The Great Gen Z Soft Skills Debate: Who's Really to Blame?

Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt are back with a conversation that got a little too real. It starts with a story about a teenage road trip speed trap crackdown and spirals into a full breakdown of why Gen Z is entering the workforce without the soft skills managers say they need — and who actually dropped the ball.

Two Mandys, Two Shit-Your-Pants Stories, and the Brain Chemistry of Being Mortified

This week the Mandys are diving into the most embarrassing, cringe-inducing moments of their corporate careers — and yes, that includes bathroom disasters, hair emergencies, and getting caught up in an office dating scandal.

If you ignore AI for the next two years, what happens to your career? Organizational psychologist Dr. Kelly Monahan says you'll be left behind, not by AI itself, but by the people who learned to use it.

Kelly spent 15 years researching the future of work at Meta, Upwork, Accenture, and Deloitte, and she joins Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt to break down what's actually happening behind the scenes as companies weigh AI against payroll.

Corporate taught us more than we realized and not all of it was bad. This week Mandy and Mandy break down the skills they took from corporate America that actually made them better parents, partners, and business owners: having hard conversations, asking better questions, and mastering the art of small talk. They also get honest about the habits they're still trying to unlearn like guilt over taking breaks, feeling obligated to answer every text immediately, and the hustle culture hangover that doesn't quit.

What would you actually do if you woke up tomorrow with all your skills, experience, and wisdom, but zero network, zero reputation, and zero job or clients? That's the question driving this week's episode of The Corporate Burnouts.

The Mandys get into it: the soft skills that outlast any job title, why your career path is probably circumstance, not intention, and what it really means to redefine success on your own terms.

Why High-Achieving Women Get Stuck — and How to Break Free | Ep. 68 with Ali Carson

If you've ever felt stuck in your career, burned out from chasing the wrong version of success, or like you're getting in your own way, this episode is for you.

We're joined by Ali Carson, MBA, ACC, Gallup certified strengths coach, brain-based coach, two-time #1 international bestselling author, and founder of Movere Coaching. With 20+ years in HR and leadership development, Ali helps high-achieving women unlock their strengths and lead with authenticity.

Ever felt like you've "tricked" everyone into thinking you belong? Yeah, us too.

In Episode 67, both Mandys get real about imposter syndrome: what it actually feels like, why it hits hardest when you're leveling up, and why the goal was never to get rid of it. From Mandy Holt sitting in a boardroom at a multi-billion dollar company thinking "I have done it, I have screwed myself", to Mandy Alt pouring foamy beers as a brand new bartender, we've both been there.

You are not a victim of your corporate life and this episode is your wake-up call.

In Episode 66, both Mandys get real about one of the most uncomfortable truths in burnout recovery: personal responsibility. After 65 episodes of unpacking toxic workplaces, bad bosses, and burnout, they're turning the mirror around on themselves and on you.

Confused about health insurance after leaving corporate? You're not alone.

In this episode, we sit down with Rachel Zimmerman, an independent employee benefits broker with 15+ years of experience helping small businesses and individuals navigate the world of health insurance. Whether you're leaving a 9-to-5, starting a business, or just trying to make sense of the marketplace, this episode is your cheat sheet.

We'll be honest, one of us procrastinated on her own podcast class about podcasting. And that's exactly how this episode happened.

This week, the Mandys get real about procrastination: why we do it, why we can't seem to stop, and the tips and tricks we're actually putting into practice. No judgment. We're both works in progress.

Whether you're the boss or the employee, giving and receiving feedback is one of the hardest parts of any workplace, and nobody teaches you how to do it.

This week, the Mandys break down a real-life corporate nightmare: a manager who calls out his entire team on a weekly group call, gets called out himself for it, and completely falls apart. From there, the conversation goes deep on what actually makes feedback land, and what makes it blow up in everyone's face.

We've talked about burnout a lot. But this week, we brought in someone who can explain why it's happening in your body — at a biological level.

International bestselling author and physiotherapist Jessica Maguire joins the Mandys to break down the nervous system science behind burnout, and honestly? Everything finally makes sense.

