How do you know how diverse your company’s workforce is, how equitable its processes are, and how included people feel if nobody is using any metrics? DEI strategist Lily Zheng explains the power of data to track a company’s progress, fix unfairness, and hold people to their promises. They have advice for measuring and improving diversity, equity, and inclusion even when you don’t have a budget or you’re starting from scratch.

Is mid-level management a stone you’re ready to step off of? Making that move is difficult but doable, and Amy B and her three guests will direct, inspire, and reassure you. An executive coach validates the challenges of scoring a position that’s scarce. Then, two COOs whose careers stagnated in mid-level management before accelerating again, recount the conversations, decisions, and networking that jump-started them.

Is there any way to know for sure whether something that someone did—or neglected to do—is rooted in sexism? When is confronting that person worth it? And if you’ll never know what drove their actions, how do you make peace with the uncertainty? Amy G talks through these questions with two professors who study perceptions and gender stereotypes.

For women in male-dominated fields like engineering, there are lots of stressors, both subtle and overt. As a result, many end up leaving the field altogether. But the ones who stay develop strategies to survive and to even challenge the status quo. Guests: Jessica Townsend, Ana, Elena, and Teresa Cardador. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

As we grow older, we have to deal with not only sexism at work but ageism too. Still, age has its advantages. We talk with an expert on aging, and then we share personal experiences and answer questions from listeners. Guests: Nancy Morrow-Howell and Maureen Hoch. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Conflict at work is inevitable, and resolving conflicts can lead to higher job satisfaction, stronger relationships with colleagues, and innovation. But dealing with conflict becomes especially difficult when we feel pressure to be likeable or accommodate others. In this live show we talk through a general plan, as well as common situations. Guest: Linda Hill. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Going from full time to part time is a complicated career move. First we talk with a woman who’s made part time work well for her about how she set expectations and boundaries. Then we get advice from an expert on work-life balance on how to manage the risks of being part time. Guests: Kristin McElderry and Linda Duxbury. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

At work, self-care might mean asking for a deadline extension, going to the gym in the middle of the day, or blocking off a few hours to prioritize tasks for the week. But that’s all easier said than done. We speak with a happiness researcher about how to find the time we need to take care of ourselves (and then actually do it). Guest: Ashley Whillans. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Anxiety comes up in our conversations on the show from time to time, and we think it’s important to think about and talk about mental health. That’s why we’re recommending you listen to The Anxious Achiever, a new podcast by HBR Presents that’s all about dealing with anxiety at work.

Having a close friend at work feels great. You have someone to laugh with, confide in, and exchange glances with during a meeting. But we often fail to anticipate how the conflicting demands of work can occasionally strain that relationship. We talk through common tensions and how to handle them, either to maintain the friendship or to ease off of it. Guests: Nancy Rothbard and Julianna Pillemer. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Sponsorship is when someone influential in your organization advocates on your behalf to get you where you want to go. But the sponsor-protege relationship isn’t always clear-cut. We talk about what sponsors really do and what the protege’s role is. Guest: Rosalind Chow. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Building relationships that benefit our careers isn’t about exchanging business cards at work events; it’s about getting to know people we can learn from. We discuss how to develop a strong network and what the very best women networkers do. Guest: Inga Carboni. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Talking with colleagues about how much we earn can help us figure out if we’re being paid fairly, but sharing those numbers is stressful. With the help of experts, we discuss the tricky practicalities of salary disclosure and what to do with that sensitive information once we’ve got it. Guests: Zoë Cullen, Gaby Dunn, and Amelia Ransom. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

It’s a question that so many of us are grappling with. Should I quit corporate life and pursue my passion project? Today in this episode from our colleagues at New Here—HBR's podcast for young professionals—we’ll help you think through the possibilities and trade-offs, as we learn from one woman’s experiences leaving corporate life to build her own business. You’ll learn which of her fears were warranted, how she battled loneliness, managed her money, and whether or not she is actually happier working for herself.

Women at Work is back Oct. 14 with stories, conversations, and practical advice about being a woman in the workplace. Expect to hear from us every Monday for the next couple of months. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

High-quality relationships with other women at work, and the productivity and creativity those connections bring, are built on trusting one another with our emotions. Two researchers share findings from their recent survey about emotional vulnerability in the workplace. Guests: Beth Livingston and Tina Opie. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Many companies are still sorting out the right policies to put in place around sexual harassment. But even where good policies exist, we all need the skills and confidence to respond to and prevent inappropriate behavior at work. Guests: Marianne Cooper and Sarah Beaulieu. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Women are responsible for most eldercare, and it’s often an exhausting, isolating job that has to be done on top of your paid work. We talk with a researcher who’s gone through it herself; she shares coping strategies and advice on how to support the caregivers on your team. Guest: Anne Bardoel. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Thinking of gender as man/woman and masculine/feminine leaves out a lot of people. We talk about the problems the gender binary causes at work and get advice on how to support transgender and nonbinary colleagues. Guest: Lily Zheng. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

We discuss how women think about and approach competition at work and get advice on how to keep our disagreements — and people’s perceptions of them — from turning negative. Guest: Leah Sheppard. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Do women really apologize more than men at work? We speak with a psychology professor and a leadership consultant about the impact that saying “sorry” and using other minimizing language has on job success, and what words and phrases to use instead. Guests: Karina Schumann and Sally Helgesen. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Just because some of us are single and childless doesn’t mean we don’t have problems at the office or responsibilities outside of it. We talk with a woman who’s been writing a series of essays about her singlehood, as well as a researcher who studies this demographic. Guests: Shani Silver and Tracy Dumas. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

There are a lot of reasons women should feel optimistic about having both a career and children. Two professors tell us about the takeaways from their research on working motherhood and from their experience raising three kids each. They give advice about managing expectations, transitions, and difficult times. Guests: Danna Greenberg and Jamie Ladge.

Visibility at work is important for our professional advancement — and tricky, especially for women. In this live episode, we talk about navigating the risks and rewards of being in the spotlight, as well as the best ways to increase our visibility. Guest: Muriel Maignan Wilkins. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Eight women who’ve been on boards share how they landed a seat, gained confidence in the role, and found unexpected personal and professional benefits in the work. We hope their perspectives and advice will encourage you to consider trying it yourself some day. Ellen Zane, who runs a Harvard workshop for women interested in board work, gives further insight based on her deep experience as a director for nonprofits and private and public companies.

Stress can enhance our performance at work, but not if it leads to burnout. We talk with an expert on workplace well-being about how women experience burnout and how to manage its causes, symptoms, and repercussions. Guest: Mandy O’Neill.

Women at Work is back April 15 with stories, conversations, and practical advice about being a woman in the workplace. Expect to hear from us every Monday for the next couple of months.

Amy Gallo is a contributing editor for HBR, an expert on conflict and difficult conversations, a prolific giver of advice — and now she takes up the baton of co-hosting the show from Sarah Green Carmichael. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

In this special live episode, we share stories, research, and practical advice for strategic self-disclosure, and then take questions from the audience. Guest: Katherine Phillips. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Women will be a stronger force against sexism and racism at work if we know and trust each other. We talk through best practices for listening to, learning about, and advocating for women who are different from us. Guests: Tina Opie and Verónica Rabelo. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

We bring you three stories about parental leave, from listeners whose experiences with it changed them, for better or for worse. They talk about having to fight for more time off, go back to work before they were ready, care for sick babies, and try to hide their exhaustion and stress. Ultimately, they’re stories about how inadequate leave policies hurt families and companies.

We hold ourselves back when we let differences like race or class divide us from other women. We talk about the very different experiences and professional relationships black and white female managers had in 1970s and 1980s corporate America, and how workplace sisterhood is still in short supply. Guests: Ella Bell Smith and Stella Nkomo. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

If you’re your family’s chief breadwinner, research suggests that the pressure you’re feeling is different from what men have been dealing with for eons. We talk about the highs and lows of being in this role and examples of support at work and at home that can make it more manageable. Guest: Alyson Byrne. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Women have to work harder to be recognized for our ideas. And that recognition is essential for getting the assignments and the promotions we deserve — for moving our careers forward. We talk about how to present an idea in a group so that you come out owning it. Next, we cover how to respond when someone takes credit for your work. Guests: Amy Jen Su and Amy Gallo.

Perfectionist tendencies are a trap that can be difficult to avoid, but we’ll be more productive and advance faster if we don’t worry so much about making the occasional mistake. We talk about how perfectionists can get out of their own way, and how to effectively manage a perfectionist. Guest: Alice Boyes. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

What if one of your first assignments at a new job was to fire people? What should you do if the person leading a project you’re on isn’t giving clear direction, demands that you work nights and weekends, bristles at your feedback—and leadership tells you to fall in line? These are two of the five situations that Amy B and Amy G talk through in this episode. They offer advice to the women who wrote in with their questions, with the hope that it will help them and anyone who’s been in a similar situation, or might be one unfortunate day.

