Truth, Lies and Work

HR leaders spend all day surrounded by people. So why does it often feel like the loneliest job in the building?

In this episode, Tom Emery, former Chief People Officer at a top City of London wealth manager, 20-year corporate HR veteran (ex-HSBC), and founder of HEX Talent & Development, joins Al and Leanne to pull back the curtain on the reality of HR leadership.

Tom shares his powerful "Vet Analogy" for HR: just like veterinarians enter the profession out of love for animals only to see them at their illest, weakest, or most aggressive, HR leaders enter the role because they love people, only to be brought in when people are backed into a corner.

Together, they dive deep into how HR leaders can step out of the isolated "police officer" role and step into the room as true strategic drivers, how senior leaders can build psychological safety by simply asking for help, and why learning to disagree well is the missing ingredient in high-performing C-suites.

🎧 What We Cover in This Episode

The Vet Analogy: Why HR professionals frequently meet employees at their lowest points—and how to handle the emotional toll.

Breaking Out of the "Outside Looking In" Trap: How HR leaders can build true credibility with the board, C-suite, and CFOs by becoming commercial explorers.

The Art of Disagreeing Well: Why storming and surfacing productive conflict is essential for high-performing, psychologically safe teams.

Modelling Psychological Safety: Why asking for help as a senior leader increases trust rather than weakening authority.

Humanising Workplace Change in the Age of AI: Navigating digital transformation, layoffs, and organisational shifts without losing the human touch.

Setting Boundaries & Sitting in the Discomfort: Learning to accept that you can't fix every outcome or make everyone happy.

⚡ Top 3 Takeaways

Get curious about the business, not just the people: The HR leaders who get taken seriously understand how the company actually makes money and manages cost levers as deeply as the CFO does.

Build safety by asking for help yourself: Admitting you don't have all the answers isn't a sign of weakness—it's the fastest way for senior leaders to model and build trust.

You can't fix every outcome: Chasing 100% approval or trying to solve every hard moment will lead straight to burnout. Sometimes the job is just sitting with someone in a difficult moment, not solving it for them.

More from Tom:

Website: https://www.hex-development.com/

Book (People, People): Claim a free UK copy at https://www.hex-development.com/ (or available globally on Amazon)

Podcast (Beyond Potential): https://beyondpotential.podbean.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomemery-b8809818/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomemeryhex/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tomemeryhex

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HEX-development

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

🎧 Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

The Hiring Crisis, TikTok Training and Gen Z Perfectionism. PLUS How to Keep Quiet Teams Motivated

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.

In this episode of This Week in Work, business owner Al Elliott and Chartered Occupational Psychologist Leanne Elliott break down why fewer than half of recruitment processes actually succeed, why TikTok-style L&D might be sabotaging employee memory, and how economic pressure is driving an epidemic of Gen-Z perfectionism. Plus, in Truth or Lie, we test the psychological myth: Can you bullshit a bullshitter?

🔥 Stories covered

1. Are we actually in a European hiring crisis?

While corporate layoff headlines dominate the news, data from McKinsey’s HR Monitor survey reveals European hiring success sits at just 46% when accounting for offer acceptance and probation survival. With an aging workforce retiring and AI changing entry-level work, skilled talent is scarcer than ever. We discuss why smart companies like Spotify are shifting focus from external recruitment to internal mobility and growing talent from within.

Source: https://apple.news/ATgORe8gTRY2tHZs98wLVag



2. Why short-form videos are terrible for L&D

Thinking of using 60-second TikTok-style reels for workplace training? Think again. A new study demonstrates that chopping learning content into micro-clips tanks test scores and dramatically speeds up overnight forgetting. Brain scans revealed that continuous video syncs brain regions responsible for attention and memory formation, whereas micro-clips over-stimulate change-detection reflexes without actual absorption.

Source: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

3. Is work making young people hyper-perfectionist?

Analysing 35 years of data across 82,000 students, a major study in Psychological Bulletin shows a sharp rise in socially prescribed perfectionism—the belief that others demand perfection and will judge mistakes harshly. Rather than being "fragile" or "entitled," Gen-Z employees are operating under intense economic pressure and fear of failure. We cover how leaders can foster true psychological safety to overcome paralysis and indecision.

