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The reason you’re not getting useful feedback isn’t that nobody has anything to say. It’s that you’re not asking in a way that makes honesty possible.

In this episode of the Psych Leadership Podcast, host Luke UpChurch breaks down the psychology behind why most feedback requests fail — and how asking better questions changes everything about the quality of information you get back. Grounded in research on psychological safety, feedback-seeking behavior, and what actually drives professional growth, this episode gives you a practical five-principle framework for turning feedback from something that happens to you into something you actively architect.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why broad questions like ‘how am I doing?’ almost always produce useless answers — and the psychology behind why people default to comfortable over honest
• How psychological safety determines the quality of the feedback you receive — and how to create it in any conversation
• The difference between asking about impact vs. intent — and why it changes everything about what comes back
• A five-principle question framework for getting specific, honest, actionable feedback from the people around you
• Why closing the loop out loud is the move that turns a one-time feedback conversation into an ongoing developmental relationship

The quality of the feedback you receive is almost entirely a function of how you ask. And now you’ll know how to ask.

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NEW BOOK -- "Tactical Mentoring: A Guide to Unlocking Your Potential" - By Luke UpChurch

Available on:

🍎 Apple Books & 📚Kindle

Psych Leadership is a division of Rise Up Academics - A 501(c)(3) focused on building leadership and mentoring opportunities for high school and college students. All proceeds go towards this purpose.

Want to connect? Email me at psychLeadership@riseupacademics.org

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You had the time blocked. Your calendar was clear. So why did you end up with almost nothing to show for it?

In this episode of the Psych Leadership Podcast, host Luke UpChurch makes the case that time is not your most important professional resource — energy is. Drawing on current research in organizational psychology, neuroscience, and burnout science, this episode breaks down the four dimensions of human energy and introduces a practical three-part system for managing your capacity deliberately, not just your calendar.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why time management alone fails — and what the research says is actually limiting your performance
• The neuroscience behind the 90–120 minute cognitive performance window and what it means for how you structure your day
• The four dimensions of human energy — physical, emotional, mental, and purposeful — and how depletion in any one undermines all the others
• Why Gen Z and millennial workers are hitting peak burnout at 25 — and the energy management habits that interrupt that pattern
• The Know, Protect, Restore framework: a three-part personal energy management system you can start building this week

The most productive thing you can do is often not to do more. It’s to show up with something left in the tank.

Shares the release of the new book

Support the show

Want to be part of our mission: 👉 Donate Today

NEW BOOK -- "Tactical Mentoring: A Guide to Unlocking Your Potential" - By Luke UpChurch

Available on:

🍎 Apple Books & 📚Kindle

Psych Leadership is a division of Rise Up Academics - A 501(c)(3) focused on building leadership and mentoring opportunities for high school and college students. All proceeds go towards this purpose.

Want to connect? Email me at psychLeadership@riseupacademics.org

Send us Fan Mail

If someone asked you ‘who are you?’ right now — without your job title, your company, or your industry — what would you say?

In this episode of the Psych Leadership Podcast, host Luke UpChurch tackles one of the most quietly damaging patterns he sees in early-career professionals: the fusion of identity with role. When your job title becomes your whole sense of self, every setback at work becomes a personal crisis — and every disruption to the role becomes a threat to who you are. Drawing on 28 years of working with emerging professionals and grounded in current research on professional identity formation, burnout, and identity complexity, this episode helps you understand where that pattern comes from and how to build something more durable underneath it.

The most grounded leaders aren’t the ones with the most impressive titles. They’re the ones who know exactly who they are when the title is gone.

Shares the release of the new book

Support the show

Want to be part of our mission: 👉 Donate Today

NEW BOOK -- "Tactical Mentoring: A Guide to Unlocking Your Potential" - By Luke UpChurch

Available on:

🍎 Apple Books & 📚Kindle

Psych Leadership is a division of Rise Up Academics - A 501(c)(3) focused on building leadership and mentoring opportunities for high school and college students. All proceeds go towards this purpose.

Want to connect? Email me at psychLeadership@riseupacademics.org