Is It Toxic? Your Questions Answered with Benish Shah

The Anxious Achiever

Morra Aarons-Mele

Business, Careers, Management, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.7 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We throw the word toxic around a lot at work, but how do you actually know when an environment is truly toxic versus just uncomfortable, stressful, or not the right fit? In this episode, I'm bringing back this conversation with my late friend and colleague Benish Shah to talk about workplace toxicity, psychological safety, covert bias, weaponized vulnerability, and more. Benish shares tips for identifying toxic patterns, protecting yourself in unsafe environments, and making thoughtful exit plans when leaving isn’t immediately possible. Tune in to learn how to recognize toxicity, reclaim your clarity, and protect your well-being at work. Check out our sponsors: Northwest Registered Agent - Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/achieverfree In this Episode, You Will Learn 00:00 Are workplaces more toxic, or do we just have better language now? 03:30 How leadership avoidance quietly creates toxic cultures. 09:00 What is toxicity? 13:00 A self-assessment to determine if your workplace is toxic. 18:15 How to know if it’s actually safe to be vulnerable at work. 22:00 How to make an exit plan when you can’t quit right away. 29:00 Tips if your toxic boss is making your job unbearable. 34:30 How to safely check if others are experiencing the same toxicity. 37:30 What to do if you are the toxic one. Resources + Links Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever Watch the podcast on YouTube Find more resources on our website morraam.com Follow Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam

Transcript

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1:03.5	Toxic is a word that we throw around a lot when it comes to work. But what is working at a toxic office? And how do you know if it's really toxic?
1:14.6	I'm Maury Arons-Maley, and this is the anxious achiever, the show that looks at the intersection of mental health and work and asks,
1:22.6	how can we do it all better? Today, my late friend and colleague, Beanish Shah, Beanish was an expert on
1:32.5	workplace culture and had a really popular advice column called Is It Toxic, where people would write
1:40.3	in about their troublesome workplace, their troublesome boss, and Banish would give them really good
1:46.5	advice. Today we're going to bring that advice to you. If you are in a situation, a dynamic with a
1:52.4	colleague or a boss or an office culture, and you come home thinking, I don't know if this is toxic,
1:58.2	but I definitely think it's not good for me. And what should I do about it?
2:01.4	It's a tough job market.
2:02.6	It's not easy right now to leave our jobs.
2:06.0	This is the episode for you.
	...

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