Are you struggling to manage people who are older than you? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of workplace consultant Lindsey Pollak. They talk through what to do when you’ve been promoted above more experienced colleagues, you’re not sure how to motivate older reports, or senior employees are skeptical of the technology you want to implement. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: What Younger Workers Can Learn from Older Workers, and Vice Versa by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott — “Some older workers have learned how to exercise control over their work. They have learned what and when to delegate, when to push back on the demands of others, and when to accept demands. They have learned that some of the constraints they thought were immovable could be reframed by thinking more creatively about how they perform their tasks and what they consider the boundaries of these tasks.” Book: The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace by Lindsey Pollak — “While some companies are embracing the intergenerational mix, most organizations are struggling to appeal to all generations of employees at once. Today’s employers say they want people with experience but complain that experienced workers are more expensive or stuck in their ways. Employers say they want bleeding-edge tech skills but lament that young people with those skills don’t always have the professional savvy they desire.” HBR: Engaging Your Older Workers by Peter Cappelli — “Research also suggests that putting older and young workers together helps both groups perform better. They make good allies in part because of their similar interests, but because of their different stages of life, they are less competitive with each other than workers in the same age cohort might be. That means that they are more likely to help each other and to form good teams.” HBR: Leading Older Employees by Jodi Glickman — “How does one lead without power? What do you do if you’ve got the title but not the experience? What if you’ve got the experience but your baby face betrays you? What do you do when your boss supports and respects you but you suspect your colleagues simply don’t?”

Are you at odds with your company’s culture? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Alicia Tillman, the CMO of SAP. They talk through what to do when your company celebrates one kind of worker and ignores others, everyone seems to fit in but you, or a hard-charging culture is hurting performance and employee morale. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: The Culture Factor by Boris Groysberg, Jeremiah Lee, Jesse Price, and J. Yo-Jud Cheng — “Culture is the tacit social order of an organization: It shapes attitudes and behaviors in wide-ranging and durable ways. Cultural norms define what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted, or rejected within a group. When properly aligned with personal values, drives, and needs, culture can unleash tremendous amounts of energy toward a shared purpose and foster an organization’s capacity to thrive.” HBR: Why Great Employees Leave “Great Cultures” by Melissa Daimler — “What is the criteria to become a manager, director, vice president? What are the expected behaviors that earn a person said title? What technical and leadership skills are needed? These are all expressions of culture and values, but too often they are perceived as random.” HBR: Create a Growth Culture, Not a Performance-Obsessed One by Tony Schwartz — “Here’s the dilemma: In a competitive, complex, and volatile business environment, companies need more from their employees than ever. But the same forces rocking businesses are also overwhelming employees, driving up their fear, and compromising their capacity.” HBR: Changing Company Culture Requires a Movement, Not a Mandate by Bryan Walker and Sarah A. Soule — “And remember that culture change only happens when people take action. So start there. While articulating a mission and changing company structures are important, it’s often a more successful approach to tackle those sorts of issues after you’ve been able to show people the change you want to see.”

Are clients bringing you down? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Diane Hessan, the founder and chair of the marketing technology agency C Space. They talk through what to do when you have a difficult client, your coworkers are hampering your ability to serve clientele, or you want to win more business to advance your career. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: How to Manage Impossible Clients by John Butman — “Impossible clients can, in fact, be managed; but only if you resist the temptation to fight fire with fire. Instead, deliver — and let your talent speak for itself. If you fulfill your end of the bargain, it’s much easier to find positive outcomes when clients behave badly.” HBR: Fallon’s Chairman on Getting Clients to Take Creative Risks by Pat Fallon — “An idea that may seem risky during a presentation will look less so when it’s clear that we’ve thought it through. The client realizes, ‘These guys understand my business. They understand the flow of money. They are putting my success at the forefront of decisions.’ That creates enough trust for the client to say, ‘OK, I’m going to hold my breath, hold my nose, and jump into the water with you.’” HBR: Negotiating with Clients You Can’t Afford to Lose by Reed K. Holden — “Every supplier knows the drill: You identify your most valuable customers and classify them as ‘strategic accounts.’ You can’t afford to lose them. Whatever they ask for, you deliver with your best team and best turnaround — even if it’s unreasonable or unprofitable. The customers know they are a strategic account, so they’ll try everything to wring out cost savings.” HBR: Research: Are Clients Loyal to Your Firm, or the People in It? by Joe Raffiee — “Employee turnover can be a big challenge for companies. But it creates a unique problem for professional services firms, which have to worry about employees taking clients with them if they leave.”

