Building a Company While Battling Depression

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Hbr, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Business/management, Harvard, Business/entrepreneurship, Teams, Leadership, Economics, Management, Innovation, Communication, Strategy, Business, Marketing, Business/marketing

4.3 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melissa Bernstein, cofounder of the toy company Melissa & Doug, spent decades hiding her struggles with depression even as she launched and led a booming business focused on bringing joy to children and raised six of her own. She finally opened up to her family, colleagues, and the public and recently launched an organization to give people better tools to discuss and manage their mental health. Bernstein explains what managers and organizations can do to help workers facing depression and other illnesses. She’s the author of the book LifeLines: An Inspirational Journey from Profound Darkness to Radiant Light.

Transcript

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0:00.0	So you got the job. Now what? Join me, Eleni Mata, on HBR's new original podcast, New
0:08.1	Here, the Young Professionals Guide to Work, and how to make it work for you. Listen for
0:13.9	free wherever you get your podcasts. Just search New Here. See you there!
0:30.0	Welcome to the HBR idea cast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Allison Beard.
0:48.0	Most of us put on happy faces at work. We project a positive attitude even when we're sad.
0:54.0	We act confident to mask our imposter syndrome. We pretend we've got it all
0:59.0	together, even when things are falling apart. Sometimes that can be okay in a
1:04.3	fake it until you make it kind of way, but too much faking can take a toll. And in a
1:09.2	world where we're increasingly encouraged to be open and honest and bring our
1:13.3	authentic selves to work, why shouldn't we be talking more transparently about mental health?
1:18.0	Why is there such a stigma around these issues? Today's guest is here to talk about her
1:24.0	own struggle with depression, which she managed while raising six kids and
1:28.0	building a $500 million toy company focused on bringing more joy into the
1:33.0	world. She'll explain how she finally found the courage to talk publicly about
1:37.0	it, and what she'd like to see individuals and organizations due to
1:41.0	protect and promote mental health. Melissa Bernstein is co-founder along with her
1:45.6	husband Doug, a Melissa and Doug. She recently launched a new initiative called
1:50.0	Lifelines and released a memoir called Lifelines, an inspirational journey from
1:55.0	profound darkness to radiant light. Melissa, thank you so much for coming on the show.
2:00.0	Thank you for having me, Allison. I'm so honored to be here.
2:11.0	So we're gonna get into some dark topics today, but let's start with the light
2:18.0	and success that was your toy company, is your toy company, Melissa and Doug.
	...

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