We trade stories about the coworkers who make progress feel impossible, from perfection-first gatekeepers to senior dependencies who weaponize silence. We walk through practical ways to escalate without drama, protect delivery, and recognize when leadership is the real problem.
• breaking down why some weeks feel like nonstop Wednesday
• defining levels of “can’t stand working with them” from annoying to unbearable
• sharing an MVP vs perfection conflict that nearly turns physical
• explaining why leadership often protects toxic high performers
• escalating with facts, notes, and low-emotion framing
• using managers as “heavy guns” to force decisions
• handling adjacent-team dependencies who outrank your chain
• spotting culture red flags that signal it is time to leave

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please share it with your friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, especially the toxic ones

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Elevator Music by Julian Avila
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We draft our way through the most relatable corporate annoyances, from out of office messages that help to video calls that should have never happened. Along the way, we rant about work travel, office microwaves, and the small tech failures that can derail a meeting in seconds.

• Patreon plug for storytelling and presentation skills using the Hero’s Journey and the Amazon method
• Why business travel lingers in your brain and why flying feels uniquely miserable
• The case that incentives and regulatory capture keep travel and other systems worse than they need to be
• Nostalgia marketing, Pepsi Man, and why weird ideas can win attention fast
• Top three out of office messages and what makes them actually useful
• The most ridiculous and uncomfortable things seen on video calls
• What should never go in the office microwave and why the smell never dies
• Meeting interruptions that wreck focus like dogs, forced updates, and Microsoft Authenticator
• Practical meeting survival tips like two devices, cloud decks, and sharing a window not a screen
• Work laptop hygiene, personal data boundaries, and why tabs and notifications betray you

Please share this with your friends, family, neighbor, and co-workers.
You can also join our Patreon.
So join our Discord.

Support the show

Click/Tap HERE for everything Corporate Strategy

Elevator Music by Julian Avila
Promoted by MrSnooze

Don't forget ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ it helps!

We challenge the way workplaces use “collaboration” and argue that most of it is just independent work with a shared deadline. We map out what real collaboration looks like, why it’s rare, and how to avoid meetings that waste time and strip teams of autonomy.
• production issues, missing audio, and why last week only lives as shorts
• a mini crusade against LinkedIn AI slop and the idea of reporting 10 posts a day
• the cheese ball obsession and why it somehow becomes a lifestyle
• “collaboration” versus task handoffs, plus the group project origin story
• doers, detractors, and the middle, and how to assign work without getting burned
• where collaboration actually happens, especially in code reviews, marketing reviews, and Scrum refinement
• the sev one mega call anti pattern where one person does the work and everyone else watches
• a practical filter for better sessions: right people, clear output, real decision power
join our Patreon for a dollar or ten dollars a month
You can also join our Discord
the least you can do is share this with your friends

Support the show

Click/Tap HERE for everything Corporate Strategy

Elevator Music by Julian Avila
Promoted by MrSnooze

Don't forget ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ it helps!