October 21, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode of Clover, I’m rethinking one of the biggest myths about career growth — the idea that success is about climbing a ladder.
For many of us, especially women, that ladder was never built for the way our careers actually unfold. So let’s talk about a better metaphor: the jungle gym. It’s flexible, unpredictable, and a whole lot more real.
I share lessons from my own path — from film school to marketing, from startups to enterprise leadership — and how every pivot, pause, and sideways move became part of the story I was meant to build.
We’ll dig into:
- Why lateral moves can be the smartest play
- How to recognize what season you’re in — growth, rest, or healing
- The importance of building your network before you need it
- How to own and narrate your unique career story
- Letting go of timelines that tell you where you “should” be by now
If your path doesn’t look like a straight line, good. That means you’re learning, adapting, and leading in your own way — and that’s where the good stuff happens.
What’s one non-linear move you’ve made that taught you something you couldn’t have learned any other way? Write it down, share it, or simply own it — that’s your jungle gym résumé, and it’s powerful.
If this episode resonates, share it with another woman who needs the reminder: she’s not behind — she’s building her own structure.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin Geiger (00:00):
You. Hi and welcome to this next episode of the
(00:13):
clover podcast, where you knowwe're really celebrating women
in leadership, and today'sepisode is all about how your
career is actually not a ladder.
It's a jungle gym, and it mighthave some broken rungs on it. So
when I was in my 20s, I thoughtthat success meant climbing the
ladder, fast promotions. Youknow, corner office. Back then
(00:36):
we were all working in offices.
Maybe I joke, maybe a powerblazer, not so much. I wasn't in
the 80s. But instead, I moved toSan Francisco, and I went
through the.com boom and bust. Isort of detoured into marketing
after getting a film degree andstarting out my career in film,
(00:59):
and I found myself transitioningbetween freelancing, working in
different industries, workingwith startups, all the way to
enterprise. And I figured, did Ifail? Because this doesn't seem
like a straight route, you know,I guess maybe I took the scenic
route. So it turns out, mostwomen I admire didn't climb a
(01:21):
ladder. They sung, swungsideways, they jumped across,
they stumbled, they pivoted,they climbed back up, and
sometimes they built their owndam structure, right? So in
today's episode, I want to blowup the whole ladder metaphor and
give you a more realistic andliberating view of what your
(01:41):
career path can look like,especially if you're a woman,
navigating the maze of corporateor startup life. So when we were
kids, we were told to climb theladder, or at least when we were
younger, that's kind of like, atleast for my generation, what we
were heard, right? And so maybeyou didn't hear it in those
(02:01):
exact words, but it was implied,right? So you get good grades,
you go to college, maybe pick amajor that leads to a real job,
get promoted, get promotedagain, and eventually, maybe
you'll win the game, right?
You'll get that office bigtitle. You know, champagne. She
pop that champagne. But thewhole ladder idea came out of a
very specific model, thetraditional corporate workplace
(02:25):
mostly built by men for men, inthe era when one income could
support a whole family, andwomen were expected to bring the
jell o salad to the companypotluck, not run the meeting. So
the late the ladder made senseback then. It was clean,
predictable. You knew what rungcame next. But here's the thing,
that ladder wasn't built for us.
(02:48):
It definitely wasn't built forwomen or caregivers or people
whose careers don't follow that.
Go to college at 18, intern at20, become VP by 35 blueprint,
the latter model assumes we allhave the same tools, the same
access, the same uninterruptedrunway. I don't know about you,
my career has had more zigzagsthan a New York subway map,
honestly, like it's crazy, sucha roller coaster. So here's a
(03:11):
problem. We internalize thatlinear ideal even when we know
better, even when we've livedthe messiness of the real world,
we still compare ourselves tothat imaginary straight Shut up,
and when we don't follow it, wefeel like we're falling behind.
So it's like, Oh no, I took ayear off to raise a kid. I'm off
track, or I switched industries,and now I'm back at square one,
(03:32):
or I should have gotten thatpromotion by now, but I'm stuck
because my boss is threatened byme and keeps giving my ideas to
Brad, right? So maybe some ofthese sound familiar to you.
