If you want deeper support, join the live Toxic Culture workshop ⁠https://www.lizjolley.com/toxic⁠.

In this episode of The Great Leader, Great Mom Podcast, Liz Jolley dives into that gut-punch moment when your performance rating doesn’t reflect the work, impact, or integrity you know you’ve brought all year. You prepped for your performance review, hit your goals, carried the team… and still got a lower-than-expected rating with almost no real feedback.

Liz breaks down why modern performance management systems are often more about perception, politics, and calibration meetings than a pure, objective measure of your value — drawing on insights from authors like Daniel Pink, Margaret Heffernan, and Alan Colquitt. Instead of letting one rating define your identity, your potential, or your future, she’ll help you see it for what it really is: data about how the system works, not a verdict on who you are.

You’ll learn:

• Why performance ratings rarely equal “true performance” (and what they actually measure)

• How office politics, visibility, and bias shape your review behind closed doors

• How to stop tying your worth and potential to a single rating or label

• Practical ways to respond after a disappointing review without blowing things up or shutting down

• How to reclaim your power, clarify what you want next, and move forward on purpose

If you’ve ever thought, “This rating doesn’t match my reality — am I crazy?” this episode will help you feel seen, grounded, and back in the driver’s seat of your career.

Connect with Liz or learn about The School of Courage™ membership: https://lizjolley.com

If you want deeper support, join the live Toxic Culture workshop https://www.lizjolley.com/toxic.

Interested in diving deep with us in the School of Courage? More info here: https://lizjolley.com/membership

If work feels draining, political, or emotionally exhausting, you’re not alone.

In this episode, we’re talking about what people really mean when they say they work in a toxic culture — and why the stress often follows you home, affects your mood, and drains your energy.

You may be experiencing:

• office politics and decisions made behind closed doors

• gossip, tension, or difficult personalities

• feeling invisible despite working hard

• performance reviews that feel personal

• Sunday-night dread and constant mental replay

• irritability at home because work stress won’t turn off

But before you assume quitting is the only solution, there’s something important to understand.

A toxic culture doesn’t just impact your workload — it impacts your nervous system, your identity, and how you feel about yourself.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✔ what actually makes a workplace feel “toxic”

✔ why high-performing women feel especially drained by difficult cultures

✔ how workplace stress affects your energy, confidence, and presence at home

✔ the difference between what is happening and the story your brain tells about it

✔ how to stay grounded and self-trusting even in a difficult environment

✔ how to make clear decisions from strength instead of exhaustion

You don’t have to let a difficult workplace steal your joy, your energy, or your sense of self.

This episode will help you feel calmer, clearer, and more in control — no matter what’s happening around you.

Do you have that person at work — the one whose name on your calendar instantly makes your body tense?

They don’t even have to say anything overt. It’s the tone. The side comments. The questions that feel slightly off. And before you know it, you’re replaying the meeting, venting to coworkers, thinking about them at home, and letting one person quietly run your entire day.

In this episode of The Great Leader, Great Mom Podcast, we’re talking about why certain people feel so powerful at work — and the uncomfortable truth most of us miss: they didn’t take your power. You handed it over.

I walk you through what “giving someone power” actually looks like in real life, why trying to control, avoid, or eliminate difficult people never works, and how to show up calm, grounded, and confident even when someone is pushing your buttons.

You’ll learn practical tools to stop the mental replay loop, stay regulated in meetings, and respond with clarity instead of defensiveness. We talk about separating what someone actually says from the story your brain adds, deciding who you want to be before the meeting even starts, and using thoughtful questions to take your power back without aggression.

This episode is for you if you’re tired of letting one person dictate your mood, your confidence, or how you show up at work.

The goal isn’t to win against them.
The goal is to stop losing yourself around them.

There’s a unique tension that can show up when your boss is a woman who doesn’t have kids — especially if her version of success looks nothing like the life you’re trying to build.

Maybe she works late most nights and expects the same.

Maybe she seems irritated by school calls, sick days, or schedule changes.

Maybe you feel like you’re constantly proving you’re still “serious” about your career.

And underneath it all, you hear the quiet thought:

“I don’t want her life. But I also don’t want to disappoint her.”

In this episode of the Great Leader, Great Mom Podcast, Liz Jolley unpacks what happens when you work for a child-free female leader and you’re a mom who wants a rich life outside of work.

This is not an attack on women without kids.

It’s an honest look at:

• Why this dynamic can feel more charged than working for a man
• How unspoken values and identity choices show up in expectations
• The subtle ways you start editing yourself to avoid judgment
• How to respect her path without betraying your own
• Practical ways to set expectations and lead yourself with quiet confidence

You don’t need your boss to want your life in order to lead well in it.

If you’ve ever felt like your family makes you “less” in the eyes of a female leader you used to admire, this conversation will help you untangle that knot and come back to yourself.

https://lizjolley.com/membership

Motherhood shouldn’t feel like a liability — but for many women, it quietly does.

