The Hard at Work Podcast

Ellen Whitlock Baker
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I’m Ellen Whitlock Baker, and I’m a 20 year survivor of many different workplaces, from the good to the bad to the ugly. I created the Hard at Work podcast to help you navigate…and maybe even update… the workplace, which wasn’t made for most of us. Hard at Work is the show for people who are ready to challenge workplace norms, advocate for themselves and others, and create a more equitable, healthier work culture.

  1. 37. The A-Student Trap: Why “Doing Everything Right” Still Leaves You Unhappy — with Lauree Ostrofsky

    3D AGO

    37. The A-Student Trap: Why “Doing Everything Right” Still Leaves You Unhappy — with Lauree Ostrofsky

    How people-pleasers stop outsourcing their decisions and reconnect with their inner knowing For anyone who has ever hit every goal and received all the praise yet still felt profoundly miserable, this episode offers a roadmap out of the "A-student" trap. Host Ellen Whitlock Baker is joined by Lauree Ostrofsky—coach, business and marketing consultant, and two-time author—to explore what happens when high achievers realize their current career no longer fits. Ellen and Lauree dig into the classic people-pleaser trap: being valued for one set of skills while the work that lights you up gets sidelined—and how that disconnect can keep you stuck longer than you want to admit. Lauree shares the reinvention lessons she’s seen in her most successful clients, including: “find the linchpin.” She and Ellen talk about the small, crucial people and moments that bolt your next chapter into place (even when you don’t have a perfect plan), how gratitude helps you notice new doors, and why change doesn’t have to be a brutal, hustle-y leap off a cliff. If you’re burned out on overthinking and constantly needing a second opinion, you’ll love Lauree’s take on building self-trust and making decisions without outsourcing your confidence. The "Linchpin" Strategy: Lauree breaks down how to identify the small, crucial moments and people that anchor a new chapter, just like a linchpin holds parts of a car together. By practicing gratitude for past "linchpins," listeners can open themselves up to noticing the new doors and connections appearing in their current lives. Building Self-Trust: A look at how to stop "outsourcing confidence" and overthinking every move. Lauree shares a challenge from her own coach that forced her to send proposals without a second opinion, highlighting how ingrained the need for permission can be. Fear with Compassion: Lauree explains the origin of her mantra, "I’m scared, but I’m doing it anyway." This philosophy was born from a life-altering brain tumor diagnosis at age 28, which forced her to redefine what was truly scary versus what was merely uncomfortable. The "First Day of School" Approach: Instead of "muscling through" fear, Lauree suggests treating your inner anxious self like a child on their first day of school—offering snacks, comfort, and kind words to move gently over the start line. Certainty in the Chaos: From keeping a puzzle in her office to finding "soft" ways to pivot, Lauree emphasizes that reinvention doesn't have to be a "hustle-y" leap off a cliff. It can be a series of kind, intentional shifts that prioritize personal happiness over corporate praise. If you're looking for a smarter way to pivot without losing your sense of self in the process, this conversation provides the permission and the tools to begin. Tags: Career Reinvention, Overcoming Burnout, Self-Trust, People Pleasing, Women in Business, Professional Coaching, Mindset Shift, Career Change, Overcoming Fear, Personal Development, A-Student Syndrome, Intuition at Work, Life Transitions, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Mental Health, Work-Life Balance, Self-Compassion, Pivot, Career Growth Show Notes: Simply Leap by Lauree OstrofskyI'm Scared, But I'm Doing It Anyway by Lauree OstrofskyThe Science of Stuck and Align Your Mind by Britt FrankLearn more about Lauree’s membership programConnect with Lauree: Website Instagram Facebook LinkedIn

    39 min
  2. 36. Step Zero: Reclaiming Your Narrative and Redesigning Your Career with Aleenah Ansari

    FEB 18

    36. Step Zero: Reclaiming Your Narrative and Redesigning Your Career with Aleenah Ansari

    Whether you’ve spent 20 years in one field and realized you’re unfulfilled, or you’re just a few years into your first job and realizing the path you were "supposed" to take doesn't fit who you are, this episode is for you. Ellen is joined by Aleenah Ansari—a writer, content creator, and strategic creative who specializes in helping people find and amplify their own stories. Ellen and Aleenah dive deep into "Step Zero" of a career pivot: reclaiming your narrative. Aleenah shares why jealousy might actually be your most honest career coach and how to perform a skills audit that honors your humanity, not just your job titles. They also explore how to apply human-centered design to the workplace, reimagining our environments to work for us rather than feeling like something we need to escape. This conversation is a masterclass in owning your story before someone else writes it for you. They discuss how to make networking feel authentic to the current version of you and why being honest about being in transition is the key to building a supportive community. For anyone ready to stop starting from scratch and start designing a career with agency, Aleenah’s insights provide the roadmap to get there. In this episode, Ellen and Aleenah discuss: Step Zero: How to reclaim your professional narrative during a career transition.The Jealousy Compass: Using envy as a data point to identify what you actually value.Skills Auditing: Why you aren't starting at zero and how to identify your transferable "human" skills.Human-Centered Design: Applying design thinking to your career and your workplace.Authentic Networking: Building a community that supports the version of you that exists today.Show Notes: Aleenah’s Website: AleenahAnsari.com Aleenah’s TEDx Talk: "How to Reclaim Your Narrative" Book: Uncompete by Ruchika Malhotra Book: The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman Tags: Career Pivot, Personal Branding, Transferable Skills, Human-Centered Design, Career Change, Narrative Identity, Professional Development, Networking for Introverts, Workplace Culture, Design Thinking, Mid-Career Transition, Women in Business.

