MissPerceived

Are you using AI at work — or quietly avoiding it? In this episode of MissPerceived, Leah digs into new research showing that women are about 25% less likely than men to adopt generative AI tools in their jobs. She explains what that means for careers, organizations, and the “brain” of AI itself, and why low female adoption could make AI less accurate for women’s experiences worldwide.
Leah walks through findings from Harvard Business School on global gender gaps in AI use, explores how unsupervised learning means our data is literally training the AI brain, and shows what happens when most of that data comes from men and from rich, English‑speaking countries. She also unpacks the mental load behind women’s hesitation: environmental worries, ethics, stereotypes that say women who use AI are “less competent,” and the pressure to prove your worth without help. Finally, she shares her own experience using AI, why it sometimes feels like “beautiful nonsense,” and asks what kind of future of work we actually want.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction — are you using AI at work?
01:30 Future of Work Lab: automation vs. AI (what’s the difference?)
02:17 Harvard Business School findings: women 25% less likely to use AI tools
04:36 How your data trains the AI brain — and what happens when women are missing
06:56 Global gaps: rich countries, English speakers, and who AI really “sees”
07:30 Career consequences when women don’t adopt AI at the same rate
08:00 Organizational losses when only some workers use AI
08:50 Environmental and ethical worries as part of women’s mental load
09:16 Code for Good Now study: women seen as less competent when they use AI
11:45 Occupational sorting: why some jobs see more AI than others
12:30 Leah’s own experience: when AI makes her brain “lazy”
13:51 Generational differences: Millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha and tech skepticism
14:30 What kind of future of work do we actually want — and who gets to shape it?
Follow Leah: @prof.leahruppanner
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When someone you love gets a cancer diagnosis, you want to say the right thing — but often, what comes out does the opposite. In this very personal episode of MissPerceived, Professor Leah Ruppanner steps away from the research for a moment to talk about her own recent diagnosis of breast cancer, and the wildly inappropriate (but often well‑intentioned) things people say in response. She shares the five big “please don’t”s she keeps hearing — plus what actually helps when someone is living through cancer or another serious chronic illness.
This isn’t about shaming anyone. Leah talks about the times she’s said these exact things to friends, why they come from fear and grief, and how we can all do better at holding space, dumping love in instead of out, and making it easier (not harder) for the person at the center of the storm.
Chapters:
00:00 Why this episode is different — Leah’s breast cancer diagnosis
02:28 Don’t tell me about someone else’s cancer story (especially the worst‑case ones)
04:36 Why other people’s stories shift the spotlight away from the person who’s sick
05:30 Don’t ask “what stage is it?” or quiz my screening history
06:59 The hidden message in “when was your last mammogram?”
09:22 When my diagnosis triggers your own fear: sharing your medical history
11:25 “I have a good feeling, you’ll be fine” — why that shuts down real feelings
13:46 Questioning medical advice when you’re not the oncologist
16:03 What actually helps: holding space, listening, asking what’s needed
18:14 Learning to slow down, receive care, and feel the collective love
What to say instead (Leah’s script you can steal):

