This week, we’re talking about work—but not about productivity, ambition, or climbing the ladder.
Kathleen and I have both been working for about 20 years (which is mildly horrifying), and neither of us is the same person at work today that we were when we started.
Back then, we were both quieter. We kept our heads down. We thought doing good work would speak for itself. And we were still figuring out what we were actually good at, and who we wanted to be.
This conversation is about what happened next.
We talk about learning to speak up, getting more comfortable saying I’m not the right person for this, the difference between confidence and experience, and how much easier it is to be yourself at work once you stop trying so hard to be who you think you’re supposed to be.
Plus:
The early-career mistakes we still remember 20 years later
Why “fake it till you make it” only gets you so far
The career paths neither of us actually planned
Exclamation points, swearing, and whether we’d rather be liked or respected
What we’d tell our 22-year-old selves now
Question for you: How are you different at work now than you were when you first started your career?
And if you missed our last episode, you can watch or listen here:
