Psychology at Work | Career Success, Leadership, Communication Skills

Melody Wilding, LMSW
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How do you nail that sweet spot of career success where confidence in yourself meets influence with others? That's what best-selling author, therapist, and executive coach Melody Wilding explores in every episode of Psychology at Work. If you're a driven professional who's great at your job but knows that talent alone isn't enough to get ahead, this show is for you. Subscribe for insightful, practical advice on topics ranging from office politics, communication and executive presence, managing up, emotional intelligence, self-advocacy, and more.  Advance your career, strengthen your leadership, and feel calmer, clearer, and more in control while doing it. 

  1. 2d ago

    115. Build a Team That Takes Ownership & Doesn’t Depend on YOU for Answers with Michael Bungay Stanier

    How do you get your team to be more resourceful? What’s the best way to help people think for themselves before they come to you? And how do you stop being the person everyone relies on for the answer without becoming hands-off, unavailable, or unclear? In this episode, Melody sits down with Michael Bungay Stanier, author of The Coaching Habit (+1 million copies sold)  to talk about how busy leaders can build smarter, more capable, lower-drama teams through becoming more coach-like. You’ll Discover: The 4-word question to open every 1:1 with — that finally gets past the canned updateThe phrase Michael calls "possibly the best coaching question in the world" (and why you should ask it multiple times in a row)The #1 thing to say when a meeting is going off the rails to get your team back on trackHow to coach UP the chain of command, even with executives levels above youAbout Michael Michael Bungay Stanier is best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century. His other books include How to Work with (Almost) Anyone, which is about building the Best Possible Relationship with key people at work. He’s part of the MasterClass faculty, and is the host of the Change Signal podcast. Michael was a Rhodes Scholar, and was recently admitted as a Thinkers50 Coaching Legend (“the Oscars of Management”). Learn more at MBS.works. https://melodywilding.com/training Connect with Melody: FREE NEWSLETTER: Psychology at Work WeeklyGet on the Waitlist for Speak Like a Senior Leader™Get on the Waitlist for Lead from WithinGet Melody's new book, Managing Up

  2. Jul 23

    114. How to Turn a High-Stakes Stretch Into a Promotion Accelerator

    🚨CLOSING: Apply for the final Lead from Within cohort of 2026 by Sunday July 26th 11:59pm ET: https://melodywilding.com/lfw Certain stretches of your career are compressed. The reputation you'd normally build over 18 months of steady work gets decided in a matter of weeks. Handle it well and you accelerate onto the shortlist for the next role. In this episode, engineering manager Alejandro walks through how he used a high-stakes product launch to accelerate his own path to the next level.  https://melodywilding.com/training Connect with Melody: FREE NEWSLETTER: Psychology at Work WeeklyGet on the Waitlist for Speak Like a Senior Leader™Get on the Waitlist for Lead from WithinGet Melody's new book, Managing Up

  3. Jul 20

    113. Are You Executive-Ready? Here's the Real Test [MINI MASTERCLASS]

    🚨APPLICATIONS CLOSING 🚨Apply for the final Lead from Within of 2026 by Sunday July 26th 11:59pm ET: https://melodywilding.com/lfw This is a mini masterclass on the four pillars of executive readiness. These are the things no business school will teach you, no performance review captures, no leadership book breaks down with this level of specificity. Melody walks you through all four, with a clear diagnostic as to where you stand and what’s holding you back before year-end opportunities get decided without you.  What You’ll Discover:  ▪️Three levels of visibility every stakeholder sits on – and why only ONE gets you championed for bigger roles  ▪️ One script that took a field marketing function from "the booth people" to a recognized business driver within 90 days ▪️ A subtle psychology trick an incoming executive used to keep her predecessor from undermining her ▪️The two-week team management test 90% of leaders fail (and what to do ASAP)  https://melodywilding.com/training Connect with Melody: FREE NEWSLETTER: Psychology at Work WeeklyGet on the Waitlist for Speak Like a Senior Leader™Get on the Waitlist for Lead from WithinGet Melody's new book, Managing Up

  4. Jul 15

    112. Top of Mind & Tapped for More [FULL TRAINING]

    📢 NOW OPEN: Apply for the final Lead from Within cohort of 2026: https://melodywilding.com/lfw Whether you want to position yourself for a promotion, step into a bigger scope or go from tactician to enterprise-level leader, the next six months will make or break your shot at what's next. Leverage Q3 & Q4 to rise into the role, projects, and pay that match your caliber.  You'll discover how to:  Get handed high-visibility opportunities (no groveling, pitching, or proving necessary) by escaping the dreaded "next level loop"Walk out of your annual review with a 140% bonus (yes really!) because you turned the busiest, most chaotic months of the year into a total perception resetUncover exactly who decides your future, who's a hidden blocker, and who you've been wasting energy trying to impress (it's rarely what's on the org chart)Reclaim 10-20 hours per week for work that proves you're ready for bigger things -- shaping direction, building executive-level relationships, and developing a rockstar teamhttps://melodywilding.com/training Connect with Melody: FREE NEWSLETTER: Psychology at Work WeeklyGet on the Waitlist for Speak Like a Senior Leader™Get on the Waitlist for Lead from WithinGet Melody's new book, Managing Up

