What’s on my mind? See these 5 LinkedIn posts from 2024
My LinkedIn space is where I regularly write about ideas I’ve learned when it comes to designing healthier workplace cultures, leadership development challenges and diversity, equity and inclusion work.
It’s a thought leadership place for me, and it’s how I feel I can contribute to broader conversations.
So here’s my own LinkedIn Wrapped for 2024! These are some of my favorite posts, and gathering them here also helps me to remember what I learned, too.
May 2025 teach me even more!
1. On imposter syndrome
Dealing with imposter syndrome routinely comes up at training sessions.
Here's what it sounds like: Do I deserve this promotion? Do I know enough to do this job? Why would someone listen to me? I'm only XXX old, what do I know? "It was nothing," when someone compliments you.
Billionaire entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran wrote on LinkedIn that she saw her imposter syndrome as a strength because people who feel like imposters often put in the work to overcome their perceived weaknesses.
In other words: People who feel like imposters are stronger than they think.
I believe this! Here are a few things you can do to overcome imposterism:
💪 See it as a strength! What have you achieved because of your imposter syndrome?
😊 When people compliment you – for things big and small – pause and thank them. And don't feel compelled to return a compliment in the moment! Just receive the appreciation.
📝 Record your wins. I used to save lovely reader emails in a "kudos" folder.
🗣 Get feedback about something you're feeling unsure about. Talk through your questions and uncertainties.
👥 Remember you're not alone in feeling this way! And if other people can manage through it, so can you!
2. On wealth inequity and changing systems
In the afterword of Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans made the Black-White Wealth Gap, Ebony Reed and Louise Story share five insightful suggestions when it comes to creating more equitable policies around wealth:
1. Support more transparency into the wealth distribution in our country.
2. Ask who benefits from new government or company policies.
3. Pay attention to conversations around risk and pricing.
4. When someone says they want to close a wealth gap, ask “For which people?”
5. Be open to change.
These ideas resonated with me not only for wealth policy, but also for workplace systems.
For example: When it comes your hiring practices, do you know where job listings are posted and how applicants are screened? Who benefits the most from your current practices, and who benefits the least? What about your vacation policies or onboarding system for new hires?
Changing systems cannot start unless you’re asking the right questions.
3. On being an optimist
Are you an optimist by nature (like me)? Are you feeling conflicted with all the heavy news these days?
If you’re finding it hard to balance your realism with your optimism, I made this message for you.
I’m paraphrasing a quote that speaks to me when I’m wavering:
𝙄𝙛 𝙄’𝙢 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚.
𝙄𝙛 𝙄’𝙢 𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.
My optimism is me trying to live my life right by me.
It doesn’t mean I’m denying reality, it means I’m being true to my nature.
It also doesn’t mean I’m right and someone else is wrong. It just means I’m choosing this path.
The more we understand ourselves and each other, the better we will be as a whole.
4. On Raising Cane’s
I was fascinated by a story about Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, and not because it's ridiculously profitable — "the brand has experienced 62 straight quarters of positive same-store sales (if you’re doing the math, that’s 15 and a half years)" — but because it invests in and wants to hear from its employees.
The company has an initiative to help store managers become operators at company-owned locations. From the story: "Employees who successfully come through the program have an opportunity to achieve a net worth of $1 million in less than a decade." Forty people are scheduled to graduate 🙌
Raising Cane's also has an internal app that promotes regular communication from all employees. According to the story, "employees post about success stories, farewells, and everything in between."
For me, these are the reasons to support the business — because it supports its people. This is why a good work culture boosts retention and loyalty. I'm imagining the organic marketing that comes with how employees tell their friends and family about their experiences. (I'm doing it right now and I don't even work there!)
How is your organization supporting its employees through education? How do people communicate regularly? Are your organizational processes clear? Who gets to talk to your org's top executives?
In a time when we're hearing about orgs — especially ones in media — cutting back on training budgets, what this story tells me is that you can invest heavily in your employees and still be a profitable company.
5. On the importance of rest
Another topic that comes up a lot in training sessions is how to manage burnout.
So I found Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by sisters Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski, to be really helpful. It was published around the time the pandemic hit in 2020 and we all had to reimagine our lives.
The book covers so much, but I hard paused when I got to the part about rest. It says science shows we need to spend 42 percent of our time resting our bodies and brains so they may recover from what has worn them down.
And rest isn’t just about sleep (but it mostly is). It can include cooking, reading, walking, spending time with your pets or family, calling a friend. For me, it includes social media scrolling!
It’s whatever activity that lets your brain transition from on to neutral.
The 42 percent doesn’t have to be achieved per day; it could be over a few days or a week. As the Nagoski sisters say: If you don’t take the 42 percent, it will take you.