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The Real Org Chart
Why work is hard in ways nobody explains.
Every company has two org charts: the official one on the wall, and the real one, where the lines show whose approval you're working for, which mask you wear, and who reminds you of a parent. Each episode follows one story at Ninefold, an 80-person agency, names the hidden pattern, and shows the way out.
- 10 episodes, 1 h 48 min
- 89 vertical Shorts
- Free to watch on YouTube
Premieres
Who it's for
Early-career employees, roughly 21 to 28: first real job, first boss, first team, first promotion, first client. Useful for onboarding, graduate programs and new-manager cohorts.
10 episodes, about 11 minutes each, plus a free printable companion guide per episode. Each ends with a three-step practice for the week.
What people learn
- The three voices everyone works in (the Rulebook, the Now, the Kid), and how a boss's three words can hook the wrong one for a whole afternoon.
- Why the coworker who presents your idea isn't always stealing it: how conversations flow, cross, or carry a hidden message.
- How recognition gets rationed at work, the pressure habits a new role rewards, and the mask a promotion hands you.
- Helping versus rescuing, the games that hide in a busy day, and the deal with a demanding client that nobody wrote down.
Episodes
- 01
One Comment Ruined Your Whole Day
Her boss asked three words and walked away. Lena lost the whole afternoon to them.
- 02
You're Not Bad at Meetings
She pitched the idea first. He said it ten minutes later, and the boss nodded at him.
- 03
Starving for Feedback
His first review fit on one line. Then he got praised for work that wasn't his, and missed a deadline he'd already finished.
- 04
The Mask That Got Promoted
She got the promotion she earned, and started answering everything with "It's handled."
- 05
I'm Only Trying to Help
He did his whole team's work for two days, then sent them the coldest email they'd ever read.
- 06
The Coworker You Can't Stand
She had a whole list about a coworker she'd never really talked to. Then she heard what that coworker said about her.
- 07
The Client Who Always Wants More
At 4:58 on a Friday, the biggest client asked for three weeks of work by Monday, and the account lead said yes.
- 08
The Boss Who Was Never Taught
Her boss's notes are fair, and not one of them ever says what worked. She has a resignation letter in her drafts.
- 09
Busy Isn't Working
He answered every message "on it," then missed the one call that mattered.
- 10
The Script You Brought to Your First Job
She had the idea that could save the account, and she gave it away with no name on it.
The cast
- Lena OrtizDesigner, promoted to lead her former peers
- Dev MalhotraAccount executive who owns the biggest client
- Caleb ReedNewest hire, junior copywriter
- Diane HollowayCreative director, Lena's boss
- Grant WhitfieldThe biggest, most demanding client
With the series
- A free printable companion guide for every episode
Bring The Real Org Chart to your team.
Tell us who it's for. We'll come back with how teams use this series, the materials that come with it, and what a start would look like.
