What High Pressure Really Means at Work (And Why We Keep Getting It Wrong)

This is part 1 of a 4-part series on leading through high pressure at work, with licensed psychologist Dr. Janna Koretz. Each episode explores a different theme—clarity, self-awareness, team dynamics, and workplace culture.

What does “high pressure” actually mean in the workplace? In this episode, Dr. Janna Koretz—licensed psychologist and founder of Azimuth Psychological—joins host Russel Lolacher to reframe how we define stress at work. From Amazon warehouse workers to C-suite execs, no role is immune. You’ll hear why blanket definitions don’t work, how our relationship to pressure is deeply personal, and why even successful professionals end up burned out and lost. This is a must-listen for anyone navigating toxic hustle culture, performance anxiety, or leadership overwhelm.

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Transcript

Russel Lolacher: And on the show today, we have Dr. Janna Koretz, and here is why she is She's the founder and a licensed psychologist at Azimuth Psychological, a Boston-based therapy practice focused on the unique mental health challenges of those in high pressure careers. High pressure will be a key word for this conversation.

Her insights have been featured in various publications. Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, BBC, Business Insider, List, list. Additionally, contributed articles in CEO World Magazine, discussing topics such as psychological, safe work cultures. And my little fun tidbit about her that I like the most is this children's book on anxiety called Heroic Henrietta, how One Unicorn Overcame Her Anxiety. Hello, Janna.

Janna Koretz: Hi. Wow. You did your research. You found that one, it's a long time ago.

Russel Lolacher: Big breaths. I knew I had a lot to get through.

Janna Koretz: Yes.

Russel Lolacher: So interesting we're gonna talk about high pressure roles and I'm curious from jobs that are always high pressure, jobs that are high pressure once in a while, really curious how to lead through those things. But before we get to that, you have to not get off the hook. You get the question I ask all of my guests, which is what's your best or worst employee experience?

Janna Koretz: Oh, there's so many to choose from. I think for, in terms of worst employee experience, I think I, there are a couple stories that come to mind and I think they all get grouped in the bucket of entitlement. I think that is a personal pet peeve of mine that I don't care for. And I think, we'll, I'm sure we'll get to it, but I think a lot of people dunno how to communicate well in the workplace.

And as the leader, I find I'm try to be very flexible around that because that's my job, right? And to help people with that. But every so often somebody will say something and I am not interested in hearing it because it is quite entitled. And so, when people, when I... and short example is I, and she doesn't work with me anymore so I can talk about it.

She, this one employee of mine said, she had a lot, she had just started, she had a lot of time in her calendar. We were just getting her clients and I asked her to do something that was very relevant to her career that really would help her in general. And she just looked me dead in the eyes and said, that seems like a lot of work. I don't really wanna do that. I'm not going to do that. Well, I dunno if it's optional, as the leader then you have to be like, well how am I going to respond to that, right? And so, that's a tricky situation for anyone, but there are a lot of instances where people have asked me for things or demanded things of me or refused things that I find are pretty inappropriate for workplace setting.

And that is where I personally struggle. So those are, those tend to be what fall into my worst employee stories.

Russel Lolacher: And how do you combat that proactively? Like in my brain, I'm a communications nerd. And we've, you've already even mentioned, we've been in, what, three minutes here, and you've already mentioned how important communication is. Is it setting boundaries right outta the gate so that there's no confusion later on? Or does that matter at all and people are gonna jump to their own conclusions of what they're entitled to or not?

Janna Koretz: I think it's both. I think that setting an appropriate sort of workplace expectations from the beginning is important, and that's actually something that has been a growing edge for myself. This is how accommodating the company can be. This is how, what is not optional and like really being boundaried and showing examples of that from the beginning. So when people start to push boundaries in the beginning, you can say, no, actually that's not how it works here. In a nice way and kind of make sure that those expectations get really really solid in the beginning so that those situations don't arise in the future because they know that it's not something that is possible in this particular work culture.

I think a whole other conversation for another time is also like generational expectations of the workplace which are different. And so I think some of that stuff happens anyway. And I'm now of the generation where I can say the younger generation is so different than my generation. And so that has also been something that I think, we read a lot about Gen Z and how that works and what they, what is appropriate to them or what their expectations of life is a lot different. And so I think if you're a little bit older, like you're gonna hear some of that anyway. That's what it's gonna feel like, even if that's not the intention all the time. And so I think you can do a lot of work at the beginning to lay that foundation, but I think in the end, like you're never gonna get away from requests that are interesting.