Layoffs are happening. Are you ready?

This week, Mandy & Mandy get into one of the most important, and most overlooked, conversations in your career: how to negotiate your severance package. Most people sign whatever is handed to them in that emotionally charged moment. Turns out? That's exactly what they're counting on.

Are corporate politics holding you back or are you just not playing the game yet?

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt break down one of the most misunderstoodskills in career growth, navigating corporate politics. Forget the toxic stereotype. This conversation reframes workplace politics as a practical tool for getting promoted, earning raises, and unlocking opportunities you've been working hard for but never getting credit for.

Is company loyalty secretly costing you your career?

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt unpack one of the biggest myths in corporate America, that staying loyal to one company is always the smart move.

After decades in corporate careers, the Mandys get real about how the workplace has changed: layoffs, restructuring, shifting leadership, and a loyalty that was never truly two-way. They break down the difference between genuine loyalty and fear disguised as loyalty, and why so many professionals stay stuck out of comfort or uncertainty rather than choice.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt take on one of the most emotionally charged topics in modern work culture: can working moms really “have it all”? From corporate careers and high performance expectations to motherhood, mental load, and burnout, this conversation pulls back the curtain on what it actually feels like to try to be everything to everyone.

Mandy and Mandy share raw, honest experiences about balancing career ambition with family life, the constant pressure of perfectionism, and the invisible mental load that keeps working moms in a cycle of stress, guilt, and exhaustion. They unpack the truth behind the idea of “having it all,” explaining how many women are unknowingly trying to live two full lives at once—career-driven professional and fully present parent—without the time, energy, or support to sustain either at a healthy level. The result? Burnout, resentment, and a loss of joy in both work and home life.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt revisit one of their most talked-about topics, quiet quitting vs quiet survival, but this time, they go deeper. After reflecting on their original conversation and listener feedback, they unpack a powerful realization, there isn’t just one version of quiet quitting, there’s a full spectrum.

From disengaged employees doing the bare minimum to overextended high performers on the edge of burnout, this episode breaks down the real behaviors happening inside today’s workplace and why so many professionals feel stuckbetween burnout and checking out completely. 

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, hosts Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt unpack a powerful mindset shift for anyone feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unhappy in corporate life. After attending the BECOME Conference, they reflect on a surprising realization: maybe you don’t actually hate your job… maybe you’re just working in a way that doesn’t align with how you function best.

From time management and people-pleasing to lack of control, burnout, and misalignment, this episode dives into the real reasons professionals feel drained at work. Mandy and Mandy share honest experiences from their corporate careers, including juggling expectations, navigating multiple bosses, struggling with productivity, and dealing with tasks that feel meaningless. They also explore practical ways to regain control, set boundaries, align your work with your strengths, and reduce stress without necessarily leaving your job.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts Podcast, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt take a hilarious and painfully relatable dive into one of the most infamous parts of corporate life: meetings that should have been emails. From calendars packed with back-to-back meetings to chaotic conference calls, endless PowerPoint presentations, and the dreaded “meeting after the meeting,” the Mandys unpack the good, the bad, and the absolutely ridiculous realities of corporate meetings.

Drawing from their years in corporate environments, they share stories about living and dying by a color-coded calendar, sitting through hours of information that could have been delivered in an email, and the exhausting cycle of meetings that produce more tasks but very few decisions. They also break down what actually makes a productive meeting in the workplace, including why every meeting needs a clear agenda, the right people in the room, a strong leader to keep conversations on track, and the discipline to end early when the work is done.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts Podcast, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt dive into one of the most frustrating realities of corporate life: paid time off (PTO). From denied vacation requests and last-minute PTO cancellations to guilt from bosses and the pressure employees feel about stepping away from work, the Mandys unpack the complicated culture surrounding vacation time in the United States.

They explore why nearly half of American employees don’t use all of their PTO, how corporate policies like accrued vacation time, manager approval, use-it-or-lose-it policies, and unlimited PTO often create more stress than freedom, and why burnout is often tied directly to the inability to truly disconnect from work.