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One of medicines harder lessons about burnout and mental health might be the most urgently needed by every industry right now. As an emergency physician who also did four years of surgical residency training, I witnessed firsthand how the grueling training that medical residents face, coupled with a tough-it-out attitude, can cause silent sufferingand sometimes with deadly consequences. Often it is the institutional stigma that prevents doctors from seeking help. Physician burnout is a systemic, not individual, failure, and its prevalence has been growing. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), the pandemic increased physician burnout to an all-time high, due to the grief, isolation, and psychological pressures. Physician Suicide: The Tip of the Iceberg Studies show physician suicides are among the highest of any profession. For men, its 40% higher than the general population, and for women, its up to 130% higher. Seeking mental health support is still seen as a risknot to our well-being, but to our careers. Often there are fears of career consequences if we speak candidly about our mental health. Plus, issues related to licensing and credentialing processes often exacerbate this silence. Inside the industry, theres the subtle implication that physicians with any mental health issue might not be fit to practice. And its a tragic irony, as we spend our careers advocating for our patients mental health but often are too afraid to address our own. ER Violence: Another Burnout Contributor Burnout isnt only due to emotional exhaustion and stress. It can also be fueled by daily threats and obstacles that can strip away our dignity. Violence against healthcare staff, especially in emergency departments, is escalating. A 2024 poll from the American College of Emergency physicians (ACEP) found more than 90% of emergency physicians report being threatened or attacked in the past year. These incidents carry more than physical harm: 85% of physicians cite emotional trauma and anxiety, and 89% say their productivity has been impacted by it. Every assault is another blow to the emotional well-being of physicians, as well as affecting the quality of care for patients, too. And it shows up beyond medicine, too: in industries where plenty physical labor is involvedsay, service, hospitality, or event executiona lack of safety protocols can knock down emotional well-being for workers. Insurance Battles: An Administrative Avalanche Healthcare professionals spend up to two hours on clerical work for every clinical hour, driven largely by paperwork, billing, and prior authorizations, which has increased steadily over time. According to an AMA survey, this added burden of prior authorization is contributing to physician burnout. But additionally, we also worry about pre-authorization and its often-associated denials. About 94% of medical professionals surveyed reported it negatively impacts patient care. Excessive administrative work and burden is strongly correlated with burnout, but also stress-related health problems. And its not only in healthcare: its also seen in plenty of other industries, from finance to business to tech. Resilience Culture: Shifting Leadership from Stoic to Supportive In healthcare resilience is seen as a badge of honor, entailed by pushing through grueling shifts, making life-or-death decisions, and walking out with a composed face. But true resilience is built on having support, empowerment, and trust. Resilience does not mean invulnerability. But medicines history has taught us that psychological safety matters more than invulnerability. Creating a psychologically safe environmentwhere people feel safe to speak up, take risks, and be vulnerable without fear of negative consequencesis more important than maintaining a facade of control. In healthcare, psychological safety is crucial for open communication, error reporting, and team collaboration, ultimately benefiting patient care. And it applies to every industry. Credibility in leadership cannot be built on denial of stress; teams led by emotionally intelligent, vulnerable leaders perform better. Trauma-informed care is a model that originated in medicine and mental health but has profound implications for any workplace. It prioritizes trust, empathy, and empowerment, thereby improving outcomes for patients and providers alike. It influences how individuals interact, communicate, and respond to challenges at work. Adopting trauma-informed principles of safety, empowerment, and collaboration can benefit any workplace, replacing isolation with solidarity. Small Shifts with Big Impact Corporations, law firms, schools, and more could learn from emergency departments. Its important to acknowledge risks, measure physical and emotional safety, empower employees to help shape the system, and make sure your leaders are connected to their people. Burnout is not a character flaw. Its an organizational and occupational hazard. When violence, paperwork, and isolation compound high-stakes fields, emotional safety can be the difference between thriving or breaking. Medicine is slowly proving its possible to change through systemic redesign. We dont need more heroes who suffer in silence. We need systems that listen, leaders who care, and cultures that heal instead of harm. If medicine, one of the most tradition-bound professions, can begin to change, so can everyone else.
