Ambition 2.0

In this solo episode, host Amanda Goetz answers a question from a reader that deserved a full episode of its own: "As a middle manager, I'm struggling to find the balance between managing up to my director while also managing a team that reports to me. Help."

Drawing on her experience as a two-time founder, five-time CMO, and author, Amanda breaks down one of the most underrated (and hardest) jobs in the workforce, with real, tactical advice on managing up without people-pleasing, managing down without burning out, and proving your value at a time when middle management roles are shrinking.

Hit play if you're ready to make your impact impossible to ignore!

Got a question for a future episode? Send it to @girlboss or @theamandagoetz on Instagram.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:25 What a middle manager actually is

04:20 Why middle managers feel so much pressure right now

05:45 The most misunderstood things about middle management

07:45 Why middle management is the hardest leadership level

10:00 Three habits of the middle managers Amanda can't afford to lose

13:55 The "great flattening" of org charts

15:50 How to be seen as strategic, not administrative

17:40 How to manage up without people-pleasing

20:15 How to build trust with leadership

21:40 Managing down without micromanaging

25:30 How much to share with your team (and the KUBA framework)

28:55 Holding people accountable without feeling like a villain

30:10 How to stay visible and get promoted

31:40 What to document as a middle manager

32:30 Outro

Key Takeaways

Send a "Managing Up Monday" email every week with your top two to three priorities, any blockers, and last week's big wins, and copy your boss. It gives leadership a regular line of sight into your team's work.

Show up to one-on-ones with problems and potential solutions, not a list of what you're working on.

Stop reporting activity and start reporting impact. "The event was amazing" says nothing to leadership. Earned media value and brand sentiment do.

Manage up without people-pleasing by asking your boss to help you rank their priorities by level of impact and level of effort.

Push back on blurry feedback. Ask for an example, or ask what exactly they're reacting to.

Skip triangulation. If you have a problem with someone on another team, go to them directly instead of through your boss.

Use KUBA to give your team a safe way to ask for context: Do you know what to do? Do you understand why? Do you believe it's the right thing? Do you have the resources to act?

Hold people accountable by agreeing on KPIs and expectations up front. It takes the emotion out of hard feedback.

Guard one to two hours a day for "offense mode," strategic work you do before meetings and your inbox take over.

Document the impact of your work, how your people are performing, your processes, the high-level strategy, and how it all rolls up to a KPI.

GUEST LINKS

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

Book: https://bookshop.org/a/116169/9781464233258

https://www.amandagoetz.com/

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

IG: https://www.instagram.com/girlboss/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@girlboss

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

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For all other Girlboss links: https://linkin.bio/girlboss/

ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you only open LinkedIn when you're job hunting (or creeping your ex's new girlfriend's profile), this episode is for you.

Amanda sits down with Catherine Fisher, VP at LinkedIn and one of the most trusted career experts out there. Catherine has built brands and led teams at eBay, Netflix and now LinkedIn. She's here to tell us what we've been getting wrong about the platform (spoiler: it's kind of a lot). The biggest mistake? Treating LinkedIn like a fire extinguisher you only grab in an emergency. Your network should be working for you long before you need it.

Maybe you're buried in applications and running on fumes. Maybe you're quietly wondering if it's time to leave. Or maybe you just haven't touched your profile since 2019 (no judgment). Either way, you'll leave with a real plan and fewer excuses. Catherine explains why "looking for a job is a full-time job" is terrible advice. She tells you which three profile fixes to make first, and how to send a cold DM people actually want to answer.

Catherine also gets real about how ambition changes over time. She scaled her ambition back when her kids were little and is now ramping up again as she's about to become an empty nester. Proof that ambition comes in seasons, and that's okay.

Key Takeaways:

Why you should be on LinkedIn all the time, not just when you're job searching.

The three profile updates that do the heavy lifting: your photo, your About section and your Experience section.

How skills-based hiring took off during COVID and why transferable skills matter more than big-name brands.

Why AI should help "around the edges" but never write your first draft.

The formula for a cold DM that gets a reply: be specific, set a time limit and offer to help.

How to beat job-search burnout by applying with a plan instead of applying to everything.

Catherine's biggest LinkedIn ick: being "humbled and honored."

Rapid fire: the Open to Work banner, Easy Apply and the worst career advice she's ever received.