Here's the truth. You're notfailing just because your career
doesn't look like a straightshot up. Most of us are
zigzagging, and that's where thegood stuff is. So I've worked in
corporate, I've worked instartups, I freelance consulted,
(03:54):
I've gotten laid off. I've takenon projects that looked bananas
on paper and made job moves thatmade zero sense to people on the
outside, but they were right forme in that moment. And let's
just be clear, the people whobenefit from the latter
metaphor, they're notzigzagging, they're not
caregiving, they're not tryingto lead in rooms where they're
outnumbered and underestimated.
(04:17):
They're mostly men, they'remostly white, and they're mostly
already in power. If our careerswere truly linear, every VP
would be a white guy named Chadwho stayed at IBM for 30 years
and thinks pivot is a basketballterm because the rest of us, we
had to get a little morecreative. Women are forced to
take lateral moves just to stayin the game. Or we get held back
because of potential familyplans, actual or imagined, or we
(04:41):
take a break and come back to awhole new world of tech tools
and acronyms we didn't get thedownload on. The latter doesn't
flex for any of that. That's whyit's so dangerous to keep
pushing this myth of upward onlysuccess. It ignores the richness
of lived experience. It punishesgrowth. It doesn't look
traditional. It gaslights usinto. Thinking were the problem
when we're actually navigating asystem that was never designed
(05:03):
with us in mind. So if you'relistening to this thinking, my
career path doesn't look likehers, or his, or what I thought
it would look like by now, letme say this good. That means
you're adapting. That meansyou're learning and you're
building something more real inthe fantasy of the ladder,
because the ladders only go oneone direction, right? And the
second you step off, people actlike you're done, but you're not
(05:25):
done. You're just figuring out adifferent route, one that fits
you better and means you're notstuck behind someone else's
pacing. One that you're notwaiting for a rung to be handed
to you. You're just buildingyour own structure. You are the
structure. So if the ladder isout, and trust me, it should be,
what are we actually climbing?
Um, kind of like a jungle gym.
(05:46):
So jungle gym sound cute, right?
Maybe even childish, but thisthing is no playground. It's
It's messy, it's flexible, andsometimes it's terrifying, but
it's real, and it reflects theway women move through our
careers, especially if you'veever had to pivot, pause or
rebuild. I first heard thejungle gym metaphor from Sheryl
Sandberg and say what you willabout Lean in. But that image
stuck with me, because the gymlets you move in all directions,
(06:07):
not just up. You can gosideways, diagonally, down and
back up again. There's no oneright way. You build your own
path, grip by grip, and thatfeels a hell of a lot more
familiar than any tidy ladderever did in my own career, there
was no golden staircase toexecutive status. There were
trap doors and hidden monkeybars. And I've taken lateral
roles that looked like a stepback just to get closer to what
(06:28):
I actually wanted. I've jumpedinto startups where I had zero
formal training and a role, butI brought in a skill set no one
else had. I freelanced. I burnedout. I've quit jobs with with no
plan, and I've stayed in toxicjobs too long because the
paycheck was steady and I wasafraid of falling. None of that
was quote, unquote, ladderworthy, but it was mine. They
(06:48):
were my decisions. And here'swhere it gets even trickier. A
lot of the rungs on themetaphorical jungle gym are
broken. And by broken, I meanthey were never meant to support
you in the first place. Theseare missing or unstable steps
that women encounter all thetime, like when you try to step
into leadership, the job keepsgetting restructured, or when
you're passed over because yourmanager assumes you'll have kids
(07:10):
soon, or you do have kids andsuddenly you're treated like
you've downgraded from ambitiousprofessional to part time
distraction. Or how about whenyou're the only woman or the
only woman of color in aleadership meeting, and people
nod at your ideas, but only takeaction when Steve repeats them.
Five minutes later, we climb. Wekeep climbing regardless, with
(07:30):
grit, with creativity, withcommunity, and with this very
specific kind of quiet powerthat comes from learning to
adapt when the structure doesn'tfit you, because the jungle gym
forces you to get scrappy. Itbuilds resilience in a way
ladders never could. When thestraight path is blocked, you
find another way. You look for aside move. You jump diagonally,
you hang upside down for asecond while you figure out your
(07:51):
next grip. One of my favoritemoves is the strategic lateral I
mean, it doesn't look sexy onpaper, and recruiters might even
side eye it, but sometimes asideways move is what unlocks a
whole new direction. I once tooka role that seemed smaller on
the org chart, but it gave meaccess to decision makers,
creative control, and a frontrow seat to how leadership
actually worked. It taught memore about power than three
(08:12):
years of climbing ever did. AndI want to be clear, these moves
aren't just reactive. They'resmart, they're intentional.
