Welcome to the first of our new feature, “Office Hours,” in which Rachel and Suzanne offer unscripted coaching to real live women in need of real-time advice. In this episode, we listen in on a conversation between Suzanne and Kimberly, a recent MBA graduate, who is asking how she can stand out from her peers at work in a very competitive environment. In a surprise twist near the end, Suzanne uncovers the ace up Kimberly’s sleeve that even Kimberly didn’t realize she had. Finding that meaningful and memorable personal brand narrative is what you’ll need to stand out and break through, so listen and learn! After you hear this, you will want to make your own office hours appointment (please do! Email info@bigpayoffradio.com)

We collaborate with others all the time, and more often that we want to admit, someone is doing more than their fair share of the work. If that’s you, raise your hand. We see you. And, we have a podcast episode for you. Rachel and Suzanne get to the bottom of why we tend to do this, and even air their therapy sessions in order to help all of us work and live better and smarter.

In Part 1 of our season opener, we talked about the lead up to taking “Big A” action in our lives, and the unusual role that talking about what you want to do (to everyone, all the time) plays in that process. In this episode, Rachel and Suzanne look at the flipside– those times in your life when your power comes from holding back, and doing nothing. You’ll hear their stories of restraint, as well as this week’s segments of “Have you noticed…” and “Check this out”. (Your car rental experience will never be the same again.)

To act or not to act, that is the question. We are kicking off the start of this season with a two part conversation. In this episode we talk about what gets us to take action and why we don’t.

You know the drill: there’s a move, a change, a pivot we’ve been contemplating for months…or years. We talk about it talk about it talk about it… sounding like a broken record to our friends and colleagues, but can’t quite take the plunge. Until one day, we do. Suzanne and Rachel share some stories, shine a new light on what’s really going on here…and what to do about it. Stay tuned for Part 2 where we explore when not to take action: Just Don’t Do It.

Being “the person who is always SO creative” at work isn’t always easy. But according to Rachel and Suzanne, it’s the quality your boss (and others) want from you more than anything else. The good news is that they believe everyone can get better at it. In this episode, Suzanne and Rachel are on a mission to help you and those around you step up, break out, and in the process, have a whole lot more fun.

Conversation is the key to getting what you want–at home, at work, and in all the spaces between. Just imagine if every conversation you had were a great one– satisfying, riveting, forward moving. Suzanne wishes that life were like episodes of the West Wing…but sadly, there’s no script for that. However, there ARE rules that make our real life conversations so much better and we share them with you in this episode…and Aaron Sorkin won’t make you talk at breakneck speed…while walking.

No doubt you have made many professional and personal decisions based all or in part on loyalty. Most often your loyalty is to a “who,” but it can also be to a “what” (a company, a brand) or even to the idea of loyalty itself. On this episode, Rachel and Suzanne look at where your loyalties lie, push you to think about whether you have a misplaced understanding of the rationale behind those commitments. They’ll tell stories about their own “loyalties gone bad”, and the hard lessons learned. Then, Rachel poses a singular question for Suzanne that she’s never asked before. Suzanne has an answer that may surprise you.

As an introvert, you think you can’t be powerful in a room, or that you need to change your nature if you want to command attention. Not true. In this episode, Suzanne, the self-proclaimed introvert of the dynamic duo, gets some fantastic on air coaching from Tom Yorton, founder and CEO of Shyne Advisors, a practice dedicated to the pursuit of “original communications for quiet leaders.” Rachel is forced to listen to their conversation while on mute. You can hear Suzanne’s giddiness loud and clear to have Tom to herself as he offers some amazing hacks for introverts. Stay through to the bitter end to see how Rachel REALLY feels about it.

I just wish I had a day to myself!” is your familiar battle cry. So let’s say you are gifted a day of me time. Then what? You go back to your regular life of feeling pulled in a million directions, stressed, and taking care of everyone else but yourself. We are challenging this whole myth of “time for myself” and calling bullsh*t on what we see as a fundamental error in how you treat your days. We have a solution– one that will give you more nourishment for yourself, so that you don’t need to run away to find that magical me time.

You look at what your friend or colleague is doing and you wish you could do that, too. You get that gnawing feeling of “I should be more of this…I should do more of that…but then you realize, “but that’s not me.” In this episode we’ll talk about how this experience can actually help you see what you really want and how to go and get it. As one wise podcaster says (listen closely): “The disease of our era is that everyone wants to be and nobody wants to become.” Well, we have the cure.