In Confidence with Lisa Sun: A Gravitas Podcast

In Confidence is the confidence podcast where what we share in confidence helps us grow in confidence. Hosted by Lisa Sun. New episodes every Tuesday.

Learn how to overcome fear and speak with confidence. Stop softening your emails and start owning your career today.

Jenny spent 18 years at Google from entry-level to executive and built the Own Your Career program. In Wild Courage, she breaks down 9 traits to reclaim — weird, selfish, shameless, nosy, obsessed, manipulative, brutal, reckless, bossy — to help you navigate uncertainty, how to speak with confidence , and advocate for yourself without performing likability.

In this episode:

About Jenny Wood: Former Google executive, author of Wild Courage , creator of Own Your Career.

⁠Learn more from Jenny⁠

Buy her book, ⁠Wild Courage⁠

About Lisa Sun: Founder of GravitasNewYork.com, author of Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence. Mission: catalyze confidence.

00:00 Are You Too Nice? Here's What It's Costing You

00:54 Meet Jenny Wood

03:34 How to Overcome Fear and Anxiety

08:58 The 9 Traits Holding You Back at Work

12:07 Redefining What Makes You Powerful and The Monday Manifesto

15:34 What to Do When a Trait Shows Up in Your Review

21:59 Taking Reckless Risks: The Subway Story

26:07 How to Speak Up at Work When You're Afraid

27:40 How to Self-Promote Without Feeling Awkward

28:57 How to Get a Raise by Going to Your Boss's Boss

32:44 How to Say No Without Feeling Like a Jerk

35:54 Your Wild Courage Challenge

Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday. Share with someone who needs to hear it today.

Book: ⁠⁠Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence⁠⁠ 

Listen: ⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠ · ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ · ⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠· ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠

Newsletter: ⁠⁠3 Things I Needed to Hear Today⁠⁠

Follow Lisa Sun: ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ · ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠  

Book Lisa for your event: ⁠⁠Leading Authorities⁠⁠

Follow Gravitas: ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ · ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ · ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ · ⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠

Shop Gravitas: ⁠⁠Gravitas New York⁠⁠

Learn more about Gravitas: ⁠⁠www.GravitasNewYork.com⁠⁠

Email us: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

Subscribe for a new confidence podcast episode every Tuesday. If this helped, send it to someone who says sorry too much.

In Confidence is the confidence podcast where what we share in confidence helps us grow in confidence. Hosted by Lisa Sun. New episodes every Tuesday.

Do you say sorry when you're not sorry? If you want to stop saying sorry and stop over-apologizing at work and in life, this episode shows you how. For most of us, "sorry" has stopped being an apology and become a reflex. Every time we say it, it costs us confidence. Lisa Sun once counted how many times she said sorry in a single day and got to 38 without meaning any of them. A month later, she was down to 12.

In this Season 5 premiere, Lisa traces the reflex to two causes, the deficit mindset and the shrinking effect. Then she walks through 8 everyday situations where sorry sneaks in, with exactly what to say instead. Every swap removes the shame and adds gratitude, because gratitude builds connection and shame builds distance. If you've been looking for how to stop apologizing and how to be more confident, these are practical confidence tips for women and anyone who leads, and you can use them today.

🎯 Your challenge: Count your sorries tomorrow. For every one that wasn't a real apology, tell us in the comments what you said instead.

⁠Free download⁠: The 8 Sorry Swaps Worksheet — all 8 swaps in one page

0:00 Do you say sorry when you're not sorry?

0:59 The Deficit Mindset & the Shrinking Effect

1:40 How sorry trains your brain

2:12 #1 "Sorry to bother you"

2:54 #2 "Sorry, I have a question"

3:16 #3 "Sorry, I'm so bad at this"

4:01 #4 "Sorry I'm late"

4:58 #5 "Sorry, I don't get it"

5:22 #6 "Sorry for taking up your time"

6:02 #7 "Sorry, I forgot"

6:29 #8 "Sorry for that mistake"

6:53 What every replacement has in common

7:18 The count-your-sorries exercise (38 → 12)

9:06 This exercise works

10:34 Your challenge

About Lisa Sun: Lisa is a global keynote speaker and performance expert with over 25 years of experience. She is the founder and CEO of Gravitas and the best-selling author of Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence. She spent 11 years at McKinsey & Company as one of the firm's top experts in luxury and fashion. She is a Yale graduate (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), and her mission is to catalyze confidence.

