Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. This week we explore career motivation, generative AI for leaders and the psychology of meaningful work. Plus we put Neuro-Linguistic Programming under the microscope and answer career questions from future business psychologists.

🔥 Stories covered

1. The rise of the “career comedown”motivation, engagement and the future of work.

Have you ever hit a major career milestone and felt underwhelmed?

Leanne introduces the term career comedown, coined by Stefanie Sword-Williams. It describes the emotional slump that can follow promotions, pay rises and career success. Many professionals report feeling bored, stuck or disconnected once they reach the goals they worked towards.

The research suggests three paths forward:
• Stick — reshape your current role
• Twist — change direction or reinvent your career
• Tap out — reduce how much work defines your identity

Source: https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/is-your-career-giving-you-the-ick/
Stefanie Sword-Williams: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanieswordwilliams/

2. Generative AI becomes a leadership skill

These stories matter for leaders, founders and managers navigating

Google has launched a Generative AI Leader certification, signalling that AI literacy is becoming a core leadership capability.

The programme helps business leaders understand generative AI, identify opportunities and adopt AI responsibly. Leaders who lack AI literacy risk making strategic decisions without the full picture.

Learn more: https://cloud.google.com/learn/certification/generative-ai-leader

3. Hope is the emotion that creates meaning at work

New psychological research shows hope may be more important than happiness for creating a meaningful life.

Across six studies with more than 2,300 participants, researchers found hope strongly predicts meaning, motivation and wellbeing. Seeing progress, believing change is possible and having a future direction all boost engagement at work.

For leaders, clarity, visible progress and realistic optimism matter more than constant positivity.

🧠 Truth or Lie: Does NLP actually work?

This week we explore Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

While NLP training can boost confidence and communication skills, strong scientific evidence for its broader claims is limited. Many techniques overlap with established psychology, but NLP itself is not considered a robust evidence-based approach.

💬 Workplace Surgery – Special edition

This week’s questions come from The Business Psycho, a new platform launching for students and early-career professionals in business psychology.

We discuss:
• Breaking into business psychology
• The real people problems inside organisations
• Mistakes leaders make when trying to fix culture
• Future trends in workplace psychology

Follow The Business Psycho
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-business-psycho/
https://www.instagram.com/thebusinesspsycho.official

Connect with Truth, Lies & Work

Website: https://truthliesandwork.com
Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truth-lies-and-work
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthlieswork

Hosts
Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott/
Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne

Mental health support

UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org

UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk

US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org

Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au

Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

🎧 Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.