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Hello Bright Minds,

I am worried about what's happening to mothers in UK Plc. In February I am hosting the first Raising & Rising retreat with my colleague Anita Cleare. It’s a small, intimate gathering of 8-12 mothers (of children 0-18) in senior roles to give them space, tools and encouragement to explore what they want next in their careers. These women are the ‘talent pipeline’ to become Partners, Managing Partner, Heads of Department and Board members – some sooner, some later. They are the women their organisations want to keep and rise.

Our expectation is that employers will sponsor your place and that you will not self-fund. I

This episode is the story of why it's taken me 14 years to create Raising & Rising and the statistics about the difficulties mother face in raising their careers compared to fathers and childfree men.

Here's the link to watch the replay of the HR webinar I mention in the episode, "What's Stopping Women Stepping Up" plus more stats about the load mothers are carrying at work compared to fathers and childfree men.

Best wishes,

Jessica

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

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Hello Bright Minds, Stephanie Ogden, loves her job. She is the UK CEO of the global insurance company HDI Global and she was an absolute treat to chat to because she was so open and honest. We get into the nitty gritty of how to step away from your business when you are holding the top job or another really senior role. But this is not just an episode for senior leaders – if you work in a big organisation, a male dominated environment or you are ambitious for more in your career this listen will be worth your time.

This episode is sponsored by Little Dish, a company who's values chime with mine and I am delighted to have their partnership.

**Raising & Rising** A leadership career retreat for mothers in senior roles is happening on Monday 9th February 2026. Details here.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Mind, I start this episode by sharing a piece of academic astonishing research that demonstrates, unequivocally, the powerful and positive link between values and career success. Values frequently come into the work I do with leaders who are having a challenging time at work or in combining work and home. I do a lot of work with professional women with children who place importance on achieving at work and value being present and emotionally available for their children which can sometimes be very, very hard.  

I hope you enjoy my musings on the psychology of values and strengths and how they relate to career and wider life success.

Best wishes,

Jessica

RESOURCES & REFERENCES

• Raising & Rising leadership retreat
• Self-affirmation increases reemployment success for the unemployed (research by Julian Pfrombeck, Adam Galinsky et al)
• OECD report
• The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kauffman
• The Coaching UnpACT Podcast with Hazel Anderson Turner and Rachael Skews
• VIA Strengths tool (free)
• Strengths Profile (free version available)
• Coaching Through Burnout: A Burnout Prevention Toolkit for Busy Leaders and their Teams by Hazel Anderson Turner.
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
• Little Dish

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds,

QUICK LINKS to things in this episode:

HR webinar on female talent not stepping up.

Raising & Rising leadership retreat early bird registration.

Women & Men receive different developmental feedback.

Anna Marthur’s new book, The Uncomfortable Truth.

Little Dish x The Felix Project

My guest today is the wonderfully warm and open psychotherapist, speaker and author, Anna Marthur. You might know Anna from her podcast, The Therapy Edit or her books or you might not know her at all – in which case you are in for a treat. She’s written many books that I think will speak to you, dear Bright Mind including “Know Your Worth: How to build your self-esteem, grow in confidence and worry less about what people think” and her latest, “The Uncomfortable Truth: Change your life by taming 10 of your mind’s greatest fears.”

I wanted to get Anna on to talk about:

• The cost of trying to please everyone.
• Overcoming the pain and shame of being passed over for promotion.
• Dealing with failure. 
• The art of saying no. 

Anna and I have both recently collaborated with Little Dish, the wholesome children’s food company. Little Dish are the season nine sponsor of COMEBACK COACH and I am super proud to have their support because we both want to make life easier for working parents. I do that as an executive coach, providing a powerful and confidential thinking and problem-solving space and Little Dish does it by creating easier evenings with their delicious, nutritious and quick-to-cook meals. One thing Little Dish is doing at the moment that has brought an even bigger smile to my face is their ‘Buy One Give One’ campaign with The Felix Project to end school holiday hunger.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a Q

**Quick link to register interest in the Raising & Rising leadership retreat for mothers in senior roles in February 2026 – CPO’s and HR professionals please register and we'll be in touch about places for your senior female talent.**

Hello Bright Minds, today you are going to eavesdrop on a coaching conversation with a senior woman who is 2 months back from a 10 month maternity leave who wants to show her leadership team she is committed and wants to progress. She’s the only mother in her part of the business and she feels she’s competing with younger colleagues who can work long hours and have little or no immovable demands on them outside of work. 

Our conversation starts by Louise – not her real name - outlining two challenges and we quickly move into stakeholder mapping and working out the perceptions she needs to create in two or three key people’s mind. We end with some thinking about energy management and creating ‘rules’ for when she’ll stay late and which after work drinks are worth going to.

My absolute heartfelt thanks to Little Dish, the award-winning children’s food company, for sponsoring this episode of COMEBACK COACH. Find out more at www.littledish.co.uk. 

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, today’s guest has had a squiggly career, graduating as a graphic designer and making it up to creative art director before moving into an MD role and then into entrepreneurship. She’s the co-founder of The Hustle Factory where she and her co-founder are disrupting the outplacement world. Outplacement is when an employer supports an employee to bounce back more quickly after redundancy, something Astrid experienced two years ago when she was made redundant from her role as Head of Brand at a food company. She has two children age 7 and 2 and has very recently relocated from London to Ireland.  