00:00 Intro

04:22 What people misunderstand about LinkedIn

07:02 The first three profile fixes to make

10:08 LinkedIn do's and don'ts

11:05 Why engaging in other people's conversations matters

12:13 Should you accept every connection request?

12:29 How to write a cold DM that gets a response

15:35 How to be authentic without throwing your boss under the bus

18:08 What's changed most about job searching

20:38 AI skills vs. creative skills

21:49 How to beat job-search burnout

23:37 Why referrals are so important

26:43 Where LinkedIn is headed next

27:14 Catherine's biggest LinkedIn ick

27:32 Advice for people early in their career

28:36 Rapid fire: Open to Work, cold DMs and Easy Apply

GUEST LINKS

Connect with Catherine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinefisherlinkedin/

Read the Career Companion newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/career-companion-6994037905178398720/

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

IG: https://www.instagram.com/girlboss/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@girlboss

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

SIGN UP

Subscribe to the Girlboss Daily newsletter: https://newsletter.girlboss.com/

For all other Girlboss links: https://linkin.bio/girlboss/

ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Laura Weldy was first building her coaching practice, she took a group of the most accomplished women she knew out for coffee, one by one, and asked what was standing between them and what they wanted at work. Almost every answer came back the same: “I don't have anyone advocating for me in the room.” But when she pushed further and asked what they wanted their allies to say on their behalf, nobody had an answer.

That gap—between wanting to be seen and knowing how to ask for it—became the foundation of her coaching practice and her framework, the Personal Power Code.

Today, Laura is a women's leadership coach, speaker, and podcast host who helps high-achieving mid-career women build fulfilling careers and lead authentically.

On this episode, she and Amanda get into the specific phrases that undercut women before they've made their point, the difference between an ally and a sponsor, and why "just be more confident" is some of the least useful career advice out there.

This episode is about what happens the moment you stop asking for permission to take up space and start deciding you already belong in the room.

Key takeaways:

Confidence at work is about having a clear, well-thought-out perspective, and building that perspective is most women's real growth edge.

Small qualifiers like "sorry," "just," and "this might be a dumb question" undermine your authority before you've even made your point.

Allies will back you up in a room, but sponsors are the ones who speak up for you in rooms you're not in—and you have to tell them exactly what you want before they can do that for you.

The "likability trap" hits hardest for women who lead with connection, since softening their language and over-accommodating others can feel safer than risking being disliked.

Your work cannot speak for itself: if you're not talking about your wins, nobody knows they happened.

Reframing your default language—like swapping "I could be wrong, but" for "my thought is X, and here's why"—changes how people receive you before you've said anything else.

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

0:47 What women deserve to know about taking up space

2:20 How ambition has changed for women

4:05 Why "just be more confident" doesn't work

6:00 The real reason women don't get promoted

8:10 How to find your professional point of view

11:21 The five traits that build a leadership brand

13:16 Why women hesitate to ask for what they want

17:34 Phrases confident communicators avoid

19:21 Breaking the "manufactured vulnerability" habit

22:48 Allies vs. sponsors

25:48 Reframing promotions as wins for your manager

28:43 Talking about your wins without feeling cringe

29:39 Rapid fire: better scripts for common powerless phrases

31:26 Laura's final word on confident communication

GUEST LINKS

Learn more about Laura: lauraweldy.com

Follow Laura: instagram.com/lauraweldy

Connect with Laura: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-weldy/

Join her retreat for women in tech: https://topshelfretreat.com/

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

IG: https://www.instagram.com/girlboss/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@girlboss

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

SIGN UP

Subscribe to the Girlboss Daily newsletter: https://newsletter.girlboss.com/

For all other Girlboss links: https://linkin.bio/girlboss/

ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neha Ruch built her career in brand strategy—an MBA from Stanford, a fast climb on the corporate ladder, and a title she loved. Then she paused her career after her second child and spent the years since rebranding what a career pause actually looks like for ambitious women.

In her book, The Power Pause, Neha makes the case that stepping back from paid work isn't the opposite of ambition. It's a chapter of it. She also reframes the “stay-at-home mom” label, citing survey results showing outdated stereotypes (like apron-clad June Cleaver from Leave It to Beaver), and argues modern parenthood is more fluid with technology, networks, and involved partners.