“This sucks. I’m so sorry you’re going through this.”
“What do you need right now?”
“How can I help?”
“You don’t have to respond, but I’m thinking of you and I love you.”
“I can call anytime — you don’t have to pick up.”
Resources Mentioned:
📘 Drained: Reduce Your Mental Load to Do Less and Be More
🧠 More on the mental load and chronic illness in other MissPerceived episodes
Stay Connected with Leah:
Instagram: @prof.leahruppanner
TikTok: @prof.leahruppanner
Email: getcrafty@audiocrafty.com
Website: https://www.leahruppanner.com
Follow Leah: @prof.leahruppanner
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you secretly preparing your kids for downward mobility? In this episode of MissPerceived, Professor Leah Ruppanner asks a huge question many parents are quietly wrestling with: is upward mobility dead, and what does that mean for how we raise our children? Drawing on Annette Lareau’s classic research on concerted cultivation and natural growth, Leah unpacks how different parenting styles map onto class, opportunity, and mental load — and why so many parents feel stuck between dreaming big for their kids and just trying to make ends meet.
She explores why upper‑middle‑class parenting can feel like relentless investment and optimization, how working‑class and poor parents create more freedom and magic in kids’ everyday lives, and what newer research shows about what all parents think “good parenting” should look like. Most importantly, she asks whether constantly raising the bar is helping our children, or just burning everyone out in a system no individual family can out‑parent.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction — is upward mobility dead?
01:30 Preparing kids for downward mobility: what parents are saying
02:27 Mental load, money stress, and families who are just making ends meet
03:00 Annette Lareau’s research: concerted cultivation vs. natural growth
04:46 What concerted cultivation looks like in everyday family life
07:04 Natural growth: rules for safety, freedom for play, kids’ worlds without adults
09:30 The upsides and downsides of each parenting style
10:30 Patrick Ishizuka’s studies: what all parents agree is “good parenting”
11:52 Why mothers hold themselves to harsher standards than fathers
13:23 The pressure to invest in everything — and why you can’t out‑parent billionaires
14:11 How to bring more fun, freedom, and lower stakes back into childhood
15:29 What works in your culture and family? Leah wants to hear from you
Resources Mentioned:
📘 Drained: Reduce Your Mental Load to Do Less and Be More
Follow Leah: @prof.leahruppanner
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if your brain works differently from everyone else’s — and you’re still expected to carry the same invisible load for your family, work, and life? In this episode of MissPerceived, Professor Leah Ruppanner explores how neurodivergent folks (ADHD, OCD, bipolar, and beyond) experience the mental load in uniquely complex and often heavier ways. She breaks down the seven stages of the mental load, shows where things get especially hard when you’re prone to rumination, catastrophizing, or forgetting, and explains why social norms demanding perfection make all of this even more overwhelming.
Leah also shares what she’s learned from interviews and from living with a partner who has ADHD, and offers a gentler way forward: more compassion, more curiosity, shared systems, and dropping what doesn’t actually need your brain’s limited energy.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction — neurodiversity and the mental load
01:00 What the mental load really is (beyond a to‑do list)
02:41 When your brain works differently: distraction, rumination, worst‑case thinking
05:03 The seven stages of the mental load: identify, remember, strategize, decide, delegate, execute, monitor
07:24 How ADHD, OCD, and other neurodivergences change each stage
09:41 Social norms that demand perfection — especially from women
11:55 Why this becomes a recipe for disaster (and it’s not your fault)
13:00 Using the Mental Load Audit: what to drop, delegate, and reduce
14:22 Conversations that help: explaining how your brain works to your family
16:00 Compassion, curiosity, and building better systems together
Resources Mentioned:
📘 Drained: Reduce Your Mental Load to Do Less and Be More
🧠 Free Mental Load Assessment — learn your 8 mental load types
Stay Connected with Leah:
Instagram: @prof.leahruppanner
TikTok: @prof.leahruppanner
Email: getcrafty@audiocrafty.com
Website: https://www.leahruppanner.com
Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe NOW: /@missperceivedpodcast
Follow Leah: @prof.leahruppanner
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most people say care is valuable. They believe childcare workers and home care aides are skilled and that governments and employers should help pay for care. But when you ask them what care actually costs — or what high-quality care really looks like — they are wildly off. In this episode of MissPerceived, Professor Leah Ruppanner breaks down a new report from New America's Better Life Lab on what she calls the "care disconnect": the gap between how we feel about care and what we actually know about its price, quality, and impact on families. From US childcare costs and state-to-state differences to aged care, disability, and a Swedish example that will make you want to move tomorrow, Leah shows why we don't understand care until we're in it — and why that has huge consequences for our mental load and our future.

Follow Leah: @prof.leahruppanner
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.