Source: https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/perfectionism-young-adults-higher-ever-says-new-study



🧠 Truth or Lie: "You Can’t Bullshit a Bullshitter"

It’s an age-old saying: frequent liars and exaggerators have a built-in radar for deception. But does the psychological research back it up?

Leanne examines studies by Christian Blötner & Sebastian Bergold (2023) and Dr. Shane Littrell et al. (2021). We break down the crucial difference between persuasive bullshitters (who talk a big game with buzzwords) and evasive bullshitters (who dodge questions defensively).

Want to dive deeper? Check out cognitive psychologist Dr. Shane Littrell’s research on Substack: https://bullshitology.substack.com/



Workplace Surgery

In this week's Workplace Surgery, we tackle three real questions submitted by listeners:

On Employee Perks: "Am I being naive putting in a free gym?"

On Downtime Motivation: "How do you keep people motivated when work goes quiet?"

On Inclusive Hiring: "I want to give someone a chance, but am I doing more harm than good?"

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork

– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott

– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne

– Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com

– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support

UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org

UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk

US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org

Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au

Global helplines

https://findahelpline.com

🎧 Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

Have you ever put together a perfectly logical, data-backed presentation or sent a highly detailed company-wide email, only to be met with complete silence? Meanwhile, a seemingly trivial update or a random piece of news gets everyone talking.

In this episode of Truth, Lies & Work, we unlock the secret to getting people to actually listen to you. It isn’t about louder voices, longer emails, or bigger slide decks. It is entirely about storytelling.

Our guest is Ellie Glason, a leading PR consultant for founders and former publishing specialist. Ellie explains why our brains are hardwired to ignore dry information dumps and how you can use the classic "Seven Basic Plots" of human storytelling to get instant buy-in from your team, your board, or the media.

🎧 In This Episode, We Discuss:

The "Baby with Tall Hair" Phenomenon: Why Al's data-heavy, perfectly logical press release from 20 years ago was completely ignored in favor of a silly human-interest story—and what it teaches us about workplace communication.

The Inverted Triangle of Communication: How to hook your audience in the first few seconds instead of burying the lead under a mountain of context.

The Seven Basic Plots of Business: How legendary stories like The Quest, Overcoming the Monster, and Rebirth can be used to handle tough internal corporate messages—like return-to-office mandates, budget cuts, and major digital transformations.

The Pub Test: The quick, foolproof metric to test if your business update or pitch is actually interesting to another human being.

The Credibility Ladder for Introverts: How leaders who hate the spotlight can still build powerful thought leadership and authority without having to yell on social media.

The Future of PR in the Age of AI: How AI search is changing the game, making niche trade publications and trusted third-party sites more valuable than ever.

📖 Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Why Nobody is Listening to You at Work: https://ellieglasonpr.com/

The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Basic-Plots-Tell-Stories/dp/0826452094

Connect with Ellie Glason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-glason/

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork

Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott

Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne

Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com

Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

🧠 Mental Health Support

If you or someone you work with is struggling, please reach out to one of the trusted support services below:

UK & ROI: Samaritans — Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org

UK: Mind — Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk

US: Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org

Australia: Lifeline — Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au

Global Helplines: https://findahelpline.com

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the ultimate audio destination for business professionals.

In this episode of This Week in Work, hosts Al and Leanne Elliott are joined by a very special guest: Rebecca Taylor, host of the HR Voices podcast! Together, they unpack the hilarious reality of unhinged leadership conversations, dive deep into the newly stalling progress of women at work, put "forced fun" to the test under the psychological microscope, and answer some incredibly sticky workplace relationship questions.

🔥 Stories Covered

1. The HR Rebel Calling Out Unhinged Leaders

You might not be surprised to hear that some of the conversations HR professionals have to have with leaders are… somewhat unhinged. But what happens when an HR professional calls them out on LinkedIn in the best, most direct way ever? We dive into the viral waves being made by the brilliant Emma Djemil (Founder of Be Unstoppable and The HR Club).