Book: ⁠Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence⁠

Listen: ⁠Apple⁠ · ⁠Spotify⁠ · ⁠Amazon⁠· ⁠YouTube⁠

Newsletter: ⁠3 Things I Needed to Hear Today⁠

Follow Lisa Sun: ⁠Instagram⁠ · ⁠LinkedIn⁠

Book Lisa for your event: ⁠Leading Authorities⁠

Follow Gravitas: ⁠Instagram⁠ · ⁠TikTok⁠ · ⁠YouTube⁠ · ⁠Substack⁠

Shop Gravitas: ⁠Gravitas New York⁠

Learn more about Gravitas: ⁠www.GravitasNewYork.com⁠

Email us: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Subscribe for a new confidence podcast episode every Tuesday. If this helped, send it to someone who says sorry too much.

Feeling stuck in your career and don't know how to get unstuck? CEO & founder, former Google executive recruiter and author, Ginny Clarke spent decades sitting on the other side of the table and she says most people are approaching career change completely wrong.

In this episode of In Confidence, Ginny shares the Career Mapping Framework that's helped thousands navigate career transitions, from identifying when you've truly outgrown a role to landing in a completely new industry with confidence. You’ll also learn:

What to do when you know you are ready to change but have no idea what you want to do instead

How to break into a completely new industry when your experience does not seem to match

What to do if you are nearing the end of your career and want to finish strong and confident

00:00 Intro

02:33 Meet Ginny Clarke

07:20 "I've outgrown my career… now what?"

11:01 Why "I'm open to anything" is killing your job search

15:30 The networking strategy that built Ginny’s entire career

22:47 The biggest mindset shift: stop apologizing for what you don't have

26:45 How to handle rejection (it's a signal, not a verdict)

29:19 Do this today if you’re ready for a new career path

31:35 Nearing retirement and anxious? This is for you

37:05 Lisa’s Power Move and Shoutout

Learn more from Ginny Clarke

Dive deeper into Ginny’s work with her Personal Brand Power Pack (use code INCONFIDENCE for 15% off)

Purchase her book, Career Mapping

Download her free Career Mapping Guide

Download our free episode PDF

Visit Our Website   

Get Our Best-Selling Book in Paperback   

Follow Gravitas on Instagram   

Follow Lisa on Instagram   

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn   

Follow Gravitas on TikTok 

Follow Gravitas on Substack 

Suggestions or Questions? Email Us. 

Your job title answers "What do you do?" But who are you beyond how you make money?

Christina Wallace, Harvard Business School lecturer, serial entrepreneur, and author of The Portfolio Life, says ambitious people are the most at risk of shrinking their identity down to a business card. She's built her career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts, calling herself a "human Venn diagram."

In this episode, she teaches you how to build your own Portfolio Life. You'll also learn:

• Why ambitious people are most at risk of shrinking their identity down to a business card and what to do about it

• The "human Venn diagram" framework for excavating who you are beyond your career

• The 100 wishes exercise that reveals what you actually want (and why wish #62 changes everything)

• Why "work-life balance" puts your job and your life in opposition and what to aim for instead

0:00 Intro

02:34 Meet Christina Wallace

06:13 Why ambitious people are most at risk

14:02 Who are you beyond your job?

21:17 Why pouring yourself into one job is riskier than diversifying

29:40 Ambition isn't just for your career

32:21 The 100 wishes exercise (and why wish #62 changes you)

39:03 Lisa's Power Move and Shoutout

About Christina Wallace: Christina Wallace is a Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurial Management at Harvard Business School, a serial entrepreneur, a four-time Tony Award-nominated Broadway co-producer, and the author of The Portfolio Life: How to Future Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger Than Your Business Card.

