This Isn't Working: How Working Women Can Overcome Stress, Guilt, and Overload to Find True Success

by Meghan French Dunbar

Leadership expert Meghan French Dunbar shows how to boost performance and at the same time make the workplace better for women, and, ultimately, business at large Lean in. Rise and grind. Work smarter, not harder. Many books for women promise tips and tricks to achieve wealth and success in a business world made by men. But on the way to the top, most women leaders (and many men, too!) struggle with anxiety, stress, guilt, and burnout. Playing by the rules in a male-dominated game isn’t working—for anyone.  

This Isn’t Working inspires women to reexamine how we do business and shows there are much healthier, more fulfilling ways to succeed in the business world that don’t require sacrificing ourselves. In this book, Meghan French Dunbar shares the insights, frameworks, and practical advice she has learned from over a decade of work with impactful women business leaders, from start-up founders to multinational CEOs. She argues that it’s time to move beyond business cultures marked by competition and aggression and instead embrace healthier leadership and workplace practices, which are proven to yield better results.  

This Isn’t Working provides readers with an empathetic and honest business playbook for improving individual and business performance so that everyone can thrive. 

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Published August 5, 2025

About the author

Meghan French Dunbar is a relentlessly curious “business anthropologist” on a mission to improve business for everyone. As an author, entrepreneur, workplace strategist, and speaker, her work has touched the lives of over a million people worldwide, including:

> Co-founding the first nationally distributed print magazine in the U.S. focusing on impact-driven business, Conscious Company Magazine;

> As a journalist, podcast host, and author, interviewing more than 1,000 business leaders;

> Working with companies, like Coach, Kate Spade, Leonard Green, and more on leadership and culture development; and

> Hosting Better Than This, a podcast all about overhauling business-as-usual.

This Isn’t Working is her first book. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and two kiddos where they play outside as much as possible.

Reviews

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a 5-star listen for me! I was at a point in my life where I felt completely burned out and constantly overwhelmed, and this book truly helped me. The tips were fabulous, and I honestly feel like every woman should read it.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elon Musk is a giant d*****bag. Don’t be like Elon.

OK. This isn’t the thesis of Meghan’s book, but if you’re on the fence of whether or not your life’s goal should be to amass a mountain of wealth larger than any other human on the planet, built on an organizational model of ‘use them up and spit them out’, then ‘This Isn’t Working’ is for you.

Meghan draws on her own experience along with a host of real-world success stories of women in business to compare and contrast a more ideal, sustainable, personal value-centered business model to the current paradigm of business as winner-take-all, slash-and-burn, and everything’s OK as long as you hit your quarterly growth figures. Along the way, she makes compelling arguments that maybe business-as-usual isn’t the way we should want our careers, businesses, and lives to be in the future.

[Vanessa Childers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars, no notes.

Meghan French Dunbar put words to things I’ve felt for years but couldn’t quite name... about work, burnout, success, all of it. Every chapter hits like a reality check and a relief at the same time. It’s part personal story, part leadership shakeup, part call to build something saner. All the wisdom from other women who've gone through it all, too = such a powerful confirmation that we can't go on like this.

No empty hustle-talk, no corporate platitudes. Just: hardcore truths about why so many of us are exhausted and what to do about it. Required reading for anyone who’s done pretending they’re “fine.”

[Jeff Hilimire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this book wasn't written for someone in my specific demographic, I was incredibly surprised by how much I learned from it. The author's unique perspective offered invaluable insights into leadership and workplace dynamics that directly challenged my existing beliefs and practices. It wasn't just a passive read; it was a catalyst for change. The content pushed me to actively reconsider my approach to leading, communicating, and providing support, not only to the women on my team but to everyone. This experience proved that the most profound lessons can often be found in the most unexpected places.

[Maddy Sukhdeo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a deeply needed therapy sessions with someone who is incredibly knowledgeable! I’m at the start of my career and feel so grateful to have this book as a resource now instead of years down the line.

For any stressed out over-achievers out there, this book will be a balm to your soul. Meghan dismantles the myths we’ve been told about success and achievement and helps us understand what to focus on instead. I felt like she was saying things I didn’t even know I needed to hear that made me feel seen and validated, while giving me permission to do things my way!

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a recovering member of the burn out cycle club, I connect strongly with the mission of this book. Meghan's writing is honest and clear, with real and specific solutions. I was so inspired, I bought a second copy for my colleague and highlighted a part I knew was just what she needed to read. It's not always easy to find something realistic and hopeful, and this book checked both boxes for me!

