Exploring AI Anxiety With A Leader In Charge Of AI Transformation with Lee Gonzales
What if your AI anxiety isn’t a flaw, but a signal to evolve how you work? In this episode, I sit down with Lee Gonzales, engineering leader and creator of BetterUp’s AI Flight School, to talk about why AI feels existential, why it threatens your craft and identity, and how you can move from fear to agency. We dive into how psychological safety, values, and collective sensemaking help people shift from “AI will replace me” to “AI can expand me.” Tune in if you’re ready to move from avoidance to informed action and become the pilot of your AI future, not the passenger.
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In this Episode, You Will Learn
00:00 Why AI anxiety pushed Lee to reinvent his entire career.
04:45 How AI differs from every prior technological leap.
08:00 What distinguishes an “AI passenger” from an “AI pilot”?
10:00 Is the agency real or a helpful illusion?
14:45 Why psychological safety is the first requirement for AI learning.
18:03 How to reframe anxiety into possibility using values and task design.
22:15 Why AI can weaken your cognitive muscles if you’re not careful.
25:15 The values-based exercise that helps you understand your resistance.
28:45 Why engineers struggle with AI’s impact on the craft they love.30:30 What AlphaGo teaches us about self-learning systems and exponential change.
32:00 How prompting helps people reflect on values and reclaim agency.
34:15 Lee’s “aha” moment from Flight School participants.
36:00 Why AI can feel like an “infinite agency machine” when used well.
Resources + Links
Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever
Watch the podcast on YouTube
Find more resources on our website morraam.com
Follow
Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam
Follow Lee on LinkedIn: @leegonzales
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42:51
America’s Nervous System Is Dysregulated with Kate Woodsome
What if the problem in America isn’t just political? What if our collective nervous system is overloaded? In this episode, I sit down with Kate Woodsome, journalist turned civic resilience researcher and trainer, to talk about how personal trauma, chronic stress, and media-driven threat responses scale up into polarization, civic dysfunction, and even openings for authoritarianism. Tune in for tools leaders and citizens can use to get grounded before you engage.
Check out our sponsors:
Northwest Registered Agent - Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/achieverfree
In this Episode, You Will Learn
00:00 What is civic resilience?
07:15 What nervous system literacy actually trains you to notice.
12:00 Why body scans and relaxed muscles matter for sustained leadership.
16:15 Systemic drivers of chronic stress.
19:30 Why tech + speed amplify perceived danger and make regulation insufficient alone.
25:45 How trauma, polarization, and authoritarianism play out at work and in nations.
33:15 Nonverbal signals that communicate compassion.
38:45 Why Kate believes nervous system literacy can strengthen democracy.
Resources + Links
Subscribe to Kate Woodsome’s Substack and Newsletter for updates on her civic-resilience work
Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever
Watch the podcast on YouTube
Find more resources on our website morraam.com
Follow
Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam
Follow Kate: on LinkedIn @katewoodsome + Instagram @kwoodsome
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How To Heal After A Layoff with Yowei Shaw
Layoffs do more than drain your bank account, they shake your sense of worth, belonging, and identity. In this episode, Yowei Shaw, an emotional investigative journalist shares what it felt like to get laid off from NPR, why the experience upends identity and dignity, and how the social systems around unemployment actually make healing harder. We talk about the strange behaviors that show up before and after a layoff, how companies actually decide who goes (spoiler: it’s often opaque), and ways to recover. Get ready to rethink what safety, identity, and recovery look like after a layoff.
Check out our sponsors:
Northwest Registered Agent - Protect your privacy, build your brand, and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/achieverfree
In this Episode, You Will Learn
00:00 Meet Yowei Shaw, an emotional investigative journalist.
05:15 What it felt like inside NPR during the layoff month.
11:00 What changed at work during the layoffs?
19:45 Is HR your enemy?
22:30 Why intense shame is a common experience after being laid off.
25:00 Stigma and hiring discrimination against laid-off workers.
30:00 How losing the illusion can be liberating.