  5. Jul 8

    111. Escape “Hero Mode”: The Overfunctioning Leader’s Guide to Letting Go

    At a certain level, being the one everyone depends on can stop feeling like proof of your value and start feeling like a ceiling. The same pattern that makes you trusted can also keep you buried in execution and trapped making decisions your team should make independently. In this episode, you’ll learn how to recognize what Melody calls “hero mode” in real time, neutralize the hidden emotional driver behind it, and take steps to scale your team while positioning yourself for greater career growth.  You’ll Discover:  8 behaviors that look like "great leadership" but are torpedoing your next promotionWhat your boss REALLY means when she keeps saying you're "so close" to VP year after yearThe “seesaw” dynamic keeping your team permanently junior (and getting worse the more you help)The 3 things you HAVE to let go of before ANY delegation tactic will actually stickThe specific tool I give Lead from Within clients to recalibrate productivity at senior levelshttps://melodywilding.com/training Connect with Melody: FREE NEWSLETTER: Psychology at Work WeeklyGet on the Waitlist for Speak Like a Senior Leader™Get on the Waitlist for Lead from WithinGet Melody's new book, Managing Up

  6. Jul 1

    110. The #1 Career Insurance Policy Most High Performers Never Build

    One look at the headlines and it’s clear: experienced professionals don't feel free or at ease at work right now. Middle layers are being flattened, the path upwards is narrowing, and even the most accomplished leaders are carrying worry about what's next. How do you escape it? Drawing on everything from finance theory to real stories of Lead from Within clients who've used this to land top-of-band offers, generous retention packages, and the leverage to turn down "great opportunities" without a second thought, Melody unpacks what real career freedom is and how you can engineer it for yourself.  You’ll Discover:  The #1 thing that lets you say "no" to a bad offer without panickingHow one client turned "relocate or get fired" into a deal that worked entirely in her favor4 aspects of executive readiness that make opportunities come to you (instead of you chasing them)https://melodywilding.com/training Connect with Melody: FREE NEWSLETTER: Psychology at Work WeeklyGet on the Waitlist for Speak Like a Senior Leader™Get on the Waitlist for Lead from WithinGet Melody's new book, Managing Up

  7. Jun 24

    109. Senior Leaders: Your Next Promotion Depends on What You Do This Summer (Here’s Why)

    📌 NEW CLASS 7/15 – Top of Mind & Tapped for More: Leverage Q3 & Q4 to Rise Into the Role, Projects, and Pay That Match Your Caliber: https://melodywilding.com/training Most mid-to-senior professionals treat summer as career downtime and then every fall, they're blindsided when the promotions, projects, and budgets get handed to someone else. The truth is that your next 12-18 months are being decided right NOW, while the clay is still soft and almost no one is paying attention. In this episode, Melody reveals why summer is the single highest-leverage season for your advancement, and exactly how to use it (without sacrificing a minute of your pool time). You’ll Discover:  Why July is secretly the easiest month all year to get in front of powerThe off-script summer moments where leaders decide if you're executive material (usually when you least expect it)Why covering for a colleague on PTO is not a burden, but an audition for the next levelhttps://melodywilding.com/training Connect with Melody: FREE NEWSLETTER: Psychology at Work WeeklyGet on the Waitlist for Speak Like a Senior Leader™Get on the Waitlist for Lead from WithinGet Melody's new book, Managing Up

  8. Jun 17

    108. Endurance Beats Brilliance: What 700+ Interviews with the World's Brightest Leaders Taught Me (with Ryan Hawk)

    Early in your career, the metrics are clear and your effort translates into direct results. But what happens when that stops being true? When you have to reinvent yourself constantly, and when it seems - no matter how hard you work - success is slow to come? Ryan Hawk – host of The Learning Leader Show has spent years having over 700 conversations with the world's brightest authors, scholars, and researchers. In this episode he breaks down insights from his new book The Price of Becoming.  What You’ll Discover:  The #1 skill that predicts long-term career success more reliably than talent, credentials, or work ethicUse the "advantage us" mindset to stop being derailed by every situation that feels unfair, unpredictable, or outside your controlThe flywheel that separates people who consume content from people who are changed by itAbout Ryan Hawk Ryan is the host of The Learning Leader Show with 680+ episodes over the past 11 years and ranked a top 5 business podcast on Apple. He is the author of The Price of Becoming, The Score That Matters, The Pursuit of Excellence, and Welcome to Management. https://learningleader.com/  https://melodywilding.com/training Connect with Melody: FREE NEWSLETTER: Psychology at Work WeeklyGet on the Waitlist for Speak Like a Senior Leader™Get on the Waitlist for Lead from WithinGet Melody's new book, Managing Up

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4.8
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About

How do you nail that sweet spot of career success where confidence in yourself meets influence with others? That's what best-selling author, therapist, and executive coach Melody Wilding explores in every episode of Psychology at Work. If you're a driven professional who's great at your job but knows that talent alone isn't enough to get ahead, this show is for you. Subscribe for insightful, practical advice on topics ranging from office politics, communication and executive presence, managing up, emotional intelligence, self-advocacy, and more.  Advance your career, strengthen your leadership, and feel calmer, clearer, and more in control while doing it. 

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