[Marggi Seymour · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find that I am thinking about this book a lot. Although I am now retired, it encouraged me to reflect on my careers, the careers of friends and family my age, as well as the careers of many of the young people -- both men and women -- that I know and love. I really enjoyed the author's voice -- her explanations, humor, and wit. I think this book would be a great discussion book, good for adult readers of all ages. A useful and thought-provoking read!

[Elaine Dinos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a refreshing and timely book that is a must read for all working women! Meghan speaks truth to the burnout so many of us feel or have felt in our careers —and she does it with heart and humor! If you’ve ever questioned the hustle, this book will feel like a deep breath and a warm hug. Meghan gives us all permission to dream up something better for ourselves.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Isn't Working offers an insightful and ultimately hopeful critique of the "Old Playbook" of business that has never really served society as a whole. MFD offers her readers dozens of examples that illustrate how workplaces can be different and how doing it differently can lead to even greater success. This book is a must-read for every current or aspiring business leader.

[Jocelyn Macdougall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meghan French Dunbar has really nailed it here! I love this book because it makes me feel seen, it give me a framework to understand so much of what I have faced in the workplace, and it gives me incredibly useful and accessible tools and actions to take to embody my own well-rounded leadership. Thank you Meghan!

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meghan clearly knows this space intimately — through experience and thorough research. This book is a must read for all those who are dissatisfied with business as usual. It’s time for change and reading this book has helped me reframe this issue and design new approaches for navigating my work life more successfully.

[Jessica Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fair warning: This book will make you angry at how much garbage we’ve accepted as “normal” at work — and then it will make you want to change it, immediately. Meghan doesn’t tiptoe or sugar coat. She goes straight at the lies we’ve been sold about work and success. This book is like a crash course in how to succeed without selling your soul.

[Laura Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a woman who has been in business for a long time, I've read a lot of books about how to make me better at my job. The problem? No book was going to help me or guide me unless it told the truth about the very system and culture that I was trying to fit into.
This book is different. Read it if you want to help yourself, not 'fix' yourself.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sure, I was expecting this book to have helpful tips and tricks for dealing with stress and burnout, but it's so much more than that. This is the first book I've read that not only identifies the deeper causes of work-related stress but also provides actual solutions that would make work so much better for everyone. Highly recommend for every leader I know!

[Larry French · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Book Well Worth Reading for Everybody: Both Men & Women

Despite the subtitle focusing on working women, this book is truly for anyone who believes the work experience should be better than it is now. When I finished reading it I found myself feeling hopeful, energized, motivated and ready for change. I'd recommend this to anybody who wants to be a better manager, leader, and person.

[Jessica Minnen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a full-time mom and full-time professional, I felt seen on every page of This Isn’t Working. Meghan French Dunbar puts words to the pressure so many of us carry and offers a deeply human path forward.

[Trek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opened my eyes to parts of the business world that so many of us accept as “normal” but really shouldn’t. I’m so glad I read it at the start of my career — it changed how I think about our business world and the industries we work in. Good read!

[Hannah Drain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meghan's work gives me so much hope. I've always believed in business as a force for good, and reading about that possibility in the real-life stories of the women interviewed for this book is inspiring. I also loved having actionable things to implement in my own life. So grateful for Meghan's work!

[Heidi Vollmer-Snarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this felt like someone finally said out loud what we’re all thinking: the way we work is broken! But more importantly, it gave me hope and concrete ideas for change. I found myself underlining multiple sentences that resonated with me and was astonished to learn that I’m not alone. Thank you, Meghan, for your courage to write this book. It is already helping me, and I know that your compilation of stories will effect positive change.

[Stacey Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books really do find you when you need them, and such is the case with This Isn't Working. Meghan French Dunbar has written a book to be passed from sister to friend to daughter to wife to colleague and beyond—for years. Somehow her writing gave me the wake-up call I needed with a big ol' dose of hope and clarity.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meghan writes with warmth, wisdom, and just the right amount of humor. She makes big ideas feel actionable and backs everything up with research and real-world examples. This book will challenge the way you think about “success” — in the best way possible and inspire you to imagine something better

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! With research-backed findings, engaging and clarifying storytelling, and practical steps for how to bring the new playbook for business to life, This Isn’t Working is the guide we need to transform business and professional development.