Better At Work with Cathal Quinlan

Toughing it out is not resilience. Chronic pressure without recovery drains people, and the ones praised for coping are often closest to the edge.

In this Better Moment, organisational psychologist Tasha Eurich takes apart the bounce-back myth: why "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is backwards, why resilience behaves like a budget rather than a personality trait, and why almost none of us can see the cost coming. Her research on self-awareness says 95 percent of us believe we can. Roughly 10 to 15 percent actually can.

Her advice to leaders is structural, not motivational. Fix the load, not the person. Remove chronic stressors at source, design recovery in, and check on the people who look fine.

Listen to the full conversation: https://youtu.be/MJ_rqzhEmts?si=CcQVF5_wyZYtgVxd
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Conflict at work is not simply a choice between charging in and avoiding it.

In this four-and-a-half-minute Better Moment, *Smart Conflict* authors Alice Driscoll and Louise van Haarst focus on two useful forces: conflict confidence, and the desire to get it right or be right.

They explain why enforced harmony can crowd out healthy disagreement, and how to move from relational conflict, me against you, into task conflict, both of us against the problem.

Their practical phrase works at either end of the scale: get curious, not furious.

Listen to the full conversation: https://shows.acast.com/betteratworkpodcast/episodes/69d60cb9ef4d724206d29c01

Follow Better at Work so season five lands in your feed when we return on 15 September.

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Hope at work is not optimism. It is a goal worth reaching, more than one credible route forward and enough agency to move.

In this seven-minute Better Moment, burnout researcher and workplace culture strategist Jennifer Moss draws on Charles Snyder's hope theory to explain why hope is a practical leadership strategy.

Jennifer looks at the growing hope gap among younger workers, why small completed goals build momentum and what micromanagement takes away: accomplishment, autonomy and intrinsic motivation.

Her warning is blunt. Leaders cannot ask people to invest in the future while telling them they may not have a place in it.

Listen to the full conversation: https://shows.acast.com/betteratworkpodcast/episodes/we-cant-yoga-our-way-out-of-bad-culture-the-newest-burnout-r

Jennifer Moss is the author of *Why Are We Here? Creating a Work Culture Everybody Wants*.

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A good job is not the same for everyone.

Laura Gassner Otting gives us four dials for working out whether a role actually fits: calling, connection, contribution and control.

Calling is the force that pulls you forward. Connection is whether your work matters. Contribution is what the work gives your life. Control is the agency you have over your time, decisions and environment.

The practical question is not whether all four are high. It is whether the mix matches what matters to you now.

Laura is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, researcher and former executive recruiter. She is the author of *Limitless* and *Wonderhell*.

Watch the full conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Z0nuapNLI
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The loudest predictions about AI count the jobs it might destroy. Russell Beck says that is the wrong unit of analysis.

Technology is very good at removing the scarce skill inside a job. Russell's example is a naval shipyard worker wearing an exoskeleton. The job remains. The work becomes safer. The employer gains a wider talent pool. Physical strength stops being the thing that makes one person uniquely qualified.

In this eight-minute Better Moment, Russell explains where the advantage moves next: creativity, self-efficacy and leadership.

Russell Beck is the author of *The World of Work to 2030*. He has worked in 25 countries and was European Head of Talent at Yahoo.

Follow Better at Work so season five lands in your feed when we return in September.
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