Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor.

I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, a firm specializing in activating workforces.

We find your blind spots and opportunities and build you the custom blueprint you need

to get your teams delivering their best work, efficiently, collaboratively, and with full engagement.

Do you have a question for me? Leave me a voicemail at 201-67-8113,

and I may respond with an episode just for you. So for today, I'm starting with a random story alert.

When I was little, I would sometimes get a weird, allergic reaction after eating.

Nothing serious, just a little bit of swelling. And then I'd have to take this allergy pill to

counter the symptoms. And I hated the pill because it made me super sleepy. And then finally,

one day at long last, we figured out what was triggering the allergy, and I changed my diet

and abercadabra. No more meds needed. So now you're wondering, or at least I hope you are,

why I just shared that random detail of my childhood? Well, to put it simply, it was my first

life experience with the power of preventing a problem, like by not eating the thing I was allergic to, rather than treating the symptoms with a pill that I hated.

It's a good lesson, and it's one that I try to keep top of mind, for myself and with my clients.

And it feels particularly important right now in the context of this thing happening around us

that's being called carewashing. Have you heard of it? Whether you have or haven't, it's likely

happening in your workplace. And while it's not so much evil, it can be quite problematic.

So today, let's talk about what it is, why it's happening, and what you can do to combat it.

Okay, so carewashing. I mean, it's a combo of the words care and washing, which are generally good things.

So what's the problem? Well, like its predecessor as whitewashing and greenwashing, care washing is essentially

the practice many companies have picked up of implementing lots of programs and policies

designed to show care for their employees. But at their core, they may be more performative than

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