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Ep. 40 – Navigating Recent Workplace Trends, with Beth Ridley

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

Release Date: 09/24/2025

Ep. 42 – What It Really Takes to Have a Healthy Workplace Culture, with Michelle Aronson show art Ep. 42 – What It Really Takes to Have a Healthy Workplace Culture, with Michelle Aronson

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

Many business leaders think that a healthy workplace culture is important, but they don’t always know what it takes to have one. Some companies may simply restate their values at every annual meeting and call it a day. Others may not know what their culture looks like at all. Improving the health of your workplace isn’t a one-and-done thing—for as long as your company remains open, learning what is and isn’t working must be an ongoing process.    Business counselor Kristen Prinz is joined by Michelle Aronson, founder of Culture + Strategy Lab and host of the True Stories at...

info_outline Ep. 41 - Managing Misconduct the Right Way show art Ep. 41 - Managing Misconduct the Right Way

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

It’s an unfortunate statistic, but most people have seen or experienced some form of misconduct at work at least once in their careers. As employment attorneys and workplace investigators, Christina Hynes Mesco and Laura Feldman have seen the full gamut of these types of matters and know that even the most cautionary tales can teach us valuable lessons about how to approach these difficult, and often highly emotional, cases.   Using a recent and very public corporate scandal, Christina and Laura explore how a prominent corporation properly responded to misconduct claims and use...

info_outline Ep. 40 – Navigating Recent Workplace Trends, with Beth Ridley show art Ep. 40 – Navigating Recent Workplace Trends, with Beth Ridley

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

It’s no secret that the American workplace is constantly changing. The last few years alone have witnessed major trends, from “job hugging” and a focus on mental health at work to Gen Z entering the labor force amidst a backlash against DEI initiatives. Such shifts have left business leaders struggling to navigate their new reality in a way that promotes business, inspires employees, and makes us all feel better about our jobs.   Business attorney Katie Rinkus welcomes Beth Ridley, a workplace culture consultant and the CEO of Ridley Consulting Group, to dissect these various...

info_outline Ep. 39 – Finding Your Values—and Why They Matter at Work, with Suzy Welch show art Ep. 39 – Finding Your Values—and Why They Matter at Work, with Suzy Welch

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

In this thought-provoking episode, employment and business attorney Kristen Prinz speaks with NYU Stern School of Business professor, bestselling author, and podcast host Suzy Welch to discuss her book Becoming You: The Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career. An outgrowth of years of research into human values, Becoming You clarifies what values really are—and what they’re not—and helps readers better understand themselves and what makes them more authentically happy by finding their “area of transcendence.”  Our values influence countless aspects of our...

info_outline Ep. 38 – High Rank, High Risk: Harassment in Executive Spaces show art Ep. 38 – High Rank, High Risk: Harassment in Executive Spaces

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

In this eye-opening episode, employment attorneys Kristen Prinz and Christina Hynes Mesco explore the complex dynamics of harassment among senior executives—particularly how it impacts women in top leadership roles. Executives often have fewer avenues for reporting sexual harassment than other employees, and women continue to face disproportionate scrutiny and higher standards of behavior in the workplace. At the same time, executives are not immune from being accused of harassment themselves.   Kristen and Christina rely on their own expertise in counseling clients and litigating...

info_outline Ep. 37 – Social Media & Workplace Harassment: The Lively-Baldoni Dispute show art Ep. 37 – Social Media & Workplace Harassment: The Lively-Baldoni Dispute

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

Social media can be a great way to stay connected to current events, but we’ve seen it used more and more frequently as a tool for harassment and retaliation, including in the workplace. The ongoing lawsuit between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is just one recent example, which features claims of a social media smear campaign—and the court of public opinion is taking sides. Employment attorneys Kristen Prinz and Laura Feldman provide an overview of the dispute and unpack the power dynamics between a big director and an even bigger star. Using this legal saga as a test case,...

info_outline Ep. 36 – Employment Law Changes Under Trump: The First 100 Days show art Ep. 36 – Employment Law Changes Under Trump: The First 100 Days

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

The first 100 days of the new Trump administration have been nothing but unprecedented. From terminating federal agency heads to signing controversial executive orders to the targeting of DEI efforts, both businesses and individual workers are dealing with a lot of change—and likely navigating a lot of confusion.   Prinz’s marketing manager Matt Tedeschi welcomes senior associate attorney Mary Charlton to the mic to analyze some of the most significant changes from an employment law perspective and what they mean for workers nationwide. Matt and Mary offer critical insight into the...

info_outline Ep. 35 – Mental Health & Non-Competes in Illinois show art Ep. 35 – Mental Health & Non-Competes in Illinois

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

Earlier this year, an amendment to the Illinois Freedom to Work Act invalidated non-compete clauses that would make it more difficult for a veteran or first responder to obtain mental health services. Without timely access to proper mental health care, these groups are at a higher risk of developing conditions like PTSD from their line of work. Partner Amit Bindra unpacks the new amendment with Operations Manager Angelia Salgado, a licensed professional counsel (PLC) who holds a master's in clinical mental health counseling. They discuss the law from the perspectives of both the legal field...

info_outline Ep. 34 – Why Did We Join an Amicus Brief Challenging an Executive Order? show art Ep. 34 – Why Did We Join an Amicus Brief Challenging an Executive Order?

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

After the Trump Administration issued an executive order targeting Perkins Coie, we signed on to an amicus brief in support of the firm’s lawsuit challenging the order. Since then, the administration has gone after three more firms, making collective action even more necessary to protect the rule of law.   Prinz partners Kristen Prinz and Amit Bindra provide context around the executive orders and explain why they decided to add their voices to this critical lawsuit. Why are these firms being targeted? Are these executive orders constitutional? What exactly is an amicus brief? Kristen...

info_outline Ep. 33 – Turning Workplace Conflict into Opportunity with Amy M. Gardner show art Ep. 33 – Turning Workplace Conflict into Opportunity with Amy M. Gardner

Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges

Business attorney Katie Rinkus welcomes Amy M. Gardner to the mic to discuss common ways they see conflict show up in the workplace. Amy is a certified Career and Career Transitions Coach and Team Development and Leadership Consultant and the co-owner of Apochromatik, which offers team and leadership development programs to help organizations resolve conflict and reach their goals.   One of the primary causes of conflict in the workplace is a poor culture: there is a lack of vulnerability-based trust that leads people to feel undervalued and unable to speak up or to ask for...

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It’s no secret that the American workplace is constantly changing. The last few years alone have witnessed major trends, from “job hugging” and a focus on mental health at work to Gen Z entering the labor force amidst a backlash against DEI initiatives. Such shifts have left business leaders struggling to navigate their new reality in a way that promotes business, inspires employees, and makes us all feel better about our jobs.

 

Business attorney Katie Rinkus welcomes Beth Ridley, a workplace culture consultant and the CEO of Ridley Consulting Group, to dissect these various workplace trends, explaining their effects on businesses and employees alike. Together, they shine a light on how some leaders have responded to new trends—and it’s not always for the better. Often, businesses have “over-rotated,” or dramatically course-corrected in ways that have had toxic effects on company culture.

 

In this episode, Katie and Beth explore: 

 

  • The new focus on productivity as opposed to a “culture of belonging”
  • What a “belonging” looks like and why it’s important at work 

·        Over-rotation vs. a “both/and” long-term sustainable approach to change

  • The underlying factors of the “leadership trust crisis”  
  • How workplace trends like “quiet quitting” and “job hugging” affect employee morale 
  • Questions that leaders can ask themselves about the impact of their work 
  • What it means to prioritize “workplace emotional safety” 
  • Generational tension at work and ways to manage it 

 

If you’re an employee who feels overwhelmed by the uncertainty of the current climate, Beth and Katie provide a new perspective. If you’re a business leader feeling the same, this episode offers insight on how to sustainably respond to the changes and still reach desired results. Tune in for a few tips on problem-solving, even when you don’t have all the answers.  

 

Beth Ridley

 

Beth Ridley is a former corporate executive turned workplace culture consultant, speaker, author, and CEO of Ridley Consulting Group. She helps organizations turn culture into a true competitive advantage.

 

Drawing on 25 years of global leadership and management consulting experience—and expertise in change management and positive psychology—Beth equips HR teams and people managers with practical roadmaps and tools to build resilient, change-ready, high-performing teams without burning people out. A recognized thought leader on leadership and workplace culture, Beth’s insights are featured in national publications, on television, and from stages at events worldwide.

 

Beth holds degrees from the University of Virginia, Tufts University, and Columbia University, and has lived in London, Tokyo, Johannesburg, and Bangkok. She now calls Milwaukee, Wisconsin home, where she lives with her husband and three children.

 

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