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Rumor has it that gossip can be a positive force in workplace cultures, under the right circumstances. While talking smack behind a colleagues back likely wont produce any personal or organizational benefits, research suggests sharing neutral or positive information outside of official workplace communication channels will. According to a study published in the journal Group and Organizational Management, those who feel like theyre in the know tend to stick around for longer. The study of 338 nurses found the ones that shared work related intel felt a sense of social power and ultimately had lower rates of voluntary turnover. When you positively gossip about your workplace, that tends to make people associate you with expert power perceptionsthat you have some expertiseand that makes you less likely to quit, says Allison Gabriel, a professor of management at Purdue University, the director of the Purdue Center for Working Well, and one of the studys co-authors. Why would I leave this organization if people think Im in-the-know, and think I have good things to say? Those benefits, however, did not extend to those who complained behind or spoke negatively of others behind their backs. Interestingly, we didnt find any of those effects for negative workplace gossip, which is probably the kind that people engage in more of, Gabriel says. There are some personal benefits to gossip for the person engaging in it, as long as they’re positive. Whether positive or negative, Gabriel says gossip is inevitable whenever a group of people work closely together, and the nature of that gossip can play an outsized role in dictating culture. If everybody’s sharing positive stories that can really boost morale, she says. If everybodys complaining, talking about how anxious they are, thats going to create problems, and people are more likely to believe bad things are happening. This is how rumors get started That rumor mill, says Gabriel, tends to spin up when there is an informational void in the workplace. When workers feel like management isnt being sincere or withholding workers instinctively look to each other to fill the gap. Gossip really serves as a mechanism for people to make sense of the world around them, says Allison Howell, the vice president of market innovation for workplace personality insights provider Hogan Assessments. When there’s challenges with trust around the organizational leadership, gossip is a way for people to keep a finger on the pulse. Howell says gossip has been used throughout history to push beyond the official narratives shared by those in power in search of some greater truth. She explains that it was a vital survival instinct in some of the darker periods in human history, when information really was a matter of life or death. Theres been a whole lot of [efforts to] control how people are allowed to communicate and share information, especially women, and punishments throughout history for sharing whispers and alerting others to potential dangers or risks, she says. Gossip continues to provide that unofficial communication channel in the workplace, which Howel says can be vital in a world where people are constantly bombarded with official messaging. There’s a natural tendency to be a little bit skeptical of any sort of messaging that’s coming from official channels, she explains, suggesting that instinct is adopted from our ancestors. One of the best mechanisms for bringing people around to a certain idea is to have unofficial communication. Can negative gossip have a positive impact? The line between helpful and hurtful gossip, however, can get blurry, and thats where things tend to get messy. While Howell says anything that would get you in trouble with HRsuch as outright harassment, abuse, or inappropriate conversationsare a clear violation, she suggests there could be some value in venting behind a colleague or managers back. Theres a bonding mechanism: teams tend to bond when they share frustrations, she says. Its a mechanism to have a little bit of catharsis, a little bit of bonding, and building a little bit of trust. Joseph Grenny, however, is trash-talking the idea that gossip helps build trust amongst colleagues. The social scientist for business performance, co-founder of Crucial Learning and author of Crucial Conversations says the hush-hush nature of gossip frees the smack-talker from taking responsibility for their disparaging comments, which doesnt exactly build credibility. It creates a feeling of connection without real trust, he says. The fact that I’m gossiping with you is evidence to you that I’ll also gossip about youif I’ll do it with you, I’ll do it to youso theres actually an erosion of trust. Managing gossip Grenny believes gossip serves as an indicator of organizational health, and suggests rumors tend to fly more frequently in less positive work cultures. The problem with gossip is that it reinforces the sickness that generates it, he says. The more I value gossip and receive informal communication access in an organization, the more it reinforces mistrust in the formal channels. Breaking that cycle, Grenny says, requires leaders to be more forthcoming and transparent with information. That, he suggests, shuts down rumors before they circulate and establishes more trust in official communications. The two options for leaders arent sharing or not sharing, but sharing or gossip, he says. They need to understand that by not being quick to disclose information theyre choosing for the gossip channel to prevail. Though leadership cant put a lid on gossip entirely Grenny says they can help promote some of the more positive side talk by filling information gaps proactively. Specifically, Grenny recommends giving some of the organizations opinion leaders an open forum for asking difficult questions from leadership, and receiving candid answers. When they feed the correct information to that opinion leader group, those opinion leaders start to have confidence that this is a trustworthy channel, and the need for gossip channels decreases, he says. You’ve got to create and nurture those alternative channels to push all the demand to the healthier ones.
