Loud & Lifted

Leaving a job can feel like losing part of yourself. So why does everyone expect you to just move on?

Career grief can show up after a layoff, a departure you chose, or the realization that the career you’ve spent decades building no longer fits. You might miss the people, the purpose, the influence—or knowing exactly where you belonged.

In this episode of Loud & Lifted, Betsy Hamm sits down with career and leadership coach, former therapist, and author Kathy Caprino to talk about the emotional side of breaking up with a company. Betsy shares her own experience navigating identity and relevance after years at Hershey and as CEO of Duck Donuts.

Together, they explore how to rebuild confidence, recognize the value you bring beyond a title, and approach your next chapter with intention instead of rushing into another role that leaves you feeling the same way.

You’ll learn:

• How to identify what you’re actually grieving when a job ends

• How to recognize strengths you’ve been overlooking

• How to communicate your impact without feeling like you’re bragging

• Why a once-successful career can stop fitting your values and your life

• How to distinguish running toward an opportunity from running away from a job

Chapters

0:00 Why Losing or Leaving a Job Hurts

2:34 What Is Career Grief?

5:21 When Your Job Becomes Part of Your Identity

9:11 Do You Miss the Job or How You Felt in It?

13:41 How to Rebuild Your Sense of Purpose After Job Loss

18:02 How to Rebuild Your Confidence After Losing a Job

22:47 How to Talk About Your Accomplishments Without Downplaying Them

27:30 What to Do When Your Career No Longer Fits

33:05 How to Choose Your Next Job Without Repeating the Pattern

39:48 Who to Lean On During a Career Transition

41:01 Betsy’s Takeaway on Moving Forward

About

Kathy Caprino is a career and leadership coach, former marriage and family therapist, and author of The Most Powerful You and Breakdown, Breakthrough. She also hosts the Finding Brave podcast.

Website: https://kathycaprino.com

Podcast: https://findingbrave.org

Ever stayed quiet because you were afraid of sounding awkward—then replayed what you should have said all afternoon?

In this Quick Lift, Betsy shares the biggest takeaways from her conversation with Henna Pryor about building confidence, moving through uncomfortable moments, and making sure your good intentions actually come across. Because speaking up is one step. Getting your message to land is another.

You’ll learn:

• Why feeling awkward doesn’t mean you’re an awkward person.
• How small “social pushups” prepare you for bigger conversations.
• How to recover when you stumble, blank, or say something that doesn’t land.
• Why well-intended emails and quick replies can undermine trust.
• How acknowledging a difficult reality makes reassurance more believable.

Listen to the full conversation with Henna Pryor → Here

Worried you’ll sound awkward if you speak up? You don’t need to feel confident first—but you do need to know how to recover and make your message land.

In this episode of Loud & Lifted, Betsy talks with workplace performance expert, keynote speaker and author Henna Pryor about the awkward moments that keep us quiet, make us second-guess ourselves and leave us replaying a conversation long after everyone else has moved on.

Drawing on her books Good Awkward and The Signal Gap, Henna explains how to build the confidence to speak up—and why good intentions don’t always translate into trust. We unpack the small communication habits that can make people doubt us, including overly polished messages, rushed responses and reassurance that skips over what people are actually feeling.

For women navigating leadership, asking for more or having a conversation they’ve been avoiding, this episode offers practical ways to move through the discomfort and communicate with greater credibility.

You’ll learn:

• How to stop treating awkwardness as a permanent personality trait.
• How to build confidence through small “social pushups” before a high-stakes conversation.
• How to recover from an awkward moment without making it bigger.
• How to spot communication habits that undermine trust, even when you mean well.
• How to name your intent and acknowledge difficult realities so your message lands.

Chapters

00:00 Meet Henna Pryor

01:16 What Is “Good Awkward”?

05:40 Speaking Up and the Spotlight Effect

08:34 Building Your Social Muscle

11:06 Making Virtual Teams More Human

13:34 How to Recover from an Awkward Moment

19:45 The Signal Gap: Does Your Message Land?

21:35 Why We Now Verify Before We Trust

24:28 How AI Emails Can Unintentionally Break Trust

29:18 Name Your Intent and Communicate Clearly

31:32 Asking for Feedback on How You Come Across

34:35 Authenticity, Congruence, and Leading Through Change

39:14 Connect with Henna and Explore The Signal Gap

40:38 Betsy’s Takeaway: Pay Attention to What People Hear

About Henna

Henna Pryor, CSP, is a workplace performance expert, keynote speaker and founder of Pryority Group. She is the author of Good Awkward and The Signal Gap.

