Ep. #77 Persisting Through Challenges: Lessons from Netflix's Nyad's Swim

How often are you dragging yourself to work at the moment? Too much work and rising pressure are real problems, but underneath them there may be something we rarely talk about: motivation. In this short episode, Jean revisits the classic theories of Maslow and Herzberg before turning to Daniel Pink’s model of autonomy, mastery and purpose. She explores why so many of us, especially senior leaders, are losing all three right now, and offers a simple way to start getting them back. WHAT Y...

Every career has a bump in the road: a redundancy, a role that went to someone else, a mistake, a step back or a difficult piece of feedback. These moments often stay hidden, and while they’re hidden they don’t go away. In this episode, Jean explores shame at work: what it is, why it lingers, and how to bring it into the light. Drawing on the work of Brené Brown, Kristin Neff and Russ Harris, she uses one of the most common examples, a gap in your CV, to show how to talk about difficult caree...

When work is hard, it's easy to lose sight of where your career is taking you. In this episode, Jean explores two ideas about what makes a fulfilling career: Gay Hendricks' Zone of Genius and Jim Collins' encodings. She also shares a simple daily practice, taking just a few minutes, to help you discover yours. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE What the Zone of Genius is, and why it's less intimidating than it soundsJim Collins' idea of encodings, from his new book What to Make of ...

Many successful and rewarding careers rarely unfold the way we imagine, and Melanie Bell's is proof. Melanie grew up on a small farm in Australia and now leads industry go-to-market for APJ telecom, media and entertainment at the data and AI platform company Snowflake, from Singapore. In this episode she shares how a disappointment at 17, a sideways move over a promotion, and a two-year overseas assignment that turned into nine years shaped the senior leader she is today. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN...

Coaches are trained to ask questions, not hand over tools - but Jean has spent the past year quietly breaking that rule, and in this episode she explains why. Drawing on everything from a taxi driver in Singapore to her own therapist's approach, Jean makes the case for self-coaching, and shares the community she's built to make it possible: Flourish. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE Why coach training actively discourages handing tools over to clients - and why Jean thinks that n...