Burn the Map

Shelley McIntyre
  • 5.0 (15)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Weekly

Burn the Map is for people who have left corporate, or are close enough that the date feels real. Host Shelley McIntyre spent decades in corporate strategy before leaving to build something of her own. She knows what it takes to untangle your identity from a title you've outgrown, and what gets easier and harder on the other side. Bi-weekly episodes on the work that comes before the job search: who you are when the role is gone, what got deferred over a long career, and what it looks like to build something that actually fits.

  1. 4d ago

    50: A Look Back, a Step Forward

    Episode 50 of Burn the Map looks back at four themes from the first 49 episodes and then ever so slightly shifts the direction of the show. The first half covers the themes. The second half explains what the next ten episodes will be about. What you'll learn: Why leaving a job you hated can still bring months of grief, and what the job was giving you besides a paycheckHow the personality you built for one company's culture stops working at the next oneWhat Microsoft's offer of buyouts to about 60,000 people says about which direction loyalty has always flowedHow to find out what you're like at your best by asking the people who know you, and why believing their answer is the hard partWhy the show is moving away from doom and toward joy, and the one question to try before Episode 51: what is bringing you joy right now, and could you do 1% more of it in the next two weeks?Previous episodes related to today's themes:  Your Job Was More Than a Paycheck:  What GenX Professionals Should Build Before Leaving CorporateStaying on the Emotional PayrollAren't You Supposed to Be Resting?Your Work Personality Served a Purpose GenX Reinvention Begins When You Drop the TitleWhat You Left Off Your ResumeThe Layoffs Are by Design GenX and the Great Corporate EjectionWhy GenX Thrives in UncertaintyTake the Package?Figuring Out Who You Are After Corporate How to Leave WellNobody Knows What You Did Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own. Work with Shelley: Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge Reinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley Free Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/ Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question: https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/ Let's connect: LinkedIn

    50: A Look Back, a Step Forward

  2. Oct 20

    49: You May Have To Change Careers

    A corporate layoff used to mean finding the same job somewhere else. For a lot of niche roles right now, that job doesn't exist anywhere else. This episode walks through why, and what's actually open to you once it doesn't. What you'll learn: Why AI-driven layoffs are flooding the job market and slowing down every searchThe normalcy bias, and a 2020 motorcycle rally that shows exactly how it worksWhat casting a wide net for your next career actually includes — consulting, portfolio work, retrainingWhy consulting back to your old employer can work, and where it hits a ceilingThe projection bias that convinces burned-out professionals every new company will feel exactly like the one they're leavingFor anyone whose corporate exit turned involuntary, and who's staring down a job market that doesn't look like the one they left. Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own. Work with Shelley: Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge Reinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley Free Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/ Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question: https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/ Let's connect: LinkedIn

    49: You May Have To Change Careers

  3. Oct 6

    48: Aren't You Supposed to Be Resting?

    Your job didn't just give you a paycheck. It gave you a reason to show up somewhere at the same time every day, even on the days you couldn't stand it. This episode is about what happens when that structure disappears overnight, and why an open calendar is harder to live in than it sounds. What you'll learn: Why the routine you resented was quietly doing more for you than you realizedWhy losing that structure disorients you the same way it disorients a toddler off their nap scheduleWhy an open-ended to-do list can produce more doomscrolling than an actual work day didWhy you might still feel compelled to justify your time to the people around you, even though no one's askingOne small, sustainable way to build back just enough structure — without turning your recovery into a second jobIf you've ever had an adrenaline spike over a meeting that no longer exists, tune in. Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own. Work with Shelley: Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge Reinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley Free Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/ Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question: https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/ Let's connect: LinkedIn

    48: Aren't You Supposed to Be Resting?

  4. Sep 22

    47: Nobody Knows What You Did

    Your title worked as shorthand for years. Inside the building, everyone knew what it meant. Outside it, that shorthand stops working overnight. This episode is about what's actually left once the title's gone. What you'll learn: Why the status you had at work was never really yours to keepWhat gets lost at the same time as the job: identity, social status, the ability to be understood at a glanceWhy leaving is where the hiding ends, and what that exposure actually feels likeWhat you're afraid of when you can't explain yourself in five words to a strangerWhat actually travels with you once the title doesn't. It isn't what you thinkIf you've caught yourself fumbling an introduction since you left, this one is for you. Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own. Work with Shelley: Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge Reinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley Free Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/ Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question: https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/ Let's connect: LinkedIn

    47: Nobody Knows What You Did

  5. Sep 8

    46: What You Left Off Your Resume

    The resume editing is just the surface. Behind the polished gaps and sabbatical euphemisms is a much longer editing project: one that's been running your personality for years. This episode is about what that cost, and what's still in there underneath it. What you'll learn: What the things you left off your resume reveal about what corporate asked you to hideHow the adaptive personality develops, and why numbing yourself to moral injury was a rational response to an irrational systemWhy the corporate version of you is made of borrowed traits, not character flawsWhat it actually takes to drop the persona, and why the grief of doing so is realTwo paths forward, and what makes each one a legitimate choiceIf you've looked in the mirror lately and not quite recognized the person looking back, this one is for you. Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own. Work with Shelley: Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge Reinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley Free Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/ Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question: https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/ Let's connect: LinkedIn

    46: What You Left Off Your Resume

  6. Aug 25

    45: Change Is a Magnet

    End of summer tends to concentrate change. Kids leaving, job searches ramping up, early retirement decisions. These feel enormous on the inside and invisible to everyone else. And then other changes start piling in. What you'll learn: Why big internal changes attract more change, and the need for visible proof that something is differentThe difference between additive changes that are overdue and generative, and the ones that feel a little panickedWhy visible changes and good conversations with friends both fall short of the acknowledgment you're looking forWhat you're really seeking when you show up one day with new hair or a taiko drumHow to tell whether an additive change is moving you toward something joyful or away from something painful before you cut your own bangs at 11pmIf you're in the middle of a big transition and other changes keep piling in, this episode will help you make sense of it. Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own. Work with Shelley: Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge Reinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley Free Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/ Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question: https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/ Let's connect: LinkedIn

    45: Change Is a Magnet

  7. Aug 11

    44: Why You're Not Doing the Thing

    Not doing something isn't the same as not wanting it. Most of us live in the murky middle (wanting to leave the job, speak up, follow through) and just not doing it. This episode is about figuring out why. There are two categories of not-doing, and they require completely different responses. What you'll learn: Why the gap between intention and action is sometimes environmental and sometimes something much deeperHow habit stacking works for logistical not-doing — and where it breaks downWhat Bob Kegan and Lisa Lahey's Immunity to Change framework reveals about why you keep doing the opposite of what you say you wantHow to identify the competing commitments and big assumptions that are keeping you exactly where you areWhy your resistance to change is probably more rational than you've been giving it credit forIf you keep saying you want to do something and keep not doing it, tune in. Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own. Work with Shelley: Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge Reinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley Free Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/ Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question: https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/ Let's connect: LinkedIn

    44: Why You're Not Doing the Thing

  8. Jul 28

    43: Did You Do Enough?

    Between layoffs and early retirement packages, a lot of people in midlife are on the other side of a long corporate career, and running an internal audit that isn't returning comfortable results. This episode is about who's actually keeping score, and whether they earned that job. What you'll learn: Why the grief of abandoning a goal you never worked toward is real and has a nameHow the metrics you measured your career against were probably borrowed from someone else without examinationWhat rumination actually costs; not just time, but the present moment itselfWhy the change that matters now is one of orientation, not identityThe one career audit worth running: what you're good at that you actually like doingIf you're on the other side of a long career and the internal verdict is harsher than you expected, this episode is for you. Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own. Work with Shelley: Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge Reinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley Free Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/ Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question: https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/ Let's connect: LinkedIn

    43: Did You Do Enough?
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About

Burn the Map is for people who have left corporate, or are close enough that the date feels real. Host Shelley McIntyre spent decades in corporate strategy before leaving to build something of her own. She knows what it takes to untangle your identity from a title you've outgrown, and what gets easier and harder on the other side. Bi-weekly episodes on the work that comes before the job search: who you are when the role is gone, what got deferred over a long career, and what it looks like to build something that actually fits.

Information

  • Creator
    Shelley McIntyre
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    51
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Burn the Map Coaching, LLC
  • Show Website
    Burn the Map

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