Okay, Actually

About Okay, Actually

Okay, Actually is a show for people who are competent, well-resourced, and still somehow building the plane while flying it. Each episode is a direct conversation about the problems, decisions, structures, and resets that get you from chaos to clarity — without the fluff or the hustle gospel. Get clear, get sorted, get going, stay sane in under 30 minutes.

Publisher

Karen Doak

Category

business · education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

23 Apr 2026

Latest episode

17 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

13 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   17 Sept 2026

   Episode 13: The Founder Sets the Tone (with Tristen Stawicki)

   Okay, Actually is a show about what’s really going on at work — and what we can do about it. New episodes come out every other Thursday and are always under 30 minutes. In this episode, I’m joined by Tristen Stawicki to talk about what founders bring into their businesses and what happens when their insecurities, habits, and struggles with trust become part of everyone else’s working day. Tristen brings corporate product leadership experience and an MBA to her work as a coach, astrologer, and certified shaman. Our conversation makes room for all of that. We talk about astrology, what she calls energetic blocks, and the discomfort that can come with getting something you thought you wanted. We also get very practical, discussing: hiring talented people without giving them authority, telling different stories to employees and investors, retreating into familiar work as a business grows, and rebuilding trust through changes people can actually see. Whether you’re a founder, a leader, or someone working closely with one, we dig into the questions everyone should be asking to bring their best energy to work. 00:00 A Process Map and a Birth Chart 02:14 When a Process Fix Isn’t Enough 04:41 Founder Culture, Vulnerability, and Bravado 06:30 What Soul Work Looks Like 08:40 Exploring Energetic Blocks 11:51 Hiring Great People — and Getting in Their Way 15:31 Retreating Into the Work You Know 18:56 Taking Accountability Without Losing Credibility 21:13 What Are You Still Saying Yes To? Questions to take with you What am I asking to change? What am I still doing that makes that change harder? What am I willing to do about it? About Tristen Tristen Stawicki guides women at a crossroads, bringing together practical strategy and intuitive insight. She has an MBA, a background in corporate product leadership, and is a certified shaman in the Q’ero tradition and a trained astrologer. She is the creator of the Musings and Modalities™ framework and host of the podcast Musings & Modalities. Her work supports leaders and entrepreneurs navigating transformation, burnout, and questions about what they want to build next. She also works as a fractional chief product officer. Connect with Tristen Book a discovery call (https://calendly.com/musings-musingsandmodalities/30min?month=2026-03) Website (https://www.musingsandmodalities.com) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/musingsandmodalities) YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@musingsandmodalities) Find me OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com)

2. 

   3 Sept 2026

   Episode 12: An Ode to the Weekly Review

   Okay, Actually is a show about what’s really going on at work — and what we can do about it. New episodes come out every other Thursday and are always under 30 minutes. A weekly review can sound like another administrative task or homework: one more obligation to fit into an already busy week, or an appointment with guilt and failure. For me, it is the opposite. I’ve done some version of a weekly review every Sunday for more than 20 years. The exact form can change, but the ritual itself does not. It gives me a reliable place to look at what happened, decide what matters now, and figure out what to do next. In this episode, I share the weekly ritual that has built more self-trust than any other practice in my life. I talk about the difference between consistency and rigidity, why a review should not become an exercise in judgment, what Sunday Karen can learn from the Karen who actually lived the week, and why planning can be valuable even when it doesn’t make us feel more motivated. I also break down the simple three-part process I use to look backward, look forward, reflect, and commit (and explain why deleting something from your list may be even more satisfying than completing it). 00:00 The One Ritual I Never Skip 02:23 Inside My Sunday Weekly Review 03:48 Consistent Rituals vs. Rigid Routines 05:29 Why Weekly Reviews Feel Like Homework 08:35 Sunday Karen Meets Wednesday Karen 11:08 How Returning Builds Self-Trust 12:18 Planning Without Manufacturing Motivation 14:11 Unfinished vs. Unattended 15:36 A Three-Part Weekly Review 19:06 Celebrate Wins 21:52 Never More Than Seven Days From a Reset A simple weekly review Set aside approximately 30 minutes. If that feels like too much, begin with 15. 1. Look backward Go through the previous seven days on your calendar. What happened? What decisions were made? Did you promise to send, schedule, or do something? Did someone promise to send, schedule, or do something for you? What moved forward, even if it wasn’t completed? Is there anything that remains open? What did you learn? 2. Look forward Review the next seven days and your active projects. What is already committed? What requires preparation? Where are the pressure points? Does anything need to move? Does every active project have a clear next action? Are you waiting for someone? Is there anything you can remove? 3. Reflect and commit What went well? What are you proud of? What happened in your life — not just your work — that you want to remember? What didn’t work? What do you want to change? What three commitments would make the coming week feel successful? 4. Celebrate with an actual ode (Optional) You completed your weekly review. This clearly calls for Beethoven: Listen to “Ode to Joy,” performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzyO3fLV5O0). Remember: the purpose of the review is not to do all the work you uncover. It is to see, decide, and orient. Research mentioned in this episode Uhlig, L., Baumgartner, V., Prem, R., Siestrup, K., Korunka, C., & Kubicek, B. (2023). “A field experiment on the effects of weekly planning behaviour on work engagement, unfinished tasks, rumination, and cognitive flexibility.” Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 96(3), 575–598. Read the open-access study (https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12430) Find me OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com)

3. 

   20 Aug 2026

   Episode 11: AI Makes Bad Direction Cheaper (with Maury Postal)

   Okay, Actually is a show about what’s really going on at work — and what we can do about it. New episodes come out every other Thursday and are always under 30 minutes. AI can help us research, organize, generate, compare, and execute faster than ever. But it can also produce something polished enough that we don’t immediately notice it has solved a completely different problem from the one we actually had. In Part Two of my conversation with my dear friend and former colleague Maury Postal, we talk about what happens when AI makes execution faster and cheaper without necessarily making the direction any better. We get into why “move fast and break things” is a questionable operating philosophy, how AI makes ideas more abundant but not necessarily more valuable, and why augmented intelligence may be a more useful framing than artificial intelligence. This is a conversation about AI, but it’s also about judgment, accountability, creative distinctiveness, and the human conversations we can’t delegate. This episode stands on its own, but you can also listen to Part One: Episode 10: The Brief Is the Work (https://okay-actually.captivate.fm/episode/episode-10-the-brief-is-the-work-with-maury-postal). (https://okay-actually.captivate.fm/episode/episode-10-the-brief-is-the-work-with-maury-postal) 00:00 AI Editing Gone Wrong 02:19 Part Two Setup 03:10 Rigor Versus Speed 05:41 AI Makes Bad Direction Cheaper 09:11 Accountability Swim Lanes 11:50 Ideas Are Cheap; Judgment Isn’t 13:27 Algorithms, Sameness, and Slop 17:38 Process And Stepping Away 20:01 Three Four Questions Before You Begin 22:56 What Humans Still Need to Own Four questions to ask before a project begins Who will determine whether this work succeeds? What does the work actually need to prove to that person? How are we going to separate signal from noise? What does a human being still need to own here? About Maury Maury Postal is EVP of Creative Strategy and Innovation Services for Grayling North America. He has more than 18 years of experience across creative strategy, storytelling, and digital innovation, helping organizations turn complex ideas into work that people can understand — and that can actually accomplish something. He has worked with global brands including American Express, Audi, Ford, Genesis, P&G, Synchrony, and Japan Airlines. His work also includes AUTONOMY, a feature documentary made with Malcolm Gladwell that premiered at SXSW. Connect with Maury Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mopostal) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mopostal/) Find me OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com)

4. 

   6 Aug 2026

   Episode 10: The Brief Is the Work (with Maury Postal)

   Okay, Actually is a show about what’s really going on at work — and what we can do about it. New episodes come out every other Thursday and are always under 30 minutes. A creative brief is supposed to tell a team what problem it’s solving, who it needs to reach, and what the work needs to accomplish. But somewhere along the way, it often becomes a meeting summary, a record of every stakeholder’s opinion, or a form everyone completes on autopilot before moving on to the “real” work. In this episode, I’m joined by my dear friend and former colleague Maury Postal, a creative strategist who has spent his career on both sides of the brief. We talk about the difference between a document that describes a project and one that actually gives it direction; why a brief needs a steward; how shared language becomes essential as teams change; and why process is often what makes speed possible. This is a conversation about creative briefs, but it’s also about how groups decide what they’re trying to do, get aligned around a direction, and create the confidence to move forward together. 00:00 First Brief Lesson 02:09 Meet Maury Postal 03:26 A Brief Is Not a Summary 05:05 Defining Success Today 07:06 The Consumer and the Decision-Maker 09:27 The Brief Is the Project 11:12 Shared Language and Bad Briefs 17:21 Creative Leadership and Confident Organizations 22:16 Wrap Up And Part Two About Maury Maury Postal is EVP of Creative Strategy and Innovation Services for Grayling North America. He has more than 18 years of experience across creative strategy, storytelling, and digital innovation, helping organizations turn complex ideas into work that people can understand — and that can actually accomplish something. He has worked with global brands including American Express, Audi, Ford, Genesis, P&G, Synchrony, and Japan Airlines. His work also includes AUTONOMY, a feature documentary made with Malcolm Gladwell that premiered at SXSW. Connect with Maury Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mopostal) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mopostal/) Find me OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com)

5. 

   9 Jul 2026

   Episode 9: Moving Is Not the Same as Going Somewhere

   Okay, Actually is a podcast for people who are working hard and starting to wonder if the problem is them. It's not. In under 30 minutes, we dig into what's truly broken and figure out how to build a solution that can actually work. In this episode, I'm talking about direction — and specifically why it's not the same thing as having a plan — and then offer some ways to think about direction at this point in the year. We may think we need beautifully structured goal systems, Q1 metrics, and a formal review process, but really 30 minutes of reflection will help you move in the right direction for the rest of the year. If you've ever had a genuinely productive week and still gotten to Friday feeling vaguely flat, this episode is for you. 00:00 The Book I Can't Stop Recommending 02:17 Direction Is Not Goal Setting 03:25 Show Premise Setup 04:07 Busy But Off Track 06:41 When Goals Break 08:36 Midyear Reality Shift 11:17 Plant The Flag 14:30 Two Step Direction Check 16:23 Five Direction Filters 18:52 Why July Matters The two checkpoints I mention Part 1: Direction Check (10 minutes) Find an environment where you can actually think. Ask yourself one question: where do I actually want to go right now? (Not where did I plan to go in January or where should I want to go). Where do I want to go from where I actually am? If you can answer it, you have your compass. If you can't, that's the work. And if you don't know where to plant the flag, plant the flag in "figure out where to plant the flag." Part 2: Autopilot Audit (five questions) What are you still working on just because you started it earlier in the year — not because it's still the right thing? What meetings, commitments, or obligations came into your life without a conscious yes? What are you still measuring that no longer tells you anything useful? What would you stop doing tomorrow if you gave yourself permission? What are you not doing that your direction is actually asking for? Your direction is the filter. Run everything through it. The whole thing should take about thirty minutes. Book mentioned: Candice Millard, The River of Doubt (https://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Theodore-Roosevelts-Darkest/dp/0767913736) Find me here: OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com)

6. 

   26 Jun 2026

   Episode 8: The Open Loop

   Okay, Actually is a podcast for people who are working hard and starting to wonder if the problem is them. It's not. In under 30 minutes, we dig into what's truly broken and figure out how to build a solution that can actually work. In this episode, I talk about inputs: specifically all the places things come at you that you're not fully tracking, and what it actually costs you to hold those channels open in the background. Spoiler: it's more than you think. If you've ever found something in a folder you forgot existed and felt equal parts relieved and mortified, this episode's for you. 00:00 A Hotel Room, a Balcony, and a Booby Trap 04:26 The Drip Not Flood 06:36 Open Channels Cost 08:20 Zeigarnik Effect Explained 09:57 Preventable Surprises 12:21 Scanning and Anxiety 14:13 How to Do an Input Audit 16:43 Four Audit Questions 20:40 15 Minute Challenge and Wrap Up Four questions to ask once you have your list: Volume, and is it constant or occasional? How much is actually coming through this channel, and is that traffic always on or only active sometimes? Constant and occasional require completely different responses. Stakes. If something came through this channel and you missed it, what's the actual consequence? Some of your highest-volume channels are full of noise and some of your quietest are where the most important things hide. Did I choose this, or did I accept it by default? Some of what you're carrying you never agreed to carry. You can't put all of it down, but you can put some of it down. What am I actively avoiding on this list? There's almost always something! This is less a productivity problem than a thing worth knowing about yourself. The audit isn't a to do list; it's a mirror. Find me here: OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@karendoak.com (mailto:karen@karendoak.com)

7. 

