Most advice around people-pleasing tells you to stop caring what others think. That's not just hard — it's bad advice.

In this episode, Danny digs into the psychology behind people-pleasing managers and coaches: where it comes from, what it costs, and why the standard prescription misses the mark entirely. Drawing on Alfred Adler's work (and the irony of Adler's own people-pleasing), the Big 5 personality framework, and five years of personal experience doing this work himself, Danny lays out a more honest path forward.

The goal isn't to stop caring. It's to find something you care about more than being liked.

You'll walk away with three concrete practices — changing your language, building firm boundaries, and moving toward conflict — and a clear-eyed warning: this process is uncomfortable, clunky, and worth every bit of it.

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