You're in a leadership role and something's shifted. The people you used to talk things through with? That's complicated now. Your team can't be your sounding board because you're their boss. Your own boss has their own agenda. And the networking advice you see everywhere feels exhausting when what you actually need is someone you can be real with.

This episode of Career Espresso is about finding people who actually get what you're dealing with. Not networking contacts or professional visibility. Actual people who understand leadership from the inside.

* Why isolation isn't just uncomfortable - it makes you make worse decisions and lose perspective on how you're doing

* The three criteria that define your actual people (not just professional contacts)

* Where to look for peer relationships that work, including the people you're probably overlooking

* How to start these connections without it feeling awkward

* What keeps leadership relationships alive when you're overwhelmed

Perfect for women leaders who need people they can be honest with, not just a professional network.

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You're exhausted. You're managing a thousand things at once. At the end of every day, you look back at everything that went wrong, everything you didn't get to, everything that's still not quite right. What you're not noticing? Your team is functioning. Work is getting done. Things are moving forward. You're the one making that happen but it doesn't feel like enough.

This episode of Career Espresso is about recognising what's actually working, even when it doesn't feel like anything is.

• Why your attention naturally goes to problems and how that creates a skewed picture of reality
• The research on why women attribute success to luck but blame themselves entirely for failure
• The exhausting pattern of constantly preparing for the next crisis instead of noticing what's going well
• How to see the full picture instead of just the problem-shaped bits

Perfect for women leaders who are doing better than they think but can't quite believe it.

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

You schedule a career conversation and both of you immediately feel that slight dread. You ask where they see themselves in five years. They give a polished answer that means nothing. You both tick the box and move on. Nothing actually changes. This episode of Career Espresso is about having career conversations that actually help people—not as a performance review exercise or a tick-box requirement, but as a genuine conversation about what's possible and what you can do to support them.

• Why career conversations feel awkward or surface-level for most leaders
• What people actually need from these conversations (it's not "where do you see yourself in five years?")
• How to ask questions that open up real conversation instead of extracting rehearsed answers
• What to do when someone doesn't know what they want
• How to support growth without making promises you can't keep

Perfect for women leaders who want these conversations to feel useful instead of awkward.

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

You need to make a decision but you're not sure what the right answer is. Every option has it's downsides and every choice feels like it could go wrong. The longer you sit with it, the heavier it gets because you're responsible for other people now. This episode of Career Espresso is about making decisions when you can't be certain, trusting your judgment when the information is incomplete, and what to do when things don't work out.

• Why decision making feels completely different when you're responsible for others
• The legitimacy doubts women leaders face that make second-guessing worse
• How to know when you've got enough information to make the call
• How to explain your reasoning without apologising for the decision
• What to do when the decision doesn't work out the way you expected

Perfect for women leaders who care about getting decisions right but find themselves stuck in the "I need more information" loop.

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.

Someone brings you a problem and you jump straight in with the answer. You think you're helping but you're actually building a team that can't function without you. This episode of Career Espresso is about supporting people without rescuing them, asking questions instead of solving everything, and recognising when stepping in is the right call versus when it just feels faster.

• Why jumping in to fix things doesn't help anyone long-term
• The impossible balance women leaders face (not supportive enough vs too involved)
• Specific questions to ask instead of providing instant solutions
• How to spot when you're rescuing rather than supporting
• What to do when someone says "I don't know" without taking over
• When stepping in actually is the right move

Perfect for women leaders who want to build capable teams without working late to do everyone else's thinking.

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.

You got promoted and now you manage the people you used to work alongside. It feels odd for you and for them. This episode of Career Espresso is about naming the shift early, resetting how you work together, and staying human while you do it. We'll also talk about the quiet “who does she think she is” undercurrent women can face and how to hold your ground.

• why this discomfort is normal when a peer becomes the manager
• what to say in your first 1:1 so no one is guessing
• how to step back from group chats and after-work venting without making a scene
• how to respond if a colleague goes around you to another manager
• a simple coffee-shop check-in that helps clear the air fast

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

Sound familiar? This episode tackles one of the hardest parts of managing - giving feedback that actually works. You host Amanda breaks down why most feedback fails and what to do instead.

• Why "be more proactive" means nothing and what to say instead
• The hidden challenge women face when giving feedback (we're either "too nice" or "too direct")
• Exactly how to be specific without being harsh
• The one question that ensures people actually understand what you need

The reality check: Research shows 57% of employees prefer corrective feedback over praise. They want to improve. But when you tell someone to "communicate better" without explaining what that means, they're left guessing. And guessing rarely leads to change.

Perfect for women leaders tired of the feedback loop that goes nowhere.

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

Your team talks over you. Questions your decisions. Goes around you to escalate issues. You're wondering if you're imagining it.

You're not.

In this episode, your host Amanda tackles one of the hardest challenges in leadership: when your team doesn't respect you. And if you're a woman leader or new manager, the problem runs deeper than most advice admits.

Research shows women leaders face competence doubts at higher rates than men, your team is more likely to question whether you should be leading at all. We break down why this happens, what makes it worse, and what actually works. You'll get specific language for addressing disrespect in the moment, how to set clear expectations that stick, and why performing authority backfires completely.

• How to address disrespect the first time it happens (not the fifth)
• Three non-negotiables every new leader needs to establish
• The difference between boundary testing and actual undermining
• Why being liked and being respected aren't the same thing

Stop waiting for your team to make this easy. Respect comes from consistent behaviour over time, and this episode shows you exactly how to start.

Perfect for new managers, women in leadership, and anyone navigating team dynamics that feel off.

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