A big title and a steady paycheck can still come with a surprising emotion: grief. When you wake up one day and realize you’ve outgrown the career that made you “successful,” it can feel disorienting, and even embarrassing, to admit that you want something different. I unpack why that misalignment happens, how it builds slowly over years, and why so many high-achieving professionals feel oddly guilty for not feeling more satisfied.

We trace how career paths often start with a practical first job, then evolve through promotions, responsibility, and opportunity until a decade or two has passed. Along the way, the work can drift farther from the life you actually want, creating a constant low-grade tension between gratitude and fulfillment. If you’ve been asking yourself “What is my next act?” or “What do I want my second chapter to be?” you’re not alone, and you’re not behind.

We also talk candidly about the moments that force reinvention: layoffs, mergers, politics, and suddenly feeling undervalued. When change hits without a backup plan, the pressure can push you into another role that still doesn’t fit. That’s why I share simple, practical guidance for career transition planning while you’re still employed, including how to rethink your expertise, clarify your values, and start shaping a more authentic direction now.

If this resonates, subscribe, share the show with a friend who’s questioning their path, and leave a review so more people can find these conversations. What would your next chapter look like if the world felt open to you?

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For more information and insights from Beyond Expertise, visit https://podcast.ericdickmann.com/

Be sure to check out Eric's other show, The Virtual CMO podcast.

Success can look flawless on LinkedIn while still feeling wrong in your body. That tension is exactly where my conversation with Yvonne Furneaux begins and where it gets most useful for anyone thinking about identity reinvention, career change, or a second chapter beyond a corporate title. Yvonne spent more than 25 years in corporate communications, employee experience, HR, and DEI leadership, and she shares what she learned from working within large systems that don’t treat everyone the same.

We get into the messy realities professionals rarely say out loud: how layoffs actually land, why corporate loyalty keeps eroding, and what “humane” change management looks like when leaders put the employee experience at the center. Yvonne also talks about leaving Weight Watchers after leading through major disruption, then stepping into solopreneurship, where you’re no longer the voice of a company, you’re the voice of yourself. We unpack how she found her first consulting clients through her network and what it takes to reintroduce your expertise to people who only knew an earlier version of you.

Then we tackle the present moment: AI in the workplace, job insecurity, loneliness, and the DEI backlash. Yvonne offers a practical lens that cuts through politics while still improving workplace fairness, focusing on workplace identity: title, location, remote versus onsite, frontline versus corporate. She calls the invisible divides “ghost gaps” like the power gap, information gap, opportunity gap, and visibility gap, and explains how they quietly determine who thrives at work.

If you want clearer language for what you’ve been feeling and concrete ways to navigate systems that don’t always play fair, you’ll get a lot from this one. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Send questions or comments

For more information and insights from Beyond Expertise, visit https://podcast.ericdickmann.com/

Be sure to check out Eric's other show, The Virtual CMO podcast.

Getting fired can punch a hole straight through your identity, especially when your career has been the proof that you’re “doing fine.” Mary Korn’s story cuts through that illusion. She had the title, the money, and the corporate ladder momentum, yet privately felt misaligned and depleted. Then she gets fired from a job she took in desperation and suddenly has to answer the scariest question of all: what now, with kids to support and no clear runway?

We dig into what actually helped her reinvent her career, beyond feel-good slogans. Mary shares how career coaching and skills testing clarified her direction, and how a disciplined approach to informational interviews and outbound outreach created real opportunity. One surprising moment on a walk points her toward medical associations, and that focus becomes the first traction in a business she’s building from scratch. If you’re navigating job loss, imposter syndrome, or a career pivot, you’ll hear practical moves you can copy and mindset shifts that make them possible.

From there, Mary’s path becomes purpose-driven entrepreneurship. She builds a for-profit social enterprise that grows to 1,300 employees across 30 states, creating meaningful work for disabled veterans, people with disabilities, military spouses, and others facing employment barriers. We also talk about scaling through government contracts, what it’s like to sell the company you love, and how she’s learning to market herself as she prepares to publish her book, "Fired to Inspired."

Subscribe for more stories of identity reinvention, share this with a friend who’s in a tough career moment, and leave a review with the biggest insight you’re taking away.

Send questions or comments

For more information and insights from Beyond Expertise, visit https://podcast.ericdickmann.com/

Be sure to check out Eric's other show, The Virtual CMO podcast.