Learn more from Christina Wallace

Get her book, The Portfolio Life 

Download Our Free PDF to build your own Portfolio Life

Visit Our Website   

Get Our Best-Selling Book in Paperback   

Follow Gravitas on Instagram   

Follow Lisa on Instagram   

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn   

Follow Gravitas on TikTok 

Follow Gravitas on Substack 

Suggestions or Questions? Email Us. 

Have you ever felt completely exhausted but couldn't explain why? Like you've been busy all day but somehow got nothing done? Or found yourself forgetting things, snapping at people, dreading Sunday nights? Your brain isn't broken. It's burning out.

In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with neuroscientist, keynote speaker, and author Dr. Helena Boschi to solve one of the most common problems facing high achievers today: burnout and hustle culture. Dr. Boschi breaks down exactly what's happening inside your brain when you run on empty, and what you can actually do about it. In this episode you will learn:

Protect yourself from burnout before it's too late.

Visit Our Website   

Get Our Best-Selling Book in Paperback   

Follow Gravitas on Instagram   

Follow Lisa on Instagram   

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn   

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Suggestions or Questions? Email Us. 

If you have ever quietly wondered whether your skills still matter in the age of AI, whether your job is safe, or whether you are already falling behind, you are not alone. The fear is real. But the research tells a very different story than the headlines.

In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with future of work researcher, TEDx speaker, and Harvard Business Review contributor Dr. Kelly Monahan to answer the question everyone is asking but nobody is answering honestly: will AI replace me? In this episode you will learn:

What the research actually says about AI and job displacement right now

Who is really driving the fear around AI and why

The one thing that will make you irreplaceable no matter what AI does next

How to stop waiting for AI to disrupt you and start redesigning your career now

The future belongs to the curious. And the curious cannot be replaced.

Download our free PDF to reset how you think about AI and what it means for your job.

Learn More from Dr. Kelly Monahan

Pre-order her new book

00:00 Intro

03:09 Meet Dr. Kelly Monahan

04:11 Understanding the Fear of Job Displacement

07:38 If You're Scared of AI, Do This!

09:42 The Importance of Human Skills

15:14 How AI is Hurting and Helping Our Work

18:55 The Gender Difference in the World of AI

21:28 Reset Your Mindset When it Comes to AI

24:28 Make Yourself Irreplaceable By Doing This ONE Thing

25:58 Lisa's Power Move and Shoutout

Visit Our Website   

Get Our Best-Selling Book in Paperback   

Follow Gravitas on Instagram   

Follow Lisa on Instagram   

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn   

Follow Gravitas on TikTok 

Follow Gravitas on Substack 

Suggestions or Questions? Email Us. 

Everyone is talking about AI, but most of the conversation is about what it might take away. What nobody is talking about enough is what AI can actually give you: time back in your day, clarity on decisions that used to take hours, and the kind of leverage that used to require an entire team.

In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with future of work researcher, TEDx speaker, and founder of Beyond the Desk, Dr. Kelly Monahan, to cut through the noise and get practical about how AI can benefit your career and your life right now. In this episode you will learn:

Why AI is the biggest career advantage available to you right now and how to claim it

The exact prompts Kelly uses to get high quality output from AI every single time

Why spending 15 minutes a day learning AI will change your career trajectory

The one mindset shift that turns AI from something scary into something that works for you

The people who figure this out first will be miles ahead. Start today.

Download our free guide on how to start using AI

Learn More from Dr. Kelly Monahan

Pre-Order Kelly's New Book

00:00 Intro

02:31 Meet Dr. Kelly Monahan

07:10 Why AI Matters (Even If You Haven't Started Yet)

09:28 Where to Begin: Your First Steps With AI

11:49 How AI Is Changing the Way We Write and Create

15:52 Are You Using AI Wrong?

21:04 The AI Superpower Most People Are Missing

24:33 Prompts That Actually Work

26:44 Start Your AI Journey Today With These 2 Tips

28:50 Lisa's Power Move and Shoutout

Visit Our Website   

Get Our Best-Selling Book in Paperback   

Follow Gravitas on Instagram   

Follow Lisa on Instagram   

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn   

Follow Gravitas on TikTok 

Follow Gravitas on Substack 

Suggestions or Questions? Email Us. 

