Ever wondered why your team’s brilliant technical expert turns into a bumbling fool the second they’re promoted? Or why your boss would rather launch a doomed rocket than admit a mistake? Welcome to the brutal, biological truth: status is the invisible force driving every decision, conflict, and ego in your workplace.

In this eye-opening episode, Jimmy and James are joined by Ceri Newton-Sargunar—neuroscientist, chaos theorist, and self-proclaimed "ologist"—to dissect how our primal need for status (success, power, or virtue) shapes behaviour, from boardroom power plays to the quiet despair of middle managers. Ceri reveals why even flat organisations aren’t immune, how status threats trigger the same brain response as a punch to the face, and why your "virtuous" colleague might actually be the office’s biggest problem.

Key points:

• Status isn’t just about job titles—it’s a biological drive as old as the pecking order in chickens.
• The three types of status: success, power, and virtue—and why they clash spectacularly.
• Why promoted experts often fail: losing technical status can break their sense of self.
• Psychological safety is impossible without addressing status threats.
• How to spot your own status monsters (and everyone else’s).

Dry, unflinching, and packed with dark humour, this is the episode that’ll make you question every meeting, every promotion, and every time you’ve rolled your eyes at a colleague.

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