Category: Mind

In this recurring series, we bring you the latest research on a subject that’s top of mind in the workplace today.  It’s been nearly two years since the murder of George Floyd, when a vast majority of white people realized Black people still encounter inequitable treatment in many places, including at work. Many companies said…

It’s that time of year again when many families begin to reunite. You might see your kin’s version of Martha Stewart, “The Perfectionist” who’s going to scrutinize your cookware and place settings. Or maybe you have an “Instigator” who’s going to poke the bear about current events, or a “Know-it-All” who will ask all the…

S6E9   [INTRODUCTION]   [00:00:03] SW: Welcome back to season six, episode nine of Your Brain at Work podcast. Calls for empathetic leadership are on the rise in organizations. A new survey connects lack of empathy to the reason 54% of people recently quit their jobs. Empathy is a nuanced and often misunderstood term, when…

Lately I’ve been working pretty long hours.  Most weeks, I spend my days working from home — thinking, writing, and trying to remember to unmute my Zoom mic before I start talking. By the end of the day, when I finally close my laptop, my brain is fried. Most nights I’m so zonked it’s all…

If you’re like most of us, you’ve probably experienced a moment recently when you suddenly couldn’t find something and thought, “I just had it!” Or maybe you were speaking on a conference call and mid-sentence, just lost your train of thought. We often refer to these kinds of situations as brain freezes or cog fog.…

S6E8   [INTRODUCTION]   [00:00:02] SW: Welcome back to season 6, episode 8 of Your Brain at Work podcast. When people work together as a team, there are several group dynamics that determine how well they’re able to synergize, make decisions and get things done. The factors that determine whether a team has a positive…

S6E7   [INTRODUCTION]   [00:00:03] SW: Welcome back to season six, episode seven of Your Brain at Work podcast. As offices continue to open up, a study recently conducted by Future Forum found that only 3%r of black professionals want to return to the office full time. Looking deeper, this statistic is a reflection of…

S6E6   [INTRODUCTION]    [00:00:02] SW: Welcome back to season six, episode six of Your Brain at Work podcast. With the backdrop of an ongoing pandemic, monthly resignations hitting all-time highs, and mounting reports of job burnout, nearly everyone is feeling the pressure right now. Some organizations may react to this moment by bearing down…

Calls for empathetic leadership are on the rise, with one survey linking a lack of empathy to the reason 54% of people are quitting their jobs. Some managers say empathy is unnecessary and gets in the way of accountability and standards, with one recent report showing an alarming 68% of CEOs fear displaying empathy will…

Once hailed as the surefire way for businesses to survive the pandemic, video-conference platforms like Webex, Zoom and Microsoft Teams now appear to be falling out of favor. Research shows that “Zoom fatigue” is real, and it’s worse among women and new employees.  Neurological reasons for such fatigue include the lack of non-verbal cues, sustained…

In this recurring series, we bring you the latest research on a subject that’s top of mind in the workplace today.  For decades, we’ve been told to check our emotions at the door, so we can smile and say we’re doing fine when our coworkers and managers ask us how we are. Research has shown…

There are plenty of surprising statistics these days, from vaccination rates to breakthrough cases to the record number of job openings. But rarely do such numbers stop you in your tracks the way one statistic did earlier this year: only 3% of Black professionals want to return to the office.  The study that led to…