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Amy G, our show's back and you're back.

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months

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sabbatical. That's right. After

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three years of writing and promoting

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my last book, I needed to mark the

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end of that exhausting chapter. So no work,

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no social media, no to-do lists

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for three months.

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It was very restful

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and I have to say, I also realized modern

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life is really busy, even when you take

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out all of those things. So I'd like

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to say I was like sitting in like Lotus

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Yoga pose for three months, but

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I was running around. Yeah, but do

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you feel refreshed and restored? Refreshed

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is maybe too strong.

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I do feel like things became clearer,

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like what mattered became clear, how I

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wanted to spend my time.

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And I just feel more excited to tackle

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things. I was at the point where anything came in my

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inbox or across my desk, my

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metaphorical desk, and I was like, no. And

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now I'm feeling like, oh yeah, that'll be fun.

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You know, fall for me is sort of like a rebirth

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season and I feel I'm feeling ready

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and rested and, you know, let's

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do this thing. Well, that's good because we have

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a ninth season coming out. On

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Monday, October 16th. So

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let's go through the lineup a little bit. We

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just recorded an episode where we revisit

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our past professional failures.

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That was fun. Vandar

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producer asked us to think about failures

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in advance of that recording, which it's a very

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humbling task. Oh my gosh. I

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mean, and did you did you toy with

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question of,

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you know, should I really talk

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about my failures or should I have, you

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know, a faux failure like, you know, I

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got a story in late last week.

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Would you agree to sweetness? It's actually my

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greatest strength. Yeah. No, I did and

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I did end up talking about a failure I had not

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planned, which was very recent and I have

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to say made my stomach

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turn a little bit. Yeah, they always do. They're

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really cringy, but I enjoyed that conversation

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a lot. Yeah, me too. I would hope it'll encourage

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our listeners to revisit their own

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failures, like whether they're real or perceived

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and put them into perspective. Right, because

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failure is part of any job

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and learning to take responsibility,

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you know, but not more

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responsibility than you ought

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to, not more than your fair share is really important.

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Yeah. And then

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moving on, the most important thing. Yes,

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moving on, which clearly we

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are still doing. I'm excited

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to listen to the conversations you had with those two

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experts on adult ADHD. I haven't heard

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them yet, but you mentioned how enlightening

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they were. Well, first of all, I learned

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that ADHD is a serious

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problem. Someone first needs

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to have a very robust understanding

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of what it means to have ADHD.

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If I just think, oh, I just struggled to focus,

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then I'm not going to understand that it actually

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affects every single aspect of

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every single minute of my life. Did

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you know that? I didn't. I really

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didn't. Yeah, and it shows up in a variety of ways

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that sounded painfully familiar to me.

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We only have so much bandwidth, and

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I have worked with women who

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have told me no one at work would

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ever guess I had ADHD, but

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because it's so exhausting for me

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to keep all that organized,

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the rest of my life is in chaos.

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So we will definitely talk

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about that. Yeah. You

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spoke with a couple of disability advocates,

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Amy. Oh, they were fantastic. That

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conversation for me so far

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in this season... has just been one of the most

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eye-opening in terms of understanding

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what it's like to navigate

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a workplace, what

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accommodations you need when you're

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living with a disability. And whether that

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disability is apparent, people can see it because you're

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perhaps in a wheelchair or non-apparent

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and struggling with ADHD

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or even autism. Especially

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when it comes to behavioral things, people can be

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very judgmental. I have found a

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lot more willingness to accommodate

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my physical disabilities

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than

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my neurodivergence.

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I'm really looking forward to that conversation.

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Oh, and I know we have a ton

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of perspectives and advice to share from

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women who've served on boards.

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When I look back, I could have never imagined

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that I would be providing

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input in this way. Four years ago, I was

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a student in that program, and now I'm contributing

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to the future of this program.

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And if you're worrying that you're not an expert in

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that particular field or in that particular area,

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consider that outside ignorance is

5:05

a good thing to really test what's happening

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and why and whether that's the best way

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of doing things. I didn't realise

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the sense of satisfaction

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doing something like this would give me. It

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was only once I entered into it. And

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the deep sense of purpose and meaning one gets

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from contributing to things where

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you stretch yourself and you're not so

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sure, but you go there and you do it anyway.

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And that's

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only a sample of the collective

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wisdom that you'll hear. For anyone

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who's never considered joining a board

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or assumed they weren't qualified, this

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episode's going to change your thinking.

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And then we've got one episode

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that will be an Ask the Eamese, one

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of my favourite episodes we do, where

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you tell us, you listeners, not

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Amy B, tell us about your interpersonal, managerial,

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career problem. We think it over

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and then give you our take. If

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you want our advice on...

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something you're struggling with right now, email

6:02

women at work at hbr.org

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to contribute.

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Again, season 9 starts Monday,

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October

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16th. More from

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us then. And don't forget to follow

6:17

the show wherever you listen to

6:18

podcasts.