Explore every episode of the podcast Significantly Weird

Why are some leaders so determined to get everyone back into the office?

Maybe it’s collaboration. Maybe it’s culture. Maybe the work genuinely functions better face-to-face.

Or…maybe somebody misses the office altar.

In this episode of Significantly Weird, Christine digs into the wonderfully titled 2026 study Worship Me at the Office Altar: Why Narcissistic Leaders Resist Remote Work by Marissa Shandell, Courtney Elliott, and Adam Grant.

Across three studies—including Fortune 500 CEOs, a sample of working leaders, and an experiment—the researchers found that higher narcissism was consistently associated with greater resistance to remote work. And the explanation wasn’t simply that narcissistic leaders trusted remote employees less. Instead, power and status—especially power—appear to play an important role.

We’ll talk giant CEO signatures, Zoom rectangles, ring lights, narcissistic supply, Self-Determination Theory, autonomy, and why “I feel less in control when I can’t see everybody” is a very different organizational problem from “remote work isn’t working.”

Christine also takes issue with one particularly intriguing practical implication: Should employees really have to manage a narcissistic leader’s ego just to negotiate flexible work?

As always: strange research, real work, limited jargon.

Research discussed:

Shandell, M. S., Elliott, C. E., & Grant, A. M. (2026). Worship me at the office altar: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 195, 104496.

Does swearing at work make a leader seem more relatable… or just more like an a**hole?

In this episode of Significantly Weird, Christine digs into Gruda and colleagues’ wonderfully titled study, STFU and Follow, which examined how employees respond to leaders who use profanity at work. Drawing on data from 5,660 employees across 19 countries, the researchers looked at whether followers’ Dark Triad personality traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—change how they react to a swearing boss, and whether the broader culture matters too.  

As it turns out, the answer is much weirder than “swearing is good” or “swearing is bad.” In countries with lower income inequality, some highly Machiavellian and psychopathic employees actually responded more positively to leader profanity. But in countries with greater inequality, employees tended to respond negatively to swearing leaders regardless of personality, suggesting that culture can overpower individual differences in shaping what feels acceptable from a boss.  

We talk about why profanity can sometimes signal authenticity and informality, when it crosses the line into poor leadership, what trait activation theory has to do with all of this, and what the findings mean for leaders trying to figure out whether dropping the occasional swear word makes them approachable… or simply makes everyone want them to shut the hell up.

A note for listeners with littles nearby: despite the paper’s title, there are no F-bombs in this episode. There is some daytime-TV-level swearing; tiny research assistants may proceed accordingly.

Research discussed:
Gruda, D., McCleskey, J. A., Al-Shammari, M., Lisak, A., Psychogios, A., Szamosi, L., Bhavnani-Akowuah, L., Simha, A., Tang, M., Zaharie, M., & Tsai, C.-Y. (2026). STFU and follow: Trait activation of dark triad responses to leader profanity across 19 countries. Personality and Individual Differences, 258, Article 113844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2026.113844

What is stress bragging, and why do people brag about being busy or overwhelmed at work? In this episode of Significantly Weird, Christine breaks down recent organizational psychology research on stress bragging, leadership, workplace communication, status signaling, and employee perceptions. We look at why stress disclosure can affect how leaders are viewed—and what better communication can look like instead.

Research discussed in this episode:

Tao, H., Li, J., & Deng, X. (2026). Hinting or boasting? How attributions of leaders’ stress bragging shape employee behavior through rumination and reflection. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 1–20.

https://doi.org/10.1002/job.70124

Rodell, J. B., Shanklin, B. C., & Frank, E. L. (2024). “I’m so stressed!”: The relational consequences of stress bragging. Personnel Psychology, 77, 1441–1465.

https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12645

Topics: stress bragging, leadership, workplace communication, organizational psychology, employee perceptions

Significantly Weird: Strange research. Real work. Limited jargon.

This podcast discusses published research for educational and informational purposes and does not constitute professional, medical, or psychological advice.