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This American Life

Office Politics

3/1/20261 hr 1 min

Stories of high drama from America's workplaces — surprising, emotional places full of the greed, jealousy, and ambition of real politics.

Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.

Prologue: We hear three stories of how conflicts are resolved in offices. Two of those stories come from sociologist Calvin Morrill, who studied the executive suites at a number of large companies in his book The Executive Way: Conflict Management in Corporations. The last story comes from host Ira Glass, who talks about how he ended up punching his own boss in the stomach in fr...

Clips

Myth of the Bottom Line
How To Sabotage A Boss
Executives Throw Real Punches
Psychic Or Just Validation?

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Ira Glass· Host0:01

    Support for This American Life comes from Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which, uh, means you're probably multitasking, maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing, it's built to help you find and own a home. Redfin agents close twice as many deals as other agents, so when you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get started at redfin.com. Own the dream. To make our newest bonus episode of This American Life, [door opening] Ira Glass went digging.

  2. Calvin Morrill· Guest0:35

    Okay, we're in.

  3. Ira Glass· Host0:36

    Digging for an old recording in a storage space with 70 boxes of old tapes.

  4. Calvin Morrill· Guest0:41

    [laughs] Oh, my God.

  5. Ira Glass· Host0:43

    And as luck would have it- I can't believe it.

  6. Calvin Morrill· Guest0:45

    This is the one, two, three. This is the fourth box I'm opening, and literally right here, [boxes rustling] I think this is exactly what I was looking for.

  7. Ira Glass· Host0:54

    To hear what he found, plus dozens of other exclusive bonus episodes, and most importantly, to help us keep making the show, subscribe at thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners.

  8. Calvin Morrill· Guest1:04

    Okay, I really am stunned.

  9. Ira Glass· Host1:06

    That link is also in the show notes of this episode. Thanks.

  10. Speaker 21:10

    First floor.

  11. Ira Glass· Host1:12

    From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life. I'm Ira Glass. Jacobs and the other guys did not like their boss, Manwright. Manwright was full of himself. He took credit for things that they did. He was hard to deal with, and they set out to sabotage

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