PODCAST · business
Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy
by Elizabeth Arnott
I help people who are good at their jobs but stuck in a workplace that’s making them question everything. I help companies stop losing those good people to problems they could have fixed — if someone had just told them what was actually going on. These short videos are grounding exercises for the end of the day, after a tough day at work. elizabetharnott1.substack.com
Episodes
-
Intentional Connection - Elizabeth Arnott and Danielle Shroyer
Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit elizabetharnott1.substack.com
-
Episode 1: This is What I Lost To Work
This is the first episode of Unmanaged The Podcast. (00:00:01): Hi, I’m Elizabeth. (00:00:02): Welcome to Unmanaged Workplace Strategy. (00:00:05): This is going to be a little bit of a longer episode. (00:00:07): I’m testing out kind of moving to longer form podcasts, (00:00:11): so please let…
more -
The Story of My Bully
Yesterday I sent an email. It was unhinged. It was rude. It was passionate. It was emotional. It was defensive. It was imperfect. And it was kind of messy. It was not the type of thing I ever advise anyone to send. I broke my own rule of waiting 24 hours to send a high-stakes email. It was to the...
-
Five Phrases to Repeat to Make Job Hugging Easier On Your Nervous System
When you are in a place that you want to leave, but you can’t - you have to figure out a way to stay in your true identity, your authenticity - because that frustration can deeply impact how you feel, what you say, how you interact with others - and yes, even the future of your own career. The...
-
5 Things to Remember If You Are Hugging Your Job
“Should I stay in my job until things get better?” I mean in this economy? The answer is probably yes. But that doesn’t have to be a dead-end. Here are five things to consider as you enter into this informal agreement of staying in your job for now. * It is non-binding. You can always change your...
-
Stop Ignoring What's Happening Around You - This is How Leaders Grow
Video companion #1 to Fridays Off the Record - May 8th, 2026. Read the whole post: Fridays Off the Record: Absorbing Emotions, Developing Leadership Skills and Prioritizing When Everything is Urgent Elizabeth Arnott · 11:59 AM Welcome to Fridays Off the Record! Every Friday I’ll be answering a…
more -
Let It Move Through You: Emotional Boundaries at Work
Video companion #1 to Fridays Off the Record - May 8th, 2026. Read the whole post: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit elizabetharnott1.substack.com
-
Staying Put Requires a Plan
Job hugging is a newly identified trend where people hold onto their dysfunctional jobs as long as they can because of the instability of the job market. It makes sense. Our world is changing rapidly and it seems like there’s not a day that goes by without a life altering piece of news. So how do...
-
The Emotional Intelligence Exercise That Prepares You for Difficult People
We’ll be working through the Unmanaged methodology all week, discussing where the systems fail, the importance of regulating yourself and how you can protect yourself, whether you are a manager or an individual contributor. Today, we are talking about emotional intelligence. Today we covered a…
more -
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: 7 Questions Every Manager Should Ask Before a High-Stakes Decision
We’ll be working through the Unmanaged methodology all week, discussing where the systems fail, the importance of regulating yourself and how you can protect yourself, whether you are a manager or an individual contributor. Today, we are talking about emotional intelligence. This morning we…
more -
Train Your Brain to Make Better Decisions at Work
We’ll be working through the Unmanaged methodology all week, discussing where the systems fail, the importance of regulating yourself and how you can protect yourself, whether you are a manager or an individual contributor. Today, we are talking about critical thinking. Today we talked about...
-
From Spiral to Settled: Practicing 5-4-3-2-1 and Visualization
We’ll be working through the Unmanaged methodology all week, discussing where the systems fail, the importance of regulating yourself and how you can protect yourself, whether you are a manager or an individual contributor. Tonight, we are practicing what we’ve learned about nervous system...
-
You Can Mentally Rehearse a Calmer Version of That Meeting
We’ll be working through the Unmanaged methodology all week, discussing where the systems fail, the importance of regulating yourself and how you can protect yourself, whether you are a manager or an individual contributor. Today, we are talking about visualization, a tool used in nervous system...
