Self Control & Cheese

So Danielle is 24 and owns a media company. ahaha. FUCK. But the cool thing about her is that she's down to earth as fuck, is already a servant leader, is a consistent student, and builds her company the way she wants to. 

She walks us through when you know its time for you to start your own thing, why it's not for everyone, how the feedback loop differs from clients versus direct managers, and what cheese is currently in her fridge right now. 

You're going to want to grab your pen and paper for this one. 

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Remove. The. Filler. Words. In. Your. Sentences. "I just", "I think", "I wanted to see if", no. Bad. Stop that. Write out your thoughts as fact. Write out your observations as statements. Write out your asks as demands. You're not bothering people by sharing your opinions, ideas, and observations so don't diminish them by using words that diminish them, you silly goose. Go on with your bad self, we love your ideas and everyone else will too. 

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Or his alternate title: How To Be Gay, Hot, And Successful. Are you bought in yet? Dan Kurtz is a friend of the pod, recently promoted manager, and a man with an immense amount of self awareness when it comes to what he's good at and what he needs to work on. It's incredibly refreshing and interesting to hear about Dan's experience in retail being some of the most formative professional years of his life, how he deals with giving and receiving negative feedback, and why your choice of words really matter. 

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Ok but like for real, you know a group of people are marginalized when they have their own day/week/month... Just sayin'. Respect women, respect intersectional femininity, and if you think people are asking for your opinion when they haven't... Then don't share your opinion. Really and truly, nobody asked and we hate you for it now. Not sorry. Moral of the story: Give women jobs, pay them their worth, let them be bad bitches and if you have anything negative to say keep your mouth closed. G'bye. 

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You ever just get every question you ever had and more answered in one conversation? WELL YOU'RE ABOUT TO! Benyamin Elias isn't just another one of our internet friends, he's someone we seriously look up to when it comes to growing your career sustainably. This mans walked us through managing people older than you, what it means to be a manager vs director, how to manage people who's job you couldn't do, and so much more. What a guy, amiright? Well you'll find out. 

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It's a tough pill to swallow but here it is: Your company doesn't care as much about you as you may think. Companies exist to make money, not to build your career path for you, so ultimately you will need to learn how to be your best and biggest cheerleader. Having the confidence to know you're a bad bitch can help you find the context around why decisions are made, why you were or weren't involved, and inherently help you get to where you need to go. So go on with your bad self. 

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This isn't one of those "thought leadership-y" type of conversations because what really happened was Katie dropped knowledge for 32 minutes and Bridget and Sara just kind of sat there, mouth agape, writing down every little thing Katie taught us during this time. 

There's something to be said about people who have accomplished so much in such a short period of time. Are they legit? Can I replicate what they've done? What's worth it and what isn't when it comes to growth? All of those questions, and a BUNCH more are answered in this conversation. 

We loved it, we love Katie, we think you will too. 

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Basically Sara cries in this one and Bridget's a fucking angel. 

But seriously, career growth and professional development isn't cute and pretty and rainbows and butterflies all the time. 

That's the whole thing about growth is that it's disgustingly hard, otherwise we'd all be running shit from the day we were born. So this is just a reminder that what you're going through is valid and we're here for you.

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Sometimes it can take a whole lot of courage to stand up for what you believe in and maintain that stance. People will try to tear you down and staying strong in your convictions can sometimes feel like more work than it's worth. 

Well, not to this week's guest. Amanda Neilsen isn't afraid to stick up for what she believes in and take those feelings to the grave. A fierce advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, the shit-poster of her company, Amanda is just so specifically herself. Take her or leave her. 

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Suhh dudes. This week's hot take was inspired but a tweet that made Sara nauseous that said something like: "You know you have a personal brand when people talk about it at the dinner table".

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