You are ambitious, you are hungry, and you know you are capable of more. So what is actually standing between you and the C-suite?

In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with Harvard Business School executive fellow, bestselling author, and former Deloitte partner Deepa Purushothaman to break down what actually separates great managers from senior executives and what you need to start doing differently right now. In this episode you will learn:

The biggest difference between being a great manager and being a senior executive

Why your work is not as visible as you think and how to change that

How sponsorship at the senior level is different from mentorship and why it matters more

Why so many senior women exit right before the C-suite and what to do about it

The three things you can start doing right now to position yourself for that next level

The path is clearer than you think. Now go take it.

Learn from Deepa

Buy Deepa's Book: The First, The Few, The Only

Download our guide for help with your promotion

00:00 Intro

01:49 Meet Deepa Purushothaman

05:15 The Difference Between a Manager and an Executive

07:29 How Executives Make Decisions Differently

11:39 The Relationships That Will Make or Break Your Promotion

12:24 Why Being Good at Your Job Isn't Enough

14:16 What to Have Ready Before You Go for the Role

18:21 How to Change a Reputation That's Holding You Back

23:36 3 Things That Make You Undeniable to Decision Makers

25:49 The Biggest Myth About Making It to the C-Suite

29:29 Navigating the Climb When the System Wasn't Built for You

32:42 Do This Before Your Next Review

36:00 Lisa's Power Move and Shoutout

Visit Our Website   

Get Our Best-Selling Book in Paperback   

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Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn   

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Suggestions or Questions? Email Us. 

You are working hard, hitting your deadlines, and doing everything right. So why does the promotion keep not happening? The truth is promotions are not about recognition. They are about readiness and business fit. And most people are never taught the difference.

In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa breaks down the five shifts that take you from entry level to management, drawn from 25 years in business and a decade of helping people break through to their first leadership role.

In this episode you will learn:

Stop waiting to be noticed. Start showing up at the next level now.

⁠Download our free PDF⁠ and get Lisa's 5 shifts to get promoted.

00:00 Intro

01:33 How to Get Promoted form Entry Level to Management

03:25 Shift #1 - Stop Guessing, Start Asking

05:16 Shift #2 - Execution to Ownership

07:23 Shift #3 - Make Your Manager's Job Easier

08:33 Shift #4 - Be Mentorable

10:12 Shift #5 - Practice Leadership Elsewhere

12:02 Lisa's Power Move and Shoutout

Visit Our Website   

Get Our Best-Selling Book in Paperback   

Follow Gravitas on Instagram   

Follow Lisa on Instagram   

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn   

Follow Gravitas on TikTok 

Follow Gravitas on Substack 

Suggestions or Questions? Email Us. 

Have you ever received a piece of criticism that hit you harder than you expected? Maybe it came from a boss, a stranger, or someone whose opinion you cared about more than you wanted to admit. The way you respond to that moment can define your confidence, your career, and how far you go.

In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with Emmy Award winning journalist, news anchor, and founder of The Very Asian Foundation, Michelle Li, to unpack one of the most universal experiences we all face: how to handle criticism without letting it derail you. In this episode you will learn:

Don't let criticism define you. Let's turn it into fuel.

⁠Download our free PDF⁠ to stop letting criticism break you

⁠Follow Michelle Li⁠

⁠Support The Very Asian Foundation⁠

00:00 Intro 

02:02 Meet Michelle Li

09:51 How to Handle Criticism

10:51 The Voicemail That Went Viral

17:21 From Moment to Movement

22:47 When to Use Criticism and When to Let It Go

29:22 The Michelle Formula for Dealing with Criticism

34:14 Lisa's Power Move and Shoutout

Visit Our Website   

Get Our Best-Selling Book in Paperback   

Follow Gravitas on Instagram   

Follow Lisa on Instagram   

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn   

Follow Gravitas on TikTok 

Follow Gravitas on Substack 

Suggestions or Questions? Email Us.