183: He lost his job over an Amazon review: how a Promotion Coalition protects your career

What does moving to California with no house, no plan, and 80% of your belongings in a donation pile have to do with your career as a physician woman? Everything. I just survived one of the hardest transitions of my life — selling in Colorado, landing in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country, and getting the house anyway. And every single lesson I learned applies directly to your job. These aren't soft lessons. They're the exact moves that work when the path isn't visible yet, the market isn't cooperating, and waiting is no longer a strategy. If your job isn't working and you're done hoping something changes on its own — this episode is your starting point. Inside this episode: The $3M decision I made in under an hour — and why your next conversation with your chair requires the same move What eight rejected offers taught me about the decade of data sitting in your employment contract right now The moment I stopped spinning at 2am and started winning — and how to find that moment in your job Why the most powerful thing I did wasn't fight harder — it was know exactly when to stop The one belief I repeated on every flight, every rejected offer, every hard day — and why it's the only mindset that gets you to part-time hours If you are in a season that is asking more of you than you expected — this episode is for you.  Next Level Freedom is where we do that work. Part-time hours. Full-time doctor salary. In under 90 days. Most women see results in the very first call. Join us this week by booking your free sales call here now.https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c You are moving towards better. Way better. — Christina PS. Forward this to the women physicians in your life who need to hear it. And if the podcast has been useful to you — a rating and review means everything. It takes two minutes and it helps us reach more listeners just like you. PPS. If you are ready to stop waiting and start moving — Next Level Freedom is where we do this work. Join today. The only women physician community focused on getting you part-time hours at full-time doctor pay. Lifetime access. One-time investment of $2500. Join us this week by scheduling your free sales call now: https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920  

Early in my career, a very senior woman in my field decided she didn't like me, even though we had never spoken. She rejected every paper with my name on it. She openly challenged every leadership nomination. At one point, she told me she was going to destroy my career. She didn't. Because I had a Promotion Coalition. In last week’s episode, I taught you how to build a Promotion Coalition (make sure you check it out!).  In this week’s episode, I teach how to keep your Promotion Coalition from falling apart. Inside this episode, here’s what you get: What to do when someone isn’t pulling their weight How to handle jealousy to create even more advocates When jealousy turns into sabotage — and exactly how to shut it down Ready to build your Promotion Coalition? Join Next Level Freedom today. We are your Promotion Coalition! — weekly group coaching, lifetime access, and a framework that gets women physicians promoted early while working less. One-time investment: $2,500. Your $100k raise we help you get will more than cover it!  Weekly group coaching. Lifetime access. Book your free call here. https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920   Reply and tell me everything! Christina   P.S. Would you please forward this to your besties? Then rate and review the podcast — it helps me know what you love AND gets this into the hands of more women physicians who need it. Thank you!

One senior male physician left a scathing anonymous Amazon review on one of my books. He called us authors "the mafia," trying to tank our sales, publicly humiliate us. I was horrified. Humiliated. Embarrassed.  I didn't go looking for a fight. I didn’t have to. I had a Promotion Coalition — women physicians looking out for me in rooms I wasn't even in.  Because he didn't have a Promotion Coalition, his career at that prestigious center was over. The review was traced back to his personal computer. He ultimately lost his job. Here's what I know for sure after years in medicine: this field is full of ego, bad leadership, and people who will absolutely threaten your schedule, bonus, office, and job without blinking. We've all watched physician careers disappear overnight. A Promotion Coalition is how you make sure yours doesn't. It doesn't matter if you're in academics, community practice, private practice, or industry. It doesn’t matter if you don’t care about promotion or you’re already promoted. Every woman physician needs one. This episode shows you exactly how to build yours — including: How it zooms your career ahead 10 years while getting you home more How to put your promotion on autopilot — while you're on service, your coalition is moving everyone's careers forward Who to recruit to make it bulletproof — and how to lead it so nobody can take it down with one anonymous Amazon review Ready to build yours? Join Next Level Freedom, we become your Promotion Coalition — weekly group coaching, lifetime access, and a framework that gets women physicians promoted early while working less. One-time investment: $2,500. Your $100k raise we help you get will more than cover it!  Weekly group coaching. Lifetime access. Book your free call here. https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920   Reply and tell me everything! Christina   P.S. Would you please forward this to your besties? Then rate and review the podcast — it helps me know what you love AND gets this into the hands of more women physicians who need it. Thank you!

I walked into my first annual review nervous as hell. My chair looked me dead in the eye and said: "The point of this annual review is to make you feel bad so you work harder." Gulp. I wanted to ask for schedule support. I never got a word in. She talked for the next 60 minutes about her vacation home in Hocking Hills. I never let that happen again. This episode will give you everything you need to use your one hour Annual Review to leap frog your career by 5 years.  What’s inside: 🩺The 3-steps to guarantee you have time to make your asks when your Chair doesn’t want to hear it 🩺The perfect number of asks to make, what to ask for, and exactly how to say it 🩺Why you always want your Chair to speak first- and how to use it to your advantage! 🩺What to do if you have no formal annual review — and why waiting twelve months between conversations with your chair is quietly costing you years.   This one hour meeting handled correctly can deliver MILLIONS of dollars over your career…. …If you have the trauma-informed physician coaching skills required to lead the meeting. This episode includes everything you need for your next $100k raise. Want support for your next Annual review?Join Next Level Freedom today! One-time investment of $2,500 (the $100k raise we help you get will more than cover it). Weekly group coaching. Lifetime access. Book your free call here. https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920   Reply back and tell me everything!! Christina   PS. Will you please do me a favor? Forward this email to all your besties. And then Rate and Review this podcast episode– it helps tell me what you love AND helps our podcast reach more listeners just like you. Thank you!!!  

I thought I was a lock for promotion. Most papers in my department. Elected President of an international society. Twice. Highest RVUs. Leading ALL of the med school lectures. Fastest turnaround. Books. When I asked my Chair about promotion, I was stunned when she said: "Not happening. You haven't done anything we care about." I spent years using the wrong rulebook. That conversation cost me years and LOTS of money, status, and perks. Here's what most physicians don't realize: Waiting 5-10 years for promotion is the slowest way to get part-time hours with full-time doctor pay. Early promotion gets you the money, schedule, and perks NOW—without sacrificing another dinner, bedtime, or soccer game. The difference? Knowing how to coach your boss to rewrite the promotion rules in your favor. This week's podcast episode is everything I wish I had known before that meeting. Here's what's inside: 💰 The one interview question worth $1 Million Dollars—and almost no one asks it 💰 How to get promotion criteria without offending your Chair (exact script included) 💰 How to coach your boss to give you the money, schedule, and perks of promotion without waiting for the title Inside Next Level Freedom, I teach overworked physician women how to coach their boss to achieve part-time hours with full-time doctor salary in under 90 days. Most clients see results in the very first call.  One-time investment of $2,500. Weekly group coaching. Lifetime access. Join right now. Book your free call HERE: https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920   Reply back and tell me everything, Christina P.S. We just made it even easier to join Next Level Freedom at no cost to you. Attached is our brand new institutional funding guide. Submit this to your chair or business manager today and join Next Level Freedom tomorrow. Our next call is just a few days away.

You give notice. You've thought about it for months—maybe years. You finally do it. Two days later, your chair calls a meeting. Suddenly there's money on the table. A new title. The schedule you begged for last year. All the things they said were impossible—the part-time hours, the pay bump, the flexible call schedule—suddenly exist the moment you try to leave. Here's what I know after coaching hundreds of physician women through this exact situation: counteroffers don't just happen TO you. You create them. And you control what happens next. In this week's podcast, I break down exactly how to create a pro-athlete level counteroffer AND how to make the smartest move for your career and life. Inside the episode: 🎯 The Silent Chair Strategy: How to create a counteroffer even when leadership goes radio-silent after you resign 🔥 The Stay-or-Go Test: The one question that instantly tells you whether to accept the counteroffer or walk away (hint: it's not about the money) 💰 Why the part-time schedule and pay raise you asked for last year suddenly appears 48 hours after you resign—and what this tells you about your next move ⚡ What to tell your colleagues when you change your mind and decide to stay Whether you stay and upgrade your job or leave for something better, your career gets better no matter what. Whether you're putting in your 90-day notice or just thinking about it, THIS is exactly the work we do inside Next Level Freedom. We coach you through creating counteroffers, evaluating better job opportunities, and coaching your boss to change your current role—all so you can work part-time hours at full-time pay in under 90 days. Weekly group coaching. Lifetime access. One-time investment of $2,500. Book your free sales call this week HERE.    Reply back to tell me everything! Christina P.S. One of my clients gave her 90-day notice last month. Her chair countered with permission for my client to write her own schedule, a $40k raise, and more PTO. Join us Today! https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920 P.P.S. Will you do me a favor? Forward this to your besties—and rate and review the podcast episode. It helps me know what you love and helps us reach more listeners just like you. Thank you!

After I turned in my resignation, things got weird. Worse. And Petty. People I had worked with for years stopped talking to me. People came to my office to ask for my books, lamps, and decorations. It felt like I was attending my own professional funeral while still showing up to work every day. One colleague finally said it out loud: You get to leave. We have to stay and protect ourselves. I got it. She was right.  Our Chair had a retention strategy and we all knew it: if she wanted you to stay, she’d call your next job and give a terrible review to block your ability to move.  It didn’t work for me because I maintained a large network of people outside of my home institution. I simply explained this to my new Chair and she totally got it. I didn’t even need a single letter of recommendation.  They weren't abandoning me. They were surviving inside a system that punishes people for being associated with someone on the way out. If you've already turned in your notice — or you're about to — this week's episode is for you. Here’s what’s inside: Why your Chair's loyalty shifts the second you submit notice — and exactly which benefits, bonuses, and travel funds to lock in before you sign anything 10 Survival Sprints to run during your 90-day notice period so you arrive at your new job energized How to handle colleagues who ice you out  The letter you need to write yourself today before the environment starts messing with your head The 90 days after notice are temporary. The clock is running and it is on your side. Reply and tell me everything! Christina   PS. Ready to make your exit on your terms? Join Next Level Freedom today! One-time investment of $2,500 (the $100k raise we help you get will more than cover it). Weekly group coaching. Lifetime access. Book your free call here. https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920   PPS. Will you please do me a favor? Forward this email to all your besties. And then Rate and Review this podcast episode– it helps tell me what you love AND helps our podcast reach more listeners just like you. Thank you!!!

Big mistake. HUGE mistake. Let me share it with you so you never make it: I told my chair I was exploring other job options. My intent was to be transparent and respectful.  I didn’t realize she would use it against me. Once she knew I was looking to leave, she created a new departmental policy that required 120 leave notice. She buried it inside my annual review and pressured me to sign. No announcement, no email notification, no discussion at faculty meeting announcing a new policy change. Just, “sign here ASAP or you’ll lose your bonus.” When I resigned, I was told: You can’t leave. You owe 120 days. You signed the document. And PS– Your PTO is frozen. CME is frozen. Return the laptop. The books. The atlases. Everything you purchased over the last 8 years. That was the last time I ever put my Chair above my own needs. This week's episode is the guide I wish I'd had. Everything you need to do before you tell a single soul you're leaving. Inside: The moves you need to make to protect your money, your PTO, and your options before your Chair has any idea you're interviewing Why you don’t need your Chair’s letter of recommendation— and exactly who to ask instead What actually happens the moment you submit notice (and how to not be blindsided by it) The institutional scare stories designed to keep you in your place— “a gap in experience is career suicide,” “once you leave Academics you can never return,” “you need a letter from your chair”— and why none of it holds up in the real world Your chair will not protect your family, your career, or your money. But this episode will.   Reply back to tell me everything!, xoxo, Christina   PS. Will you please do me a favor? Forward this email to all your besties. And then Rate and Review this podcast episode– it helps tell me what you love AND helps our podcast reach more listeners just like you. Thank you!!!   PPS. Thinking about turning in your 90 day notice? Join Next Level Freedom today. We are the only women physician coaching community focused on getting you paid top dollar on part-time hours. This program includes LIFETIME access to weekly group coaching calls, curriculum, private podcast for on-the-go listening, community, bonus trainings and guest speakers, and so much more. The investment is a one-time payment of $2500. Join us THIS WEEK by booking your free sales call here: https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920  

If you've ever dreaded a faculty meeting, a hard conversation, or an annual review — this episode is for you. Conflict-Free Leadership for Women Physicians covers the next-level coaching skills that get you top pay, a better schedule, and a workplace where you are genuinely respected. Here's what’s actually happening inside the hospital: We weren’t given leadership skills. Neither were our bosses.  We go to meetings full of reactive people who have an agenda to promote. Hard conversations. Pressure. Bullying.  This episode changes that. It’s a masterclass on how to be an ICONIC leader as a woman physician.  Even without a title. Even if you’re the latest hire. Even if you’re just back from maternity leave. When you have these skills, here’s what changes about your job: 📌No more dreading faculty meeting- you’ll know how to lead the conversation instead 📌Impossible colleagues become collaborative 📌Raises and schedule changes become strategic instead of emotional Here’s what’s inside the episode: 🔥 The Right Answer / Wrong Answer framework that instantly lowers conflict 🔥 The 90-day testing strategy that shuts down skepticism without escalating tension 🔥 15 Drama-Free Leadership Sprints you can implement this week These are the skills that make us iconic. We become deeply respected — whether we’re promoted or not.  We get prioritized on the schedule. We get the office space. We get the compensation that reflects our contribution. Leadership stops feeling like survival. Work starts working. Will you please do me a favor? Forward this email to all your besties. And then Rate and Review this podcast episode– it helps tell me what you love AND helps our podcast reach more listeners just like you. Thank you!!!   Reply back to tell me everything!, xoxo, Christina   P.S. Ready to become an ICONIC leader as a woman physician? Join Next Level Freedom today. We are the only women physician coaching community focused on getting you paid top dollar on part-time hours. This program includes LIFETIME access to weekly group coaching calls, curriculum, private podcast for on-the-go listening, community, bonus trainings and guest speakers, and so much more. The investment is a one-time payment of $2500. Join us THIS WEEK by booking your free sales call here: https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920 #WomenPhysicians #DramaFreeLeadership #WomenInMedicine #ICONICLeadership #NextLevelFreedom  

The clinical work is the easiest part of our job. Diagnosing. Operating. Making decisions. We were trained for that. The hard part is everything else. The politics. The passive-aggressive emails with 27 people CC'd. The faculty meeting tension. The unfair schedule nobody will talk about. The worst part is that the conflict follows us home. It wakes up up at 3 a.m. We think about it in the shower. We are rehashing old emails in our head instead of listening to our kids tell us about their day. Conflict makes an already hard job feel impossible. In this week’s podcast, we’re getting everything we need to eliminate conflict at our workplace. Forever. Here’s what’s inside: The No-Conflict Method — the leadership tool no one is teaching, because no one else has it The Dreams-to-Things Conversion — how to turn job frustrations into specific, winnable moves that get you respected, valued, and fairly treated at work The 3-Step No-Conflict Formula — how to lead and win, even without a title, even fresh out of fellowship, even if your boss doesn't like you The Marriage Translation — how the same method eliminates conflict at home and gives you the connection you actually want We DON’T need thicker skin. We’ve NEVER been difficult. We are NOT trouble-makers. We just need the No-Conflict Method. Make your physician job BETTER today. Will you please do me a favor? Forward this email to all your besties. And then Rate and Review this podcast episode– it helps tell me what you love AND helps our podcast reach more listeners just like you. Thank you!!!   Reply back to tell me everything!, xoxo, Christina   P.S. Ready to have a NO CONFLICT workplace, marriage, and homelife FOREVER??? Join Next Level Freedom today. We are the only women physician coaching community focused on getting you paid top dollar on part-time hours. This program includes LIFETIME access to weekly group coaching calls, curriculum, private podcast for on-the-go listening, community, bonus trainings and guest speakers, and so much more. The investment is a one-time payment of $2500. Join us THIS WEEK by booking your free sales call here: https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/bd3b6a3c/appointment/33598962/calendar/5849920   #WomenPhysicians #PhysicianLeadership #NoConflictWorkplace #NextLevelFreedom #TIPCT