Signal Gap free chapter link: https://thesignalgap.com/chapter1?utm_source=loudandlifted&utm_medium=podcast

Buy the book: https://link.amazon/B09veiUwM

Website: https://thesignalgap.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hennapryor/

You want to support your team—but could you be micromanaging without realizing it? Being in every meeting and making every decision might be keeping your people—and you—from growing.

In this Quick Lift, Betsy shares practical takeaways from her conversation with Lia Garvin, author of The New Manager Playbook, about becoming a better manager, communicating clearly, and giving your team room to succeed.

You’ll learn

• How to recognize micromanaging habits you might be overlooking.
• How to give your team more ownership without losing accountability.
• Why unclear expectations can look like a lack of urgency.
• How to lead consistently when you’re under pressure.
• How to make one-on-ones more useful for your team’s growth.

Listen to the full conversation with Lia Garvin → Here

Lia’s book: The New Manager Playbook

Spotify

You don’t want to be a micromanager. But if every meeting, decision and deadline needs you, could you be getting in your team’s way?

We’ve talked a lot on Loud & Lifted about dealing with bad bosses. This time, we’re flipping the conversation: how do you make sure you aren’t becoming one?

Betsy sits down with team management expert and author of The New Manager Playbook, Lia Garvin, to unpack the habits that can quietly undermine your team—even when you’re trying to be helpful. From sitting in every meeting to holding onto work your best people are ready to take on, Lia shares three signs of micromanaging and what to do instead.

Whether you’re managing people for the first time or have been leading for years, this conversation offers practical ways to delegate, set clear expectations and build trust without being involved in everything. Because being great at your job and helping other people succeed are two different skills.

You’ll learn:

• How to recognize three signs you’re micromanaging without realizing it.
• How to help your team make decisions instead of waiting for your approval.
• How to give high performers meaningful opportunities so they see a future on your team.
• How to create a shared sense of urgency with clear deadlines, context and ownership.
• How to use one-on-ones to understand and develop your people—not just collect updates.

Chapters

00:00 How to Avoid Becoming a Bad Boss

02:16 Why Good Employees Aren’t Automatically Good Managers

08:15 Three Signs You Might Be Micromanaging

10:29 Sign 1: You’re in Every Meeting

12:42 Sign 2: You Make Every Decision

14:25 Sign 3: You’re Holding Back Your High Performers

18:12 How Micromanaging Limits Your Own Career

19:57 What Kind of Manager Do You Want to Be?

23:50 “I Don’t Want to Micromanage, But…”

26:11 How to Create Urgency Without Chasing Your Team

28:42 Who’s Actually Accountable?

29:22 Why Clear Communication Takes More Than an Email

33:08 Are Your One-on-Ones Just Checking a Box?

34:11 Where to Start Becoming a Better Manager

37:28 Connect with Lia Garvin

38:05 One Management Habit to Change This Week

About Lia

Lia Garvin is a team management consultant, speaker and author of The New Manager Playbook. Her experience includes leading team operations at Google, Microsoft and Apple, and she hosts the Managing Made Simple podcast.

Website: https://www.liagarvin.com/

Book: https://www.liagarvin.com/newmanagerplaybook/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liagarvin/

You got the promotion. You earned your seat. So why do you still feel like you have to prove you belong?

In this Quick Lift, I’m sharing key takeaways from my conversation with Shannon Nutter, author of Walking on Broken Glass. We’ll unpack why success doesn’t erase the double standards women face—and what you can do when hard work alone isn’t moving you forward.

From asking better questions about vague feedback to understanding the politics of advancement and backing other women up, this episode turns a frustrating reality into practical steps you can use this week.

Listen to the full conversation with Shannon Nutter on Loud & Lifted.

Links

Full Episode

What happens after a woman breaks through the glass ceiling—and finds herself walking on broken glass?

Shannon Nutter is a longtime financial services executive, board member and co-author of Walking on Broken Glass: Navigating the Aftermath of the Glass Ceiling. After decades of working in male-dominated industries and holding senior leadership roles, Shannon knows firsthand how quickly a successful woman can go from being valued to being viewed as a threat.

