Organizational dysfunction is kind of the worst, and work design is my favorite strategy for combating it.

But also, we will never wipe dysfunction out completely.

And while we should always be striving for better, we also need to learn to work within an imperfect system.

And today, we'll talk about just that. Hey, it's Rachel Cook,

your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help leaders work better by design

to ensure their teams can deliver amazing results while also learning, growing, connecting, and thriving.

Because results stuff and people stuff are not at odds in a well-designed system.

If your team is ready to work smarter and build something more sustainable,

I would love to come speak at your next offsite or event.

Reach out anytime at leadabovenoise.com slash connect.

And speaking of design, you may have noticed something new.

Modern Mentor has a fresh new look, and I'm excited to share it with you as I think it reflects

the ways the show has evolved over time.

If you like the new logo and enjoy listening to Modern Mentor, I'd be so grateful if you took a moment to head over to Apple Podcast and leave a rating and review, which is the best way to make sure other people discover the show.

Okay, on with today.

So in the spirit of TMI, I have chronic back pain.

I've had it for years, and recently it's gotten worse. And I really and

truly am working on repairing it. But in the meantime, I got to keep doing life, moving, exercising,

sustaining energy. So I've gotten pretty good at testing and tweaking within the constraints that I

have. I figure out what

feels manageable on any given day, and I do more of that. When something hurts, I back off. Sometimes,

more often than I'm proud of, I feel a little bit of self-pity. I shouldn't have to work this

...