Both male and female managers tend to give women low-quality feedback. And when we don’t hear how we’re really doing at work and what we can do to improve — and men do — we’re put at a disadvantage. We talk about how to get high-quality feedback that is direct, specific, and focused on behavior we can change. Guests: Robin Ely and Ella Bell Smith.

Being a great decision maker is uniquely challenging for women. It’s not us; it’s sexism. Stereotypes about the way we make calls can be insulting and distracting. Knowing that we’ll be judged more harshly than men when we make mistakes is discouraging. We talk about how to make informed decisions that stick, despite gender bias. Guest: Therese Huston.

Women around the world have access to vastly different amounts of paid parental leave. In some countries, they can take a year or more. In the U.S., they’re not guaranteed any paid leave at all. We talk about how to manage your leave, or someone else’s, no matter how long it is. We also hear from a woman in Washington, DC, who had the rare opportunity to take a year of paid leave. Guest: Daisy Wademan Dowling. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Women are expected and asked to do thankless tasks — order lunch, handle less-valued clients — more than men, and research shows that doing those tasks slows down our career advancement and makes us unhappy at work. We talk about why we wind up with so much office drudgery and how to get some of it off our plates. Guests: Lise Vesterlund and Ruchika Tulshyan.

Women at Work is back Sept. 17 with stories, conversations, and practical advice about women and work. Expect to hear from us every Monday for the next couple of months. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

We’re delighted to be making more episodes for you. And we’re asking you to help shape this next season to fit what you’re dealing with and needing guidance on. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Professional women get all kinds of advice — some of it helpful, some of it really unhelpful, and some of it nice-sounding but pretty impossible to use. We question some of the classic advice women get (and give) on asking for more money, achieving more by doing less, and not burning out. Guests: Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, Arianna Huffington, Tiffany Dufu, Susan Orlean, and Alison Beard. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.

While once accusations of sexual harassment would be met with — at most — a monetary settlement and a non-disclosure agreement, today they are more likely to be publicized and investigated. Now, the challenge is, how do we harness this new attention to sexual harassment to make work a safer place for women? Guests: Joan Williams, Amy Gallo, and Michael Kimmel. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.

The gender wage gap is the lifetime financial curse that punishes so many of us. What’s going on in women’s careers that causes us to earn so much less? Guests: Claudia Goldin and Margaret Gullette. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.

As leaders, we know we’re supposed to be authentic, but for women, that can be tricky. For one thing, it can be hard to even know what our “true selves” want with all the demands competing for our attention. For another, there are different expectations about how women should look, and behave. In this episode, we talk with an expert on authenticity, as well as a woman trying everyday to bring her best self to work and help others do the same. Guests: Tina Opie and Candice Morgan. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City in Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.

Liz Fosslien believes “the future of work is emotional.” The Amys revisit our 2020 conversation with her and fellow organizational consultant Mollie West Duffy about the good that can come from being vulnerable with colleagues, and Fosslien returns to reassess where the line between vulnerability and oversharing is today.

Simmering resentments over whose career comes first. Bickering over household tasks. Arguments over who should pick up the kids this time. This is the portrait of two-career coupledom in much of the popular media. But for a lot of couples, the reality is much rosier. Mutually supportive relationships let us take career risks, help us be more resilient to setbacks, and even “lean in” at work. In this episode, we talk with three experts to help us paint a picture of what a truly supportive dual-career relationship looks like, and understand how to get our own relationships closer to that ideal. Guests: Jennifer Petriglieri, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, and Stephanie Coontz. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.

Have you ever been in a meeting and shared an idea, only to have it ignored? Then, 10 minutes later, a guy shares the same idea, and your boss says “Great idea!” (Grrr.) Or maybe you’ve been told you apologize too much, don’t speak up enough, or that you need more “confidence” or “leadership presence.” (Ugh.) In this episode, we tackle three aspects of communication: first, how and why women’s speech patterns differ from men’s; second, how women can be more assertive in meetings; and third, how women can deal with interrupters (since the science shows women get interrupted more often than men do). Guests: Deborah Tannen is a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University.  She is best known as the author of the bestseller “You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation.” Jill Flynn is a founding partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership. Amy Gallo is an HBR contributing editor and author of the “HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict.” Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network. For links to the articles mentioned in this episode, as well as other information about the show, visit hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work.

Conversations about the workplace, and women's place in it.