Working It

Leaders are always under pressure – but the most successful ones know how to manage it. In this special episode, recorded live at the FT Weekend Festival in London on September 7, Isabel Berwick speaks to psychologist Dr Audrey Tang, who explains how managers can better resist the pressures of their work. Tang, author of books including ‘The Leader’s Guide to Resilience,’ tells Isabel about the importance of bosses modelling healthy behaviour, why skills (as opposed to strengths) can make workers unhappy, and how to know when a colleague is about to burn out.Want more? Free links:The balance between idleness and burnout proves elusiveHow to avoid burnout and thrive at workBurnout and America’s great resignation: how employers can helpPresented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Every career involves choices; every choice involves risk. But being able to size up those risks, and think coolly about which are worth taking, can make the process of choosing between options much easier. The problem? Most of us aren’t actually very good at evaluating risk. In this episode, Isabel Berwick speaks to statistician, writer and sometime poker player Nate Silver to find out how we can take better risks in our careers. Silver, founder of analysis website FiveThirtyEight and author of the new book On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything’ explains why fear plays an outsize risk in our decision making, how to recover when a bet doesn’t pan out and why your 60s might not be the time to avoid risk.Want more? Free links:On the Edge by Nate Silver — the risk-takers who beat the marketWe need to be better at predicting bad outcomesInterview with Nate SilverPresented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Lots of productivity advice tells you how you can cram more into your day, but accepting you can only do so much might be the only productivity “hack” that works. Oliver Burkeman, author of the smash-hit 2021 book Four Thousand Weeks, talks to Isabel Berwick about his new book, Meditations for Mortals, which lays out practical steps to living a less frantic life. Oliver tells Isabel why delaying our professional gratification can become a trap, how we should deal with our monstrous email backlogs and why pragmatism beats idealism every time.Want more? Free links:How can you manage your time in 2024?Why I’m not tidying up before guests come overEndless to-do list? Here’s how not to waste your lifeFT subscriber? Sign up to get Isabel’s free Working It newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday: ft.com/newslettersPresented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

If you like your colleagues, the lunch hour is probably a highlight of your working day. But fewer and fewer of us are actually using it to, well, lunch. Since flexible working has become the norm, people have increasingly ‘banked’ their lunch hour, and spent their break time running errands, exercising, or seeing their kids. Stanford university professor Nick Bloom tells host Isabel Berwick. But is something lost if we don’t break bread with our colleagues? Is eating ‘al desko’ really so bad? And what’s the secret to a great homemade lunch? FT Magazine Food and Drink editor Harriet Fitch Little also joins to discuss.Want more? Free links:Sour-and-hot silken tofu with avocado — a Fuchsia Dunlop recipeRecipe: The smacked cucumber salad chefs are obsessed withBring back the business lunchWho picks up the bill for a business lunch?FT subscriber? Sign up to get Isabel’s free Working It newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday: ft.com/newslettersCredits:Presented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Jake Fielding. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Managers can’t get their heads around Gen Z employees. Why won’t they work late? Why do they talk like that? And do they even want to be here? But instead of emphasising points of difference with younger workers, we should get better at understanding their motivations. In this episode, Isabel speaks to researcher and futurist Chloe Combi, who has interviewed more than 20,000 young people about what they want. Chloe explains why Gen Z workers often clash with millennials (and how to give them better mentors). FT columnist Pilita Clark vents about her biggest Gen Z bugbear: the fact that they’re so often right about the workplace…Want more? Free links:The most annoying thing about young people at workMaking sense of Gen Z: employers seek answers on managing younger workersHow to adapt your leadership to a multigenerational workplaceFT subscriber? Sign up to get Isabel’s free Working It newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday: ft.com/newslettersTo take part in the FT audience survey and be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose wireless headphones, please click here. For the survey’s terms and conditions, please click here.Presented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

You’ve worked hard all year, and the summer holidays have finally arrived. But it’s not like all your colleagues have downed tools. Would it be so bad if you checked your emails – just quickly – to make sure your team don’t need you? Well, yes it would, actually. In this episode, author and journalist Brigid Schulte tells Isabel Berwick why holiday work is a failure of management – and can cost employees their good health. Isabel also speaks to freelance journalist Oliver Balch, who recently asked senior executives about whether they really disconnect on their holidays.Want more? Free links:‘I’m going to get a spicy margarita and I’ll be back’: how executives approach work during holidaysDid summer holidays make this week’s market turmoil worse?How taking a holiday went globalTo take part in the FT audience survey and be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose wireless headphones, please click here. For the survey’s terms and conditions, please click here.Credits:Presented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

In most workplaces, expressing ambition is non-negotiable. We’re all meant to strive, to want more, and to summit ever more impressive professional peaks; but only a handful ever reach the top. Besides, does ambition really make us happy? In this episode, Isabel Berwick speaks to Stefan Stern, author of ‘Fair or Foul: The Lady Macbeth Guide to Ambition.’. They discuss why even the highest achievers can never accomplish enough.’ Later, Isabel speaks to teacher and former FT journalist Lucy Kellaway, who explains why tempering your ambition can be the difference between satisfaction and sadness.Want more? Free links:Necessary but corrosive: Lucy Kellaway on ambitionIs the age of ambition over?Why ‘post-ambition’ is the secret to career enlightenmentTo take part in the FT audience survey and be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose wireless headphones, please click here. For the survey’s terms and conditions, please click herePresented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Working It is taking a break this week, so we’re bringing you a podcast we think you’ll enjoy: Coaching Real Leaders, from Harvard Business Review. The show takes you inside real-life coaching sessions with veteran leadership coach Muriel Wilkins. In this episode, Muriel speaks to ‘Sarah’, who has experienced burnout in more than one of her previous roles. Muriel investigates the causes of Sarah’s burnout – and points her to new habits that may stop her burning out again.To take part in the FT audience survey and be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose wireless headphones, please click here. For the survey’s terms and conditions, please click here.FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

There’s plenty of finger pointing taking place following the CrowdStrike software outage that took down millions of computers all over the world earlier this month. So what’s the best way to deal with big mistakes in the workplace – and can you win back trust after a huge error? Senior editor Hugh Carnegy, who administers the FT’s corrections and complaints process, tells host Isabel Berwick how he handles mistakes by editors and correspondents, and Sandra Sucher, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, joins the conversation to talk about how trust is lost and regained in a corporate setting.To take part in the FT audience survey and be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose wireless headphones, please click here. For the survey’s terms and conditions, please click here Presented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com