Overcoming Professional Setbacks

Don’t let them kill your vibe ☀️ It's easy to become disheartened and cynical when encountering negativity, betrayal, or cruelty from others. However, allowing bad experiences to harden your heart can lead to bitterness and a loss of compassion. Maintaining your kindness, despite adversity, is essential for your well-being and the positive impact you can have on the world. Why It Matters: Preserve Your Integrity: Staying true to your values and principles, regardless of others' actions, ensures you maintain your integrity and self-respect. Your actions define who you are, not the behavior of others. Set an Example: By consistently being good, you become a role model. Your behavior can inspire others to act with kindness and integrity, creating a ripple effect of positivity. Personal Fulfillment: Acts of kindness and maintaining a positive outlook contribute to personal fulfillment and happiness. They reinforce your sense of purpose and connection to others. Resilience: Choosing goodness builds resilience. It strengthens your ability to cope with negativity and adversity without losing your core values. How to stay kind, in an unkind environment: Practice Empathy: Understand that negative behaviors often stem from others' pain or insecurity. Responding with empathy rather than anger can diffuse conflict and promote understanding. Set Boundaries: Protect yourself from harmful individuals by setting clear boundaries. This allows you to remain good without being taken advantage of. Focus on Positivity: Surround yourself with positive influences. Engage with people and activities that uplift and support your well-being. Reflect and Grow: Use negative experiences as opportunities for personal growth. Reflect on what you can learn and how you can strengthen your character. Engage in Acts of Kindness: Regularly perform acts of kindness, no matter how small. Helping others can reinforce your commitment to goodness and positively impact your community. Seek Support: When dealing with negativity, seek support from friends, family, or professional counselors. They can offer perspective and help you stay grounded in your values. Being kind, even in the face of negativity, you contribute to a more compassionate world. Your actions can inspire others and create a legacy of positivity and resilience

My LinkedIn tells you that I am a successful engineering manager working at Google & living the dream but here’s what it won’t tell you: ► Back in 2008, after completing my masters in the USA at Cornell University, I  was unemployed for 9 months.  ► I was rejected by Microsoft, 5 times (2 times in the same year & 2 different countries)    ► Startups turned me down because I couldn't write a Binary Search Tree.  ► Google rejected me because I couldn't explain how Hadoop works.  ► When I finally landed a job, I was told: "You’re not good enough to be a software engineer."  I broke production code. Multiple times.   As an architect, I built a product that didn’t scale.   As a new manager, two engineers quit my team—because of me.  But my biggest failure?  ► I caused a million-dollar outage at Amazon.   Millions of users were impacted.   Amazon.com went down for five minutes.   And I was the reason.   3 Lessons from my journey to help you become a TOP engineer: ✅ 1. T : Talent is overrated and You will fail. Accept it, but don’t stop.   - Every engineer screws up. The difference is who keeps going and learns from it.   - Your failures won’t define you, what you do after them will.  ✅ 2. O : Own your mistakes as Writing code is easy.    - It’s easy to blame deadlines, bad specs, or teammates.   - Great engineers take responsibility, learn from failure, and improve.   - No one remembers your mistake forever. But they will remember how you handled it.  ✅ 3. P : Problem solving is permanent. Knowledge is temporary.   - You won’t always know the answer. You’ll forget concepts.   - What matters is your ability to learn fast, debug effectively, and think through problems.   - The best engineers aren’t those who know everything, hey’re the ones who figure things out.  Failures aren’t career-ending. They’re career-defining.  So, fail, learn, and keep building. 

I've recently suffered a major career setback. Since I teach about high performance and career growth, I want to share how I am addressing it. One day you will need this recipe yourself! My goal in my current "career" is to reach as many people as I can, and to help them achieve career success and satisfaction. For the last three years, the way to do this has been through LinkedIn. Unfortunately, LinkedIn recently made some unknown changes to their algorithm. Other Top Voices and I have noticed a drop of 70% to 80% in the reach of our posts. Since my goal is to share my knowledge with more people, that means my goal just took an 80% hit. In general, setbacks in performance are either due to: A) Something we did Or B) Something external, outside our direct control Mistakes, poor decisions, and missed deadlines are examples of A. They are in our control. Things like Covid, high interest rates, and reorganizations at work are examples of B, outside our control. LinkedIn's change is also case B, outside my control. When a setback comes from something in your control, you know clearly what you did wrong and what you need to change to restore your performance and progress. Fixing your own issues may take time and be difficult, but you know what to do. When the setback is due to something outside your control, you do not know how to fix the issue. So, how can we react when our performance is shattered and we do not know why? Here is my recipe: 1. Allow yourself a fixed amount of time to grieve (and complain if you wish). Emotions are real, and before you can move on you will need to sit with those emotions. But, do not get stuck in them. Curse your bad luck, pout for a minute, etc. Then, move to the next step. 2. Refocus on your core value. Whatever happened, go back to how you define high performance to ensure it is still relevant. I admit, I slipped into defining my own performance by how many people viewed my LinkedIn posts. This was a mistake. My mission is to help others, so getting views is a proxy, not a result. And, using LinkedIn is just a method for the mission, not the mission itself. 3. Adapt your core value if you must (if its value has decreased). In my case, the value of what I offer hasn't changed, the external delivery system has. 4. Once you adapt and/or increase your value, find new ways to deliver it if necessary. Luckily, I have other options for reaching people: my Substack newsletter, YouTube, etc. Since Substack has been such a good partner recently, I will start there. I have also refocused how I write on LinkedIn to make every post focused on my goal. 5. Test, measure, adapt, repeat! Really, this step is everything. Once you get past the grief, jump into action in this loop. Nothing can stop you if you keep working to refine, deliver, and showcase your core value. Comments? Here's my newsletter, which is my next area of investment: https://lnkd.in/gXh2pdK2

