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Circle Back Club

Circle Back Club

By: Aparna Rae & Lars Gallien
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 Your BS detector isn't broken — corporate culture just trained you to ignore it. Circle Back Club is the podcast for anyone who has ever suspected the problem isn’t us. Aparna and Lars name what's broken at work, back it up with receipts, and build real power with workers who are done performing. No productivity hacks. No personal brand advice. Just honest analysis and a community ready to change the status quo. New episodes weekly.Aparna Rae & Lars Gallien Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Who Built This? feat. Bachul Koul

    Who Built This? feat. Bachul Koul
    Mar 19 2026
    Who Built This? The History of Modern Corporate Culture. If you’ve ever felt like a replaceable cog in a machine that values spreadsheets over people, it’s because the system was redesigned to feel exactly that way.IN THIS EPISODE Aparna and Lars sit down with finance veteran Bachul Koul to trace how we moved from small, community-rooted businesses to a world where "shareholder primacy" is the only law that matters. We dig into the 1970s shift that turned managers into enforcers of the bottom line and explore how the saturation of "junk" products has hollowed out the meaning of our daily labor. It’s a look at the "frozen middle" of management and the moment "burnout" became an official part of the human experience. This isn't just a history lesson; it's a map to help us find our way back to a definition of value that actually includes our humanity.THE QUESTION WE'RE SITTING WITH If the world will never define "enough" for you, how do you calculate it for yourself?TAKE THIS WITH YOUCalculate Your "Enough": Reflect on what a beautiful life looks like to you and the actual cost required to support it, rather than chasing external markers of success.The Employee Primacy Block: Reclaim your time by putting a two-hour "made-up meeting" on your calendar this week to nap, move your body, or simply rest.Human Connection over Productivity: Break the isolation of the "shareholder model" by asking a coworker what they actually care about outside of their deliverables.RESOURCES MENTIONEDThe Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business — Alfred Chandler Jr. https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-visible-hand-the-managerial-revolution-in-american-business-isidor-straus-professor-of-business-history-emeritus-alfred-dupont-chandler/1232ccd5ecda54c5?ean=9780674940529&next=tThe Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits — Milton Friedman, The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctrine-the-social-responsibility-of-business-is-to.htmlOwnership Works — An organization focused on providing all employees with a stake in the value they help https://ownershipworks.org/createTech Workers Coalition (TWC) — A community of tech workers organizing for labor rights and ethical technology https://techworkerscoalition.org/Stone Butch Blues , Leslie Feinberg https://www.lesliefeinberg.net/The Invisible Hand, Adam Smith https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=the+invisible+hand+adam+smith%27Working Class History Podcast https://workingclasshistory.com/podcasts/Corporate Erin https://www.instagram.com/corporate_erin/CONNECT WITH USBachul Koul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yashomati-bachul-koul/ Aparna on LinkedIn:linkedin.com/in/aparnaraeLars on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-gallienWant to bring this conversation into your organization? Aparna and Lars speak at HR conferences, Fortune 1000 ERGs, and philanthropic foundations. Reach out at pod@circleback.club.New episodes every week. Follow Circle Back Club so you never miss one.
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    1 hr
  • THE ICK: What White Collar Work Is Actually Doing to Us

    THE ICK: What White Collar Work Is Actually Doing to Us
    Mar 12 2026
    You're not burned out because you're weak — you're burned out because the system was designed this way. This isn't a self-help episode. It's a reality check — and the beginning of something better.IN THIS EPISODEYou already know something is wrong. Maybe it's the Sunday dread, or the way your stomach drops when your boss Slacks you at 9pm, or the creeping feeling that you've given everything to a job that could disappear tomorrow. In this first episode, Aparna and Lars name what most of us have been too scared, too busy, or too gaslit to say out loud. They dig into the real data on white collar layoffs and disengagement, expose the moral compromises baked into everyday corporate work — from Project Nimbus to ICE contracts — and get into what all of this is doing to our bodies, our families, and our democracy. TAKE THIS WITH YOUListen to your body this week. In your next meeting, pause and ask yourself: what does my body feel right now? Notice your posture, your jaw, your breathing. You don't have to do anything with what you find — just track it. Your nervous system has been paying attention even when your brain checked out.Name it to change it. This week, resist the urge to treat your work stress as a personal failing. The layoffs, the moral compromises, the exhaustion — none of it is because you aren't resilient enough. It's structural. And structural problems need collective responses.RESOURCES Bullshit Jobs: A Theory — David Graeber. The anthropologist who argued that corporations have convinced us being busy is morally virtuous — and what that's done to us. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Bullshit-Jobs/David-Graeber/9781501143335Ruined by Design — Mike Monteiro. The core idea: the world is working exactly as designed. If it's broken, that's on us. https://www.ruinedby.designNo Tech for Apartheid — The worker-led campaign of Google and Amazon employees organizing against Project Nimbus. Follow them, support them. https://www.notechforapartheid.comCoworker Solidarity Fund — Financial support for the 50+ Google workers fired or arrested for protesting Project Nimbus. Donate here. https://coworkerfund.org/get-funded/googlers-fund-applicationGallup: U.S. Employee Engagement Sinks to 10-Year Low — The data behind the decade-low engagement numbers: only 31% of U.S. workers engaged in 2024. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/654911/employee-engagement-sinks-year-low.aspxGallup: State of the Global Workplace Report — The broader annual report on global engagement, wellbeing, and what it's costing us. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspxStanford Business School research on workplace mortality — Studies linking toxic workplace environments to over 120,000 deaths per year in the U.S. and 5–8% of annual healthcare costs. https://www.inc.com/scott-mautz/new-stanford-research-says-5th-leading-cause-of-death-is-workplace.htmlMcKinsey Health Institute — Research showing toxic workplace behavior is the single largest predictor of negative employee outcomes — more than twice the impact of all positive practices combined. https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/present-company-included-prioritizing-mental-health-and-well-being-for-allCONNECT WITH USAparna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aparnarae Lars on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lars-gallienGot an ick? Got a hope? We want to hear from workers. Send us your story — written or as an audio recording — to pod@circleback.club. We'll weave your voice into the show.Want to bring this conversation into your organization? Aparna and Lars speak at HR conferences, Fortune 1000 ERGs, and philanthropic foundations. pod@circleback.clubNew episodes every week. Follow Circle Back Club so you never miss one.
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Season 1 Trailer

    Season 1 Trailer
    Feb 28 2026

    The Circle Back Club envisions a future of work grounded in community, wellbeing, dignity, and care instead of endless financial growth and burnout. When you join the Circle Back Club, you’re joining a community committed to challenging the status quo. We’re circling back and asking the tough questions, like: “what if it didn’t have to be this way?”


    CONNECT WITH US

    Aparna on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/aparnarae

    Lars on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-gallien

    Want to bring this conversation into your organization? Aparna and Lars speaks at HR conferences, Fortune 1000 ERGs, and philanthropic foundations. pod@circleback.club

    New episodes every week. Follow Circle Back Club so you never miss one.
    Show More Show Less
    3 mins
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