Russel Lolacher: I love that as we're getting older, I'm feeling like we're giving longer answers, academic answers to 'kids today', like it's...

Janna Koretz: Yes. Kids today. I just wrote an article about kids today actually. It's, yeah, it's true.

Russel Lolacher: And it's a struggle 'cause there is a lot of work we have to do that is strategic, leadership, proactive boundary setting. And then there's the other side of it that is we're human and we go, can't you just get this? Like, why is this complicated? It's right there in your job description. I don't understand. Yeah. I hear it's a struggle. It's a struggle.

Janna Koretz: It is a struggle. And one thing I will add, which we don't need to get into, but I think is interesting is if you think about how Gen Z grew up with like social media, iPhones, like all these things that we didn't have, they grew up in a very self-centered, focused culture. What do I look like on the internet? What, how many likes did I get? What do I need to do to be an influencer, right? It's all about me. And so it's not really that surprising if, and then you add in like COVID and work from home and all these things where they're not necessarily learning professional skills anyway. So you get people into a situation where their personal culture. It's like any other culture, right? Their personal culture is more self-centered than maybe perhaps other cultures in the past. That's not really their fault, but they don't necessarily know that, that's, they don't, they haven't been told how to interact with us, right? And we haven't been told how to interact with them in a way that is helpful.

And so of course there's just these, I don't know, rifts, I guess. Because that's how they've been, that's how they've been taught their whole life.

Russel Lolacher: And add helicopter parents on top of that and add parents that are enabling that behavior and not setting those boundaries. It's a ecosystem of, for us, having to figure that out and figure out how to deal or not, deal's a horrible word, how to interact and understand these other generations.

Janna Koretz: Well also help them succeed, right? They're not gonna succeed if they like are in these work environments where they're doing things that older people don't like.

Russel Lolacher: And I've said this before on the show too, is it's not always just a Gen Z problem. I've seen more entitled Boomers seen sometimes with Gen Z.

Janna Koretz: Oh, yeah.

Russel Lolacher: They just wanna, they wanna work. They just have particular understanding of how they wanna work and way it works. And I've seen older generations, gen X, me included, going, but that's not how it's always been done before.

So it's just this, it's this cycle of trying to better understand who we're working with out there. Look at this transition. Watch this.

Janna Koretz: Yeah.

Russel Lolacher: When the things happen where people have different understandings and definitions of things eh, we're getting into definitions now.

Janna Koretz: I'm with you. Let's go.

Russel Lolacher: And what you would define as high pressure and what I might define as high pressure could be very different, especially based on generational lines. So for the basis of this conversation, how would you define a high pressure workplace? 

Janna Koretz: I don't think you're gonna like my answer, which is, we're, I'm not actually defining it at all, right? The people that come to see us, they define it for them. Does it feel high pressure to them and what does that mean to them? And that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing to everyone. I mean, certainly we have sort of the stereotype of what you and I might consider high pressure, right?

Like we have, people are trying to make partner in corporate law. We have people in private equity, right? And. Finance, all these jobs that people sort of stereotype into high pressure careers because they are. But there are a lot of people who work, the work culture in America is terrible.

So a lot of it doesn't actually matter what industry you're in, because most of the time now it is a high pressure situation. Even if you take, we read all the time about like Amazon warehouse workers, right? That is an incredibly high pressure job that is almost impossible to succeed at, and people need those jobs and so they tolerate or they try to figure it out, it doesn't really matter what industry or what it is? I think in general we have this kind of low level, high pressure culture of work, and then it sort of depends on how people relate to their work, what other factors are involved, their financial situation, all that.

Russel Lolacher: So by not defining high pressure, 'cause again, we go back, it's a personal thing and high pressure... you have to treat it as per the person and how they're looking at it. But does that mean you're not defining low pressure jobs or a threshold between the two? If we're not defining the upper, then I feel does that mean you're not defining the lower?

Janna Koretz: Because what we're doing is helping people with their symptoms, and so it sort of doesn't matter like how I would define it or what is a low, or is a high pressure career or whatever. It's like they come in and they say, I feel like really stressed out because I feel pressure from this, and this.

And so that is sort of the crux of it. And so, I know that like defining things actually really important. I really like to define things, but also as a therapist, there are a lot of things that are undefined or gray including this sort of, I think what we're talking about, right? Because it is subjective. In my opinion.