    1h 1m
  3. 35. Magic, Myth, and the Mess: Reimagining Nonprofits with Vu Le

    FEB 11

    35. Magic, Myth, and the Mess: Reimagining Nonprofits with Vu Le

    What if the nonprofit sector isn’t broken because people don’t care—but because we’ve been taught a whole lot of nonsense about how work, funding, and leadership are “supposed” to function? In this episode of Hard at Work, Ellen is joined by writer, activist, and nonprofit truth-teller Vu Le, author of Unicorns Unite and the mind behind the long-running blog Nonprofit AF, for a wide-ranging, funny, and deeply honest conversation about why nonprofit work is exhausting—and how it could be radically better. Vu breaks down the biggest myths holding the sector back: risk aversion driven by short-term funding, performative accountability obsessed with metrics instead of impact, and workplace structures borrowed from corporate culture that burn people out instead of supporting them. Together, they explore alternatives like four-day workweeks, co-director leadership models, advice-based decision making, and community-centric fundraising—approaches that prioritize trust, expertise, and shared power rather than hierarchy and control. Vu also names how philanthropy’s refusal to fund operations, salaries, and long-term work keeps nonprofits stuck in survival mode while pretending that’s “responsible.” This episode is especially for fundraisers, nonprofit leaders, and mission-driven professionals who feel tired, disillusioned, or trapped in systems that don’t align with their values. It’s also a reminder that hope doesn’t only live inside institutions. Vu shares powerful examples of community-led action, mutual aid, and collective care that exist beyond nonprofit status—and why reconnecting to community is often the antidote to burnout. Expect laughter, righteous frustration, praise of the Oxford comma, and a new way of thinking about the future of work. Show Notes Get Vu's book, Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy, hereCheck out Vu's blog, Nonprofit AF Keywords: workplace culture, burnout, nonprofit leadership, toxic work culture, equity at work, systems change, moral injury, emotional labor, mission-driven work, nonprofit burnout, values-driven leadership, women at work, humane workplaces

    55 min
  4. 34. Stop Performing “Authenticity” at Work — with Jodi-Ann Burey

    JAN 28

    34. Stop Performing “Authenticity” at Work — with Jodi-Ann Burey

    In this episode of Hard at Work, Ellen is joined by critic, speaker, and author Jodi-Ann Burey (Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work) for an honest conversation about why “bring your whole self to work” has become one of the most misleading—and dangerous—ideas in modern workplace culture. Jodi-Ann shares that she wrote the book because she wanted to have a conversation about authenticity that she could recognize. She explains the concept of "ops," or the "agents of the status quo," who she describes are the people in the workplace who help to keep things the same when they really need to change. Ellen and Jodi-Ann get into how the fear of losing power keeps these agents of the status quo working against the best interests of employees, and leads them instead to practices like employee monitoring (checking badge swipes, whether you're active on teams), which, instead of creating productivity, create an environment of unease and distrust. Jodi-Ann explains that when we ask people to "bring their whole self to work" we are pushing off the work of creating a protective environment to the individuals who are most vulnerable to the workplace's harms. Ellen and Jodi-Ann also discuss how toxic and corrosive the nonprofit sector can be, particularly for people of color, whose individual stories Jodi-Ann shares in the book. How do you avoid being an op? Jodi-Ann suggests building community connections and performing an audit of your personal and professional life -- asking yourself what communities are you connected with? Who are you getting feedback from? Who might be missing? And answering honestly. If you're in the workplace in 2026, especially if you're a leader, this is an episode not to miss. It may be uncomfortable to investigate your own history with asking team members to bring their whole self to work, or encourage authenticity for everyone, but Jodi-Ann's thought leadership helps us all more deeply understand why it's time for change in the workplace. Show Notes Buy Jodi-Ann's book hereJodi-Ann's website, LinkedIn, and InstagramWatch Jodi-Ann's TED Talk, The Myth of Bringing Your Full, Authentic Self to WorkRead Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome, an HBR article by Jodi-Ann and Ruchika Malhotra, and their follow up, End Imposter Syndrome In Your Workplace.

