Sally Ivester's Top Insights to Elevate Your Career FAST

Are you an early- or mid-career individual contributor, curious about how to elevate your career, make valued contributions and gain the recognition your work deserves? This week's guest, Sally Ivester, brings us a fresh perspective on self-leadership and creating a successful career -- without trying to be someone you're not.

Sally is a chief of staff in big tech who had a career-transforming experience when she downshifted her approach to career before the birth of her daughter. She joins us this week to share her perspectives on making the shift to playing your career on "easy mode" for those of us more used to playing our careers on "hard mode."

We talk about the subject I personally love to hate: managing up. We also discuss the importance of proactively setting and communicating boundaries, and Sally's approaches to navigating feedback and what she calls "working loudly," (including a very introvert-friendly way to do so in writing). This short episode packs a punch of career development, for listeners who are looking to upskill at playing the corporate game (without masking or playing politics in ways that don't suit you).

Sally was also very generous in sharing resources with us -- check out the links in the show notes at findrc.co/pod!

Do you have a question or topic you'd like to see me tackle either as a solo episode or with a guest? I'm all ears. Visit the Thinkydoers home page and contact me there, or, point your guest suggestions my way!

Episode Highlights
00:00 Introduction to Thinkydoers Podcast
00:44 Weekly Cadence and Special Guest Introduction
02:48 Conversation with Sally Ivester Begins
03:52 Sally's Career Journey and Insights
07:52 Managing Up and Setting Boundaries
15:18 Feedback and Overcoming Perfectionism
19:52 Working Loudly and Career Strategies
26:53 Upcoming Course and Conclusion

Notable Quotes from Guest Sally Ivester
“Managing up isn’t about being pleasing; it’s about thinking ahead and aligning with your leader.”
“B+ is the new A+. Embrace feedback and aim for continuous improvement.”
“Working loudly means ensuring your contributions are recognized and valued.”

Visit Thinkydoers at http://findrc.co/pod for complete show notes, links, and a full transcript of this episode!