When Bree's first job out of college went through a merger, she was in her early 20s, running video and social, and wondering whether there would still be a job for her on the other side. Her boss at the time, Mike Kline, was at the leadership table while the deal came together, and he was the one asked to sell it to the membership.

In the first episode of Humans That Work, a new series where guests tell the story of a major moment in their career, Bree Bartos and Pinaki Kathiari sit down with Mike Kline, founder and CEO of ThinkLab, Bree's very first boss, and her very first podcast co-host. Together they revisit the merger of two rival associations in the protective coatings industry, one marketed to staff as a merger of equals, from both sides of the org chart.

Mike shares what it was like to sell a deal he wasn't a fan of, why he felt people from the smaller organization were scattered and set up to fail, and what he'd tell leaders before the next one. Bree gets honest about the pay gap she discovered at a conference and the burnout that followed. And Pinaki makes the case for being honest about the job question first, even when you can't answer it yet.

In this episode, they discuss:
• Why putting people in silos is a mistake, and Bree's first taste of job crafting
• Hearing about a merger at the leadership table compared to hearing it in an all-staff meeting
• Selling a merger to the membership when you aren't a fan of it yourself
• Why the merger started to feel like an acquisition, and being outvoted ten to two
• Pay gaps, public Form 990s, and what happens when people find out
• Why trust can't be built without honesty
• Acknowledging that everyone's first question is "what happens to my job?"
• Letting two cultures coexist instead of smashing them into one
• Mike's work at ThinkLab helping people learn to build with AI

Thank you to Mike Kline for joining us! Connect with Mike here: LinkedIn

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Have a story or question about work you want to hear the hosts discuss on the podcast? Write in to our subreddit: r/humanatwork

Watch full video episodes on YouTube.

Connect with Us
Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Lottie Bazley - LinkedIn
Edited by Dave Casto - Linkedin

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

A VP tells the IT team they have to come into the office on the Fourth of July because, in her words, it's just IT and they don't have lives. So the team lead asks if he can throw an office party to make up for it. She says go wild, and suggests he use the company card. Brisket, pizza, pies, and a bill over $6,000 later, the CEO is yelling at the VP and the company has a brand new expense policy.

In this Reacting to Reddit at Work episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, host Bree Bartos is joined by Pinaki Kathiari and Lottie Bazley to react to stories from r/MaliciousCompliance, a subreddit for people who follow the rules exactly as written and watch what happens. Bree reads a Hall of Fame post about that Fourth of July party, then a brand new one that was only hours old when she found it, about an IT guy who was asked to monitor employee productivity and wasn't told to leave management out.

Pinaki calls the first story benevolent compliance, Lottie explains why a rule with no reason attached makes people dig in, and Bree shares a quick tip for keeping your work and personal browsing separate. Two of the three hosts had never even heard the term malicious compliance before this recording.

In this episode, they discuss:
• What malicious compliance means, and why it feels like the work word for petty revenge
• A VP, an IT team, and a $6,000 Fourth of July party that changed a company's expense policy
• Why Pinaki thinks the first story is closer to benevolent compliance
• Why a rule with no reason behind it invites people to rebel
• A VP's job is to lead and grow people, so what if the first move is asking the team what they think?
• A founder who asked for browser history reports on everyone, and the list HR brought IT a few days later
• Why your browsing history and keystrokes can be tracked, and Bree's tip for a separate work browser profile
• The question to ask when a task makes no sense: what problem are we really trying to solve?
• Checking whether a thought you're having is a story you're telling yourself
• Whether internal communicators are guilty of malicious compliance too

The lesson everyone agrees on: be nice to IT. Pinaki also wants a part two on malicious compliance and petty revenge, so tell us if you do too.

Got a workplace story? Share it on our subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/humanatwork/

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom
Lottie Bazley - LinkedIn
Edited by Dave Casto - LinkedIn

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

Welcome back for Season 4 of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to be Human at Work?! Bree's kicking off this season with a question: Why does it feel so wrong to post about ourselves online? To help answer that question, she's invited on two of her favorite content creators and social media experts: Yanni Pappas, Growth and Marketing Strategist at Workshop, and Sarah Whittle, founder of Unicorn Social.

Check out Sarah and Yanni:
Sarah Whittle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwhittledigital/
Unicorn Social: https://www.unicorn-social.com/
Yanni Pappas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yannipap/
Inside the Culture: Chili's | A sizzlin' comeback story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyqRnroMozg

In this episode, they discuss:
• Dululu is the solulu: being a little delusional to get out of your comfort zone
• Why Yanni switched from trying to sound smart to trying to sound like himself, and that's when people started listening
• You shouldn't use machines to find your human voice
• Embarrassment is a choice, and Yanni stopped choosing it
• Why 40% of LinkedIn posts being AI-generated is actually an opportunity for real voices
• Personal brand as a safety net in the age of layoffs, and Bree's own layoff story
• The difference between real networking and treating LinkedIn like a get-rich-quick scheme
• Read the room: when EGC helps a brand, and when it's a red flag about the company itself

Send in your work story or question: https://www.reddit.com/r/humanatwork/
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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.