Everything's fine at work. Not exciting, but fine. You're getting on with it, you know what you're doing, and there's enough going on that you haven't had time to think about much else. Then the restructure gets announced. Or your manager leaves. Or your role is suddenly "under review." And you're scramblin. Updating a CV you haven't touched in three years, reaching out to people you've barely spoken to, making decisions from panic instead of from a position of choice.

This episode of Career Espresso is about building career options before you're in that situation. Not a constant side hustle of networking and CV polishing. A quiet, deliberate approach that means if something shifts, you're never starting from nothing.

What you'll discover

• Why the usual advice including networking constantly and always be looking, creates exhaustion before you've even started, and what actually works instead
• The specific dynamic that keeps women in roles and organisations longer than is good for them, and why thinking about your options doesn't make you disloyal
• Three types of leverage that give you real career options and why you probably have more of them than you realise
• What to actually do with your network if traditional networking makes you want to run in the opposite direction
• Why understanding your market value matters even if you're not going anywhere and how it changes how you show up every day.

Perfect for women who want to feel like they have real choices at work, not just a job they're grateful to have.

Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and scripts.

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How to be direct at work without the three-paragraph explanation

You know what you want to say. That's not the problem. The problem is what happens between your head and the page. By the time it's written, or said, there's a disclaimer at the start, a softener in the middle, and another one at the end just to be safe. And somewhere in all of that, the actual point got lost.

This episode of Career Espresso is about why this happens and what you can do differently, without sounding cold, blunt, or difficult.

What you'll discover

• Why over-explaining isn't a bad habit, it's a response to a real pattern women experience at work.
• The filler words most people don't notice they're using, and what they signal to the people reading and listening
• A simple way to structure what you need to say so the point lands first and the context actually helps
• Why you're probably anticipating a reaction that hasn't happened yet. And how that shapes everything before you've even started

Perfect for anyone who knows what they need to say but keeps finding ways to bury it.

Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and scripts.

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Get the full episode transcript

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What to do when your authority keeps getting questioned?

You make a decision. A clear one. And before you've even finished explaining it, someone's already pushing back. Not with better information. Not with a genuine concern. Just... pushing. So you explain more. You walk through your reasoning. You try to bring them along. And somewhere in all of that, the decision stops feeling like yours.

If this keeps happening to you, it's not a coincidence. And it's not a confidence problem.

This episode of Career Espresso is about what to do when the questioning isn't a one-off but a pattern. Not the "just be more assertive" advice you've already heard. The real work of understanding why this keeps happening and what actually shifts the dynamic.

What you'll discover

• Why some people's decisions get accepted without question while yours get picked apart and what's really behind that difference
• The subtle things you might be doing that are accidentally inviting the pushback you're trying to stop
• How to tell the difference between someone who genuinely needs clarity and someone who's testing you and why your response to each should be completely different
• The conversation most leaders avoid having and why having it sooner changes everything
• How to communicate decisions so they land as decisions, not suggestions

Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and scripts.

Never miss an episode. Sign up for the weekly Espresso Brief email and get each episode with quick takeaways in your inbox.

Get the full episode transcript

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.