I worked 24/7 thinking it would get me promoted. It did the opposite. Here's how slowing down made leadership finally notice me — and how you can do the same.

High performers are often the worst at one thing: rest. We wear busy like a badge of honor, convinced that constant productivity is the path to career growth. But here's what nobody tells you — career progression requires strategic thinking, vision, and influence. When you're buried in tasks, you have zero space for any of it.

In this episode, I share exactly how I went from working around the clock to creating the space that got me noticed as a leader no burnout, no career sacrifice.

🔑 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Rest is not laziness — it's a strategic career move

• Solo-tasking creates the focus that multitasking destroys

• Leaders notice people who think, not just people who do

• High performers need pursuits that aren't measured by output

💬 What's the one thing you feel guilty about when you stop working? Drop it in the comments — I read every one.

What's one "corporate game" rule you've learned the hard way?

🎯 Take the full Level Up Leadership Course: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-started-with-my-play-the-corporate-game-course

Kendall Berg is a career coach and creator, helping ambitious professionals master the unspoken rules of corporate life. Through Secrets of the Career Game, she shares honest conversations and practical tools to help you communicate clearly, lead confidently, and navigate work with strategy — not stress.

☕️ Want personalized career advice? Book a free 15-minute Coffee Chat with me — let's talk strategy, leadership, or your next move.
Book your Coffee Chat → https://calendly.com/thatcareercoach/15-min-follow-up

Want to know more about Kendal Berg, that career coach?

Follow her on Instagram: @thatcareercoach_

Check out her courses on the website: https://thatcareercoach.net/

Watch on YouTube:@thatcareercoach_

Kendall Berg and Katy Culver challenge the job title identity trap that keeps high performers tied to outdated roles, titles, and versions of success. If your career identity is built around overworking, control, weak boundaries, or proving your value through corporate achievement, professional growth starts to feel harder than it needs to. Katy explains how future self work and the "I'm the type of person who…" framework can create a real identity shift before your next big move. This episode is for anyone ready to separate who they are from what they do, make stronger career decisions, and grow into the career, business, and life they actually want.

What's one "corporate game" rule you've learned the hard way?

🎯 Take the full Level Up Leadership Course: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-started-with-my-play-the-corporate-game-course

Kendall Berg is a career coach and creator, helping ambitious professionals master the unspoken rules of corporate life. Through Secrets of the Career Game, she shares honest conversations and practical tools to help you communicate clearly, lead confidently, and navigate work with strategy — not stress.

☕️ Want personalized career advice? Book a free 15-minute Coffee Chat with me — let's talk strategy, leadership, or your next move.
Book your Coffee Chat → https://calendly.com/thatcareercoach/15-min-follow-up

Want to know more about Kendal Berg, that career coach?

Follow her on Instagram: @thatcareercoach_

Check out her courses on the website: https://thatcareercoach.net/

Watch on YouTube:@thatcareercoach_

Hard work alone won't get you promoted; here's what actually drives career progression.

If you've been overlooked, passed over, or stuck wondering why your boss keeps choosing someone else, this video breaks down the real rules of how to get promoted at work. Kendall Berg explains why your career is a game, and pretending the corporate rules don't exist only keeps you playing small.

You'll learn:

→ Why workplace visibility matters more than delivering more work

→ How to communicate your impact so leadership remembers you

→ The difference between having colleagues and having advocates

→ How difficult conversations change your career trajectory

→ What actually earns trust as a leader (beyond technical skill)

This is the career strategy shift you need before your next promotion cycle.

What's one "corporate game" rule you've learned the hard way?

🎯 Take the full Level Up Leadership Course: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-started-with-my-play-the-corporate-game-course

Kendall Berg is a career coach and creator, helping ambitious professionals master the unspoken rules of corporate life. Through Secrets of the Career Game, she shares honest conversations and practical tools to help you communicate clearly, lead confidently, and navigate work with strategy — not stress.

☕️ Want personalized career advice? Book a free 15-minute Coffee Chat with me — let's talk strategy, leadership, or your next move.
Book your Coffee Chat → https://calendly.com/thatcareercoach/15-min-follow-up

Want to know more about Kendal Berg, that career coach?

Follow her on Instagram: @thatcareercoach_

Check out her courses on the website: https://thatcareercoach.net/

Watch on YouTube:@thatcareercoach_

Sometimes the job is not the problem. The problem is that we let one role become our identity, our confidence, and our entire sense of security.