   11 Jun 2026

   Episode 7: The Wrong Hire Problem (with Jennifer D'Agostino)

   Okay, Actually is a podcast for people who are working hard and starting to wonder if the problem is them. It's not. Each episode, we dig into what's truly broken and figure out how to build a solution that can actually work. In this episode, I'm joined by Jennifer D'Agostino, a fractional HR executive and someone who has been handed more broken hiring processes than she can count. We're talking about where hiring actually goes wrong — which is almost always before the first resume arrives. The job description, the backfill bias, the hiring manager who's too busy to engage, the culture fit that's really just a clone request. Jennifer has seen all of it, and she's direct about what it costs. 00:00 Hiring Clarity Gap 00:54 Meet Jen D'Agostino 02:07 Root Causes Beyond Search 05:36 Fixing Job Descriptions 09:35 Stop Cloning Past Stars 12:13 Neutral Review Market Data 15:18 Engaged Hiring Managers Win 17:27 Bias Culture Add 21:58 Three Questions Before Posting 26:38 Wrap Up & Key Takeaways About Jennifer: Jennifer D'Agostino is a fractional HR executive with more than 20 years of VP-level experience in corporate HR, most recently as VP of HR and Talent Management at RTI International. She now partners directly with small business CEOs and COOs through her own practice, helping growing companies attract, develop, and retain the right people — starting with an honest assessment of what they actually need. Connect with Jennifer: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dagostinojen ) Purpose HR (https://www.purposehrpartners.com/) Find me: OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com)

8. 

   28 May 2026

   Episode 6: Urgency Is a Feeling, Not a Fact

   Okay, Actually is a podcast for people who are working hard and starting to wonder if the problem is them. It's not. In under 30 minutes, we dig into what's truly broken and figure out how to build a solution that can actually work. In this episode, I get into urgency: what it actually does to your brain, why fake urgency is so hard to call out, and why fire drill culture costs you more than just your Tuesday afternoons. If you've ever hung up on a work call for an issue at home (or vice versa), this episode's for you. 00:00 A Daughter's Emergency 01:47 What Urgency Does 04:24 Bin Gate 05:32 Real vs Fake Urgency 07:56 Too Many Channels 10:09 Fire Drill Culture 13:44 Holidays Reveal Truth 15:11 Three Filtering Questions 17:10 Recalibrate Your Alarm Three questions to ask before you respond to something "urgent:" Whose urgency is this? Did I generate it, or did someone hand it to me? Is this actually mine to own? What actually happens if I wait? Real urgency has a real answer. Manufactured urgency evaporates, resolves without you, or turns out to be someone else's anxiety. Is this urgent, or is it just loud? Volume is not severity. The number of channels someone uses to reach you is not a measure of importance. Referenced in this episode: The High Cost of Fake Urgency in the Workplace (https://qz.com/fake-urgency-at-work-leadership-burnout) — Quartz, April 2026 Find me here: OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com)

9. 

   21 May 2026

   Episode 5: The Wrong Problem Hire (with Rachael Goldfarb)

   Okay, Actually is a podcast for people who are working hard and starting to wonder if the problem is them. It's not. Each episode, we dig into what's truly broken and figure out how to build a solution that can actually work. In this episode, I'm joined by Rachael Goldfarb — adviser and former Chief of Staff — to talk about one of the most common ways organizations avoid solving a structural problem: they hire toward it. The Chief of Staff role gets used this way more than almost any other: not because the role isn't valuable, but because it's become the default answer to a question nobody asked out loud. 00:00 Officer of the Day 02:51 The Job Description Problem 10:19 Why This Role Specifically 15:15 The Workaround Problem 16:44 What to Ask Before You Hire 20:56 The AI Chief of Staff About Rachael: Rachael Goldfarb is the co-founder of The Coul & Gold Group, an advisory services firm focused on leadership architecture for the C-Suite. They support senior executives, chiefs of staff, and teams to be as successful as possible through assessments, frameworks, operating systems, and deliberate design. Find great resources and learn about how to work with The Coul & Gold Group at https://coulandgold.com/ (https://coulandgold.com/) Subscribe to their newsletter at: https://briefing.coulandgold.com/ (https://briefing.coulandgold.com/) Find me here: OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com) Get clear. Get sorted. Get going. Stay sane.

10. 

