The Visibility Factor

244. You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Seen   Perfectionism, comparison and fear of asking for help can keep your work hidden—and hold back your career. Sue Barber explains how taking imperfect action can build confidence, bring your work into view and help move ideas forward. Share an early version, invite feedback and let others see the value you’re creating before everything feels finished.   Key Takeaways Is there a story that you are telling yourself that keeps you, your team and your work hidden? Some ways that impostor syndrome can hold you back from playing bigger. Perfectionism can slow progress; ask whether the extra polish will make a meaningful difference. Start with one small step, even when you don’t have everything figured out. Reframe intimidating challenges as possibilities you can explore. Share work in progress and ask for feedback to improve it and build support. Make your contributions and their impact visible so leaders can recognize your value. Focus on moving forward, not on getting everything perfect.   Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit! You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/

243. Tell a Career Story People Remember Host Sue Barber looks at why it's hard to tell the story of your career in a way that's short, clear and valuable. She draws on Harvard professor Christina Wallace, who found her pitch fell flat because she shared too much. Once she simplified it, people paid attention. Sue then walks through three steps for being seen as ready for the next level: own your story, own your strengths and own your visibility. Along the way she gives sample impact statements and shows how listeners will infer your skills from them. She closes by asking you to pick one step and start there. Key Takeaways Tailor your story to your audience. Think about what the person in front of you needs to hear. Break your career into smaller chunks. Own your story. Find the common thread in your career and describe it at a "30,000-foot" level. Stay authentic and consistent so people share the same story about you. Aim to hook people so they ask for more, rather than telling everything at once. Own your strengths. Don't dismiss what comes easily to you. When someone compliments you, say thank you. Focus on results: projects with good outcomes, cost savings, simpler processes, leading change, and turning around teams. Let results speak. A result like a global data program or a negotiation that saved $50 million over five years leads listeners to infer skills such as leading change, negotiating and influencing. You don't have to state those skills yourself. Own your visibility. Visibility isn't bragging or being loud. If you don't communicate your value, your work stays invisible. Help your manager see your work. Share recent results, your role and why they matter. Managers rarely have time to notice, and this gives them talking points for leadership above them. Start small. Pick one of the three steps, assess where you are, and take one different action.   Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit! You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/

242. Five Visibility Challenges That Quietly Stall Career Growth   Sue Barber explains how outdated beliefs can limit visibility, confidence, communication, and career growth. This solo episode focuses on the stories people tell themselves, why those stories often stop serving them at the next level, and how to replace them with beliefs that support bigger leadership. In this episode, Sue shares examples from her own career and from a college leadership class where she collected 57 challenges. She walks through five common categories of limiting beliefs and gives practical ways to start shifting them. Key topics In this episode, Sue explains why "working hard is enough" is often an outdated belief and why visibility matters just as much as effort. She shares her own story of using introversion as an excuse to avoid networking, speaking, and stepping into bigger opportunities. Breaks visibility challenges into specific behaviors like assuming good work will speak for itself, avoiding speaking up, and not building intentional relationships. Confidence and internal blockers such as self-doubt, fear of being wrong, perfectionism, procrastination, people pleasing, and negative self-talk. She emphasizes that preparation can reduce fear, especially in meetings, where having questions ready helps people speak up more consistently. She covers communication challenges, including not talking about accomplishments, focusing on tasks instead of strategic impact, and worrying that self-advocacy will sound like bragging. Every interaction is an opportunity for visibility, including everyday conversations, one-on-ones, and informal moments with leaders. Sue outlines relationship and exposure challenges such as networking discomfort, not asking for opportunities, and failing to build allies who can advocate on your behalf. Identity and personal brand challenges, including using labels like "introvert" as a shield, comparing yourself to others, and not knowing what makes you unique. Encourages listeners to pay attention when others point out their strengths, because those repeated comments reveal what sets them apart and what the organization values.   Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit! You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/

241. Are You Ready For The Next Career Step?   In this episode, Sue breaks down what leadership readiness really means and why strong performance in your current role does not automatically translate to readiness for a director, VP, or other next-level role. This episode focuses on the behaviors, judgment, visibility, and business thinking leaders look for when deciding who is ready to grow. She also walks through seven factors that can help you assess yourself and identify practical ways to show more strategic capability, influence, and leadership impact.   Key topics Leadership readiness is defined as consistently demonstrating the behaviors, judgment, influence, and business perspective needed for the next level. Success as an individual contributor is not the same as readiness for management or senior leadership. The transition from doing the work yourself to creating results through others is one of the biggest shifts in leadership. Strategic and enterprise thinking means connecting your work to company priorities, financials, customers, and future needs. Business impact and value creation are about measurable results, prioritization, resource allocation, and understanding trade-offs. Influence and stakeholder effectiveness require gaining alignment without formal authority and handling disagreement professionally. Leadership communication and executive presence mean simplifying complex ideas, speaking concisely, and offering a clear recommendation. People leadership and organizational capability involve delegating, coaching, developing talent, and building accountability through others. Judgment, adaptability, and change leadership require making decisions in ambiguity, working through unknowns, and staying calm under pressure. Strategic visibility and organizational trust matter because decision makers can only evaluate what they can see and hear from you.   Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit! You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/

240. The Terms and Conditions That Quietly Shape Your Life   Today’s episode is a conversation with Amy Goldmacher about her recently published memoir, Terms and Conditions, and the personal history behind its unusual structure. The conversation centers on how grief, anxiety, perfectionism, and family dynamics can shape the way we show up in life and work, and why making those patterns visible can be deeply freeing. We discuss Amy’s path from anthropology to publishing to memoir writing, plus the second-person, alphabetical structure that makes the book stand out. Sue also connects the book’s ideas to leadership, visibility, and the workplace, making this especially useful for anyone who tends to over-function, over-prepare, or stay behind the scenes. Key topics Amy Goldmacher’s background in anthropology and publishing She studied anthropology because she wanted to understand why people do what they do. She later worked in academic publishing, editorial marketing, and sales before returning to graduate study in anthropology. Around 2019, she felt the urge to write her own story. How Terms and Conditions came to be Amy originally tried writing the memoir as a traditional chronological narrative. Feedback from book coach colleagues and writing friends pushed her to rethink the structure. She broke the manuscript into smaller pieces, assigned each a one-word title, and realized an alphabetical format could work. Why the book is so personal A major motivation was loneliness around her father’s death when she was 20. She also writes about anxiety and the experience of keeping difficult emotions hidden. Her goal was to help other people feel less alone. The role of vulnerability and visibility Amy describes the challenge of deciding what to share publicly. She talks about having to build a visibility plan ahead of publication. Posting photos and talking about the book repeatedly helped her feel more connected to the work and message. How childhood patterns show up later in life Sue highlights sections on anxiety, control, suffering, and responsibility. Amy reflects on how relationships helped her see that not everyone shares her assumptions. A key insight is learning that discomfort is information, not something always requiring a fix. What it means to stop carrying other people’s emotions The conversation explores the difference between what is yours to manage and what belongs to others. Amy says that learning this boundary was a major turning point. Sue connects this to parenting, marriage, and leadership. Visibility for introverts and quieter communicators Amy says visibility is possible even with a quieter style. She does not think she needs to become someone louder or more performative. Instead, she is focusing on speaking to a specific audience with a clear message. Legacy and the book’s central message Amy says she wants the book’s message to endure: the terms and conditions we grew up with do not have to determine the rest of our lives. The final sections emphasize agency, acceptance, and discernment. Both Sue and Amy stress that people can change even if their early conditioning was powerful. Book that Amy recommends: Serial FIxer by Leah Marone Learn more about Amy and her new book – Terms and Conditions   Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit! You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/

239. Can You Explain Your Strategy in Two Minutes? Sue Barber shares a practical framework for turning complex strategy, projects, and programs into a short, clear message senior leaders can actually absorb. The episode focuses on how to speak with more clarity, create visibility, and position yourself as someone ready for the next step. Key topics Why strategy communication matters for visibility and leadership readiness. She breaks down how to explain a project or program in about two minutes without getting lost in details. The core idea is to start with the big picture first, then move into the specifics. Sue shares five questions to structure a strategic update: Where are we going? Why are we going there? What matters most? What are we doing differently? What does success look like? Senior leaders do not need every detail, but they do need the right context in a concise format. The importance of explaining the business reason behind the work, not just the task itself. The value of naming what is unique, innovative, risky, or different about the approach. Success criteria should be clear, whether measured by revenue, cost, quality, capability, or strategic outcomes. The episode closes by framing succinct communication as a way to demonstrate strategic thinking and build credibility.   Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit! You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/

238. The 5 Questions Strategic Leaders Ask Before Making Big Decisions   Sue Barber shares a practical strategy 101 episode focused on the questions leaders should ask before making decisions. The episode is designed to help managers, project leads, and individual contributors slow down, think strategically, and avoid costly rework later. Barber shares a practical solo episode on how professionals can frame their work in more strategic language. The focus is on moving from describing activity and execution to showing business value, impact, and decision making. If you want stronger visibility with leadership, this episode is about changing how you think about, and talk about, your day-to-day work. Key Takeaways What are we trying to accomplish? She explains this as a reset question that helps align the room on the actual decision or outcome. Asking the objective early can stop meetings from going in circles and prevent wasted time and money. Why does it matter to the business? Sue emphasizes evaluating revenue impact, cost impact, budget, staffing, and whether the work actually moves the business forward. She shares how broad business understanding, especially across functions like IT, helps leaders make stronger decisions. What has to be true for us to succeed? This question surfaces whether the right people, skills, scope, strategy, and plan are in place. She notes that projects often struggle when the team is available but not qualified for the work. What choices or trade-offs do we need to make? Sue discusses options like reducing scope, shifting timing, adding contractors, or rethinking whether the work should happen now. She distinguishes between quantitative benefits and strategic, qualitative benefits, noting that both can matter depending on the goal. What could prevent us from achieving the outcome? Sue encourages leaders to think through risks, competing priorities, shared resources, organizational changes, and contingency planning. She recommends building in contingency funding and extra time when uncertainty is high. The episode closes by encouraging listeners to use these questions in one-on-ones, client conversations, and team meetings to avoid rushed decisions and future rework.    Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit! You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/

237. Creating Time Freedom (with Brian Herriot)   Sue Barber talks with author, speaker, and financial advisor Brian Herriot about his new book, Time Freedom, and the core idea behind it: designing work and money around the life you want, not the other way around. They dig into his corporate pivot, the financial and lifestyle choices that made flexibility possible, and why younger generations are already embracing a different view of work.In this episode. Sue and Brian explore how time freedom can be built through skills, savings, flexible work, and intentional choices. Brian also shares the framework behind his book, how he thinks about purpose, and why visibility means being accessible to people.   Key Takeaways Brian introduces the book’s central message: time freedom first, financial freedom later. He argues that controlling your time can help money grow in the background, rather than waiting for some future retirement date. We discuss the “time freedom formula,” which balances three factors: annual lifestyle expenses, investment income, and flexible work. Brian explains how different people may rely on different levers depending on their situation. Brian talks about reframing money and spending, including the idea that saving everything for later can mean missing experiences with your children, your health, or your ability to enjoy travel while you can still do it. Sue and Brian explore what younger generations are already changing about work, including remote work, four-day work weeks, side businesses, and a greater comfort with building a nontraditional career. Brian shares practical stepping stones toward more time freedom, such as taking Fridays off, extending holiday breaks into four-week blocks, or moving toward seasonal work. The conversation closes with Brian’s belief that purpose is not something you must fully solve before acting. His view is that doing meaningful, enjoyable work first can help purpose emerge over time. The book Brian recommends: Story Worthy by Matthew Dicks and Dan Kennedy Learn more about Brian and his new book, Time Freedom: https://timefreedom.life/   Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit! You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/  

236. Stop Confusing Activity With Strategy   Sue Barber shares a practical solo episode on how professionals can frame their work in more strategic language. The focus is on moving from describing activity and execution to showing business value, impact, and decision making. If you want stronger visibility with leadership, this episode is about changing how you think about, and talk about, your day to day work.   Key Takeaways Explains why listing tasks and deliverables is not enough if you want to be seen as strategic. The contrast between being “busy” with creating value. The difference between completing projects and solving business problems, using examples like simplifying complexity, saving money, and preparing for the future. The importance of not being an order taker, and instead asking questions to confirm that the requested work is actually the right solution. Why it is valuable to question assumptions respectfully, especially when a proposed solution could create more risk or make a process worse. Highlighting the shift from short-term execution to long-term impact, including thinking about return on investment, risk, and whether a decision is the best use of company money. Encouraging listeners to “act like an owner” by weighing alternatives and considering both immediate and future business consequences. Emphasizing that strategic visibility starts with how you spend your time, how you describe your work, and whether you are connecting it to business outcomes.    Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit!   You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/

235. Strategy Isn't Just for Executives   Sue Barber explains how strategic thinking can be used by anyone, not just senior leaders. She shows how shifting from day-to-day execution to bigger-picture thinking helps you communicate impact, influence others, and build visibility for future opportunities. In this episode, Sue shares practical ways to sound and think more strategically at work, especially when you need to bring other teams along, explain risk, or get buy-in for a project. The focus is on moving beyond task management and learning to speak in terms of outcomes, business impact, and organizational value.   Key Takeaways Anyone can think strategically and use it to build visibility. Sue explains the difference between managing work and thinking about the business behind the work. Strategic thinking means zooming out to the big picture before getting into details. A real example from Sue’s career shows how building a team strategy pushed her out of her comfort zone and made her think bigger. Strategic ideas often require creativity, innovation, and multi-year planning. To be seen as strategic, leaders use language that highlights outcomes, impact, costs, and industry context. Sue shares how speaking in the language of other functions, like finance or supply chain, builds trust and makes your message clearer. She shows how business-minded communication helps others see you as a partner, not just someone from one function. Strategic thinking becomes more influential when you show you understand risks, dependencies, and cross-functional impact. The episode closes with a reminder that you do not need an executive title to start thinking and talking this way now.   Connect with Susan M. Barber If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who would benefit! You can connect with Susan M. Barber for coaching, leadership development, speaking engagements, and visibility strategy work focused on helping leaders become more influential, trusted, and impactful inside organizations. Check out my books, The Visibility Factor and Your Journey to Visibility Workbook! https://susanmbarber.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbarbercoaching/