Can you be yourself at work? Are you consistently authentic with everyone you interact with?

When we do or say things from a place of wanting to make others happy or be seen as doing a ‘good job’ it often comes at the expense of our self-worth. Being fixed on achieving a particular outcome also has its effect. If we push ourselves in a way that denies any part of our personal health and wellbeing (mental, physical or otherwise) we run the risk of placing ourselves second fiddle to the demands and expectations of the world.

In this episode Katie and Sam look at why and how keeping it real holds you (and everyone around you) in better stead long term than ‘faking it till you make it’.

No matter how passionate and dedicated to your job you are there’s no doubt there are doubts about how you will feel about your work after you’ve welcomed a bundle of new found joy into your life. The doubts may come from internal questioning on whether you’ll be capable or even willing, or they may come from the external – managers, colleagues, clients etc. Of course you’re also up against the stigmas, false beliefs or even others past experiences around parents not having the capacity to give it their all once they have children. In this episode Emma Walsh and Catherine Brooks bust the myths, confirm the truths and share real life experiences from working with many employers and parents about why baby is definitely not a career buster – unless of course we want it to be!

We also welcome special guest, author and journalist, Megan Blandford sharing her Insights from her new book "I'm fine and Other Lies".

As always, we invite you to send in your questions on this topic and we will do our best to answer them during the podcast. We love including you in the conversation!

Self-care is crucial to enjoying parenthood – especially the first year of baby’s life. Without it we risk of leaving ourselves behind, hence why many people put on weight, feel more stressed or generally ‘let themselves go’ when a child comes along.

There can be no perfection, particularly in those early years of adapting to being the chief decision maker and carer of a small person, however as we all know if we exhaust all our care on others our health and wellbeing will inevitably be impacted. The question is how is it possible to take great care of ourselves (‘great’ as in beyond the basics of healthy food and ‘enough’ sleep) when we have children – especially very young ones?

Join Katie and Sam as they explore the not so unicorn concept of self-care in parenthood.

A gender neutral, flexible and paid parental leave policy in a small business? Yes it’s possible and the benefits are huge but it doesn’t come without some challenges. The biggest challenge for many SME’s about introducing a paid PL policy is knowing where to start, says Nikki Beaumont, CEO of HR business, Beaumont People. That, and how to finance it. So, what difference does it actually make to a business, to its people and its clients? What message are you sending to potential talent?

Join Emma Walsh as she interviews Nikki about the process she went through as a small business owner to make it happen.

This month Emma Walsh interviews Christina Hobbs, Founder of Verve Super – Australia’s first and only super fund dedicating 100% of its resources and passion to building the wealth and financial power of women. With Australian women retiring with an average of 47% less savings than men the retirement gap is very real. The reasons for this vary, making the ‘retirement gap’ complex and on par with the gender pay gap.

Emma and Christina explore how organisations can support their female employees to build financial security and bring greater focus to their wealth development.

It has been said that self-doubt is a fallacy – something we make up to avoid being all that we can be – the shining light in the room, so to speak. This is simple enough to understand but have we really felt how debilitating it can be in our lives when we knock ourselves down – even a little?

All our relationships are affected, including the one with ourselves. This can lead to a range of issues including pressure on our nervous system (which can lead to serious health issues later down the track), lack of intimacy with our partner, reduced ability to work at our optimum, lack of confidence in our parenting ability and a low sense of self-worth (even if seemingly confident on the outside).

Katie and Sam will explore how you can crack self-doubt and nervous tension to support the restoration of your mojo – the real you that feels amazing no matter the circumstance you’re in.

No matter how hard we try to distract ourselves we can’t avoid the tensions that arise in life. Be them in the office, the playground or the home. The fact is the world is full of scenarios that shout ‘run!’, ‘fight!’ or ‘hide!’.

Inevitably, even if we take one of these tactics, there is always another situation that presents in a very similar flavour until we’re ready to address it. How do we take the front foot in these tense situations in a way that is constructively responsive rather than reactionary? Is it possible to actually improve our relationships and the way we work in stressful environment that harbour a lot of tension?

In this episode Sam and Katie look at these questions and more including how to raise tricky conversations at home (addressing childcare, housework, finance arrangements) and at work (addressing flex arrangements, conflicts with colleagues, mistakes on the job).

Why are so few CEO’s in Australia women? What have chores at a young age got to do with it? Join Emma Walsh as she interviews two experts leading the charge in getting to the nuts and bolts of via explorative research as to why and where this starts in life. Terry is the Managing Director of the newly established Australian Gender Equality Council and is joined by fellow board member and CEO of Career Money Life, Sandy Hutchinson. What can we learn from the research – parents, schools and workplaces – to support children, particularly girls, to develop the confidence and leadership skills needed to reach their career potential as leaders and tackle the stereotypical gender bias that exists in and outside the home? The recent research results reveal a lot about children’s attitudes towards gender.

In this Employer Watch episode Emma Walsh interviews author and leader of leaders, Cathy Burke, (https://cathyburke.com/) about the future of leadership and how business leaders can inspire managers and their leadership team to take their authentic leadership to the next level – in more ways than one.

Cathy served for 20 years as Global Vice President, and Australia CEO for The Hunger Project, a global organisation working to end hunger through empowering women. She now works with organisations to find and unlock the leadership potential hidden in their people. Over the years, Cathy has developed leadership capacity in the most difficult conditions in the world, as well as working with executives in large banks, firms and Silicon Valley tech. She is the author of Unlikely Leaders: Lessons in Leadership from the Village Classroom, and a 2014 winner of AFI Women of Influence award.