Secrets of the Career Game

Office politics can make speaking up risky, but strategic communication can earn respect when leadership underestimates you. Get my FREE Communication Guide Now: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/thatcareercoach_funnel

Being underestimated in the corporate game is frustrating; being expected to agree with every executive decision is worse. On Secrets of the Career Game, Kendall Berg and executive coach Katy McFee examine managing up and workplace communication. A former VP and EVP, Katy recalls challenging her CEO's misaligned strategy without damaging trust. They tackle executive presence, workplace bias, and how to speak up with authority without changing your personality. Katy's three-step framework shows how to push back professionally, suggest alternatives, and build influence without becoming a yes person.

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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 Katy McFee

Katy McFee is an executive coach and founder of Insights to Action, dedicated to helping women advance into senior leadership. With 18 years of experience in tech and biotech sales, including VP and EVP roles, she has built commercial teams and driven nine-figure revenue growth. After navigating her own challenges moving from Manager to Director to VP, Katy now helps ambitious professionals develop strategic thinking, executive presence, and leadership confidence. Her mission is to close the gender gap in senior leadership and help women thrive as executives without burning out. Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/katy-mcfee-3880b4a Website: https://insightstoactioncc.com/

Being right at work doesn't mean you're winning the room. Here's how to build influence without damaging trust.

You can have the strongest argument in the room and still walk away having damaged your professional relationships. Executive communication coach and Powerfully Likable author Dr. Kate Mason explains why effective workplace communication takes more than confidence or being right.

Kendall Berg lived this — earlier in her career, she was told she was excellent at her job, but difficult to work with. Together they break down how to be assertive without being aggressive, how to disagree professionally, handle difficult conversations, respond to resistance without getting emotional, and build executive presence with senior leaders.

You'll also hear why trying to appear confident backfires, what "kill your confidence" really means — focus on value, not performance — and how accountability and owning mistakes protects your reputation and helps you recover faster.

Because winning every argument won't help your career if nobody wants you in the room.

Learn more about Dr. Kate Mason and her book Powerfully Likable: https://katemason.co

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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_

Stop listing tasks in your performance review — turn them into evidence for a raise.

Description: Strong performance can still disappear inside a weak self-evaluation. In this end-of-year performance review guide, Kendall Berg shows how to turn accomplishments into evidence with impact, metrics, and stakeholders, plus stretch assignments, leadership growth, and professional development.

You'll learn how to write a forward-looking review, how to mention promotion at work without sounding entitled, how to address negative feedback without writing a case against yourself, and how to get 360-degree feedback your manager can use to defend a stronger rating. Includes performance review examples for documenting fire drills, soft skills like executive presence and delegation, and the Compliment Oreo for giving constructive feedback.

For high performers who did the work but need to articulate their value clearly so their boss — and their boss's boss — can advocate for them.

Drop a comment: What's the one win you need to document better this year?

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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 earn your next promotion—executive presence, visibility, and strategic thinking will.

Hard work can make you indispensable at your current level while keeping you out of senior leadership. Moving from high performer to executive requires different signals: strategic thinking, executive presence, and workplace visibility. Drawing on 17 rejections on her path to two VP roles and experience at Microsoft and Google, executive coach Maya Grossman explains how changing what she prioritized transformed her career. She and Kendall Berg reveal how to build a promotion business case around future value, create executive advocates before review season, and eliminate low-value work that drains leadership capacity. If you're stalled at senior manager or director, you'll leave with a practical 90-day plan for proving your executive potential without working yourself into the ground.

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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_

Connect With Maya Grossman

Website: https://www.mayagrossman.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maya.grosmn/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayagrossman/

Free masterclass: Visit Maya's LinkedIn profile to identify the biggest gap preventing your promotion and access tools to address it.

Hiring managers take 4 seconds to decide if they'll interview you. Here's how to make your impact clear before they move on.

👉 Improve your self-advocacy: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-my-promotion-guide-now

Is your resume full of experience but getting zero interviews? You're not alone.

Hiring managers give your resume 4 seconds before they decide. Career coach Kendall Berg has reviewed hundreds of resumes, and she breaks down exactly where qualified candidates lose attention and 4 changes to fix it. In this Secrets of the Career Game episode, you'll learn how to target no more than two job titles, keep your layout simple and easy to scan, write a top section that earns a closer look, and replace routine duties with measurable impact. Plus: why you should stop using AI to write your resume and how to use it to check your draft instead.

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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_

Job search strategy for 2026: more applications are not creating better odds. AI made generic applying effortless, recruiters are drowning in identical resumes, and qualified people are getting ignored. Here's what actually earns interviews. 👉 Improve your self-advocacy: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-my-promotion-guide-now

Kendall Berg sits down with Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn's Editor at Large for Jobs and Career Development, to break down why the numbers game most job seekers are playing has stopped working, and what to do instead.

Andrew leads LinkedIn's Get Hired franchise, translating labor market shifts into practical guidance for job seekers. In this episode, he explains why the 2026 job market is better than the headlines suggest, why broad positioning hurts your job search, whether LinkedIn Easy Apply actually works, and whether AI belongs anywhere near your applications. You'll also learn how to turn transferable skills into a competitive advantage, and how many jobs you should actually be applying to each week. Kendall shares the interview return rate her clients get from 2–5 quality applications a week versus mass applying.

If you've been applying for months and hearing nothing back, this is the episode that shows you it isn't you. It's the strategy.

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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 Andrew Seaman Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmseaman/ As LinkedIn's Editor at Large for Jobs and Career Development, I lead the Get Hired franchise, which is a multi-channel ecosystem that shepherds people through the complex intersection of AI literacy, career resilience and skills-based hiring. My work focuses on translating macro-economic shifts, such as unemployment data and sudden industry pivots, into actionable strategies for job seekers at every level. Additionally, I serve as an informal ombudsman between the world's professionals and employers.

Cold applications are broken. As AI floods ATS systems, referrals are the only way to reach a hiring manager. Learn how to build your referral network before you need a job.

⭐️ Get My Networking Guide Now https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-my-networking-guide-now-yhvpak6i

Cold applications are broken. As AI job search tools flood ATS systems, referrals are the only way to reach a hiring manager, so build your referral network before you need a job.

On Secrets of the Career Game, That Career Coach, Kendall Berg shares how relationships from one five-week project led to two jobs. She breaks down her always-on networking rule: how to get a job referral without making it transactional, how to use internal and LinkedIn networking to uncover better roles, and how to make former coworkers referral connections when you need them.

If you're planning a career move, this is how to make networking authentic, AI-proof your job search, and turn connections into offers.

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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_

You're not disorganized — you're using the wrong systems. These 9 apps get every task, deadline, and commitment out of your head so you can stay on top of work, family, and business without the mental drain.

FREE webinar: Your Difficult Boss Survival Guide https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/managing-up--even-when-theyre-impossible

Your productivity isn't the problem — your systems are. Kendall Berg shares the 9 productivity apps she relies on to get every task, deadline, and recurring commitment out of her head and into a system that actually works.

As a corporate executive, business owner, and mom of two, she tests these tools against a genuinely overloaded schedule. In this video she walks through her full stack — reMarkable for distraction-free planning, A Note and Any.do for recurring tasks, Notion for project management, Trello and Monday.com for team visibility, plus HoneyBook and Stan Store for running her business.

If you're constantly holding your to-do list in your head and feeling drained by it, this is the digital planning system to help you get organized and stay on top of your time — without relying on memory.

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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_

Time management for high achievers fails when every available hour becomes another opportunity to take on more. My Ideal Weekly Schedule Guide Now https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-my-ideal-weekly-schedule-guide-now

High achievers often confuse capability with capacity — then wonder why their demanding workload leaves them exhausted. On Secrets of the Career Game, Kendall Berg asks Sade Kelly how ambitious professionals can stop planning around available hours and start planning around energy, priorities, and realistic capacity. Sade reframes time management for high achievers: why completing more tasks doesn't equal meaningful productivity, and why burnout often comes not from doing too much, but from spending too long on work that feels misaligned. Kendall and Sade break down a weekly planning system, themed days, and three core routines — a productivity system built to protect your energy at work, build high performance habits, and keep you productive without burning out.

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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 Sade Kelly:

I'm Sade Kelly, the CEO & Founder of The Fire Inside, a high-performance coaching company that helps high-achieving women reclaim 10+ hours a week to grow their careers and businesses, stay consistent, and make space for what matters most—without burning out.

Website: https://thefireinsidesade.com/

Instagram: @sadekelly_

Is your calendar telling the truth about your workload — or are you silently drowning in invisible tasks?

My Ideal Weekly Schedule Guide Now https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/p/get-my-ideal-weekly-schedule-guide-now

Most professionals plan their day as if eight hours equals eight productive hours. It doesn't. That mismatch is why capable people keep overcommitting, drowning in meetings, and fearing that saying "no" makes them look weak.

On this episode of Secrets of the Career Game, Kendall Berg sits down with time-management strategist Kelly Nolan, creator of the Bright Method — a calendar-first system that makes invisible work visible, protects your focus time, and gives you the data to push back strategically.

"If it doesn't fit in the hours of the day, you are objectively trying to do too much. And that's just the end of it."

In this episode:

•

How to measure your real capacity (hint: your calendar is lying to you)

•

Why an eight-hour workday rarely holds eight productive hours

•

How to tell your boss you have too much work — without looking incapable

•

The meeting audit that frees up hours of focus time every week

•

Why saying no, backed by data, is leadership — not weakness

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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 Kelley Nolan:

Website: https://kellynolan.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_kellynolan_/

An overwhelming workload requires clearer priorities, protected capacity, and a realistic schedule—not simply more hours or faster work.

In this episode of Secrets of the Career Game, Kendall Berg shares five practical workload-management strategies for busy professionals:

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How to use a daily Top Three

•

Why stopping can be better than constantly adding more tasks

•

How day blocking can work better than traditional time blocking

•

How to plan your week before work takes over

•

How to schedule important work around your energy

•

How to protect your capacity and push back on unrealistic requests

You'll learn how to prioritize tasks at work, reduce mental load, manage competing demands, and recognize when your workload is genuinely impossible.

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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_

You climbed the ladder. You hit the goals. So why do you still check your phone at 2 AM, terrified it'll all disappear? High-achiever burnout doesn't look like exhaustion — it looks like success with a side of constant anxiety.

FREE Communication Guide Now: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/thatcareercoach_funnel

Anna Wojtowicz joins Kendall Berg on Secrets of the Corporate Game, together they break down why your ambition might be running on survival mode and how to succeed without abandoning yourself.

Anna Wojtowicz, creator of the "ambition rooted in wholeness" framework, explains why high-achieving professionals often experience burnout, anxiety, and a persistent fear of failure despite outward success.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

•

How to tell if your ambition is actually "survival mode" in disguise

•

Why success feels empty even after hitting every goal

•

Nervous system regulation techniques that stop the burnout cycle

•

The difference between fear-based ego thoughts and genuine intuition

•

How to build a career that doesn't cost you your health or identity

Anna's approach bridges psychology, nervous system science, and practical thought-sorting strategies — designed for high performers who are tired of winning on paper while losing themselves in the process.

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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_

Why do high performers get so defensive, reactive, and emotionally raw at work? It's not a personality flaw — it's what happens when your job becomes your entire identity.

When you're a high achiever, every piece of feedback can feel like an attack, every mistake feels catastrophic, and every friction with a coworker feels deeply personal. This is burnout in its earliest form — and it's an identity problem, not a workload problem.

Career coach Kendall Berg breaks down the three ways emotional fusion with your job shows up (defensiveness, inability to disconnect, and workplace friction), then lays out a practical three-part framework for building emotional distance at work:

→ The three types of hobbies that create genuine separation (physical, mental/creative, and people-focused)

→ How to curate an intentional "Board of Directors" instead of relying on casual friendships for perspective

→ How to write a 3-word personal identity statement that grounds you in who you are — not your job title

This episode is for any high performer who's noticed their career has quietly taken over their sense of self and is ready to build something more sustainable. By the end, you'll have a concrete framework to protect your performance at work without letting it define who you are

Get my FREE Communication Guide Now: https://stan.store/thatcareercoach/thatcareercoach_funnel .

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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?

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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

About Your Host: That Career Coach, Kendall Berg

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.- http://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:

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

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How to clarify your priorities before you plan a single thing

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

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

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

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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