Whether you're actively wondering, "Do I quit my job? Do I take a pause? What should I do?", or if family planning is somewhere on your radar for the next few years, or if kids aren't even part of the picture yet—this conversation is worth having early. Neha and Amanda get into how to come out the other side of a power pause with a stronger sense of self, a real community, and clarity on what's next, well before you're right in the thick of it.

Key Takeaways

A "power pause" is deliberately shifting time and energy toward family for a chapter, while still holding onto a sense of self and community.

The most common image people associate with "stay-at-home mom" (June Cleaver) versus "working mom" (Michelle Obama, Sheryl Sandberg, Beyoncé) shows just how outdated and polarized our cultural narrative around motherhood still is.

A good partner is someone who can have difficult conversations and makes you feel safe having conflict, not someone who avoids hard topics altogether.

Career pauses don't have to mean fully leaving the workforce; they can look like part-time work, consulting, freelancing, or simply deprioritizing taking on demanding projects for a season.

Tracking small wins during a pause can become a real, resume-worthy experience when you're ready to return to work.

How to know when it’s time to return to work and how to market your power pause on LinkedIn.

Working moms, stay-at-home moms, and everyone on a power pause are part of the same ecosystem, not opposing sides, and supporting each other is what actually moves the conversation forward.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:07 Neha's career downshift

04:03 Dealing with judgment after pausing

06:03 The power pause framework

10:59 Why stay-at-home still feels loaded

13:09 Having money talks with your partner

17:11 Dating for shared values

21:12 Trade-offs and other options than just working or not working

24:50 Returning to work after the pause

29:57 We’re part of an ecosystem, not a divide

32:58 Rapid fire questions

GUEST LINKS

Follow Neha: https://www.instagram.com/neha_ruch/

Website: https://www.thepowerpause.com/

Read her book: https://bookshop.org/a/116169/9780593716182

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

IG: https://www.instagram.com/girlboss/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@girlboss

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

SIGN UP

Subscribe to the Girlboss Daily newsletter: https://newsletter.girlboss.com/

For all other Girlboss links: https://linkin.bio/girlboss/

ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At 25, Hayley Paige signed the contract of a lifetime—head designer at a major bridal house, her name on the label, a fast track to becoming a household name on TLC's Say Yes to the Dress. She went on to generate over $220 million in bridal sales and dress more than 10,000 brides.

Then, in the middle of a contract renegotiation, it all fell apart. In the span of just 24 hours, a judge's ruling took away her right to use her own birth name. She couldn't use it in business, couldn't publicly identify with it, and was locked into a seven-year unpaid non-compete—all while her former company took control of the social media accounts she'd spent a decade building.

This week on Ambition 2.0, Amanda Goetz sits down with Hayley to talk about the raw, deeply emotional experience of going through a public legal battle, how she rebuilt her business from the ground up, and the red flags she now tells every young creator to watch for before they sign any contract.

Key Takeaways

Signing a contract early in your career without a lawyer can leave you exposed for years, even after you've outgrown its original terms.

Believing "if I provide enough value, anything is negotiable" is a risky mindset going into any negotiation.

Once you're operating at a high level, you set your own precedent, and that gap between your value and your original terms is where disputes start.

Watch for red-flag language like "perpetuity," worldwide rights, and broad name, image, and likeness clauses before signing anything.

Contracts should hold up to your questions; if they can't, it might not be the right opportunity.

Setting boundaries early and having difficult conversations up front creates clarity, and contracts are meant to provide clarity, not create conflict.

What happened to Hayley isn't an isolated case; the same pattern shows up across industries whenever talent operates under contracts they've outgrown.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

07:48 How she lost the rights to her own name

11:42 Contract red flags to watch for

15:03 Reclaiming her name and starting her new business

17:52 Launching A Girl You Might Know Foundation

20:13 Hayley’s fave bridal trends + rapid-fire qs

GUEST LINKS

Follow Hayley: https://www.instagram.com/misshayleypaige/

Visit https://hayleypaige.com/

https://www.agirlyoumightknowfoundation.org/

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

IG: https://www.instagram.com/girlboss/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@girlboss

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

SIGN UP

Subscribe to the Girlboss Daily newsletter: https://newsletter.girlboss.com/

For all other Girlboss links: https://linkin.bio/girlboss/

ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices