Ep 188: How do you back yourself in meetings?

Someone offers you a board seat and your first question is ‘how much time will it take?’ (Fair enough, but it’s probably four to six hours a month, and the upside is huge.) In this episode of Powrup, Nat and Kristen chat about living with no regrets, or ‘no regurts’, as one viral tattoo put it. They talk about why people at the end of their lives regret what they didn’t do far more than what they did, and why a job that’s just okay can be harder to leave than a bad one. Nat makes the case for starting with the upside before you get to the costs, and reminds us you can apply for a job and still say no at the offer stage. There’s also a great story about people who set out to collect rejections and mostly got yeses. And if you’re stuck on a big decision, try asking whether 80-year-old you would be annoyed you didn’t do it.Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/ 🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/ 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/

Got a cookbook somewhere in your kitchen that hasn’t been opened in years? Chances are it’s too fussy, needs too many ingredients, and doesn’t fit the reality of our full lives.For our very first Powrup Plus, Nat and Kristen chat with Margo Flanagan and Rosa Power from Two Raw Sisters, the cooks behind six bestselling cookbooks and their latest, How We Cook. They talk about food, work, and why ‘what’s for dinner?’ is the one decision most of us would happily hand off forever.Margo and Rosa share their ‘be intelligently lazy’ approach to meal prep and healthy eating without the faff. That includes why bulk cooking a recipe takes no longer than cooking it once, and how a bit of Sunday prep can take a bunch of daily food decisions (and mental load) off the table. There’s, of course, a decent amount of chat about ditching the word busy. And if you raid the pantry at 4pm every day, there’s a fix for that too.Two Raw Sisters: https://www.tworawsisters.com/Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/ 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/

Remember the group project where you did most of the work and everyone got the same grade? At work, it can be more of the same, whether it’s a collaborative project or even a team you’re leading. Do high performers get the short end of the stick? In this ep of Powrup, Nat and Kristen talk about capable people who keep picking up the slack and tiptoe towards burnout - it's called the burden of competence.They look at the ways high performers can hold others back without meaning to, like jumping on every problem before anyone else has spotted it, or rescuing people the minute they struggle. There’s a difference between high standards and perfectionism, and one person’s idea of ‘good’ isn’t automatically everyone else’s. If you’re leading a project, start by agreeing on expectations together, recognising what each person brings, and asking questions instead of handing out answers - so others start owning the work too! Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/ 🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/

Ask someone chasing a promotion whether they should work at the next level before they get it, and plenty say no thanks. Ask the person doing the promoting and the answer’s almost always yes. In this ep, Nat and Kristen take a middle ground. Things like speaking up in meetings like a peer, linking your work to revenue, cost or culture, and making the value you add easy to see (visibility for its own sake just makes everyone groan). Where they draw the line is taking on a whole second job, or covering the gaps for a colleague who got the role instead of you. A rule of thumb is to spend your first three to six months in any role getting wins on the board, then start spotting gaps you could fix. And if you want a place to start this week, get curious about what would make your manager’s life easier (and no, that doesn’t mean picking up their sandwiches).Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/ 🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/ 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/

We've noticed a trend lately: Powrsuiters sharing that they want to back themselves more when under pressure. Getting the words out is the first step, but it’s the uncertain twenty seconds after, when you’re braced for someone to question you, that stops many of us speaking up at all. In this ep of Powrup, Nat and Kristen talk through both. They share a four-point sticky note to fill in before your next meeting (your position, what it rests on, any trade-offs, and what would change your mind) and why speaking first beats waiting for the perfect moment. In a Powrsuit LinkedIn poll, half of you said preparation helped most - which supports researcher Herminia Ibarra's point that you can’t think your way into acting differently, so at some point you just have to say the thing!Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/ 🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/ 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/

The usual advice when a job ends is to work out what you want first, then make a move. Kristen has given that advice to plenty of Powrsuit members, and in this ep of Powrup, Nat and Kristen question it. They talk about the awkward in-between stage after a redundancy, time at home with kids or outgrowing your role (there's even a word for it: liminality). They draw on Herminia Ibarra's year-long study of 23 career changers, who figured out what they wanted by trying things first. Her advice is to spend a little time reflecting to come up with three ideas, then test them in real life to see which one sticks. That could be a 15-minute virtual coffee where you ask someone what a typical Tuesday looks like for them, or saying yes to an unpaid spot on a local sports club board. Confidence usually turns up after you've started, so you don't need to wait for it.Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/ 🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/ 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/

Neutrality used to cost you nothing but now it costs reach.We start with the flashpoints doing the rounds: Ed Sheeran, Sydney Sweeney, Meghan Markle, Jacinda Ardern, return to office mandates, private school vs public school (we could go on).Then the work version, where you can't mute anyone and the project's still due. Using Jessica Tarlov's new book 'I Disagree' as a frame: leave room for people who choose differently, because if every disagreement is a character test you'll run out of colleagues. Go in to learn rather than to win. Nat's opener is to ask whether someone's open to changing their mind, and if they're not, leave it there. Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/ 🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/ 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/

Queen bee syndrome is when senior women pull the ladder up behind them. It's real, it's been studied, and the research points to structure rather than personality.We start with the Sydney Sweeney ad and the pick me girl label, then get to the thing Powrsuiters say in hushed tones on calls: one of my worst managers was a woman.A few reasons it happens. There's often only one seat, so enter fierce competition thanks to scarcity. Survival mode sets in, because if proving you're not like other women is what got you there, distancing is the strategy that works. And helping really does cost us, since women who champion other women get worse performance ratings for it while white men doing the same don't....(?).Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/ 🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/

Are people ruder now, or have the norms just shifted under our feet? Speakerphone conversations in the airport lounge, QR code ordering when you've just paid close to a hundred dollars for a couple of burgers and beers, ghosting meetings and catchups - is this the new normal? A researcher has been asking people about rudeness since the 90s and the number has climbed every time, with the biggest rise in customers behaving badly towards frontline staff. She also found nobody thinks they're the rude one (ha). Plus our LinkedIn poll results and the noise violation ticket Kristen dodged at 14.Got a pet peeve we missed? Tell us. powrsuit.comLoved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/ 🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/ 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/

Your brain has a default time zone: Past, present or future. Kristen found out about it at a dinner party, went home and got AI to test her, and ran a shorter version on Nat. Someone more junior gets the promotion you wanted and it's 9pm, what are you doing?If you're past focused you work out how something happened, which is great for spotting patterns and for backing yourself based on your track record, though you can get stuck diagnosing when you should be deciding. Present focused means you go on how it feels right now, which is a lovely way to live but no help for a five year plan. Future focused means today is always a step towards something, and it comes with skipping your wins and comes with a worrying version.We figure it’s useful to be able explain yours to the people you work with, which is why we did this out loud - so give it a go. Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review!More from Powrsuit: 🔗 Podcast: https://powrsuit.com/podcast/ 🌐 Website: https://powrsuit.com/ 📩 Newsletter: https://powrsuit.com/newsletters/ 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORJdS-WlYOWA20mSOGG2ug 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powrsuit💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/powrsuit/