Work is where we spend most of our waking lives. It's where we build things, where we test ourselves,

where we succeed, and where we quietly fall apart. So what are we actually doing with all of that time?

I'm Molly Graham. I've spent my career inside fast-growing companies, from Google and Facebook during their rocket chip years to the Chan-Zuckerberg initiative to startups trying to hold everything together while they scale.

And if there's one thing I've learned, work is messy for everyone.

From those that are just starting out to establish leaders in big, fancy jobs.

This season on Work Life, a podcast from TED, I'm talking with some really thoughtful leaders about the inner life of work.

Some really hard stuff happens when you're trying to build a company.

You kind of have to be trying the riskiest, most interesting, most fringe things that you can.

Whenever there's this feeling of like, I'm not sure I can do it, that's the feeling I'm starting

to lean into a little bit more. We'll talk about the moments no one puts on LinkedIn.

The quiet doubts, the tradeoffs, the leadership mistakes, which, by the way, I've made most of more than once.

Every week, one conversation.

Honest, reflective, practical about what it means to be alive in work.

And get ready because it's going to get even weirder.

This is a new season of work life from TED.

I'm Molly Graham.

Let's dig in to the messy human side of work.