Are you weighing the trade-offs of a big career decision? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a senior adviser at the executive search firm Egon Zehnder. They talk through what to do when you want to transition from individual contributor to management, you’re mulling over a more senior role at a smaller organization, or you’re having doubts about staying on a high-pressure career track. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: Make Peace with Your Unlived Life by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries— “Tina was at a crossroads. Her daughter had recently left for college, and her husband had his own pursuits. And although she’d once enjoyed banking, she now bore little interest in her work. For some time, she had been asking herself whether she should quit. But what would her colleagues and bosses think of her?” HBR: The Key to Career Growth: Surround Yourself with People Who Will Push You by Claudio Fernández-Aráoz — “Don’t hesitate to ask the truly big questions. What shall I do with my life? What really motivates me? What am I doing that I really don’t like to do? While pondering these questions, in addition to checking my capability, connectivity and credibility, I also engage my friends in conversation about three other Cs: contemplation (Am I in touch with my inner compass?), compassion (Do I show it for myself and others?), and companions (Who else might inspire me to new growth?)” HBR: How to Stay Stuck in the Wrong Career by Herminia Ibarra — “We like to think that the key to a successful career change is knowing what we want to do next, then using that knowledge to guide our actions. But studying people in the throes of the career change process (as opposed to afterward, when hindsight is always 20/20) led me to a startling conclusion: Change actually happens the other way around. Doing comes first, knowing second.” HBR: How Star Women Build Portable Skills by Boris Groysberg — “After studying the fortunes of more than 1,000 star stock analysts, we found that when a star switches companies, not only does his performance plunge, but so does the market value of his new company. What’s more, these players don’t tend to stay with their new organizations for very long, despite the generous pay packages that lured them in. Everybody loses out.”

Does standard work advice not apply to you because you’re at a nonprofit? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Joan Garry, a nonprofit leadership consultant and former executive director. They talk through what to do when you’re trying to advance amid a leadership change, your job seems to shift as sources of funding do, or you’re unsure how to describe your work to people in the private sector. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: Book: Joan Garry’s Guide to Nonprofit Leadership by Joan Garry — “The single most important attribute of a nonprofit leader—board member or staff leader—the attribute that is most critical in helping you to untangle knots and the one that can move your organization from good to great—is joy.” HBR: Nonprofits Can’t Keep Ignoring Talent Development by Libbie Landles-Cobb, Kirk Kramer, and Katie Smith Milway — “Some leaders fear that their leadership development investments will walk out the door. But recent CEB research found that staff members who feel their organizations are supporting their growth stay longer than those who don’t, because they trust that their organizations will continue to invest in them over the long term.” HBR: Move to a Nonprofit? First, Ask Yourself Three Questions by Wayne Luke — “How does the work make you feel? Energized? Frustrated? Do you easily and naturally relate to the people you meet, both other volunteers and those representing the organizations? Have you reached a point in your life where the impact on people’s lives through what you do is more important than the professional platform from which you do it?” HBR: Delivering on the Promise of Nonprofits by Jeffrey L. Bradach, Thomas J. Tierney, and Nan Stone — “Discussions about an organization’s intended impact tend to be iterative, inclusive (drawing in board as well as staff members), and incredibly hard. One source of difficulty: Legitimate needs invariably outstrip any single organization’s ability to meet them. So by clarifying its strategy and scope, the nonprofit is also determining what it will not do.”

Are you being pushed outside your comfort zone? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Jerry Colonna, a professional coach and a former venture capitalist. They talk through what to do when you don’t feel qualified for your new role, you’re covering an absentee boss’s responsibilities, or you have been assigned to lead a team but haven’t been given formal power. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: The New York Times: Feel Like a Fraud? At Times, Maybe You Should by Benedict Carey — “Social psychologists have studied what they call the impostor phenomenon since at least the 1970s, when a pair of therapists at Georgia State University used the phrase to describe the internal experience of a group of high-achieving women who had a secret sense they were not as capable as others thought. Since then researchers have documented such fears in adults of all ages, as well as adolescents.” Book: Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up by Jerry Colonna — “Take any random group of entrepreneurs, for example, and do a quick unscientific survey by asking them to raise their hands if they grew up in an environment where at least one parent had disappeared or left or was never present. Most hands will shoot up. Early promotion into adulthood is often painful and equally often a sign of an early promotion into leadership.” HBR: Helping an Employee Overcome Their Self-Doubt by Tara Sophia Mohr — “The negative impact of that voice is tremendous. If someone on your team is hampered by a harsh inner critic, they’re likely to talk themselves out of sharing their ideas and insights. Held back by self-doubt, some of your most talented people will shy away from leading projects or teams, or put off going for the big opportunities – new clients, new business lines, innovative moves – that could help your business grow.” HBR: Position Yourself for a Stretch Assignment by Claudio Fernández-Aráoz — “Explain very clearly why you should get the assignment. Demonstrate that you have the competence required, even if your previous experience doesn’t look too relevant. For example, a track record of effectively working across functions or units may be a relevant indicator of your ability to work in a larger global role.”

Is your job turning into something you don’t want? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Francesca Gino, a professor at Harvard Business School. They talk through what to do when your boss gives you duties you dislike, your company is grooming you for roles you can’t see yourself in, or you’ve been offered a different job than the one you applied for. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: How to Say No to Taking on More Work by Rebecca Knight — “Sometimes you have too much on your plate or you’re just not interested in taking on a project you’ve been asked to work on. You might not have a choice in the matter, but if you do, how do you turn down the opportunity in a way that won’t offend the person offering? How can you avoid being labeled ‘not a team player’ or ‘difficult to work with’?” HBR: How to Tell Your Boss You Don’t Want a Promotion by Patricia Thompson — “As an executive coach, I’ve worked with many talented individuals who had the potential to be promoted, but were uninterested in taking on more. Sharing this desire with their bosses often felt threatening, particularly because they were seen as talented, and often, as possible successors. Striking the balance between advocating for their own wishes without seeming ungrateful or unambitious was a challenge.” HBR: Managing Yourself: Turn the Job You Have into the Job You Want by Amy Wrzesniewski, Justin M. Berg, and Jane E. Dutton— “Job crafting is a simple visual framework that can help you make meaningful and lasting changes in your job—in good economies and bad. But it all has to start with taking a step back from the daily grind and realizing that you actually have the ability to reconfigure the elements of your work.” HBR: The Surprising Power of Questions by Alison Wood Brooks and Leslie John — “Questioning is a uniquely powerful tool for unlocking value in organizations: It spurs learning and the exchange of ideas, it fuels innovation and performance improvement, it builds rapport and trust among team members.”

Do you want the corner office someday? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Mike Troiano, a venture capitalist and former executive. They talk through what to do when you’re falling off the executive track, you’re moving up but don’t believe in the company’s strategy, or you have a rival who could block your path to the C-suite. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: What Makes an Effective Executive by Peter Drucker — “An effective executive does not need to be a leader in the sense that the term is now most commonly used. Harry Truman did not have one ounce of charisma, for example, yet he was among the most effective chief executives in U.S. history. Similarly, some of the best business and nonprofit CEOs I’ve worked with over a 65-year consulting career were not stereotypical leaders.” Medium: How To Be An Executive by Mike Troiano — “Back in the day you became an executive over time, carefully cultivated in the corporate hierarchy like a meat-eating houseplant. But that’s all changed now. Corporate hierarchy ain’t what it used to be, and if you go off and start a company, you get the title overnight.” HBR: How to Get on the Shortlist for the C-Suite by Cassandra Frangos — “Rotating around the organization gives you a balance of experience. It also pressure-tests you in multiple environments and delivers a broader perspective. At Cisco, we prepare candidates for top slots by using executive assessments to identify strengths and development areas and by giving individuals strategic assignments to fill experience voids and provide greater exposure opportunities.” HBR: What Sets Successful CEOs Apart by Elena Lytkina Botelho, Kim Rosenkoetter Powell, Stephen Kincaid, and Dina Wang— “Typically we see ‘take no prisoners’ CEOs last only as long as the company has no choice but to submit to shock therapy. These CEOs often get ousted as soon as the business emerges from crisis mode—they lose the support of their teams or of board members who’ve grown tired of the collateral damage. It’s no coincidence that the careers of turnaround CEOs are frequently a series of lucrative two- to three-year stints; they put out the fires and then move on to the next assignment.”

Learn how to manage team dynamics, handle tensions in a nonprofit team, navigate feedback in small teams, manage someone older and more experienced, and address concerns and develop skills in this entertaining podcast.

Should you accept your boss’s counteroffer to stay at the organization? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Leigh Thompson, a negotiations professor at Kellogg School of Management. They talk through what to do when you’re presented with a counteroffer, you’re considering what you would need to stay at your company, or you want to use a job offer to get a raise. From Alison and Dan’s reading list for this episode: HBR: If You’re About to Take a New Job, Should You Consider Your Boss’s Counteroffer? by Kelly O. Kay and Michael Cullen — “In a recent national survey we conducted about best practices in resignation, nearly 40% of senior executives and HR leaders alike agreed that accepting a counteroffer from a current employer will adversely affect one’s career. Nevertheless, some 78% of senior executives and 80% of HR leaders indicated that it is sometimes acceptable to embrace a counteroffer.” Book: The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator by Leigh Thompson — “Before you begin negotiating or contemplating a counteroffer, determine who in the company has the ability to negotiate. Generally, those persons higher up in the organization are the ones who negotiate and the ones who care most about hiring good people. You should be well-versed about the advantages and disadvantages of negotiating with an intermediary, such as a human resources manager.” HBR: Why People Quit Their Jobs — “Researchers agree that preemptive intervention is a better way to deal with employees’ wandering eyes than waiting for someone to get an offer and then making a counteroffer. CEB’s data shows that 50% of employees who accept a counteroffer leave within 12 months.” HBR: When the Competition Is Trying to Poach Your Top Employee by Rebecca Knight — “On the surface, presenting your employee with a counteroffer seems like an obvious, easy way to make them stay. But, warns Sullivan, counteroffers are often counterproductive. ‘If someone has made the decision to quit, they’re unhappy. By giving a counteroffer, you’re paying to keep an unhappy worker.’”