Henry Nelson-Case, who shares workplace and legal humor online as That Corporate Lawyer, joins me to talk about career confidence, workplace mental health, and why leaving a bad job can feel so terrifying. If you feel stuck, over-attached to your title, or afraid to advocate for yourself at work, this one is for you.

Inside this episode

• Why your job should not become your identity
• How to know when you have stayed too long
• Why being hired once means you can get hired again
• How to advocate for yourself before burnout hits
• Why a side hustle can create emotional freedom
• How leaders can better support junior employees

What's one "corporate game" rule you've learned the hard way?

🎯 Take the full Level Up Leadership Course: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-started-with-my-play-the-corporate-game-course

Kendall Berg is a career coach and creator, helping ambitious professionals master the unspoken rules of corporate life. Through Secrets of the Career Game, she shares honest conversations and practical tools to help you communicate clearly, lead confidently, and navigate work with strategy — not stress.

☕️ Want personalized career advice? Book a free 15-minute Coffee Chat with me — let's talk strategy, leadership, or your next move.
Book your Coffee Chat → https://calendly.com/thatcareercoach/15-min-follow-up

Want to know more about Kendal Berg, that career coach?

Follow her on Instagram: @thatcareercoach_

Check out her courses on the website: https://thatcareercoach.net/

Watch on YouTube:@thatcareercoach_

Most professionals think selling yourself at work means bragging. A career sales executive says that's exactly wrong. Kendall Berg sits down with her husband, David Berg, a sales executive with 13+ years at AT&T, to break down how to play the corporate game, build executive presence, and communicate your value without feeling fake.

In this episode:

• Why "selling yourself" is actually about listening, not talking

• The 9-box framework leaders use to evaluate you (and where you land)

• How to reverse-engineer a career conversation so it lands where you need it to

• Why storytelling builds more credibility than any credential

• The scariest career move David ever made — and why it paid off

This episode is for ambitious corporate professionals who want to get promoted, build leadership presence, and stop being the best-kept secret at work.

Play the Career Game On Your Terms: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/3-months-of-group-coaching

What's one "corporate game" rule you've learned the hard way?

Kendall Berg is a career coach and creator, helping ambitious professionals master the unspoken rules of corporate life. Through Secrets of the Career Game, she shares honest conversations and practical tools to help you communicate clearly, lead confidently, and navigate work with strategy — not stress.

☕️ Want personalized career advice? Book a free 15-minute Coffee Chat with me — let's talk strategy, leadership, or your next move.
Book your Coffee Chat → https://calendly.com/thatcareercoach/15-min-follow-up

Want to know more about Kendal Berg, that career coach?

Follow her on Instagram: @thatcareercoach_
Watch on YouTube:@thatcareercoach_

There is a very loud version of entrepreneurship online right now: quit the job, burn the safety net, go all in, and figure it out later. I get the appeal. I also think that advice can get expensive very quickly, especially when the business has not been validated yet.

Mike Shannon joins me to talk about the much messier, smarter side of starting a business. Mike has built multiple companies, appeared on Shark Tank, worked in AI, and wrote Sweaty Equity, a book about the unglamorous middle of entrepreneurship. His story is not the polished founder myth. It is Shark Tank one day, Chicago Bulls laundry room the next, then years of pivots, investor pressure, customer discovery, and learning how to actually build something that works.

If you are a corporate professional, side hustler, first-time founder, or future entrepreneur wondering whether you should quit your job to start a business, this conversation is your reality check. We talk about why keeping your day job can create runway, why "build the thing, sell the thing" matters more than startup hype, and how to use messy action without blowing up your career stability.

Inside this episode

• Why quitting your job too early can create unnecessary founder pressure

• How Mike Shannon went from Shark Tank with Mark Cuban to the Chicago Bulls laundry room

• Why business validation matters more than investor validation

• The simple startup framework: build the thing, sell the thing

• How customer discovery helps you avoid forcing the wrong idea into the market

• What Sweaty Equity reveals about the messy middle of entrepreneurship

What's one "corporate game" rule you've learned the hard way?

🎯 Take the full Level Up Leadership Course: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-started-with-my-play-the-corporate-game-course

Kendall Berg is a career coach and creator, helping ambitious professionals master the unspoken rules of corporate life. Through Secrets of the Career Game, she shares honest conversations and practical tools to help you communicate clearly, lead confidently, and navigate work with strategy — not stress.