You're not flailing, you'renavigating. You're playing three
dimensional chess while otherfolks are still climbing a
ladder that was bolted in thewall in like 1982
and don't discount the value ofpauses, breaks in your career.
Don't mean you're broken. Theymean you're human. They might be
(08:32):
for caregiving, mental health,travel, starting a side hustle,
mourning, healing or justfiguring your own stuff out.
Those breaks are strength, theirclarity and their space, and
space is where real leadershipis born. So if you're in a
season right now that doesn'tfeel upward, it feels sideways
or like you're hanging by onearm trying not to fall off the
damn monkey bars, please hearthis. You're still building,
you're still rising, and you'redoing it on your own terms. You
(08:55):
don't owe anyone a straightpath. You don't have to explain
your zigzags, and you sure ashell don't have to feel behind,
because the jungle gym has nobehind. It just has next. Okay,
so let's picture this. You're onthe jungle gym. You've ditched
the idea that your career issupposed to look like some shiny
corporate ladder built in a 1995Microsoft Office clip art file.
You're in the mess, the swings,the slips, the side moves. So
(09:17):
how do you navigate this thingwithout falling flat on your
face, or worse, waking up in ajob that doesn't even recognize
you anymore. So let's talk aboutit, because the truth is, the
jungle gym is wild, but it's notrandom. It requires a strategy
that's fluid, not rigid. Soyou're kind of thinking compass,
not blueprint. So here's a fewtools that I swear by. Number
one, know what season you're in.
This one's big. Not every seasonis meant for climbing. Some are
(09:41):
for holding steady. Some are forresting. Some are for planting
seeds you won't see bloom foryears. Are you in a growth
season? You're stretching,learning, taking risks, or maybe
it's a maintenance season.
You're holding the line,protecting your energy, keeping
the ship afloat. Maybe you're ina healing season, where the best
move. You can make is no move atall. All are valid, but you
(10:02):
can't play the same game inevery season, and you can't
compare your rest season tosomeone else's launch. So just
because someone else issprinting doesn't mean you're
behind. Maybe you're lacing upyour shoes and maybe you're
changing direction entirely. Sonaming your season gives you
permission. It also helps youchoose your next move with
intention instead of panic. Sonumber two is, build your
(10:23):
network before you need it. Iknow networking can feel gross
like you're collecting LinkedInconnections like Pokemon cards.
Relationships are the rungs ofthe jungle game, especially for
women, especially if you'renavigating around gatekeepers in
the glass ceilings. So here'swhat I tell women all the time,
stop networking like a jobseeker. Start networking like a
leader. Leaders don't just showup when they need something.
(10:43):
They show up consistently. Theyinvest they ask questions, they
listen. So DM that woman whosework you admire, invite someone
to a virtual coffee, offer helpbefore you ask for it, because
the right action a connectiondoesn't just open doors. They
help you build your own. Thethird one is, don't be afraid to
look sideways. I know we've beenconditioned to always chase the
next title, the next promotion,the next rung, but in the jungle
(11:06):
gym, lateral moves are often thesmartest play. Maybe you want to
switch industries, you'll take asideways leap to a role that
overlaps with your currentskills. Maybe you need better
leadership exposure, so youlateral over to a department
with more visibility. Maybeyou're feeling burned out, but
not ready to quit, so then youfind a role with a different
pace or culture. The sidewaysmove is not a failure, it's
(11:27):
strategy, and the people whojudge you for it, they're
usually stuck on the ladder,metaphorically into a wrong they
don't even like number four isown your narrative. This one is
gold the jungle gym can beconfusing to other people,
especially recruiters orexecutives who want a tiny,
bullet pointed version of yourlife, but you know what? You get
to be the narrator, so thecareer break. Call it a values
(11:48):
reset. That pivot from financeto UX design. Talk about how you
learn to solve problems fromboth sides of the brain. That
demotion that gave you moreflexibility, frame it as a
conscious trade off, and onethat taught you how to lead
without a title. No one's goingto make your story make sense
for you. That's your job. If youdon't tell your story, someone
else will, and they won't get itright. So write your own bio,
practice your elevator pitch,and say it out loud until it
(12:11):
feels true because it is numberfive is let go of the timeline.
And finally, please, for thelove, let go of the fake
timeline in your head, you knowthe one? I should be a director
by 30. I should have a team bynow. I should be further along.
Says who success has no agelimit, leadership has no
deadline. And every single womanI know who's thriving in her
(12:32):
40s, 50s, 60s, she had at leastone season in her career where
she thought it was all fallingapart. It actually wasn't. It
was just the jungle gym doingits thing. So if you're in a
weird phase right now, confused,pivoting, stuck, don't panic.
You're not lost. You'renavigating, and you're doing it
with more grit and grace thanyou probably gave yourself
credit for. You don't need aperfect path. You just need your
(12:55):
next grip, because the junglegym doesn't require perfection.
It just requires movement. Soyou got it. Let's land this
thing like you're stepping offthe jungle gym, brushing off
your hands and turning to yourlistener like, See you've got
this. So if no one told has toldyou this lately, you are doing
just fine. Your career isn'tsupposed to look like a straight
shot. It's not a linear climb ora highlight reel. It's a jungle
(13:18):
gym full of weird angles, brokenrungs, unexpected turns and
moments where you're hanging onby one sweaty hand asking
yourself, Why am I doing thisagain? But you're not lost.
You're building something thatdoesn't need to look like anyone
else's success story, and that'spowerful. So let this be your
permission slip, to pivot, topause, to take the wrong job
that turns out to be exactlyright, to walk away when it's no
(13:39):
longer serving you to movesideways, backwards or
diagonally without shame,because growth doesn't just
happen when you're climbing, ithappens when you're choosing and
you're allowed to chooseyourself. So here's a little
reflection to take with you thisweek. What's one non linear move
you've made in your career thatended up teaching you something
(14:00):
you couldn't have learned anyother way. Write it down, share
it with a friend, or say it outloud, own it. That's your jungle
gym resume, and it's badass. Ifthis episode hit home for you,
send it to another woman whoneeds a reminder that she's not
behind she's just building herown structure. And next time on
clover, you know we're going tobe digging into why being nice
(14:22):
isn't the same thing as beingrespected. That's a future
episode, How To lead withempathy without being a
pushover. So until then, keepclimbing. Don't wait for
permission, and if you're reallyinto this, you know, give give
me a review for the episode forthe podcast series itself. Share
it with others. We really,really appreciate it until next
(14:46):
time you.
You. Hi and welcome to this next episode of the
(00:13):
clover podcast, where you knowwe're really celebrating women
in leadership, and today'sepisode is all about how your
career is actually not a ladder.
It's a jungle gym, and it mighthave some broken rungs on it. So
when I was in my 20s, I thoughtthat success meant climbing the
ladder, fast promotions. Youknow, corner office. Back then
(00:36):
we were all working in offices.
Maybe I joke, maybe a powerblazer, not so much. I wasn't in
the 80s. But instead, I moved toSan Francisco, and I went
through the.com boom and bust. Isort of detoured into marketing
after getting a film degree andstarting out my career in film,
(00:59):
and I found myself transitioningbetween freelancing, working in
different industries, workingwith startups, all the way to
enterprise. And I figured, did Ifail? Because this doesn't seem
like a straight route, you know,I guess maybe I took the scenic
route. So it turns out, mostwomen I admire didn't climb a
(01:21):
ladder. They sung, swungsideways, they jumped across,
they stumbled, they pivoted,they climbed back up, and
sometimes they built their owndam structure, right? So in
today's episode, I want to blowup the whole ladder metaphor and
give you a more realistic andliberating view of what your
(01:41):
career path can look like,especially if you're a woman,
navigating the maze of corporateor startup life. So when we were
kids, we were told to climb theladder, or at least when we were
younger, that's kind of like, atleast for my generation, what we
were heard, right? And so maybeyou didn't hear it in those
(02:01):
exact words, but it was implied,right? So you get good grades,
you go to college, maybe pick amajor that leads to a real job,
get promoted, get promotedagain, and eventually, maybe
you'll win the game, right?
You'll get that office bigtitle. You know, champagne. She
pop that champagne. But thewhole ladder idea came out of a
very specific model, thetraditional corporate workplace
(02:25):
mostly built by men for men, inthe era when one income could
support a whole family, andwomen were expected to bring the
jell o salad to the companypotluck, not run the meeting. So
the late the ladder made senseback then. It was clean,
predictable. You knew what rungcame next. But here's the thing,
that ladder wasn't built for us.
(02:48):
It definitely wasn't built forwomen or caregivers or people
whose careers don't follow that.
Go to college at 18, intern at20, become VP by 35 blueprint,
the latter model assumes we allhave the same tools, the same
access, the same uninterruptedrunway. I don't know about you,
my career has had more zigzagsthan a New York subway map,
honestly, like it's crazy, sucha roller coaster. So here's a
(03:11):
problem. We internalize thatlinear ideal even when we know
better, even when we've livedthe messiness of the real world,
we still compare ourselves tothat imaginary straight Shut up,
and when we don't follow it, wefeel like we're falling behind.
So it's like, Oh no, I took ayear off to raise a kid. I'm off
track, or I switched industries,and now I'm back at square one,
(03:32):
or I should have gotten thatpromotion by now, but I'm stuck
because my boss is threatened byme and keeps giving my ideas to
Brad, right? So maybe some ofthese sound familiar to you.
Here's the truth. You're notfailing just because your career
doesn't look like a straightshot up. Most of us are
zigzagging, and that's where thegood stuff is. So I've worked in
corporate, I've worked instartups, I freelance consulted,
(03:54):
I've gotten laid off. I've takenon projects that looked bananas
on paper and made job moves thatmade zero sense to people on the
outside, but they were right forme in that moment. And let's
just be clear, the people whobenefit from the latter
metaphor, they're notzigzagging, they're not
caregiving, they're not tryingto lead in rooms where they're
outnumbered and underestimated.
(04:17):
They're mostly men, they'remostly white, and they're mostly
already in power. If our careerswere truly linear, every VP
would be a white guy named Chadwho stayed at IBM for 30 years
and thinks pivot is a basketballterm because the rest of us, we
had to get a little morecreative. Women are forced to
take lateral moves just to stayin the game. Or we get held back
because of potential familyplans, actual or imagined, or we
(04:41):
take a break and come back to awhole new world of tech tools
and acronyms we didn't get thedownload on. The latter doesn't
flex for any of that. That's whyit's so dangerous to keep
pushing this myth of upward onlysuccess. It ignores the richness
of lived experience. It punishesgrowth. It doesn't look
traditional. It gaslights usinto. Thinking were the problem
when we're actually navigating asystem that was never designed
(05:03):
with us in mind. So if you'relistening to this thinking, my
career path doesn't look likehers, or his, or what I thought
it would look like by now, letme say this good. That means
you're adapting. That meansyou're learning and you're
building something more real inthe fantasy of the ladder,
because the ladders only go oneone direction, right? And the
second you step off, people actlike you're done, but you're not
(05:25):
done. You're just figuring out adifferent route, one that fits
you better and means you're notstuck behind someone else's
pacing. One that you're notwaiting for a rung to be handed
to you. You're just buildingyour own structure. You are the
structure. So if the ladder isout, and trust me, it should be,
what are we actually climbing?
Um, kind of like a jungle gym.
(05:46):
So jungle gym sound cute, right?
Maybe even childish, but thisthing is no playground. It's
It's messy, it's flexible, andsometimes it's terrifying, but
it's real, and it reflects theway women move through our
careers, especially if you'veever had to pivot, pause or
rebuild. I first heard thejungle gym metaphor from Sheryl
Sandberg and say what you willabout Lean in. But that image
stuck with me, because the gymlets you move in all directions,
(06:07):
not just up. You can gosideways, diagonally, down and
back up again. There's no oneright way. You build your own
path, grip by grip, and thatfeels a hell of a lot more
familiar than any tidy ladderever did in my own career, there
was no golden staircase toexecutive status. There were
trap doors and hidden monkeybars. And I've taken lateral
roles that looked like a stepback just to get closer to what
(06:28):
I actually wanted. I've jumpedinto startups where I had zero
formal training and a role, butI brought in a skill set no one
else had. I freelanced. I burnedout. I've quit jobs with with no
plan, and I've stayed in toxicjobs too long because the
paycheck was steady and I wasafraid of falling. None of that
was quote, unquote, ladderworthy, but it was mine. They
(06:48):
were my decisions. And here'swhere it gets even trickier. A
lot of the rungs on themetaphorical jungle gym are
broken. And by broken, I meanthey were never meant to support
you in the first place. Theseare missing or unstable steps
that women encounter all thetime, like when you try to step
into leadership, the job keepsgetting restructured, or when
you're passed over because yourmanager assumes you'll have kids
(07:10):
soon, or you do have kids andsuddenly you're treated like
you've downgraded from ambitiousprofessional to part time
distraction. Or how about whenyou're the only woman or the
only woman of color in aleadership meeting, and people
nod at your ideas, but only takeaction when Steve repeats them.
Five minutes later, we climb. Wekeep climbing regardless, with
(07:30):
grit, with creativity, withcommunity, and with this very
specific kind of quiet powerthat comes from learning to
adapt when the structure doesn'tfit you, because the jungle gym
forces you to get scrappy. Itbuilds resilience in a way
ladders never could. When thestraight path is blocked, you
find another way. You look for aside move. You jump diagonally,
you hang upside down for asecond while you figure out your
(07:51):
next grip. One of my favoritemoves is the strategic lateral I
mean, it doesn't look sexy onpaper, and recruiters might even
side eye it, but sometimes asideways move is what unlocks a
whole new direction. I once tooka role that seemed smaller on
the org chart, but it gave meaccess to decision makers,
creative control, and a frontrow seat to how leadership
actually worked. It taught memore about power than three
(08:12):
years of climbing ever did. AndI want to be clear, these moves
aren't just reactive. They'resmart, they're intentional.
You're not flailing, you'renavigating. You're playing three
dimensional chess while otherfolks are still climbing a
ladder that was bolted in thewall in like 1982
and don't discount the value ofpauses, breaks in your career.
Don't mean you're broken. Theymean you're human. They might be
(08:32):
for caregiving, mental health,travel, starting a side hustle,
mourning, healing or justfiguring your own stuff out.
Those breaks are strength, theirclarity and their space, and
space is where real leadershipis born. So if you're in a
season right now that doesn'tfeel upward, it feels sideways
or like you're hanging by onearm trying not to fall off the
damn monkey bars, please hearthis. You're still building,
you're still rising, and you'redoing it on your own terms. You
(08:55):
don't owe anyone a straightpath. You don't have to explain
your zigzags, and you sure ashell don't have to feel behind,
because the jungle gym has nobehind. It just has next. Okay,
so let's picture this. You're onthe jungle gym. You've ditched
the idea that your career issupposed to look like some shiny
corporate ladder built in a 1995Microsoft Office clip art file.
You're in the mess, the swings,the slips, the side moves. So
(09:17):
how do you navigate this thingwithout falling flat on your
face, or worse, waking up in ajob that doesn't even recognize
you anymore. So let's talk aboutit, because the truth is, the
jungle gym is wild, but it's notrandom. It requires a strategy
that's fluid, not rigid. Soyou're kind of thinking compass,
not blueprint. So here's a fewtools that I swear by. Number
one, know what season you're in.
This one's big. Not every seasonis meant for climbing. Some are
(09:41):
for holding steady. Some are forresting. Some are for planting
seeds you won't see bloom foryears. Are you in a growth
season? You're stretching,learning, taking risks, or maybe
it's a maintenance season.
You're holding the line,protecting your energy, keeping
the ship afloat. Maybe you're ina healing season, where the best
move. You can make is no move atall. All are valid, but you
(10:02):
can't play the same game inevery season, and you can't
compare your rest season tosomeone else's launch. So just
because someone else issprinting doesn't mean you're
behind. Maybe you're lacing upyour shoes and maybe you're
changing direction entirely. Sonaming your season gives you
permission. It also helps youchoose your next move with
intention instead of panic. Sonumber two is, build your
(10:23):
network before you need it. Iknow networking can feel gross
like you're collecting LinkedInconnections like Pokemon cards.
Relationships are the rungs ofthe jungle game, especially for
women, especially if you'renavigating around gatekeepers in
the glass ceilings. So here'swhat I tell women all the time,
stop networking like a jobseeker. Start networking like a
leader. Leaders don't just showup when they need something.
(10:43):
They show up consistently. Theyinvest they ask questions, they
listen. So DM that woman whosework you admire, invite someone
to a virtual coffee, offer helpbefore you ask for it, because
the right action a connectiondoesn't just open doors. They
help you build your own. Thethird one is, don't be afraid to
look sideways. I know we've beenconditioned to always chase the
next title, the next promotion,the next rung, but in the jungle
(11:06):
gym, lateral moves are often thesmartest play. Maybe you want to
switch industries, you'll take asideways leap to a role that
overlaps with your currentskills. Maybe you need better
leadership exposure, so youlateral over to a department
with more visibility. Maybeyou're feeling burned out, but
not ready to quit, so then youfind a role with a different
pace or culture. The sidewaysmove is not a failure, it's
(11:27):
strategy, and the people whojudge you for it, they're
usually stuck on the ladder,metaphorically into a wrong they
don't even like number four isown your narrative. This one is
gold the jungle gym can beconfusing to other people,
especially recruiters orexecutives who want a tiny,
bullet pointed version of yourlife, but you know what? You get
to be the narrator, so thecareer break. Call it a values
(11:48):
reset. That pivot from financeto UX design. Talk about how you
learn to solve problems fromboth sides of the brain. That
demotion that gave you moreflexibility, frame it as a
conscious trade off, and onethat taught you how to lead
without a title. No one's goingto make your story make sense
for you. That's your job. If youdon't tell your story, someone
else will, and they won't get itright. So write your own bio,
practice your elevator pitch,and say it out loud until it
(12:11):
feels true because it is numberfive is let go of the timeline.
And finally, please, for thelove, let go of the fake
timeline in your head, you knowthe one? I should be a director
by 30. I should have a team bynow. I should be further along.
Says who success has no agelimit, leadership has no
deadline. And every single womanI know who's thriving in her
(12:32):
40s, 50s, 60s, she had at leastone season in her career where
she thought it was all fallingapart. It actually wasn't. It
was just the jungle gym doingits thing. So if you're in a
weird phase right now, confused,pivoting, stuck, don't panic.
You're not lost. You'renavigating, and you're doing it
with more grit and grace thanyou probably gave yourself
credit for. You don't need aperfect path. You just need your
(12:55):
next grip, because the junglegym doesn't require perfection.
It just requires movement. Soyou got it. Let's land this
thing like you're stepping offthe jungle gym, brushing off
your hands and turning to yourlistener like, See you've got
this. So if no one told has toldyou this lately, you are doing
just fine. Your career isn'tsupposed to look like a straight
shot. It's not a linear climb ora highlight reel. It's a jungle
(13:18):
gym full of weird angles, brokenrungs, unexpected turns and
moments where you're hanging onby one sweaty hand asking
yourself, Why am I doing thisagain? But you're not lost.
You're building something thatdoesn't need to look like anyone
else's success story, and that'spowerful. So let this be your
permission slip, to pivot, topause, to take the wrong job
that turns out to be exactlyright, to walk away when it's no
(13:39):
longer serving you to movesideways, backwards or
diagonally without shame,because growth doesn't just
happen when you're climbing, ithappens when you're choosing and
you're allowed to chooseyourself. So here's a little
reflection to take with you thisweek. What's one non linear move
you've made in your career thatended up teaching you something
(14:00):
you couldn't have learned anyother way. Write it down, share
it with a friend, or say it outloud, own it. That's your jungle
gym resume, and it's badass. Ifthis episode hit home for you,
send it to another woman whoneeds a reminder that she's not
behind she's just building herown structure. And next time on
clover, you know we're going tobe digging into why being nice
(14:22):
isn't the same thing as beingrespected. That's a future
episode, How To lead withempathy without being a
pushover. So until then, keepclimbing. Don't wait for
permission, and if you're reallyinto this, you know, give give
me a review for the episode forthe podcast series itself. Share
it with others. We really,really appreciate it until next
(14:46):
time you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.