#140 - Practical Strategies for Navigating and Escaping a Toxic Boss with Dr Laura Hambley Lovett
The Workplace Communication Podcast
Release Date: 12/08/2025
#141 - The Human Cost of Change and How Leaders Can Do Better with Myriane Ouellette
The Workplace Communication Podcast
Change at work is often treated like a checklist: new strategy, new structure, new expectations. But what rarely gets named is what people are actually losing along the way: certainty, identity, trust, and sometimes even a sense of belonging. When leaders move too fast and skip the human side of organizational change, the cost shows up quietly through employee burnout, disengagement, and resistance that feels hard to explain. That’s where Myriane Ouellette comes in. As a leadership strategist at O Strategies, she helps leaders across sectors navigate complex change...
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#140 - Practical Strategies for Navigating and Escaping a Toxic Boss with Dr Laura Hambley Lovett
The Workplace Communication Podcast
Some bosses don’t just manage - they control, manipulate, and undermine, leaving employees walking on eggshells every day. The stress, self-doubt, and exhaustion can build quietly, often making people question themselves more than the toxic dynamics around them. Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett has spent years helping people break free from these harmful work environments. Drawing on her research and experience, she explains how to spot toxic leadership patterns, understand the impact on your well-being, and take practical steps to protect yourself, set boundaries, and plan a way forward with...
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#139 - Unlocking Leadership Excellence through Psychological Safety with Kelly Meerbott
The Workplace Communication Podcast
From coaching a four-star general to navigating a toxic corporate culture where retaliation, exclusion, and silencing were part of daily life, Kelly Meerbott has seen leadership at its most extreme. Just like most leaders and employees, she has experienced what it feels like when ideas are dismissed, confidence erodes, and fear quietly takes over the workplace. Kelly’s journey shows how the absence of psychological safety can crush potential and morale, and how fostering it can transform teams, spark innovation, and bring out the very best in people. Her story proves that when leaders...
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138 - Powerful Policy Writing to Maximize Engagement with Lewis Eisen
The Workplace Communication Podcast
In today’s collaborative workplaces, outdated “command and control” policy language feels completely out of step. Instead of encouraging cooperation, it often creates resentment and disengagement. That’s why Lewis Eisen, author of Rules: Powerful Policy Writing to Maximize Engagement, has been challenging the traditional way organizations write policies. Drawing on his background as a lawyer, IT professional, and senior government policy advisor, Lewis shows leaders how respectful, plain-language policies can inspire genuine cooperation, strengthen employee engagement, and...
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#137 - Inside-Out Leadership: Transforming How You Lead at Work and in Life with Monica Chang
The Workplace Communication Podcast
The titles, promotions, and financial rewards keep stacking up, but then comes the quiet realization that the ladder you’ve been climbing has been leaning against the wrong wall. For many leaders, that truth shows up in the form of burnout, strained relationships, or a sense of emptiness that success alone can’t fix. That’s the turning point Monica Chang reached in her own journey. After years of living by cultural and societal expectations, she found herself exhausted and disconnected from what really mattered. Choosing a new path, she launched Start With Clarity...
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#136 - Instilling Confidence Through Sports With Amy Buchan Siegfried
The Workplace Communication Podcast
Ever found yourself in the middle of a conversation about the Super Bowl and thought, “Wait… when is that again?” Or maybe you’ve smiled and nodded through an office chat about last night’s game, silently wishing you had something, just anything, to contribute. It’s a scene Amy Buchan Siegfried, Co-Founder and CEO of Last Night’s Game, knows all too well. As a third-generation entrepreneur and self-proclaimed sports enthusiast, Amy spotted how knowing just a little about sports can open surprising doors in business, and how missing out on those conversations can mean...
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#135 - Conquering Imposter Syndrome While Building Skills and Confidence with Sue Musson
The Workplace Communication Podcast
Ever felt like you’re the only one in the room who doesn’t quite belong, even though you’ve earned your seat a hundred times over? As a young woman navigating leadership roles in male-dominated industries, on a whole new continent, no less, Sue Musson quickly realized that confidence doesn’t always come easy, and it definitely isn’t always welcomed. Now a sought-after leadership consultant, coach, and the bestselling author of Firecracker Leadership, Sue has spent decades helping others untangle the messy mix of self-doubt, ambition, and perception that so many leaders face. From...
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#134 - The Art of Effective Communication and How To Overcome Communication Gaps with John Whitehead
The Workplace Communication Podcast
No matter where you are in the world, communication is at the heart of everything - how we lead, how we connect, and how we get things done. Yet even with the best intentions, misunderstandings still happen. Whether it’s a clash of communication styles, unspoken expectations, or deeply rooted behavioral habits, gaps can form in the most unexpected places which often leads to people talking at each other instead of with each other. John Whitehead, Executive/Leadership Coach at JKWhitehead & Associates, spent over a decade helping senior and emerging leaders navigate the human...
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#133 - Essential Communication Skills for Professionals in the Ever Evolving Healthcare Industry with Shweta Ramkumar
The Workplace Communication Podcast
Whether it’s a language barrier, a generational gap, cultural misunderstandings, or the invisible walls built by socioeconomic class, communication in today’s world can be complex and challenging. More often than not, miscommunication isn’t just about words; it’s about tone, context power dynamics, and the silent biases we carry. In a setting with high-stakes such as healthcare, where an interaction could literally affect lives directly, bridging these gaps is very critical. Inspired by her mother - a dedicated doctor who served patients from all walks of life - Shweta...
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#132 - What Does It Take To Build a Good Business with Anant Nyshadham
The Workplace Communication Podcast
For years, many companies have viewed worker wellbeing as an expense, but what if this mindset is holding them back from true success? According to Anant Nyshadham, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Good Business Lab (GBL) and Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, building a good business is more than just the profits - it’s about creating meaningful change for both workers and companies. Anant Nyshadham has spent his career proving that this vision isn’t just possible, but crucial. His groundbreaking research is challenging long-held beliefs that worker...
info_outlineSome bosses don’t just manage - they control, manipulate, and undermine, leaving employees walking on eggshells every day. The stress, self-doubt, and exhaustion can build quietly, often making people question themselves more than the toxic dynamics around them.
Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett has spent years helping people break free from these harmful work environments. Drawing on her research and experience, she explains how to spot toxic leadership patterns, understand the impact on your well-being, and take practical steps to protect yourself, set boundaries, and plan a way forward with confidence.
On this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast, we’re talking with Dr Laura Hambley Lovett, Organizational Psychologist and Author of I Wish I’d Quit Sooner: Practical Strategies for Navigating and Escaping a Toxic Boss, about practical strategies for navigating and escaping a toxic boss. Dr. Lovett shares how to distinguish a truly toxic leader from a merely difficult one, maintain control over your work life, and create actionable steps for recovery or exit.
Leadership tips you won’t want to miss:
🎙️ Identifying toxic versus difficult boss behaviors quickly
🎙️ Setting firm boundaries while staying effective at work
🎙️ Planning a step-by-step exit strategy to regain control
🎙️ Seeking support through mentors, colleagues, or therapy
Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett is an organizational psychologist and expert on workplace culture, career development, toxic leadership, and burnout. She is the author of several books, including I Wish I’d Quit Sooner: Practical Strategies for Navigating and Escaping a Toxic Boss (She Writes Press; January 13, 2026).
If you’re seeking clarity, confidence, and practical ways to escape a toxic boss, this episode is for you.
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🎧 Listen to the episode here: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/
For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.
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