-
The Day I Sabotaged Myself — And What I Do About It Now
We’ll be working through the Unmanaged methodology all week, discussing where the systems fail, the importance of regulating yourself and how you can protect yourself, whether you are a manager or an individual contributor. By the time I hired an attorney, I was waking up agitated every morning.…
more -
Webinars, Anonymous Q&A, and a New Program — Here's What's New at Unmanaged
Three things are launching at Unmanaged — and at least one of them is for you. 🔵 Two Free Webinars — Next Week 📅 Wednesday, April 29 · 11am–12pm PST The Leader Who Endures Everything Is Teaching Their Team to Do the Same For business owners, founders, managers, and anyone who leads people. 👉...
-
Unlearning Self-Doubt: A Workplace Strategy for Protecting Your Identity
Hi. I’m Elizabeth. Welcome to Unmanaged. There have been a few times in my life when I felt absolutely determined to hold onto what I knew about myself. And as someone with ADHD and a noisy brain, that’s sometimes harder than I’d like it to be. The things that helped me weren’t strategies I chose...
-
You Can Build Your Own Psychological Safety (Even In a Toxic Job)
Before we close the day, let’s connect the dots. This morning, we talked about how toxicity shows up quietly. Mid-day, we explored why speaking up starts to feel risky. Tonight is about sorting out what belongs to the job—and what doesn’t belong to you at all. Because not all discomfort at work…
more -
Why Your Co-Worker's Bad Behavior Isn't About You
This week, we’re continuing our journey with Unlearning Doubt. Morning posts are written for individual contributors. Midday posts are for managers and supervisors. Evening posts are for everyone—wherever you sit. When we encounter behavior that feels troubling or hurtful, our first instinct is...
-
Your Team Isn't The Problem. Your System Is.
“My team is so difficult!” Hi. I’m Elizabeth and I’m the founder of Unmanaged Workplace Strategy. I remember the manager who said that to me. The frustration coming through before she even finished the sentence — the exasperation, the hands thrown up. She wasn’t wrong. Her team was full of smart,...
-
The Information Gap Isn't About You. Here's What It Actually Is.
This week: Unlearning Doubt. Morning posts are written for individual contributors. Midday posts are written for managers and supervisors. Evening posts are for everyone — wherever you sit. Hi. I’m Elizabeth. Welcome to Unmanaged. Tonight I want to talk about what happens when we don’t have all…
more -
The Slammed Door Isn't About You. Here's How to Actually Believe That.
This week: Unlearning Doubt. Morning posts are written for individual contributors. Midday posts are written for managers and supervisors. Evening posts are for everyone — wherever you sit. Have you ever walked into work in a good mood — and then heard a raised voice, a slammed door, or watched...
-
Your Team Is Living Inside This Too. Here's What to Do With That.
Hi. I’m Elizabeth, and this is Unmanaged. We covered a lot of ground this week. Tonight, let’s bring it together. Feet on the floor. Deep breath in, deep breath out. This week we talked about what happens when a whole team is living inside a difficult environment — how one person’s struggle…
more -
How Preparation Takes the Power Out of Fear
Hi. I’m Elizabeth, and this is Unmanaged. Today we talked about two things that are really rooted in the same feeling: fear. Fear of retaliation creates trauma bonds among colleagues. Fear of consequences creates distance between staff and their managers. Tonight I want to talk about what you can...
-
Your Job Is Not the Whole Picture
Difficult work environments are exhausting in a specific way. The pressure is constant, and it has a way of narrowing everything down until the job feels like the whole world. Tonight, let’s widen the lens. Feet on the floor. Feel the chair beneath you, the floor underneath your feet. Let those...
-
Psychological Safety Begins With How You Treat Yourself.
Tonight’s reflection is for everyone — leaders and individual contributors alike. Feet on the floor. Feel the support beneath you. Think of that as your own psychological safety net. Even when the environment around you isn’t safe, you can still offer that safety to yourself. You can still show…
more -
You Have to Prioritize Yourself. And You Can Still Be Aware of Your Impact.
Hi. I’m Elizabeth and this is Unmanaged. When a team breaks, there are no longer collective goals. The goal for each person becomes survival. And inadvertently, people fighting a toxic work environment sometimes contribute to that environment without the support of a team and or a leader. Each...
-
Closing a Hard Week: What Gossip, DARVO, Gaslighting, Sabotage and Exclusion All Have in Common
This week was heavy — naming abusive tactics at work, looking at them directly, sitting with what they do. If that took something out of you, that's not weakness. It means you were paying attention. This closing video is about what you leave the week with. In this video: What gossip, sabotage,...
-
Your Facts Belong to You. Nothing They Do Can Take That Away.
Deep breaths. Maybe you were gaslit today. Maybe it happens every day. It’s real, and it’s not okay. Tonight we are going to take the tools we’ve been building this week and breathe life into them — because gaslighting works by taking air out of the room. We are putting it back. Ready? Deep…
more -
Remembering Yourself is What Loosens the Grip of Someone Else's Narrative
DARVO happened. You wrote your reality anchor notes. You read them repeatedly. You feel confident in your account of what occurred. And then you try to go to sleep. The thoughts start: What if they’re right? This is the moment to return to what you know — about what happened, and about yourself....
-
How to Rebuild Confidence When Work Is Breaking You Down
“I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And doggone it, people like me.” I remember laughing at Al Franken’s character Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live. And then, many years later, I remember saying those exact words in earnest — standing in front of a mirror, trying to get ready for a job that...
-
If You're in a Toxic Workplace, This Is for You | Unmanaged
Elizabeth Arnott: I’ve been doing this work for 25 years. Now, it has a home. I’m Elizabeth, this is Unmanaged, and I want to tell you something that I’ve been working on for a long time. Elizabeth Arnott: For 25 years, people have been finding me. Former colleagues, friends of friends, people I...
-
How to Stop Letting Workplace Gossip Get Inside Your Head
Depending on your environment, you might hear gossip every single day. The opportunities for speculation and sensationalism are constant — and sometimes tantalizing. Resist. Here’s the thing. You know what you know. You have your own reality anchors. You know what is true, what is connected to…
more -
Your Nervous System Is Still in the Room. Here's How to Leave.
You know the ones. The meetings that follow you home. That replay on the drive back, over dinner, at two in the morning when you should be asleep. The ones where the volume — literal or emotional — was high enough that your nervous system is still running the tape hours later. This is one of the...
-
The Quiet Way to Build Real Allies at Work
Today we talked about collaboration — how working with the right people, in the right way, builds your reputation and deepens others’ confidence in you. Tonight we’re taking that one step further. Because collaboration isn’t just about the work. It’s about what you signal to the people around you...
-
How to Support a Colleague Without Losing Yourself
“Hey, can I stop by on my way back to my office?” Heather worked in a different building across the street. We had just come out of a contentious leadership meeting that had ended in confusion, raised voices, and — I’m not making this up — a barking dog. She was upset. She needed to debrief. This...
-
They're Fighting Over Your Work in the Meeting. Now What?
Yesterday we prepared for the people. Today, we’re in the room with them. You did the work. You grounded yourself. You ran through the likely scenarios. You practiced staying calm in the moments you could see coming. Now the meeting is actually happening — and Brenda has just started loudly...
-
You Already Know What's Coming. Use That.
You already know who’s going to be in this meeting. And if you’ve worked with these people for any length of time, you already know what’s coming. Mary gets defensive the moment her department comes up. Mark will find a way to make this about something completely unrelated. Jenna receives…
more -
You Are the Strategy. Everything Else Is a Variable.
This week we talked about strategy. Trend watching.Testing communication.SWOT analysis.Scenario planning.Mission, vision, values. All of it matters. But none of it works if you remove the most important variable. You. You are the strategy. Not your resume.Not your savings account.Not your…
more -
Why Seeing Your Options Changes Everything (Even If You Don't Take Them)
After talking about planning today, I want to slow it down. Because planning is not about urgency. It’s about peace. Because the opposite of feeling trapped is not escape. It’s choice. And choice — even small, quiet choice — changes your nervous system. When you believe there is only one path…
more -
You're Not Stranded at Work. You're Positioning.
Today we talked about conducting a Self-SWOT. Strengths.Weaknesses.Opportunities.Threats. On paper, that can feel clinical. But underneath it is something much more personal. Self-discovery. If you are in a hard workplace right now, it can feel like you’re stranded. Like you’ve washed up…
more -
How to Use a Bad Job to Build Something That Travels With You
If you are in a hard workplace right now, I want to say something clearly. You are not stuck. It may feel that way.It may look that way on paper.But feeling stuck and being stuck are not the same thing. Today we talked about using your employer as a testing ground.Trying different communication...
-
All the Data Won't Help If You Don't Trust Your Own Read
Today we talked about watching internal and external trends. Who’s leaving. What’s shifting. Where the market is moving. But tonight, I want to bring this back to you. Because all the data in the world will not help you if you don’t trust your own interpretation of it. Here’s what I mean. You...
-
Why the Calmest Person in the Room Has the Most Power
We’re closing the week with something simple. Steady is strong. Not loud. Not forceful. Not dominating. Steady. In chaotic systems, strength often gets confused with intensity. The fastest responder looks powerful. The sharpest voice sounds confident. The most emotional reaction feels convincing....
-
Stop Trying to Convince Them. Do This Instead.
Today we practiced something deceptively simple: Document, don’t defend.Send the alignment email.Choose clarity over convincing. Tonight, I want to ground us in why this matters. In volatile environments, it’s easy to slip into convincing mode. Convincing that you were right. Convincing that you...
-
You Don't Have to Explode or Stay Silent. There's a Third Option.
Today we talked about neutral acknowledgments versus agreements and neutral phrases to use instead of emotional reactions. Tonight, I want to bring it together with this idea: Neutrality as a verbal boundary. Most of us were never taught how to set boundaries calmly. We were taught two extremes....
-
How Calm Observation Gives You the Upper Hand at Work.
Today we practiced neutrality. We observed without absorbing. We paused after our gut reaction to notice, pause and ask. Tonight I want to name what this actually builds: Calm observation is POWER. Not loud power. Not positional power. Not dominating power. Internal power. In a chaotic or...
-
You Don't Have to React to Be Accountable at Work
Today we started learning neutrality. This morning we talked about approaching neutrality as regulated participation instead of withdrawing from a situation. And this afternoon, we practiced the Reactivity Check — noticing breath, posture, tone, and thought speed in emotional meetings. Tonight, I...
-
This is What Clarity in Motion Actually Looks Like at Work
This week, we built something steady. We started with zooming out. Then we filtered noise from information. We mapped context — power, audience, stakes. We practiced the pause. And today, we dialed in our level of engagement. Each of those skills stands alone. Together, they form discernment....
-
Why Waiting 24 Hours Is One of the Smartest Moves You Can Make
Today we slowed things down. This morning, we named speed as the enemy of discernment. This afternoon, we practiced the 24-hour rule — waiting before responding when something activates you. Now let’s talk about what actually happens inside the pause because pausing is not passive. It’s active...
-
Stop Reacting to Tone. Start Looking at Pattern and Context.
Today we layered two powerful filters. This morning, we talked about how context changes meaning. This afternoon, we mapped context — looking at power, audience, stakes, and informal influence. Now we bring that together with something you practiced a couple of weeks ago: Patterns. Because…
more
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
I help people who are good at their jobs but stuck in a workplace that’s making them question everything. I help companies stop losing those good people to problems they could have fixed — if someone had just told them what was actually going on. These short videos are grounding exercises for the end of the day, after a tough day at work.
elizabetharnott1.substack.com
HOSTED BY
Elizabeth Arnott
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy have?
Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy currently has 75 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy about?
I help people who are good at their jobs but stuck in a workplace that’s making them question everything. I help companies stop losing those good people to problems they could have fixed — if someone had just told them what was actually going on. These short videos are grounding exercises for the...
How often does Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy release new episodes?
Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy has 75 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy?
You can listen to Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy?
Unmanaged: Workplace Strategy is created and hosted by Elizabeth Arnott.
URL copied to clipboard!