Follow Emma on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/be-unstoppable/

Check out the post: https://lnkd.in/p/dHKzfSRe

2. Is the "Lean In" Generation Now Leaning Out?

Women have made extraordinary gains in the past few decades across the world of work, but are things stalling? Sheryl Sandberg’s infamous 2013 book advised women to "lean in," but new data suggests women's progress at work appears to be stalling. Leanne and Rebecca dissect the learned behaviours—from over-apologising and avoiding conflict to taking on invisible "empathy tax" work—that are holding talented people back, and ask: Have workplaces actually changed enough?

Read the original article in The Economist: https://archive.is/20260706073156/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/07/05/womens-progress-at-work-appears-to-be-stalling

🧠 Truth or Lie: Does Fun at Work Undermine Performance?

For generations, work has been treated as the serious part of life, while fun is something you earn once the job is done. If people are laughing or messing around, it must mean less work is getting done… right? Leanne dives deep into decades of organizational psychology to give you the ultimate verdict.

The "For" Case: Research shows that forced, "managed fun"—like mandatory pajama days or awkward icebreakers—can cause employee cynicism, frustration, and emotional exhaustion. Additionally, blurring work and play too closely can encourage workaholism and make it harder for people to switch off.

The "Against" Case: On the flip side, spontaneous humour and micro-breaks (even short personal internet breaks!) actually restore attention, boost mental energy, and increase productivity by up to 9% when done in moderation.

The Verdict: Forced fun rarely works. True workplace fun isn't something managers can force; it’s a natural byproduct that emerges when organizations get the psychological safety, autonomy, and human elements right.

💬 Workplace Surgery❓

In this week's workplace surgery, we take on your real-life culture and management dilemmas:

"I’ve been casually seeing someone at work for about a year. Until now we’ve worked in different departments, but I’ve just been promoted and will be managing their department. Should I tell my employer about the relationship, or keep it private unless it becomes an issue?"

Plus we answer:

Should a manager judge an employee’s private social media? What to do when a team member runs a public account following adult content but is otherwise an excellent employee.

What do you do when the toxic person is the founder? How to handle senior leadership when the person destroying the culture owns the entire business and there is no board.

🎙️ Connect with Our Guest: Rebecca Taylor

We are thrilled to be joined this week by Rebecca Taylor, host of HR Voices—the incredible scenario-based podcast for People Leaders who have to make the tough calls in real-time employee relations.

Listen to the HR Voices podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hr-voices/id1833927442

Connect with Rebecca Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebebeccataylor2/

Support for HR Professionals: Check out AllVoices, the ultimate platform to manage employee relations, documentation, and investigations in one secure place: https://www.allvoices.co

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support

UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

Have you ever hit a massive milestone—like selling the business you spent a decade building—only to feel an unexpected wave of grief instead of pure joy?

In this episode of Truth, Lies and Work, we sit down with Richard Clarke, founder of software company Secret Source. He did what every entrepreneur dreams of: he grew his business, put team happiness at the absolute center of his culture, and successfully exited. But instead of finding ultimate contentment, Richard fell face-first into the ultimate happiness trap: "I’ll be happy when..."

Richard opens up about the bittersweet reality of exiting a business, the sudden loss of community, and how he had to use his own behavioral science background to climb out of the post-exit slump. Plus, he breaks down the 5 essential needs every human requires to be truly happy at work and thoroughly busts the famous myth surrounding Google's "20% time."

Key Takeaways from This Episode

The 5 Workplace Needs: Based on the US Surgeon General’s framework, everyone requires five core elements to thrive: Safety, Community, Autonomy, Growth, and Purpose.

The Post-Exit Slump: Founders often find that while an exit checks off the "safety" and "autonomy" boxes, it completely strips away their daily sense of "community" and "belonging."

Ask, Don't Guess: Richard shares a brilliant case study where simply mapping out his team's anonymous scores on these five needs revealed a massive, easily fixable issue with scheduling meetings.

The Google 20% Myth: Think Google employees spend a fifth of their week working on passion projects? Richard talks to ex-Googlers who have a very different story to tell.

Connect with Richard Clarke

📬 Grab Richard's short ebook outlining the fundamental science of workplace happiness, or reach out to him directly on social media:

– Free Ebook: https://www.richardclarke.eu/ebook
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardmclarke/
– Website: https://www.richardclarke.eu/

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

Truth, Lies & Work is proud to be part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.