If you’ve ever felt like:

• You’re seen as “less committed” because you have kids
• Sick days, school calls, or emergencies come with guilt or side-eye
• You over-explain, over-apologize, or over-perform just to prove you belong
• You’re carrying shame for wanting to be both a present parent and a capable professional

This episode is for you.

In Episode 90 of the Great Leader, Great Mom Podcast, Liz Jolley talks honestly about what happens when motherhood is treated like a burden at work — and how women internalize systemic bias as personal failure.

This is not a rant.

And it’s not about blaming individual bosses.

It’s about:

• Why caregiving still gets quietly penalized in many workplaces
• How guilt sneaks in even when you’re doing your job well
• The difference between responsibility and self-punishment
• How to communicate with confidence instead of apology
• Leading yourself with self-trust when family needs arise

You are not unreliable because you are human.

You are not unprofessional because you care.

And you are not failing — you are navigating systems that were never designed with caregivers in mind.

Listen in for grounded perspective, practical language shifts, and the reminder that you don’t have to choose between being a good mom and a good leader.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

✨ Join the Future Self Membership

Explore identity, clarity, and the next version of you — at work and at home:

https://lizjolley.com/memebership

2026 Gift: Liz’s Favorite Leadership & Culture Podcasts and Videos

A curated list of resources that have shaped calm, human-centered leadership:

https://lizjolley.com/leadership-culture

Liz's favorite podcasts and videos on leadership and culture

https://lizjolley.com/leadership-culture

Working for a bad boss can quietly wear you down — even if you’re capable, confident, and good at your job.

In this episode of The Great Leader, Great Mom Podcast, Liz Jolley talks about what really happens when leadership doesn’t match your values, expectations, or experience — and why so many high-performing people start to doubt themselves in these environments.

This conversation isn’t about blaming or fixing your boss. It’s about understanding what’s happening inside you when you work for someone who feels unpredictable, unsafe, or misaligned — and how to stay grounded without burning out, shutting down, or losing your sense of self.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why working for a bad boss creates emotional exhaustion and self-doubt

• How your brain compares “what should be” to “what is” — and why that hurts

• Why you’re not weak for struggling in these environments

• How to stay grounded and emotionally steady when leadership feels difficult

• What you can control (even when you can’t change your boss)

If you’ve ever thought, “Maybe it’s me,” after working for a difficult manager — this episode is for you.

Listen in for a grounded, compassionate perspective that helps you lead yourself well, even when the environment around you isn’t.

Learn more and connect with Liz: https://lizjolley.com/

LINK TO FAVORITE VIDEOS AND PODCAST

More Information on The School of Courage Membership

https://lizjolley.com/school-of-courage-membership

Most people believe they’re “bad at names.” But what if that’s not true? In this episode, Liz Jolley breaks down why remembering names isn’t a talent — it’s a skill you’ve simply never practiced. Through personal stories (including learning pickleball as a beginner), humor, and practical tools, you’ll learn how to build confidence, connection, and trust by mastering one of the most human leadership skills there is.

Long Version (Show Notes / Website):

Have you ever said, “I’m just bad at names” — and immediately believed it?

In this episode, Liz Jolley challenges that belief with humor, personal stories, and practical strategies that anyone can use. From awkward elevators to pickleball courts, Liz shares how learning names is less about memory and more about willingness to practice discomfort. You’ll walk away with simple, actionable steps to remember names, build genuine connection, and show up as a more present leader — at work and in life.

FREE FAVORITE VIDEO AND PODCAST COLLECTION:

You didn’t get the promotion or dream role you really wanted… and now you’re in the job you did get, quietly wondering:

• “If I were really that good, wouldn’t they have chosen me?”

• “Do they even see my value as a leader?”

• “Is this just the consolation prize?”

In this episode of the Great Leader, Great Mom Podcast, leadership and life coach Liz Jolley walks you through what actually happens in your brain when you start a new role after a reorg or promotion disappointment. Instead of pushing gratitude or “proving them wrong,” she shows you how sneaky thoughts like They don’t think I’m ready and I’m not star material feed imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and a watered-down version of your leadership.

Through real client stories and examples (plus Oprah and J.K. Rowling cameos), you’ll learn:

• Why “they didn’t pick me” is a circumstance, not a verdict on your worth

• How default thoughts like I’m just a placeholder create defeat, overworking, and playing small

• How to separate your value as a leader from other people’s decisions, politics, and bias

• A simple way to rewrite the story you’re telling yourself about this new role

• Three practical steps to start the job you did get from courage, confidence, and self-trust instead of self-doubt

If you’re a high-achieving woman, working mom, or woman in leadership stepping into a new role in 2026—after a reorganization, a missed promotion, or a move you didn’t choose—this episode will help you stop questioning your value, reclaim your confidence, and show up as the powerful, authentic leader you actually are.

Join us for January: Joyful Mother, Joyful Leader.

https://lizjolley.com/school-of-courage-membership