What’s really holding you back? Spoiler alert: It’s not your skills. How many times have you felt like you’re not up for the job? That you’re not qualified? Or that someone else could do it better? Here’s the reality: ➡️ 13% of employees and 20% of senior managers admit they frequently feel like a fraud. ➡️ 54% of women report experiencing imposter syndrome, compared to 38% of men. I get it, because I’ve been there. I used to struggle with being visible - giving speeches, creating content online, even doing TV interviews. Despite decades of experience, there was always a little voice in my head whispering: “Do people really want to hear from you? What if they laugh at you?” Here’s the truth: It’s not based on facts - it’s just the noise in our heads. Here’s how you can overcome imposter syndrome and show up like you deserve to: 1/ The Imposter Loop ↳ You doubt every win and question every achievement. ↳ Own your story: You earned your seat at the table. ↳ Write down three wins you’re proud of. Seeing them silences the noise. 2/ The Permission Trap ↳ You wait to feel ready or for someone to say “go.” ↳ Stop waiting: Start before you’re ready. ↳ Set a deadline and commit publicly - action builds momentum faster than waiting for confidence to strike. 3/ The Comparison Game ↳ You stalk others’ success and compare your chapter 1 to their chapter 20. ↳ Run your own race: Their doubts, fears, and failures aren’t in the highlight reel. ↳ Unfollow or mute accounts that trigger self-doubt. Focus on progress, not perfection. 4/ The Perfectionism Loop ↳ You polish endless drafts, overthink every detail, and never feel “good enough.” ↳ Launch at 80%: Fix it in flight. Done is better than perfect. ↳ Set a timer for your next task and stop when it’s ‘good enough.’ Progress beats perfection every time. 5/ The Silence Spiral ↳ You keep your struggles hidden and pretend you’ve got it all figured out. ↳ Share your story: You’ll be surprised how many people say “me too.” ↳ Find a peer or mentor and share one struggle you’re facing. Vulnerability builds connection. 6/ The Safety Net ↳ You stay in your comfort zone and call it “being realistic.” ↳ Take the leap: Growth lives outside your comfort zone. ↳ Identify one “safe” habit you’re clinging to. Replace it with one bold action, no matter how small. 7/ The Knowledge Shield ↳ You hide behind preparation, waiting to know “just one more thing.” ↳ Start doing: Expertise comes from action. ↳ Turn learning into doing: Commit to acting on one idea from the last book, course, or workshop you completed. What would be possible if you silenced those doubts once and for all? For me, it meant saying yes to opportunities I used to avoid - like speaking on stage and sharing my story. ⤵️ Have you ever felt like a fraud despite your accomplishments? How did you work through it? ♻️ Share this post to remind someone they’re not alone. 🔔 Follow me, Jen Blandos, for advice on business, entrepreneurship, and well-being.

