The ridiculous things humans do at work — and what good leaders do about it.

What’s Wrong With People? is a podcast about the ridiculous things humans do at work — and what good leaders do about it.

Because work would be so much easier if it weren’t for all the people.

The passive-aggressive emails. The unnecessary meetings. The boss who asks for honest feedback and then immediately regrets it. The coworker who “hates drama” while personally producing three seasons of it before lunch. The perfectly competent adult who receives one piece of feedback and suddenly prepares a legal defense.

People are ridiculous.

But usually, there’s something happening underneath the ridiculousness.

Fear. Ego. Pressure. Insecurity. Power. Miscommunication. Avoidance. Hurt. The desperate human need to be right, liked, respected, included, or left the hell alone.

I’m Nicky Espinosa, a leadership consultant, coach, speaker, and longtime HR executive. I’ve spent more than 30 years sitting in the middle of the moments when work gets messy and otherwise reasonable adults start behaving in deeply unreasonable ways.

Each episode starts with a funny, painfully familiar workplace story and asks two questions:

What the hell is happening here?

And:

What does a good leader do about it?

We’ll laugh at the absurdity, unpack the human behavior underneath it, and talk about how better leaders handle pressure, conflict, accountability, power, communication, and all the other complicated stuff that happens when you put human beings together and ask them to get something done.

Because strategy is usually the easy part.

People are where it gets interesting.