    14 May 2026

    Episode 4: Just Counting

    Okay, Actually is a podcast for people who are working hard, still falling behind, and are starting to wonder if the problem is them. It's not. Each episode — always under 25 minutes — we dig into what's truly broken and figure out how to build a solution that can actually work. In this episode: vanity metrics aren't just a marketing problem — they're everywhere, and they're undermining your ability to diagnose anything accurately. We've spent the last few episodes on wrong diagnoses, ground truth, and friction. This one is about the data that feeds all of it. My husband Jeff says reporting without targets is just counting. After this episode, you'll know exactly what he means. 00:00 Hallmark Movie Obsession 03:18 Episode Setup Measurement 05:56 Failure Mode 1: Counting Without Targets 08:27 Failure Mode 2: The Vanity Number Trap 10:01 Failure Mode 3: Data Collected, Action Not Taken 14:55 Three Questions Filter 18:30 Fix Your Reports The three-question filter — apply it before you send the next report: Do you have a target? Not just a number — a number with a should be attached. Do you have a benchmark? What does good look like relative to something whether it's last period, best in class, or your own stated goal? Are you tracking a delta? Is anything changing, and do you know why (and do you know what you're going to do about it?) If the answer is no to all three, you have a vanity metric. You're counting. Find me here: OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com) Get clear. Get sorted. Get going. Stay sane.

11. 

    7 May 2026

    Episode 3: Name That Friction!

    Okay, Actually is a podcast for people who are working hard, still falling behind, and are starting to wonder if the problem is them. It's not. Each episode — always under 25 minutes — we dig into what's truly broken and figure out how to build a solution that can actually work. In this episode, I walk through what friction actually is, why you've probably stopped feeling it, and how to locate exactly where it lives — because a people problem solved with a process solution doesn't get fixed. Location matters. 00:00 Never Check Your Bags 04:11 When Friction Gets Normal 06:18 Acceptance vs Surrender 09:45 Five Ps Framework 18:21 Friction vs Ground Truth 21:42 Wrap Up and Connect The Five Ps People: is the friction coming from a person, a dynamic, or someone in the wrong role? Process: is the friction built into how things are or have always been done? Product: is the friction in the tool or system everyone's working around instead of through? Place: is the friction in the environment itself? Priorities: is the friction coming from direction that's unclear, contested, or unresolved? Find me here: OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com) Get clear. Get sorted. Get going. Stay sane.

12. 

    30 Apr 2026

    Episode 2: How Do You Know That's Actually the Problem?

    Okay, Actually is a podcast for people who are working hard, still falling behind, and are starting to wonder if the problem is them. It's not. Each episode — always under 25 minutes — we dig into what's truly broken and figure out how to build a solution that can actually work. In this episode, I walk through what ground truth is, why it's harder to find than it sounds, and four questions I use to test whether I've actually gotten there — or whether I'm just comfortable with where I've landed. 02:06 The Real Question 03:04 Defining Ground Truth 07:02 Four Ground Truth Tests 15:57 When Truth Feels Deflating 17:55 Apply It This Week The four questions: Does it change shape? Does your explanation about the problem change depending on who's asking? Can you break it? Can you find the scenario where you're wrong? Is this the source or the signal? If you solved this exact thing, would the underlying situation actually change? Does it hold alone? Does this still feel true when no one's watching and nothing needs to sound good? Find me here: OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com) Get clear. Get sorted. Get going. Stay sane.

13. 

    23 Apr 2026

    Episode 1: You're Not Behind, You're Misdiagnosed.

    Okay, Actually is a podcast for people who are working hard, still falling behind, and are starting to wonder if the problem is them. It's not. Each episode we dig into what's truly broken, and figure out how to build a solution that can actually work. The smartest women I know are drowning. They're overwhelmed, burnt out, and working incredibly hard. That last part is the tell: if effort isn't fixing it, you probably have the wrong diagnosis. In this episode, I walk through a situation where I did everything right — hired a coach, read the articles, built the spreadsheets, tried harder — and still couldn't crack it. Because I kept treating a people problem like a systems problem. No system fixes that. The question I want to leave you with: what problem are you working really hard on right now? And are you sure it's actually the problem? Find me here: OkayDoak.com (https://okaydoak.com/) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenuntereker/) karen@okaydoak.com (mailto:karen@okaydoak.com) Get clear. Get sorted. Get going. Stay sane.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

12 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Contact Okay, Actually

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.