I wasn’t lazy. I was just distracted. (And I didn’t even realize it.) Tasks that should’ve taken 30 minutes dragged on for hours. Blank screens. Zero motivation. Endless scrolling. The problem wasn’t Time management. It was 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. Then one day, I stumbled upon a 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 article that listed a few unusual focus hacks. I tried them. Tweaked them to fit my life. Soon, I started showing up better. With clarity, not chaos. Here’s what worked for me - (If focus has been a struggle lately, this might just help.) 1. 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 We often chase vague goals — deadlines, KPIs, praise. But real energy comes when your work feels personal. One day, I was stuck on a complex analysis. No motivation. Then I pictured telling my mom what I did at work today. Her smile. Her pride. That image changed everything. Suddenly, it wasn’t just a task. It was something to be proud of. ➡ Ask yourself: “Who would I be excited to share this with?” Picture their face. Then start the work. 2. 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴. 𝗢𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝘁. It sounds odd, but looping one instrumental track helps me zone in. I use Shri Hanuman Chalisa – Instrumental. No lyrics. Just rhythm. In no time, my brain quiets down. The repetition becomes an anchor: “You’re working now. Stay here.” ➡ Pick a calm, lyric-free track. Hit repeat. Let it ground your attention. 3. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 2-𝗠𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸 Before starting a task, I set a 2-minute timer. No typing. No scribbling. Just look at the task. It’s like a warm-up for the brain. You’re letting your mind settle into the work, not crash-land into it. ➡ Try this tomorrow. Just 2 min of stillness before starting. You’ll be surprised how much smoother the task feels. 4. 𝗜 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗮 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘆𝗮𝗿𝗱 (𝘆𝗲𝘀, 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆) Every time I get distracted during work hours, I don’t fight it. I note it down in my phone’s Notes app. • An unfinished Udemy course • A half-watched YouTube video on AI agents • The novel I abandoned after Chapter 7 • A call I owe to a childhood friend It’s not about guilt — it’s about awareness. A quiet system that tells me: “This is not urgent. It can wait.” ➡ Create a “Graveyard” note. Every time your mind wanders, log it. Then return to your core task. The Result? I’m still a work in progress. But I’m sharper. Quieter. Less reactive. The Biggest Shift? Not in my schedule, but in how I protect my attention. REMEMBER - You don’t need more hours. You need fewer attention leaks. P.S. Which of these 4 hacks would you try first? 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭 → 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬. LinkedIn Guide to Creating #big4 #lifestyle #productivity #timemanagement

Rejection after a serious interview is rarely about capability. More often it comes down to fit, timing, or how effectively you communicated your strengths. Those are very different issues, yet most of us experience them as the same thing. When a dream role slips away, it feels personal. But what hurts most is not the decision itself. It’s the story we tell ourselves about what it means. The fear that you misread your potential. The fear that this was your one shot. The fear that you should pull back instead of trying again. That is where we go wrong. Rejection is not a verdict. It is information, and your next step depends on interpreting it correctly. When a role does not work out, try diagnosing the outcome through two lenses: 👉 Skill gap There was a core capability you had not built yet. This is fixable with practice, training, or targeted experience. 👉 Signal gap Your background was strong, but the way you framed your experience was unclear. Your examples did not highlight the strengths the hiring team needed to see. These are different challenges, and knowing which one applies saves you months of guesswork. Career progress is almost never blocked entirely. It is often redirected. Competitors hire for similar roles. Adjacent positions develop the right skills. Vendors, partners, and feeder teams can be strategic pathways into the work you want to do. And if the company truly mattered to you, stay visible. Send a thoughtful note. Track their growth. Keep the relationship warm. Timing shifts faster than most people realize. Rejection does not define your potential. It reflects alignment at a single moment in time. People who stay stuck internalize that moment. People who move forward learn from it and keep going. Follow for clear, steady thinking about career strategy.

Early in my career, when I shared the story of a workshop that completely bombed (an email announcing layoffs arrived in everyone's inbox during day 1 lunch of a two-day program -- and I had no idea how to handle this), three women immediately reached out to share their own "disaster" stories. We realized we'd all been carrying shame about normal learning experiences while watching men turn similar setbacks into compelling leadership narratives about risk-taking and resilience. The conversation that we had was more valuable than any success story I could have shared. As women, we are stuck in a double-bind: we are less likely to share our successes AND we are less likely to share our failures. Today, I'm talking about the latter. Sharing failure stories normalizes setbacks as part of growth rather than evidence of inadequacy. When we women are vulnerable about their struggles and what they learned, it creates permission for others to reframe their own experiences. This collective storytelling helps distinguish between individual challenges and systemic issues that affect many women similarly. Men more readily share and learn from failures, often turning them into evidence of their willingness to take risks and push boundaries. Women, knowing our failures are judged more harshly, tend to hide them or frame them as personal shortcomings. This creates isolation around experiences that are actually quite common and entirely normal parts of professional development. Open discussion about setbacks establishes the expectation that failing is not only normal but necessary for success. It builds connection and community among women who might otherwise feel alone in their struggles. When we reframe failures as data and learning experiences rather than shameful secrets, we reduce their power to limit our future risk-taking and ambition. Here are a few tips for sharing and learning from failure stories: • Practice talking about setbacks as learning experiences rather than personal inadequacies • Share what you learned and how you've applied those lessons, not just what went wrong • Seek out other women's failure stories to normalize your own experiences • Look for patterns in women's challenges that suggest systemic rather than individual issues (and then stop seeing systemic challenges as personal failures!) • Create safe spaces for honest conversation about struggles and setbacks • Celebrate recovery and growth as much as initial success • Use failure stories to build connection and mentorship relationships with other women We are not the sum of our failures, but some of our failures make us more relatable, realistic, and ready for our successes. So let's not keep them to ourselves. #WomensERG #DEIB #failure

Not all failures are equally intelligent. Blindly embracing failure without structured learning leads to wasted effort. The most innovative and inclusive teams don’t fail randomly—they: 🔹 Run experiments with clear hypotheses 🔹 Test assumptions rather than take blind risks 🔹 Extract insights from failures and iterate But here’s the catch—learning from failure requires psychological safety. Without an environment where people feel safe to share mistakes, challenge ideas, and admit uncertainty, failure becomes a silent roadblock instead of a stepping stone. 💡 Leaders set the tone. Here are 3 practical ways to foster intelligent failure: 1️⃣ Track “good failures” as a key metric Most teams track success metrics—but what if you also tracked learning-driven failures? Encourage teams to document failures that led to valuable insights, prevented bigger mistakes, or refined an approach. 2️⃣ Design “pre-mortem” sessions before major decisions Instead of only analyzing failures after they happen, conduct pre-mortems: 🔹 Ask, “If this project were to fail, what might have caused it?” 🔹 Gather diverse perspectives to uncover risks early 🔹 Strategize preventive actions to minimize blind spots This approach reduces costly mistakes while creating an inclusive space for open dialogue. 3️⃣ Assign a “Red Team” to challenge assumptions Cognitive biases and groupthink often lead to avoidable failures. Before implementing a major decision, assign a rotating "Red Team" to stress-test ideas by deliberately challenging assumptions, questioning the data, and proposing alternative perspectives. 💭 What’s one thing you do to turn failure into a learning opportunity in your team? Let’s share insights! 🔔 Follow me to learn more about building inclusive, high-performing teams. __________________________ 🌟 Hi there! I’m Susanna, an accredited Fearless Organization Scan Practitioner with 10+ years of experience in workplace inclusion. I help companies build inclusive cultures where diverse, high-performing teams thrive with psychological safety. Let’s unlock your team’s full potential together!

Every leader eventually faces a moment when external forces test their systems, their culture, and their resolve. When you find yourself in these moments, your team watches you closely. They’re looking for confidence. Clarity. And proof that the mission still matters. Over the years, I’ve learned that how you communicate in those moments of adversity determines whether your team feels anxious or aligned. Here are five practices that have helped me motivate with both empathy and authority: 1. Mix up your delivery channels. Different messages need different mediums. Sometimes a quick memo or short video is enough. Other times, a personal note or live conversation builds more trust. What matters most is that your tone stays clear, honest, and human. 2. Invite questions, and answer them transparently. We use a simple “Ask Me Anything” format that lets employees submit and upvote questions anonymously. Everyone can see what’s on each other’s minds, and they see that no question is off limits. 3. Tell stories that connect the past to the present. Stories remind people they’re part of something enduring. When you revisit moments of resilience from your company’s history, it reminds the team what you’ve already overcome and what you’re capable of again. 4. Use symbols intentionally. Every season has its own rallying symbol: a gesture, a phrase, or even an inside joke that reminds your team of what really matters. When you repeat it, it becomes shorthand for courage and unity. 5. Recommunicate the vision. Your team needs to know that the destination hasn’t changed, even if the path looks different. When you restate the “why” behind the work, you create stability and restore forward momentum. As a leader, you won’t always have all the answers. But it is your job to communicate with enough clarity and empathy to steer your team in the right direction, no matter what the world throws your way. Patti Sanchez #leadingwithempathy #executivecommunication #communicatingchange

If I got laid off today here's what I'd do: First, I'd breathe. Just breathe. For 24 hours, I'd let myself feel it all. The shock, the anger, the fear. Then I'd get to work: 1. Refresh my resume. Achievements over responsibilities. Stats. Results over tasks. 2. Same with my LinkedIn profile. Update, refresh. Highlight accomplishments and measurable impacts. 3. Reach out to people in my network. Not with "I need a job" messages, but with genuine reconnections. On LinkedIn and any other communities. 4. Build in public. Share my journey, what I'm learning, the wins and the struggles. 5. Avoid wasting time on job boards. I'd find decision-makers and build relationships instead. 6. Protect my mental health. Fiercely. Morning routines. Exercise. Time blocks for applications and networking, with clear boundaries. And, most importantly: I’d put a post-it note somewhere visible to remind myself MY WORTH ISN’T TIED TO MY EMPLOYMENT STATUS. I know this path intimately. Both from personal experience and from guiding hundreds through it. The toughest part of being laid off isn't the job loss. It's the identity crisis that follows. But sometimes your greatest career breakthrough is on the other side of what feels like failure. It was for me. What would you add to this list? What helped you bounce back from a career setback?