The Management Minute with Dr. Donita Brown
Short episodes for busy managers. Twice a week, under five minutes each, one idea you can use before your next meeting. Dr. Donita Brown spent two decades in Fortune 500 healthcare operations before becoming a management professor and leadership coach. She's seen what works from inside the org chart and from the front of the classroom, and she brings both to every episode. No fluff, no filler, no fifty-minute monologue. Just a real idea about leading people: how to give feedback that lands, when to delegate, why consistency beats motivation, and what to do about the parts of management nobody trained you for. Every episode ends with one question worth carrying into your week. If you lead a team, or you're about to, this is the fastest five minutes in your feed.
Episodes
Do you struggle to say no at work, even when you know you don't have the time?
For years, Dr. Donita Brown considered herself a yes person. When someone asked her to take on another project, join a committee, or help with something new, she'd agree before stopping to think about what she was committing to.
But all those yeses came with a cost.
In this episode of The Management Minute, Donita talks about people pleasing...
What happens when you're managing someone who has more experience than you do?
For new managers, leading employees who have spent years, or even decades, mastering their work can feel intimidating. You might feel pressure to prove yourself, demonstrate your expertise, or show everyone why you deserve to be in charge.
But that's exactly the trap Dr. Donita Brown wants managers to avoid.
In this episode of The Management...
Are your one-on-one meetings with employees actually helping them, or are they just another status update?
For years, Dr. Donita Brown approached employee one-on-one meetings with a checklist of project updates, client questions, and unfinished tasks. The meetings felt productive, but she eventually realized something important: a one-on-one meeting should belong to the employee, not the manager.
In this episode of Th...
"Great job, team!"
We've all said it. We've probably all heard it, too. But how much does that kind of praise actually mean?
In this episode of The Management Minute, Dr. Donita Brown explains why generic praise often falls short and how managers can make employee recognition more meaningful.
The difference comes down to being specific.
Instead of simply telling someone they did a great job, tell them what they did well...
Getting promoted to manager is exciting, but what happens when you're suddenly responsible for leading the same people who used to be your coworkers?
One day you're part of the team, sharing lunch, conversations, and frustrations. The next, you're making decisions that affect those same people. And nobody really prepares you for how awkward that transition can feel.
In this episode of The Management Minute, Dr. Donita...
Can the people on your team tell you the truth, especially when something goes wrong?
Psychological safety has become a common workplace term, but what does it actually look like in practice?
In this episode of The Management Minute, Dr. Donita Brown breaks psychological safety down into a simple question: Do the people who work for you feel safe enough to speak up?
Can they ask a question they think might sound dumb? ...
What should you do when you’re convinced your boss is making the wrong decision?
Most people take one of two approaches. They stay quiet, nod along, and complain about the decision later. Or they challenge their boss in the moment and turn a disagreement into a standoff.
Neither one is particularly useful.
In this episode of The Management Minute, Dr. Donita Brown offers a third option for how to disagree with yo...
What makes someone a good mentor? It may have less to do with having the right answers and more to do with asking the right questions.
In this episode of The Management Minute, Dr. Donita Brown shares a lesson she learned from years of mentoring students and professionals: the mentor shouldn’t do the hard work for the mentee.
It can be tempting to share your own experience and tell someone exactly what you think...
What if one sign of good leadership is that your team needs you less?
In this episode of The Management Minute, Dr. Donita Brown reflects on a lesson she has experienced both as a mother and as a leader: doing your job well sometimes means becoming less necessary.
After recently dropping her daughter off at college, Dr. Brown found herself thinking about the strange tension that comes with watching someone become more...
Resilience at work isn't about how much pressure you can take. It's about how you recover.
For years, Dr. Donita Brown believed resilience meant pushing through, working harder, and making sure the people around her never saw that she was tired. Eventually, that approach contributed to burnout that affected her both personally and professionally.
In this episode of The Management Minute, Dr. Brown challenges the idea ...
What changes when you slow down and write feedback by hand?
In this episode of The Management Minute, Dr. Donita Brown explores why handwritten feedback can still have a place in a workplace increasingly shaped by speed, technology, and AI.
After asking a classroom of students to complete peer feedback with pen and paper, Dr. Brown began thinking about what happens when we intentionally slow down the process of giving...
How do you give difficult feedback without damaging a working relationship?
Dr. Donita Brown shares a personal experience with a trusted advisor who needed to tell her something she didn't want to hear. Instead of rushing into the conversation, he did something simple: he asked whether she had the time and headspace to receive his feedback.
That small gesture changed how the conversation unfolded.
In this episode of Th...
What if building better habits had less to do with discipline and more to do with consistency?
Dr. Donita Brown shares how a simple morning routine taught her an important lesson about motivation, willpower, and the power of small daily habits.
In this episode of The Management Minute, she explores why relying on motivation doesn't always work, how repeating small actions can turn them into lasting habits, and why con...
47 seconds. That's how long the average person stays on one screen before switching to something else.
The number comes from Gloria Mark at the University of California, Irvine, who has spent two decades measuring what people actually do at their computers. When she started, the average was about two and a half minutes. It's been falling ever since.
In this episode, Dr. Donita Brown looks at what that means for anyone...
On a country road near Johnson City, Tennessee, a donkey ignored Donita and her dad completely. The next morning, all it took was his name and a pocketful of apples, and he crossed the whole field to reach them.
What changed wasn't the donkey. Somebody had told them what he cared about.
In this episode, Dr. Donita Brown turns a summer walk into a question for managers: who on your team is standing on the far side of t...
Is perfectionism keeping you from getting things done?
After nearly a year away from The Management Minute, Dr. Donita Brown shares how waiting for the perfect time, format, and circumstances kept her from relaunching the podcast.
It's a lesson that applies to leadership, management, and everyday work. Whether you're putting off a difficult conversation, delaying a process change, or waiting until everything feels rea...
This episode's interview is with Rob Massie, Vice President of Information Technology at Dollar General.
He shares stories and advice based on his management experiences, including the importance of:
- Looking beyond the technical skills of your employees and putting them in opportunities to grow and succeed
- Not compromising quality but addressing problems with compassion and from a place of understanding
- Using positi...
This episode's interview is with Rebecca Whitehead, owner of Kidokinetics Nashville, Nashville Market Leader for The Gunter Group, and an award-winning author.
Rebecca shares stories and advice based on her management experiences, including the importance of:
- Connecting with people as a human first and understanding what drives them
- Asking for feedback in addition to giving feedback
- Helping your team understand the ...
This episode's interview is with Sarah Bellenger, the CEO and Founder of Manage You. She also served for over two decades as an Army nurse and spent three years at the White House providing medical support to the nation’s top leaders.
Sarah shares stories and advice based on her management experiences, including the importance of:
- Actively listening and checking in with employees to foster trust and ...
This episode's interview is with Jason Elkins, a marketing coach, digital media specialist, and founder of 100 Cups Consulting.
Jason shares stories and advice based on his management experiences, including the importance of:
- Leading with empathy to build stronger connections with employees and clients
- Creating a culture where people feel valued, supported, and cared for
- Adapting your management style to meet each t...
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