue to ask me if employers will frown on employment gaps on their post-pandemic resume, often caused by a disability. I get it — explaining a break in work history can feel almost surgically invasive. The wound never totally heals if you have a history of depression, PTSD, OCD or…

By Laura Begley Bloom

For most people, there’s nothing more stressful than writing a thank you note. But for Gina Hamadey, it not only became her passion — it became the basis for a book, I Want to Thank You (TarcherPerigee), which chronicled a year of writing 365 thank you notes. She thanked everyone from friends to family to former colleagues and witnessed how writing these letters can boost your confidence, reestablish bonds and reconnect you to yourself.

The concept had an unlikely origin. A few years ago, Hamadey — a former magazine editor turned freelance content creator — needed…

By Barnaby Lashbrooke

I really felt my age after reading Erica Dhawan’s essay on the value of so-called ‘geriatric millennials’ in the hybrid workplace.

Despite this rather ageist moniker sparking some outrage, it’s a positive piece that looks at why those born in the early 1980s–us “weathered internet veterans” in Dhawan’s words–who can remember life before tech, have vital skills that bridge generational divides.

Born in 1982, I’m in this sub-group of millennials that remembers life long before smartphones, when we played Minesweeper and kept electronic Tamagotchi pets in our pockets.

We spent evenings hogging the home landline to speak…

By Karl Moore

In my long career, more than half of my bosses have been introverts. However, the majority of the leadership literature seems to be written for extroverted executives. In this article, I delve into two key methods for introverted leaders to be better managers for their extroverted employees. As an extrovert myself, I wish my own managers had known these tips years ago.

In my research, which consists of interviews with over 400 CEOs, about a third of senior executives classify themselves as introverts. Among middle and first-line managers, there are even more introverts. …

By Melody Wilding, LMSW

With the onset of the pandemic and widespread remote work, the lines between “work time” and “home time” have never been blurrier. They are perforated at best and non-existent at worst.

A lack of boundaries makes compartmentalizing — or keeping work and home matters in their appropriate mental or emotional boxes — much more difficult.

This is even truer for Sensitive Strivers, those who are genetically predisposed to thinking and feeling everything more deeply.

Without compartmentalization in place, thinking deeply can quickly become overthinking, and you may find yourself spiraling down a negative thought cycle that’s…