32:45 How identity changes after leaving a big brand and why that can be a creative opportunity.
Resources + Links
Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever
Watch the podcast on YouTube
Find more resources on our website morraam.com
Follow
Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam
Follow Yowei: @yoweishaw
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36:40
AI, ADHD, And Humanness with Dr. Tracy Dennis Tiwary
Is your anxiety about AI actually trying to help you? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Tracy Dennis Tiwary to talk about AI anxiety, overdiagnosis, ADHD, and why we’ve medicalized so much of our emotional life that we’ve lost sight of what it means to be human. Tracy shares why we were unprepared for the mental health fallout of social media, why we’re just as unprepared for AI, and how leaders can support teams through technological uncertainty without collapsing into fear or false certainty. Tune in to learn how to engage with AI without losing your humanity and how to work with your anxiety instead of treating it like an enemy.
Check out our sponsors:
Northwest Registered Agent - Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/achieverfree
In this Episode, You Will Learn
00:00 Why AI anxiety is showing up differently for each of us.
06:45 Is AI an intelligence or just a (very powerful) tool?
10:45 How calling AI “smart” and human-like hides what it actually does.
14:00 Why we weren’t prepared for social media’s mental health impact.
15:15 Ways to use chatbots and therapeutic AI without getting lost in them.
21:00 ADHD, dichotomies, and how medicalizing mental health distorts what diagnoses can do.
26:00 Why treating symptoms isn’t the same as healing.
29:00 If mental illness isn’t just a broken brain, what is it?
30:30 Why there is no single biomarker for conditions like bipolar disorder or ADHD.
38:45 Why anxiety is tied to uncertainty, hope, and creativity.
43:30 Where does stress fit alongside anxiety and fear?
48:15 Advice to someone who has AI anxiety.
Resources + Links
Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever
Watch the podcast on YouTube
Find more resources on our website morraam.com
Follow
Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam
Follow Tracy: @tracydennistiwary
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Brad Feld on OCD, Depression, and the Courage to Be Honest
Stigma loses its power when leaders tell the truth. In this episode, venture investor and Techstars co-founder Brad Feld shares why he went public about depression and OCD, how a 2013 crash led to a decade of deep therapy, and why aligning what you feel, say, and do is a leadership advantage. We talk about the “inappropriate anxiety spikes,” the trap of calling mental health a “superpower,” and the difference between passive and active avoidance. Brad also breaks down a simple dashboard for monitoring burnout, practical somatic cues to watch for, and clear guidance on when to hire a coach versus a therapist. Get ready to rethink performance, protect your team from collateral damage, and lead with courage, clarity, and real agency.
Check out our sponsors:
Northwest Registered Agent - Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/achieverfree
In this Episode, You Will Learn
00:00 Why did you choose to speak openly about mental health?
09:00 How stigma and shame create a negative feedback loop for founders.
14:30 The irrational links between thoughts and actions that drive compulsion.
18:00 How reframing failure helps you find grace in what doesn’t work out.
20:00 The concept of “passive avoidance” and how it quietly erodes relationships.
26:00 What are the two ways anxiety shows up in leadership?
30:15 How absurdism brings comfort amid uncertainty.
33:30 Why performative passion often hides real insecurity.
37:45 The “anxiety spikes” that jump from 2 to 11 in seconds.
43:00 How ACT therapy helps you feel, accept, and act instead of suppressing emotion.
46:00 The dashboard of green–yellow–red lights to watch your energy in real time.
50:00 Advice to leaders who want to understand how their behavior impacts others.
Resources + Links
Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever
Watch the podcast on YouTube
Find more resources on our website morraam.com
Follow
Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam
Follow Brad: @bfeld
Host Morra Aarons-Mele is on a mission to reframe how we think about anxiety and mental health in the workplace. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. We desperately need better models for leadership and a more holistic view of mental health. Our culture tells those of us who suffer from anxiety and depression that we can’t succeed, but we tell a different story — without sugarcoating the tough stuff. We feature stories from people who’ve been there and experts who can help you thrive.
Listen in your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1480904163
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