Episode
Why Working Harder Was Quietly Breaking Her with Meghan French Dunbar
- Podcast
- Transform Your Workplace
- Published
- Jun 5, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3266
- Processing state
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- https://xeniumhr.libsyn.com/meghan-french-dunbar
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Summary
Most of us answer "how are you?" with busy, stressed, or exhausted, and somewhere along the way we decided that was just the cost of doing good work. Meghan French Dunbar lived that way for years as a startup CEO, until a panic attack made her stop and question the whole script. In this conversation, Brandon and Meghan get into why so many workplaces wear people down, and what the leaders and companies who do it differently actually do instead. Meghan shares the moment her own success started to break her, the interview that reshaped how she thinks about leadership, and a set of practical habits anyone can start this week. You will hear how to essentialize your time, relationships, and inputs, why the healthiest leaders draw from a wide range of human traits, and how opening the books with her team surfaced ideas and savings she never expected. It started as a book for working women. By the end, it is plainly for anyone who has poured their whole self into work and wondered if there is a better way to succeed. About our guest Meghan French Dunbar is an author, speaker, and workplace strategist. She co-founded Conscious Company magazine, a print publication that launched in 2015 and landed in Whole Foods stores across the country. She grew it with angel funding, stayed on as CEO after the company was acquired, and stepped down in early 2020. Her book, This Isn't Working, came out of that experience and the reflection that followed. In it she lays out ideas like holistic leadership, essentializing, and the unified workplace, all drawn from her conversations with leaders who found healthier ways to build and run their businesses. Timestamps 01:50 The book and the moment on the floor 04:15 The panic attack and six months of runway 06:50 COVID, postpartum, and a forced paus…