    1 hr
  5. 33. Why We Have to Stop Expecting Work to Love Us Back -- with Sarah Jaffe

    JAN 21

    33. Why We Have to Stop Expecting Work to Love Us Back -- with Sarah Jaffe

    Sarah Jaffe on capitalism’s “labor of love,” grief, and why you can’t meditate your way out of a rigged system What if the heaviness you feel at work isn’t a personal failing — but capitalism doing what capitalism does? Labor journalist and author Sarah Jaffe (Work Won’t Love You Back and From the Ashes) joins Ellen for a wide-ranging, deeply grounding conversation about why so many of us feel exhausted, disillusioned, and even heartbroken by our jobs. Together, they explore how “do what you love” culture, hustle narratives, and nonprofit martyrdom have trained us to expect meaning, identity, and emotional fulfillment from work — and how devastating it can be when those promises inevitably fall apart. Sarah breaks down why burnout is not an individual resilience problem but a structural feature of capitalism, especially in nonprofit, public-sector, care, and mission-driven work. Ellen and Sarah dig into how love-based narratives are used to justify low pay, chronic overwork, and understaffing; why crises like the 2008 financial collapse and COVID made these systems suddenly visible; and how gender, race, and class shape who is expected to sacrifice the most. If you’re a leader who feels trapped by money, healthcare, responsibility to your team, or a lack of alternatives, this episode names that reality without judgment — and without pretending there’s a simple solution. This conversation also offers a different way forward. Instead of self-care checklists or meditation apps that ask you to adapt to a broken system, Sarah and Ellen talk about grieving what we thought work would be, reclaiming agency inside imperfect conditions, and thinking collectively rather than individually. You’ll hear practical ideas like power-mapping your workplace, building community instead of self-blame, and understanding why “it’s not your fault” is both emotionally freeing and politically important. Show Notes Find Sarah on her website and Twitter. Books by Sarah Jaffe: • Work Won’t Love You Back • From the Ashes: The Remaking of the World Listen to Sarah narrate both books on Audible. Resources mentioned during the episode: Mia Tokumitsu’s book Do What You Love Kathi Weeks’ book The Problem With Work Karl Marx’s book Das Capital (where he compares capitalism to a Gothic monster as discussed) Molly Crapapple’s website Joshua Clover’s many books Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s works (she coined “capitalism saves capitalism from capitalism”) Your nonprofit boss Instagram (by Nicole Olive, follow her, she’s amazing) Melinda Cooper’s books Samhita Mukhopadhyay’s The Myth of Making it: a Workplace Reckoning Tags: burnout, work culture, labor, capitalism, workplace systems, productivity myths, hustle culture, emotional labor, grief at work, exploitation, management, leadership, toxic workplaces, women at work, gender and labor, class and work, workplace power, work and identity, modern work, organizing, collective care, boundaries at work, work isn’t broken—it’s working

    1h 15m
  6. 32. Why Trust at Work is Breaking Down -- and How Rebuilding It Changes Everything with Minda Harts

    JAN 14

    32. Why Trust at Work is Breaking Down -- and How Rebuilding It Changes Everything with Minda Harts

    A practical conversation about leadership and how trust (not control) drives retention, productivity, and healthier workplaces. In this episode of the Hard at Work podcast, host Ellen Whitlock Baker sits down with Minda Harts—author of Talk to Me Nice and a leading voice on workplace trust and leadership—to explore why trust is the missing foundation in so many modern workplaces. Drawing on Minda’s concept of the seven trust languages, the conversation breaks down how trust is built, eroded, and repaired at work—and why its absence fuels burnout, disengagement, turnover, and loneliness. Minda explains that trust failures are often mistaken for performance issues, attitude problems, or resistance to change. In reality, mistrust grows through ambiguity, lack of transparency, inconsistent follow-through, poor feedback practices, and leadership behaviors rooted in control rather than care. The episode examines how these patterns show up in real workplace challenges, including return-to-office mandates, rigid policies, micromanagement, and fear-based leadership. Listeners will learn how trust impacts productivity, retention, and workplace health—and why rebuilding it is both a human and a business imperative. Minda offers practical tools for leaders, managers, and individual contributors alike, including how to ask “What does trust look like to you?” in one-on-ones, how to repair trust after harm, and how to communicate difficult information without stripping people of dignity. This episode is ideal for leaders seeking to create healthier workplace cultures, managers caught between pressure from above and responsibility to their teams, and employees navigating environments where trust feels fragile or broken. Rather than offering vague advice or toxic positivity, the conversation provides clear language, real examples, and actionable ways to rebuild trust one interaction at a time. Show Notes Get Minda's Book, Talk to Me Nice: The Seven Trust Languages for a Better Workplace here Minda's website Follow Minda on LinkedIn Minda's LinkedIn Learning course on trust Minda as a Trust Coach on Google Labs’ Portraits And if you're interested in learning more about the Momentum Sessions, the three-session coaching package I mentioned during the episode, you can find out more on my website. Tags: trust at work, workplace trust, rebuilding trust, trust languages, Minda Harts, Talk to Me Nice, leadership trust, manager employee relationship, psychological safety, workplace communication, feedback culture, employee retention, workplace culture, healthy workplace, leadership development, modern leadership, HR and trust, burnout and boundaries, workplace burnout, toxic workplace recovery, return to office, remote work culture, hybrid work, change management, belonging at work, employee engagement, difficult conversations at work, boundary setting at work, equity at work, women at work, women leaders, women of color at work, inclusive leadership, humane leadership, workplace well-being, Hard at Work podcast, Ellen Whitlock Baker