Russel Lolacher: So what are we misunderstanding about high pressure? Is it the fact that if you have a big paycheck and you're top of the organization, those are the only places that are high pressure? Well, them and air traffic controllers. Is that is that 'cause I can understand a lot of people, you talk about Amazon workers, I'm nodding, I'm totally agreeing with you.

But it's not top of mind of what I would think is a high pressure job.

Janna Koretz: I think people, again, like when people hear, when they think about what we do as a company, like at  Azimuth, right? Yes. We have the people that we, you, I, everyone would typically consider to be in a high pressure career, right? Like C-suite people, VPs of consultants, all this. But there are, it is anybody and everybody maybe of academia.

We do have people in healthcare. We have people in we do have, we, I don't know how many of them are now, but we have had people who have worked in like Amazon warehouses or jobs like that, which arguably in some ways are more high pressure, in different ways. And so I don't think like how we understand it, like what is top of mind almost isn't as important as how people feel when they're at work, if you will.

Russel Lolacher: So what are symptoms of high pressure? They're coming to you for reasons. So how is this showing up?

Janna Koretz: A lot of it shows up in burnout, apathy, a lot of high anxiety, unable to put work away, career enmeshment, feeling stuck. A lot of people have a lot of financial obligations one way or another, and they can't get out of the job that they're in. Or a lot of people. I think we see a lot of people too, so it's more of a story, less of a symptom. They've had a track that they've been told is really important and they check all the boxes, they do all the things, they get to where they're going, they've arrived and they're really miserable. And that's super confusing and very scary for them. And there's an existential piece to that.

A lot of people sometimes will have a company acquisition or they're laid off and they have nothing. Like, they don't even know what to do with their time. Like they can't even get out of bed because all they've done is work. All they know is work. That's their whole identity. And so now they're in this existential place where they are very confused and they're upset and they start drinking.

And so there's sort of subsequent things that happen as well. So those are the heavy hitters I think. But it really can manifest in any way. I mean, it's stress in general, right? Trauma, things like that manifest in all kinds of ways. But I think those are the, typically when people come in, that's sort of how they're experiencing things.

Russel Lolacher: I think I know the answer to this, but I'm super curious about when it comes to high pressure, is it the pressure we put on ourselves or is it the pressure the organization on the individual.

Janna Koretz: Both.

Russel Lolacher: That seems... both. Yeah, I figured. handle high pressure things.

Janna Koretz: Right, right. And so this is people always, well, there are some high people, like there's some people who thrive in that environment. And certainly there are, and I think the people I think of first when I think of that are physicians. ER doctors for example. That's where they thrive. That's the place. Like they don't wanna be in pediatrics. They would be so bored. They wanna be and that is where they thrive and that's okay. And it's fine if it's not problematic for you. But most of the people in this world, pressure like that is problematic for them. And that's why they don't choose things like being an ER doctor, for example.

Russel Lolacher: Do they know it's because of a high pressure situation or are they just going help me do my job better? Is it, is there self-awareness around that piece or is it just my job's hard? I need to meditate and journal more. Fix me.

Janna Koretz: There's usually some insight and I would say most of our, most of our clients are really smart and they know they should meditate and eat better. And a lot of them have been to therapy before and have heard that, right? And part of the problem is they can't. Because their life does, lifestyle doesn't allow for that.

And they can't just quit their job or they can't just work less, or they really don't have time to cook. Like they're, these are all really true facts about them. And so they feel very they feel like therapy or like wellness is not possible for them. When really it is. It just, you have to do it much more creatively in smaller increments.

And I think people typically when they come in, they know there's a problem. Something is a problem for them. Whether it's their job or themselves, like maybe they're not sure. But they definitely, most of the time people don't say oh, I have this anxiety fix me and everything will be fine.

Sometimes that happens, but oftentimes there's like a, at least some kind of awareness of the situation or my environment or this other person at work, or like my wife or something else is also contributing.

Russel Lolacher: And I'm not poo-pooing the journaling and the meditating. I am a huge fan of both of those things.

Janna Koretz: Let me tell you, as somebody who is not a natural journal, journaler or whatever, or somebody Yes. And not somebody who is a naturally a meditator, these are not things that come naturally to me, nor was I very interested in them when I first heard about them. We now have a journaling app because I am so on board with journaling and values journaling and all of this, because it's really helpful, but also you have to get past the stereotype of what journaling is.

And you have to get past the idea that it has to be every day, and you have to log your whole day. And you have to, it's, especially now with social media, there are all these people online that tell you all these things that you have to do, and it's just not right. For everything. But definitely not for wellness stuff either.