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E-Commerce
For a few days, my finger would hover over the TikTok hole on my home screen. But it was all for naught: There was nothing there to click. TikTok debuted at exactly the wrong time for me. I downloaded the short-form video app during my junior year of high school, just as in-person activities shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic and my life dissolved into an endless loop of virtual lectures. The infinite scroll was comfortingalmost intoxicating. Before long, I was spending multiple hours a day on the platform, with most conversations among friends revolving around which TikToks wed recently liked. In January 2025, I deleted the app for good. Former President Joe Bidens TikTok ban was looming, and I assumed my friends would be booted off the platform soon enough. It felt like the perfect moment: I could reclaim my media habits, lengthen my attention span, and finally break up with short-form video. Six months later, I have no plans to re-download it. Deleting TikTok saved my attention span For years, I was a double-screener. Fueled by a steady diet of brain-rot TikToks, my eyes would drift toward a second device the moment I started a film or TV show. I tried crocheting and adult coloring booksanything to keep my hands busy while focusing on what was in front of me. Still, Id grow bored and restless. Eventually, Id cave, scrolling through X (or worse, TikTok on mute) while the movie played. There are dozens of reasons to delete TikTokfrom concerns over Chinese data privacy to simply reclaiming a few hours each day. But for me, the main goal was even simpler: I wanted to reengage with long-form media. And that effort has mostly been successful. I read more now, and watch moviesoften with my phone in another room. Sometimes, I even listen to a podcast without touching my screen. Rebuilding my attention span required more than just deleting TikTok. I committed 2025 to investing in my focus. I bought print subscriptions to The New Yorker, New York magazine, and The Atlantic so I could read long-form journalism away from a screen. I subscribed to the Criterion Channel to watch deeper, more thoughtful films than the typical Netflix churn. I bought a Kindle. But I havent sworn off social media entirely. (No, I did not buy one of those janky dumbphones or leave my phone mounted to the wall like a landline.) I still spend more time scrolling on X than Id like, and Ill browse Instagram once every few hours. (Just no Reels: That breaks the short-form ban.) Im also not uniquely consuming high-brow long-form media: The Real Housewives is still my TV fix of choice. But for the first time since early high school, I can watch a movie without reaching for my phone. That feels like a win. How I warded off TikTok FOMO When I deleted TikTok, my biggest fear was losing cultural literacy. I didnt care about the dances or memes, but I worried about missing out on the latest joke or buzzy TV show. TikToks walled garden and cultural saturation among Gen Z can make it feel essential, as if not having it means missing something crucial. From the outside, though, Ive realized most TikToks are just sludge and noise. I read enough news to know whats trending in film and TV. When I want a thoughtful take, I turn to critics or the occasional YouTube video essay. I dont need a 17-year-old explaining why everyone on Love Island USA is crazy. I remember the first time a friend referenced something I didnt recognize. It was March, and we were making dinner at my college place when he said, What the helly. I thought hed misspoken; he assumed I hadnt heard him. Turns out, it was a TikTok trend that had taken off after Id deleted the app. I had feared losing a shared language with my friends, but in that moment, I didnt really care what the reference meant. I just moved on. These days, my friends are more annoyed than I am about my TikTok-free life. They still send me screen recordings of TikToks that remind them of me, usually followed by complaints about the extra effort. But their pleas for me to re-download the app fall flat. Im happier without it.
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