    56 min
  7. 31. Inside the Nonprofit Death Spiral with Ariel Glassman Barkwick

    JAN 7

    31. Inside the Nonprofit Death Spiral with Ariel Glassman Barkwick

    A systems-level look at why “do more with less” is collapsing nonprofit leadership—and what sustainable organizations do instead. What happens when passion-driven missions collide with unrealistic growth goals, broken governance, and chronic underfunding? In this episode of Hard at Work, I’m joined by nonprofit strategist and systems thinker Ariel Glassman Barwick for a powerful, honest conversation about what she calls the nonprofit death spiral—the cycle of overextension, undercapitalization, burnout, turnover, and declining impact that’s quietly unraveling organizations across the sector. We unpack how aggressive revenue targets, pressure to “do more with less,” and misaligned board dynamics create downstream harm for staff, fundraisers, and the communities nonprofits exist to serve. We take a deep dive into fundraising burnout, moral injury, and governance failures, including why development roles are some of the most misunderstood and overloaded jobs in the nonprofit world. Ariel breaks down the constant “whiplash” fundraisers experience as they juggle wildly different skill sets, shifting expectations, and impossible goals—often without adequate training, staffing, or protection from inappropriate donor behavior. We explore how outdated donor-centric models, lack of management training, and inequitable power structures create ethical stress that drives talented professionals out of the sector altogether. This conversation is also a roadmap forward. We talk about community-centered fundraising, human-centered leadership, contraction as a strategic choice (not a failure), and the real skills nonprofit leaders need right now—including patience, systems thinking, and the ability to truly receive feedback from their teams. If you’re an executive director, fundraiser, board member, or nonprofit professional feeling the strain of an unsustainable system, this episode will help you name what’s actually happening—and imagine what a healthier, more resilient nonprofit future could look like. Show Notes: Find Ariel on the Common Great website and LinkedIn. Vu Le's book, Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy: Unlocking the Full Potential of a Vital and Complex Sector Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy study Keywords: burnout in nonprofits, nonprofit leadership, nonprofit fundraising burnout, nonprofit governance, community-centric fundraising, moral injury at work, nonprofit death spiral, nonprofit executive director support, leadership coaching for EDs, sustainable fundraising strategy, toxic workplace culture, capacity building in nonprofits, nonprofit staff burnout, managing nonprofit boards, nonprofit sector challenges

    1h 7m
  8. 30. This is heavy, Doc -- What's Next for the Future of Work?

    10/15/2025

    30. This is heavy, Doc -- What's Next for the Future of Work?

    After 30 episodes of saying the quiet part out loud, host Ellen Whitlock Baker closes out Season 1 of Hard at Work with a reflective and forward-looking finale. From people-pleasing and perfectionism to systemic burnout and the stubborn pace of change since the movie "9 to 5" came out 45 years ago, Ellen unpacks what she’s learned about why work still isn’t working — and what it will take to change it. She looks back on the guests, the lessons, and the quiet revolutions happening in real workplaces, while issuing a challenge for the hiatus: take one step, however small, toward building the future of work we actually deserve. Because as the great Dolly Parton says: "the tide's gonna turn and it's all gonna roll your way." Tags: burnout, workplace culture, women at work, leadership, boundaries, equity, systemic change, perfectionism, people pleasing, feminist workplace, future of work, Hard at Work podcast, season finale

    14 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

I’m Ellen Whitlock Baker, and I’m a 20 year survivor of many different workplaces, from the good to the bad to the ugly. I created the Hard at Work podcast to help you navigate…and maybe even update… the workplace, which wasn’t made for most of us. Hard at Work is the show for people who are ready to challenge workplace norms, advocate for themselves and others, and create a more equitable, healthier work culture.

Information

  • Creator
    Ellen Whitlock Baker
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    38
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Ellen Whitlock Baker
  • Show Website
    The Hard at Work Podcast

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