Zoom meetings with bedroom headboards in the background. Team calls interrupted by children’s meltdowns and hungry pets. With real life unfolding before everyone’s eyes in all its messy glory, the separation of one’s complicated personal life from one’s polished professional life has fallen apart. New books help managers and employees confront stress and mental health challenges head on.
Deal With Stress
Bloomsbury Business, June
This concise guide, part of the Business Essentials series, helps stressed-out employees identify and respond to triggers in the workplace. Readers are invited to take a quiz to spot symptoms of being overwhelmed, and are given step-by-step instructions to conduct a “time audit” to relieve potential bottlenecks in their schedules. Tips on avoiding information overload, managing interruptions, and communicating assertively aim to disperse feelings of resentment and loss of control before they boil over.
HBR Guide to Better Mental Health at WorK
Harvard Business Review, Sept.
These articles that first appeared in Harvard Business Review magazine or on its website aim to break down the stigma of acknowledging mental distress in the workplace, says editorial director Melinda Merino. The guide includes advice for employees on how to broach the topic with their managers and how to manage feelings of depression, anxiety, and panic while at work. Managers will find advice on how best to provide support when an employee discloses a mental health condition, addressing both empathetic response and legal accommodations.
Inner Mastery, Outer Impact
Hitendra Wadhwa. Hachette, June
Columbia Business School professor Wadhwa breaks down success into two types—outer and inner—and explains to professionals how they can pursue worldly success without straying from personal ideals. The author presents scientific research on topics including compassion and kindness, illustrating the teachings through biographical sketches of figures like Eleanor Roosevelt and Nelson Mandela. “Readers tired of self-help platitudes are sure to appreciate the substance here,” according to PW’s review.
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Mindset Matters
Gemma Leigh Roberts. Kogan Page, May
Psychologist Roberts, whose Mindset Matters newsletter has more than half a million subscribers, posits that agility isn’t just a corporate strategy for survival but also a skill crucial to employee well-being. She breaks down the research on emotional resilience and maps out strategies for individuals to practice emotional flexibility as they face ever-greater uncertainty in their professional roles.