Thank you Little Dish for sponsoring this season of COMEBACK COACH. Little Dish make delicious food kids love using wholesome, nutritious ingredients and I’m sure is just the thing Astrid has been wanting to reach for during the chaos of unpacking boxes over the summer. Little Dish champion children’s nutrition and they want to make mealtimes easier for parents. My children, Monty & Artemis, had Little Dish meals when they were toddlers and they’ve recently expanded the range to include meals for bigger kids. Have a look at www.littledish.co.uk.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds,

**Here's the link to register your interest and get early bird access to the exclusive gathering for 12 senior talented professional working mothers who are future Directors, MDs or Partners to help them feel equipped to take the next career step. I'm running this with Anita Cleare in 2026.**

E-mail me: [email protected] to discuss an executive coaching engagement for you or an employee/group of employees.

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Today's episode:

Networking and business development are often on the minds of coachees who are exploring whether/how to get on the Partner track. It's a key area I've been working with a few coachees lately, and whether you're a Partner, an MD, Principal or CEO, if you shy away from networking events or repeatedly come away from the flat, frustrated or feeling it was a waste of time, this episode is for you.

I take us through seven key things my coachees are doing when they go to professional gatherings that lead them to see themselves as effective networkers and able to generate new business and career opportunities. 

They are:

1. An optimistic, positive mindset about professional gatherings as a useful tool for growing your network for commercial or career gains.
2. Clarity on both your career goals and your professional/commercial objectives.
3. Having criteria for what gatherings you go to and therefore being selective about what you say yes to.
4. Purpose, planning and preparation before attending a professional gathering.
5. Asking enjoyable questions and listening intently to the answers.
6. Making elegant exits from conversations that aren’t right for you and elegant entrances to the ones that are.
7. Diarised time to follow up after the gathering with a focus on making a helpful difference.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, I’m trying something new for this season of the podcast and that’s to bring you a couple of expert voices on topics that are coming up in coaching conversations with the people I, and my colleagues, are coaching. Today I am bringing you a conversation with chartered psychologist Nicola Jane Hobbs who is the author of a new book, The Relaxed Woman: Reclaim Rest and Live an Empowered, Joy-Filled Life. 

The "GUTS" in the title is a new theory of stress, which I hadn't come across before: Generalised Unsafety Theory of Stress. Nicola talked me through this which I found fascinating. 

Nicola Jane Hobbs is a chartered psychologist specialising in the psychology of rest. She holds a master’s degree in sport and exercise psychology and has over a decade of experience supporting women’s health and well- being through yoga, meditation and therapeutic practice. She is the founder of The Relaxed Woman, a community devoted to supporting women to recover from stress and burnout through coaching and workshops. Nicola lives in Brighton, UK with her partner, Justin and their son, Huxley.

This episode is sponsored by Little Dish, the wholesome children’s food brand which is on a mission to make the healthiest, tastiest food for kids. I am so happy to have their partnership because they want to make the lives of parents easier, which is something that completely aligns with me and my work with ambitious and often overloaded professionals.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, you are in for a treat with this first episode of the new season. I am so pleased you’re here and you are about to hear a magnificent tale of grit, perseverance, honesty and so much warmth from my guest Nora Prida-Bay from Jupiter Asset Management. She had an 8-year career break and it took her 118 interviews to land a job back in banking.  You are going to get the inside track on the way she approached job-hunting and how she kept going in the face of all those rejections.

I think Nora is one in a million and you can connect on Instagram @secondbecoming as well as LinkedIn. If you want to hear more from people coming back from a career break listen to episodes 25 and 32. And if you’re interested in hearing more from women in finance, I recommend episodes with four of my past coachees:  

• Episode 13, Liz talks about rebuilding credibility and getting your head back in gear after maternity leave.
• Episode 41, Pippa reflects on what she gained from coaching and how to pitch for sponsorship by your employer.
• Episode 56, Selina, who’s also now at Jupiter Asset Management talks about interviewing whilst pregnant and holding a Board position outside your day job.
•  Episode 67, Divya talks about how and why she studied on maternity leave and what its like to have an incessant need to achieve.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, I have a completely wonderful powerhouse for you today who returned from maternity leave eight months ago. Her dream job came up whilst she was away so she decided to return six months early and on day two of her comeback there was a wholescale restructure of the entire business which changed everything. She’s just returned from a company celebration trip to Miami in recognition of her being one of the business’ peak performers and I think you’re going to love her. She had a brutal birthing experience which left her in awful shape mentally and physically so to see and hear her glowing now is an absolute joy. You’re about to listen to Lucy Watkins, Head of Productivity, Programs & Enablement at Salesforce.

REFERENCES FROM OUR CONVERSATION

• Lucy Watkins on LinkedIn
• Lucy's playbook
• Tim Ferris podcast episode I referenced
• Therapeutic journaling podcast episode
• Lucy's meditation coach
• The PT Lucy worked with

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am)
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Watch five coachees talk about working with us
• Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace