Career Espresso

Amanda Owen-Meehan
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Career Espresso gives you a weekly shot of career and leadership know-how in under 15 minutes. I’m Amanda, and each week I share real stories and practical ideas to help you handle the challenges of work. from dealing with tricky bosses to building confidence as a leader. These short, straight-talking episodes are designed to give you something useful you can try for yourself and with your team. No fluff, no jargon — just honest conversations about how we work, lead and grow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 1D AGO

    Episode 114 - When what worked early in your career stops working

    When what worked early in your career stops working You learned something early on in your career. How to read a room, when to speak and when to stay quiet. What got you noticed in the right way and what got you into trouble. Those instincts kept you safe. They probably got you promoted. And at some point, without anyone telling you, they stopped working. This episode of Career Espresso is about what happens when early career survival strategies become senior career obstacles and how to tell the difference between a pattern that's still protecting you and one that's just holding you back. What you'll discover Why the things that made you successful early on can quietly become your biggest career ceilingThe reason "just be more confident" is useless advice and what to do insteadHow to spot whether you're being strategically cautious or running on an outdated rule from a job you left years agoWhy over-preparation stops being thoroughness and starts being avoidance at a certain levelA practical way to trace exactly where your holding-back patterns come fromThe gap between how you see yourself and how others experience you, and why it's usually kinder than you expect Perfect for women who know they're holding back but can't quite put their finger on why. Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for honest conversations and practical help from women who get it. Never miss an episode. Sign up for the weekly Espresso Brief email and get subscriber-only resources you won't find anywhere else. Get the full episode transcript Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    12 min

  2. APR 1

    Episode 113 - You can't think straight if you never stop to think

    You can't think straight if you never stop to think You've had the same conversation with yourself more times than you can count. Not yet. When this project's done. When things quieten down. And somewhere in the middle of all the meetings and the messages and the situations only you can sort out, there are questions waiting. About your career direction, about something in your leadership that isn't sitting right, about a decision you've been avoiding and you keep not getting to them. Not because they don't matter. Because there's always something more visible, more urgent, more legible competing for the same time. This episode of Career Espresso is about what it actually costs you when thinking never gets space, and what changes when you decide to treat it as seriously as any other part of your work. What you'll discover Why busyness stops being a temporary state and starts being the permanent defaultWhy women often feel they don't have permission to step away from visible, productive outputThe difference between processing your work and genuinely thinking about itWhat happens to your decisions, your direction, and your sense of purpose when reflection never gets roomWhat a realistic, protected thinking practice actually looks like without overhauling your weekWhy the quality of your decisions is directly linked to whether you give yourself time to think them through Perfect for women leaders who know there are bigger questions waiting, and keep running out of week before they can get to them. Want more on the real challenges of leadership? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides, practical tools, and monthly live Q&As for women navigating management. Never miss an episode. Sign up for the Espresso Brief, the weekly email that comes with a subscriber-only resource you can use straight away. Get the full episode transcript Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    14 min

  3. MAR 25

    Episode 112 - How to build influence before you need it

    There's a particular kind of career frustration that's hard to name. You're doing your job well. You're prepared, present, and contributing. But the conversations that shape what actually happens in your area keep happening without you. You find out about things after the fact. Your input arrives too late to matter. And you can't quite put your finger on why, because your work is solid. This episode of Career Espresso is about the gap between working hard and actually having influence over what happens, and why closing that gap takes something most career advice never mentions. What you'll discover Why strong performance can leave you surprisingly powerless in a changing organisationThe specific relationship layer that women are most likely to have missed buildingWhere real influence gets formed, and why the formal channels rarely tell the whole storyWhat happens to informal networks when organisations restructure or new leaders arriveThe practical steps that change your position, before you find yourself needing to change it urgently Perfect for women who are performing well but feel like their influence over what actually happens is smaller than their role and contribution deserve. New episode every Wednesday morning. Subscribe to Career Espresso wherever you listen to your podcasts. Want more practical help with the real challenges of leadership? Join How to Build a Leader on Substack Get the weekly Espresso Brief email, plus exclusive subscriber resources like this week's Influence Audit Read the full transcript for this episode Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    13 min

  4. MAR 18

    Episode 111- When you're quietly doing your manager's job as well as your own

    You're in a meeting and someone asks a question that should go to your manager. But they look at you. Because you're the one who's been answering those questions for months now. You're the one who's across the detail. You're the one keeping things moving while something above you isn't working the way it should. Nobody gave you a new job title. Nobody adjusted your pay. It just crept in, gradually, until one day you realised you're doing two jobs and being evaluated on one. This episode of Career Espresso is about what happens when your role quietly expands into your manager's territory, and why the standard advice about it rarely helps. What you'll discover Why organisations are so good at making temporary arrangements permanent when someone's covering wellThe specific way this plays out differently for women and why stepping back can feel genuinely riskyWhat "see it as a development opportunity" is really asking you to doHow to separate the work that's building your career from the work that's just filling a gapThe conversations that move things forward and the ones that keep you stuckPerfect for women leaders who are holding things together above their pay grade and wondering how long they can keep going. Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and scripts. Never miss an episode. Sign up for the weekly Espresso Brief email and get each episode with quick takeaways and subscriber-only resources in your inbox. Get the full episode transcript Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min

  5. MAR 11

    Episode 110 - How to stop justifying every boundary you set at work

    How to stop justifying every boundary you set at work You said no to something last week. Or you tried to. What came out was closer to a small essay explaining why you couldn't, what else you had on, how sorry you were, and an offer to maybe look at it later. You walked away feeling like you'd run a negotiation when all you wanted to do was protect your time. This episode of Career Espresso is about why women over-explain their boundaries at work, and what it looks like when you stop. What you'll discover Why the lengthy justification isn't a confidence problem, and what you're actually trying to prevent every time you add another sentenceHow explaining your no in detail hands the other person exactly what they need to talk you out of itThe difference between a boundary that holds and one that opens a door you didn't mean to openWhat to do when someone keeps pushing after you've already been clearHow to recognise scope creep, last-minute requests, and unnecessary meetings before they quietly eat your weekWhy your emails are the place to start noticing the pattern Perfect for women who know where their limits are but keep exhausting themselves trying to make other people comfortable with them. Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and scripts. Never miss an episode. Sign up for the weekly Espresso Brief email and get each episode with quick takeaways in your inbox. Get the full episode transcript Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    13 min

  6. MAR 4

    Episode 109 - When "just speak up in meetings" isn't the answer

    You're speaking up. That's the frustrating part. You prepare, you contribute, you make your point clearly. And somehow it still doesn't land. Someone talks over you. Your idea gets a lukewarm response. Then someone else says it five minutes later and suddenly it's the strategy. And the advice you keep getting? Be more confident. Project your voice. Take up space. As if the problem is how you're delivering the message rather than who the room has decided to listen to. This episode of Career Espresso is about what's really going on when your contributions keep getting overlooked and what actually helps when confidence was never the problem. What you'll discover Why the "just be bolder" advice makes things worse when the room is already set up to hear certain voices over othersWhat's behind that slow retreat from contributing - and why going quiet is a rational response, not a personality flawThe small timing shift that changes how people experience your presence in a meeting before the usual dynamics kick inWhy one conversation before the meeting can do more than any amount of assertiveness in the momentWhat to do when you've tried everything and the problem is how the meeting runs, not how you show up in it Perfect for women who are sick of being told to speak up louder when they've been speaking up all along. Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and scripts. Never miss an episode. Sign up for the weekly Espresso Brief email and get each episode with quick takeaways in your inbox. Get the full episode transcript. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    16 min

  7. FEB 25

    Episode 108 - Building career options before you need them

    Everything's fine at work. Not exciting, but fine. You're getting on with it, you know what you're doing, and there's enough going on that you haven't had time to think about much else. Then the restructure gets announced. Or your manager leaves. Or your role is suddenly "under review." And you're scramblin. Updating a CV you haven't touched in three years, reaching out to people you've barely spoken to, making decisions from panic instead of from a position of choice. This episode of Career Espresso is about building career options before you're in that situation. Not a constant side hustle of networking and CV polishing. A quiet, deliberate approach that means if something shifts, you're never starting from nothing. What you'll discover Why the usual advice including networking constantly and always be looking, creates exhaustion before you've even started, and what actually works insteadThe specific dynamic that keeps women in roles and organisations longer than is good for them, and why thinking about your options doesn't make you disloyalThree types of leverage that give you real career options and why you probably have more of them than you realiseWhat to actually do with your network if traditional networking makes you want to run in the opposite directionWhy understanding your market value matters even if you're not going anywhere and how it changes how you show up every day. Perfect for women who want to feel like they have real choices at work, not just a job they're grateful to have. Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and scripts. Never miss an episode. Sign up for the weekly Espresso Brief email and get each episode with quick takeaways in your inbox. Get the full episode transcript Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min

  8. FEB 18

    Episode 107 - How to be direct at work without the three-paragraph explanation

    How to be direct at work without the three-paragraph explanation You know what you want to say. That's not the problem. The problem is what happens between your head and the page. By the time it's written, or said, there's a disclaimer at the start, a softener in the middle, and another one at the end just to be safe. And somewhere in all of that, the actual point got lost. This episode of Career Espresso is about why this happens and what you can do differently, without sounding cold, blunt, or difficult. What you'll discover Why over-explaining isn't a bad habit, it's a response to a real pattern women experience at work.The filler words most people don't notice they're using, and what they signal to the people reading and listeningA simple way to structure what you need to say so the point lands first and the context actually helpsWhy you're probably anticipating a reaction that hasn't happened yet. And how that shapes everything before you've even started Perfect for anyone who knows what they need to say but keeps finding ways to bury it. Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and scripts. Never miss an episode. Sign up for the weekly Espresso Brief email and get each episode with quick takeaways in your inbox. Get the full episode transcript Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    12 min
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About

Career Espresso gives you a weekly shot of career and leadership know-how in under 15 minutes. I’m Amanda, and each week I share real stories and practical ideas to help you handle the challenges of work. from dealing with tricky bosses to building confidence as a leader. These short, straight-talking episodes are designed to give you something useful you can try for yourself and with your team. No fluff, no jargon — just honest conversations about how we work, lead and grow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Amanda Owen-Meehan
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    123
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2023 Career Espresso
  • Show Website
    Career Espresso