Hi, this is Elisa Likt, and this is Leave Your Mark the podcast, where I brew fresh

career advice with some of my most inspiring and successful friends.

It's professional advice that you can action immediately, whether you're just starting out

in your career or well on your way.

With a massive to-do list and a large cup of coffee, I promise that you can get it all done and still

have time to post about it. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to Leave Your Mark. I'm your host,

Lisa Lict. And today we're diving into a major leadership shift that I've been watching unfold.

And one that Caroline Castrillion, senior contributor at Forbes,

has reported on in detail. The pandemic brought us the nice boss error, leaders who leaned into

empathy, flexibility, and understanding. But now, well, I mean, I was shocked to see this in print, but the tide is turning.

Enter stage right, the mean boss. And Caroline didn't call it the mean boss. I'm calling it the mean

boss because there's a certain type, right? So across industries, managers are stepping back from empathy first

leadership and leading into direct results-driven styles, what some would call the mean boss

approach. In this episode, we'll break down what's driving that change, what these leaders are doing, and the risks of going

too far. I'll share a role play so you can hear the differences between tough but fair and flat out

toxic, and we'll end with my best most actionable tips for both managers and employees navigating

this new reality.

So a little background, obviously, the pandemic was a turning point for leadership.

When employees were juggling health concerns, remote work adjustments, and massive uncertainty,

leaders responded with empathy, flexibility, and understanding. That's when the

nice boss became the gold standard. But according to Caroline Castrillion's reporting in Forbes,

the environment has changed. Economic pressures, even in a relatively strong labor market,

...