S3E3 Toxic Work Environment: 5 Things to Stop Doing

Every piece of advice about a toxic work environment tells you the same thing: shrink, cope, keep your head down, and get out. That is survival. It's not a strategy. And while you're surviving, the environment keeps costing you your health, your confidence, and your wealth.

This week I talk with Muna, a Black Muslim woman engineer who lived through it. Her field is different from mine, but the machine underneath was identical: a workplace that was never built for her, that drained her and then made her doubt herself for noticing. Her story is proof this isn't a medicine problem or an engineering problem. It's a strategy problem.

Together we name the 5 things to stop doing in a toxic work environment.

None of them are about making yourself smaller. They're about seeing clearly what you're walking into and equipping yourself, because you cannot out-excel a system that was never built for you.

If your job is breaking you right now, hear this: you're not the problem. The strategy you were handed is. There's another way to move, and I call it the Defiant Career Strategy.

Two invitations:

• Take the 2-minute quiz to see what your workplace is costing you → What's really going on at work?
• Join The Strategy Room inside Defiance Academy → The Strategy Room

Have a question? The best ones become full episodes → SUBMIT A QUESTION

Dr. Qaali Hussein is a double board-certified trauma surgeon, mom of six, and founder of Defiance Academy. New episodes every other week.