In this conversation, we unpack what workplace bias actually looks like, why accomplished women often question their own experiences and how the story around a woman’s leadership can suddenly begin to change.

This isn’t a conversation about blaming, complaining or telling women to fix themselves. It’s about recognizing the warning signs, understanding the dynamics happening around us and being better prepared to respond.

We talk about:

• What happens after women break through the glass ceiling
• How workplace bias and the “takedown playbook” show up
• Why successful women can still be caught completely off guard
• How to recognize when the problem isn’t your performance
• Why relationships and political capital matter
• How to document and protect yourself when things shift
• What meaningful support between women really looks like
• Why organizational change can’t rest solely on women

If you’ve ever felt the narrative around you change at work—or watched it happen to another woman—this conversation will help you better understand what was happening and what to do next.

Chapters

04:55 Why the glass ceiling isn’t the last barrier

06:47 Why great performance isn’t always enough

12:49 Recognizing bias in your workplace

14:45 The Goldilocks syndrome: Too much or not enough

17:26 The invisible org chart and office politics

23:28 The takedown: When high performers get pushed out

29:18 Warning signs you might be overlooking

32:59 Protecting your voice, results and network

36:13 Collaboration over competition: Supporting other women

Links

Purchase Walking On Broken Glass

Connect with Shannon

Want the 10-minute version? Listen to the Quick Lift

So many women were taught to be nice, helpful, agreeable and easy to work with. Those qualities aren’t bad—but they become a problem when they keep us quiet, overextended or afraid to disappoint anyone.

In this Quick Lift, Betsy recaps her conversation with Michelle Minnikin about “Good Girl” conditioning, why people may resist when we begin to change, and how to set boundaries without believing we’ve become cold, difficult or selfish.

Links

Full episode with Michelle

Connect with Michelle Minnikin

Were you taught to be nice, helpful, agreeable and easy to work with—only to end up overworked, undervalued and quietly resentful?

In this episode, Betsy talks with psychologist, coach and Good Girl Deprogramming author Michelle Minnikin about the conditioning that teaches women to put everyone else first. They unpack how it follows us into the workplace, why traditional career advice often fails women and how being the “good girl” can eventually hold us back.

Michelle also explains why resentment is one of the clearest signs that a boundary has been crossed, how to begin changing these patterns through small experiments and what it really means to enter your villain era—without becoming someone you’re not.

You’ll learn:

• How good-girl conditioning shows up at work
• Why being capable and agreeable can lead to more work, but not more opportunity
• How to recognize when your boundaries are being crossed
• Why resentment is an important signal instead of something to ignore
• How to practice setting boundaries in small, realistic ways
• Why visibility and self-promotion aren’t selfish
• What it means to become comfortable with being disliked

Learn more about Michelle and find her book, Good Girl Deprogramming, at michelleminnikin.com.

Chapters

00:00 What “Good Girl” Conditioning Teaches Us

04:06 How Good Girls Show Up at Work

08:23 Deprogramming Starts with Small Steps

12:01 Resentment Is a Boundary Warning Sign

14:20 Experimenting with Boundaries

17:45 When Competence Turns You into the Worker Bee

21:10 Entering Your Villain Era

24:12 Becoming “Unfuckwithable”

25:11 Why “Let Them” Isn’t Always Enough

27:18 Who Pushes Back When Women Change

29:38 One Practice to Begin Deprogramming

31:20 Where to Connect with Michelle

Want the 10-minute version? Listen to the Quick Lift

Episode Overview:

If you’re the person everyone relies on, it can start to feel completely normal to carry way too much.

In this Quick Lift, I’m breaking down the biggest takeaways from my conversation with Cherylanne Skolnicki about the peak of complexity, why capable women become the default person at work and at home, and how to start changing that without lowering your ambition or your standards.

You’ll learn:

• Why your old way of managing life may not work anymore
• How to spot the invisible load taking up your time, energy and headspace
• Why “I can do this” is different from “I should do this”
• The four things that make letting go hard: guilt, FOMO, judgment and control
• How to think about delegation differently
• Why a real boundary is something you can uphold
• The question to ask yourself: Am I uniquely qualified to do this?

The goal is not to overhaul your whole life. It’s to start getting more intentional about what actually needs to stay yours.

Full episode with Cherylanne