Where Work Meets Life™ with Dr. Laura

Dr. Laura welcomes psychologist, speaker, and bestselling author Dr. Jody Carrington for a powerful conversation on what it means to stay human in an increasingly AI-driven world. Dr. Laura and Jody explore the increasing disconnection people feel in spite of constant digital access. Jody reframes what we label as a mental health crisis as, instead, a deep loneliness epidemic. She shares insights on how technology, social media, and the relentless push for productivity have chipped away at meaningful relationships and emotional regulation. She highlights the essential role of connection in helping individuals and organizations thrive. Dr. Laura and Dr. Carrington also address the urgent need to prioritize emotional regulation skills as a core strategy for leadership, rather than being a secondary consideration.

Dr. Laura welcomes executive coach, author, and former Microsoft leader Sabina Nawaz for a discussion on what it really takes to become a manager people want to follow. Drawing from her own experience of shifting from a caring leader to one she no longer recognized under pressure, Sabina shares a deeply human perspective on how pressure, more than power, quietly shapes behavior at work. Dr. Laura and Sabina explore how even the most well-intentioned managers can fall into common traps that limit their teams, including the tendency to take on too much or unknowingly diminish others’ contributions. They invite reflection on how leadership shows up in everyday moments and how small, intentional shifts can transform both personal effectiveness and team culture.

In this solo episode of Where Work Meets Life, Dr. Laura explores leadership through a bell curve, illustrating the range of leaders found in today’s organizations. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience as an organizational psychologist, Dr. Laura explains how leaders often rise not through careful selection, but through promotions based on technical skill or ambition. She outlines the spectrum from toxic bosses to truly great leaders and reflects on how leadership quality shapes culture, employee engagement, and organizational health. She asks us to consider where our own leaders fall on the continuum and what it would take to move leadership from merely adequate to genuinely inspiring.

In this episode, Dr. Laura welcomes author, strategist, and keynote speaker Kim Bolourtchi to talk about unlocking potential by questioning the rules that shape our choices. Kim shares her journey from a high-powered legal career to embracing her full identity, including a lifelong passion for competitive Latin dance that she once hid out of fear of judgment. Kim and Dr. Laura explore how many professionals learn to succeed by following prescribed paths, only to discover a persistent sense that something is missing. Beliefs formed early in life about professionalism and permission can lead us to limit our creativity and personal growth.

In this episode of Where Work Meets Life, Dr. Laura talks with Paul McCarthy (author of The Fired Leader; leadership speaker and global thought leader/consultant reinventing the future of leadership) and Dr. Markus Zehentner (European legal professional and author of Breaking Free from Toxic Leadership) about why toxic bosses often remain protected inside organizations while principled, high-integrity leaders get pushed out. Together, they examine how toxic leadership becomes “baked into” workplace culture through politics, retaliation against honesty, and performative “wellbeing” initiatives that look good on paper but don’t change day-to-day leadership behavior. Both Paul McCarthy and Markus Zehentner share their personal experiences with toxic bosses and how those inspired their books.

In this episode, Dr. Laura talks to Catherine Mattice about navigating toxic workplaces, the topic of Dr. Laura’s new book. Catherine is a workplace culture expert, culture strategist, and author, having just released her own book called Navigating a Toxic Workplace for Dummies. She runs the organization Civility Partners that focuses on creating respectful workplace cultures across all sizes of companies. Dr. Laura and Catherine discuss organizational risk factors that lead to toxic workplaces, and examine the steps necessary to turn such toxicity around.

Dr. Laura welcomes international keynote speaker, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame inductee, and one of the world’s leading experts on executive presence and influence, Stacey Hanke, to the show to talk about how we can tend to and elevate our influence at work. Stacey defines the qualities of true influence and discusses her Monday to Monday philosophy of consistency in messaging. Not only is influence grown in what we say, but how we listen, how we show up daily, and how we continue to present ourselves.

Dr. Laura welcomes Dr. Shahana Alibhai, a TEDx speaker, bestselling author, family physician, and medical director of The Foundry Abbotsford, to the show to talk about her book, Feel Better, and the need for more focus on mental health, especially for youth. Dr. Shahana points out that medicine is very focused on illness, on diagnosing disease and offering treatment, whereas mental health requires holding space for belonging, acceptance, and mattering. She and Dr. Laura explore what it takes to navigate emotions and thrive in life.

Dr. Laura welcomes Laura Munson, the #1 New York Times, USA Today, and international best-selling author of novel “Willa’s Grove”, memoir “This Is Not the Story You Think It Is”, and recent self-help book “The Wild Why”, to the show. Laura Munson tells Dr. Laura about the impetus behind the writing of her new book, “The Wild Why”, and her passion for bringing wonder back into the world. As Laura explains, wonder can release our creativity and free us from the hustle culture that leads to burnout.

Dr. Laura welcomes wrongful conviction expert and attorney Jeffrey Deskovic and filmmaker Jia Rizvi to Where Work Meets Life™for an eye-opening conversation about wrongful conviction and exoneration advocacy. Jeffrey Deskovic was wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and spent sixteen years in prison, from age seventeen to thirty-three, until he was exonerated by DNA evidence. Jia Rizvi is a documentary filmmaker passionate about telling stories of wrongful convictions, whose short documentary, Conviction, and upcoming full documentary, Sixteen Years, are about Jeffrey Deskovic’s story. Dr. Laura hosts a raw and illuminating discussion on Jeffrey’s story, wrongful convictions and the advocacy work required to exonerate the innocent, and Jia’s career in telling these stories.

Dr. Laura welcomes Jana Boyko, business coach and author of Bedside Business Plan and the upcoming Employee to Entrepreneur, to the podcast for a conversation on entrepreneurship and self confidence. Jana describes her journey from doing a BCom and working for a marketing firm to striking out on her own as an entrepreneur and the failures and successes she experienced on that path. Dr. Laura learns how Jana’s guided journals are designed to guide entrepreneurs through the steps of starting a business with a focus on understanding ourselves and our ideas.

Dr. Laura welcomes Dr. Esther Sternberg, M.D., a Professor, Research Director, Speaker, and Author of the books Well at Work, Healing Spaces, and The Balance Within, to the podcast to talk about wellness at work and how workplace environments impact employees. Dr. Sternberg shares her career journey from her start in medical family practice through to becoming the Research Director at the Andrew Weil Center of Integrative Medicine. She and Dr. Laura talk about what factors impact health and overall wellness at work and how these can be improved.