☕️ Want personalized career advice? Book a free 15-minute Coffee Chat with me — let's talk strategy, leadership, or your next move.
Book your Coffee Chat → https://calendly.com/thatcareercoach/15-min-follow-up

Want to know more about Kendal Berg, that career coach?

Follow her on Instagram: @thatcareercoach_

Check out her courses on the website: https://thatcareercoach.net/

Watch on YouTube:@thatcareercoach_

About Mike Shannon

Prior to Impruve, Mike co-founded and served as CEO of Packback, which pioneered "instructional AI" for the compliance-heavy Higher Education market with a product suite that scales the teaching impact of PhD college professor clientele. Packback's software earned the trust of the 600 largest institutions and was named one of TIME's Most Innovative Companies in Education. Throughout 12 years, Mike led it from a scrappy startup to $20M in ARR, 100+ employees, and a $50M+ all-cash acquisition by a leading private equity group — earning recognition from Inc. 500, Fast Company, Forbes 30 Under 30, and the Chicago Innovation Awards along the way. But his path wasn't linear. After shaking Mark Cuban's hand on ABC's Shark Tank at a young age, Mike clocked in for his next shift folding towels as a "ball boy" in the Chicago Bulls locker room; a fun tale that culminated in Mike's comedic entrepreneurship memoir, Sweaty Equity: A Ball Boy, A Billionaire, and the Bonkers Startup Tale You've Never Heard, which Mark Cuban described as "a wildly entertaining story!"

Nowadays, Mike enjoys coaching Little League and spending time with his two young kids and wife. He co-hosts Momentum Mode, a podcast featuring private equity-backed CEOs, founders, & investors. He also serves on the board of national entrepreneurship education non-profit Future Founders, where he dedicates yearlong mentorship hours.- www.impruve.com/about

I will be the first to admit I am pretty good at managing my time. But here is the part nobody wants to say out loud: you still cannot do everything.

Every goal, every career move, every family priority, every business idea, and every "quick thing" on your calendar has a tradeoff. Productivity is not about cramming more into your day. It is about deciding what actually deserves your time — and having the structure and support to protect it.

I believe real-time management starts with identity, not your calendar. Who are you at your core? What do you actually believe about your life, your career, and your priorities? Once you know that, you can build a week that reflects your real goals instead of letting your schedule become a dumping ground for everyone else's urgency.

If you are a high achiever trying to balance work, family, career growth, and maybe one peaceful cup of coffee without multitasking through it, this one is for you.

In this episode:

• Why real time management starts with identity, not a better calendar

• How to clarify your priorities before you plan a single thing

• Why ambitious people still cannot do everything — and what to do instead

• How to build an ideal weekly calendar that protects what actually matters

• Why your productivity has a ceiling without a support system and a village

• How to grow your career without burning down the rest of your life

Play the Career Game On Your Terms: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/3-months-of-group-coaching

I know what it feels like to have a "productive" day that somehow leaves you completely disconnected from yourself. You made every meeting, answered every email, handled every priority, and then realized your own health never made it onto the calendar. That is the part of ambition we do not talk about enough.

Dr. Shannon Burge joined me on Secrets of the Career Game to talk about what happens when high-achieving women keep putting health, fitness, and self-care on the back burner until their body forces the conversation. Shannon spent 15 years in Fortune 500 executive leadership, earned her PhD, became an IFBB figure pro athlete, and now helps executives and professionals reclaim their wellness through mindset, nutrition, movement, and community.

This conversation is for the women who are excellent at showing up for everyone else, but keep canceling on themselves. If you are trying to grow your career, lead well, avoid burnout, and still feel like a person outside of your job, this one will hit.

Inside this episode

• Why high-achieving women often put health last
• How to treat your wellness like a real calendar priority
• Why self-care does not mean you are less committed at work
• The four wellness pillars Shannon uses with busy professionals
• How discipline at work can translate into better health habits
• Why fulfillment matters when you are redefining success

Play the Career Game On Your Terms: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/3-months-of-group-coaching

Connect with Dr. Shannon Burge:

Website: www.nodefeat.co

Instagram: @shannon_burge

Nonprofit: www.nodefeatwarrior.com