Employee Engagement Specialist | Organizational Change Coach | Empowering Organizations to build a competency for ongoing change | Lean-Agile implementation expert with 30+ Years of Innovation | SPCT | Candidate ILM

Your best people aren't going to tell you they're leaving. They're just going to leave.
By the time someone hands in their notice, the decision was made months ago. A promotion path that went nowhere. A manager who stopped listening. A conversation that never happened.

Most companies find out too late. Then they pay 4x what they thought turnover costs when you add the productivity loss, the project delays, the knowledge walking out the door, and the team stretched thin covering the gap.

I spent 20 years implementing transformation programs at Fortune 500 companies. Watched them obsess over efficiency while bleeding millions in preventable departures they never saw coming.

I co-authored "The Trillion Dollar Problem" to document what most executives miss. Then I co-founded 
Clover ERA to fix it.

Clover ERA shows you which teams are about to break. Before the resignations start.

Daily anonymous check-ins surface what's building beneath the surface. Managers see the patterns and get specific prompts to act. You intervene while there's still time.

We don't prevent every departure. We prevent the ones that didn't have to happen. The ones where someone was waiting for a conversation that never came.

Preventing one departure costs a fraction of replacing them.
If you're losing people you didn't see coming, let's talk.

📅 Schedule Your Free Turnover Analysis: https://outlook.office.com/book/TurnoverAnalysis@cloverera.com/?ismsaljsauthenabled
🔍 Or take the free Team Health Assessment: https://cloverera.com/team-health

Clive Hays

$380K to replace her. 
$0 to follow up.
She asked about the senior role last January. 

Her manager said "let's revisit next quarter."

She brought it up again in spring. Same answer.

By summer, she stopped asking.

Last month, she resigned.

"I had no idea she was still thinking about that role."

I asked what happened after she stopped bringing it up.

"Nothing. I assumed she'd moved on. She seemed fine. Focused on her work. No complaints."

I asked if anyone followed up with her.

He checked his notes. Scrolled through months of 1:1s.

"We talked about her projects. Her deliverables. Never circled back to the role."

I asked what she told him in the exit conversation.

"She said she'd been waiting for us to bring it up. That every month we didn't, she got her answer. By August she was already interviewing."

He was quiet for a moment.

"I thought no news was good news."

It wasn't. No news was her giving up on you.

She didn't leave because she didn't get the role. She left because nobody remembered she wanted it.

Who on your team asked for something six months ago that you never circled back to?

Your best people won’t threaten to leave. They’ll just leave. I show you which teams are about to break | Co-Founder, Clover ERA

$5.7 million. 
That's what turnover actually cost.
His finance team had it at $800K.

A CEO at a 320-person company asked his CFO for the number. What's turnover costing us?

The answer came back: $800K annually. Recruiting costs, some lost productivity, a rough multiplier from an article somewhere. Reasonable-sounding number.

The real number was $5.7M.

The gap wasn't in what they were measuring. It was in what they weren't.

Three senior salespeople left and took their relationships with them. Revenue impact: not tracked. The engineering team lost its technical lead mid-project. Delayed launch: not tracked.

$800K was the cost they could see. $5.7M was the cost that was actually hitting their business.

Seven times higher than what they budgeted. Seven times higher than what they reported to their board.

When he saw the real math, he didn't argue with it. He said: "Why did nobody show me this before?"

Nobody had done the calculation.

This is one of 78 moments like this. Different companies, same pattern: the number they tracked wasn't the number that mattered.

I wrote them down. The book is called Already Gone.

It launches January 28.

What's the number your finance team isn't tracking?

"How many people left last year?"
"We invested $340K in culture."
That wasn't what I asked.

A CFO told me this last month. Proud of the ping pong tables. The catered lunches. The meditation room.

I asked again. How many left?
Fourteen.

$2.1 million in replacement costs. Six times what they spent on perks.
"But the exit interviews said better opportunities."

I asked about one of them. A senior engineer.
"She asked to switch teams in March. Then again in May."
"What happened?"
"VP said the timing wasn't right."
She resigned in July.

His VP had seen her in the game room every afternoon that summer. Told the CFO the team seemed happy.

She wasn't happy. She was killing time between interviews.

The ping pong table wasn't keeping people. It was hiding the problem.
What's your leadership using as proof the team is happy?

"We haven't announced any layoffs." 
"I know. That's why I'm leaving now."

The market was down. Competitors were cutting. Every all-hands felt tense.

He asked his manager: "Should I be worried?" "I haven't heard anything."

He asked his skip-level: "What's the plan?" "We're monitoring the situation."

He asked HR: "Is my role safe?" "We can't comment on future decisions."

Three non-answers. Three signals that nobody would tell him the truth.

So he found a company that would.

His manager was stunned. "We weren't even planning layoffs."

Didn't matter. The silence said everything.

When people can't get clarity, they create their own. And the story they tell themselves is almost always worse than reality.

He wasn't running from layoffs. He was running from the not knowing.

$280K to replace him.

The conversation cost nothing.

One resignation cost $1.2M.
A senior engineer left in March. 
She'd been there 
six years. 

Never made noise. 
Just quietly accepted another offer. Three more followed.

Her manager told leadership: "It's just one. She got a big offer. Nothing to worry about."

Two weeks later, her closest colleague started interviewing.

"If she's leaving, something's wrong."

He was gone by May.

By July, two more followed. Same team. Same reasoning.

"If they're all leaving, why am I staying?"

Four exits. Four "I've accepted another offer" conversations. The manager was blindsided each time.

Leadership called it a "talent market problem."

It wasn't the market.

It was one resignation that made three others feel possible.

The first person to leave rarely leaves alone. They just leave first.

$1.2M gone. 
Someone on your team is the first domino.
Do you know who?

I'm documenting 78 moments like this in a book called Already Gone. 
FREE gifts and WAITLIST LINK under my name above.

CEO of a 320-person company told me just before Christmas that their turnover cost is $800K.
I asked how she calculated it. "Replacement costs. Recruiting fees. The usual."
I pulled up a calculator. We ran the real math together.

Productivity loss during vacancy. 
Ramp time for new hires. 
Institutional knowledge gone. 
Project delays. 
Client relationships rebuilt from scratch.

$5.7 million.
She went quiet.

Most companies track turnover rate. 
Single digit percentage. Looks manageable.

Nobody tracks turnover cost. Seven figures. Hidden in plain sight.

You're not managing a 6% problem.
You're managing a $5.7 million problem.

When's the last time your CFO calculated the actual dollar cost of turnover?

9 out of 10 people who accept a counter-offer leave within 12 months anyway.
The money wasn't the problem. The resignation proved it.

If salary was the issue, they would have asked for a raise. They didn't. They handed in notice.

A counter-offer says "we'll pay you more to stay."

What it actually says: "We knew what you were worth. We just weren't paying it."

That's not a retention strategy. That's a confession.

The employee hears it. Even if they stay, they remember.

Counter-offers don't prevent turnover. They delay it.

How many has your company made this year? That's not a win rate. That's a warning signal.

She gave them eight years.
They gave her a 15-minute call.
The restructure saved $1.1M. The way they 
handled it cost $4.4M.

Her manager told leadership: "It was handled professionally. Clean. By the book."

Two weeks later, a senior engineer asked to talk.

"I watched how they did it. Eight years and she found out in a 15-minute call. No conversation. No warning. Just a calendar invite and a script."

He resigned the following month.

Then another.

"If that's how it ends here, I'd rather leave on my own terms."

By spring, twelve more were gone. All top performers. All watching.

Leadership called it "unfortunate timing."

It wasn't timing.

It was the 15-minute call that told everyone else what they needed to know.

The decision didn't break trust. The execution did.

Someone on your team remembers how the last one was handled.

What did they decide?

I'm documenting 78 moments like this in a book called Already Gone. FREE gifts and WAITLIST LINK under my name above.

Her manager called her "resilient." 
She was doing the work of three people who'd already quit. 

The first one left in March. No backfill. "We'll redistribute temporarily," leadership said. 

The second left in June. Same story. The third in September.

By October, she was running a department that used to have four people.

Her 1:1s became status updates. No time for development conversations. No time for career planning. Just triage.

Her manager wrote in her review: "Handles pressure exceptionally well. A true team player."

She started interviewing the next week.

"Resilient" isn't a compliment. It's a confession. It means someone is absorbing a failure you haven't fixed.

The company celebrated her in Q3. Lost her in Q4. Spent Q1 trying to replace what three people used to do.

Burnout doesn't announce itself. It gets praised in all-hands and quits on a Tuesday.

Who on your team is "handling it well" right now?

"He's finally getting easier to manage."
Eight weeks later: $390K to replace him.

He used to push back on everything. Decisions. Timelines. Resource allocation.

Then one day, he stopped.

His manager told me: "I actually thought we'd turned a corner. He seemed more agreeable. Less friction in meetings."

I asked what changed eight weeks ago.

"We made a call on the product roadmap. He disagreed. Strongly. We went the other direction anyway."

"And after that?"

"He stopped fighting it. I figured he'd finally accepted the decision."

He hadn't accepted it. He'd given up on being heard.

The pushback wasn't the problem. It was proof he still cared enough to fight.

When he stopped, it wasn't alignment. It was surrender.

The silence wasn't agreement. It was the sound of someone planning their exit.

$390K gone. Someone on your team recently stopped pushing back.

I'm documenting 78 moments like this in a book called Already Gone. FREE gifts and WAITLIST LINK under my name above.

Is that growth, or goodbye?

I wasn't asking for anything. Now I am. And I'm doing it publicly. 5 weeks of stories about what's really happening with managers. 2 million impressions...

My brother Neil and I spent two years figuring out why good people leave. Then eighteen months building something that shows managers what they're missing before someone resigns. 

Not surveys. 
Not exit interviews. 
The early signals.

We built it with five companies who went deep with us. We didn't scale before we were ready. Now we are.

5 new companies. 50 days. Documented publicly. Wins, losses, lessons. All of it.

Why public? Because I've spent five weeks asking managers to be honest about what's not working. Seems fair I do the same.

Some will tune out. Some will follow along and learn something about B2B sales. Some might be one of the five.

If you're running a company between 200 and 500 people and you want to see what's happening with your team before it's too late - reach out. I've got room for five.

"16,000 layoffs."
That's the number Amazon announced today.
Here's the number they didn't announce:

The people who weren't cut but started interviewing anyway.

Research shows voluntary turnover spikes 30-50% in the 6 months following mass layoffs.

16,000 is the plan.
Another 5,000-8,000 is what actually happens.

Those voluntary exits aren't random. They're the people with options. The ones you wanted to keep.

Amazon budgeted for 16,000.
They'll spend for 24,000.

If your company just announced cuts, your survivors are doing math right now.

Not on the business.
On themselves.

Who on your team is "relieved they survived" today but updating their resume tonight?

$560,000.
"Let me look into it."
That was six months ago. He never brought it up again. Neither did she.
This week's newsletter: what your silence is actually saying.

Two stories from the past week. Same pattern. Same ending. Story one: A senior engineer asked his manager about a promotion. The manager said "let me 

Open article: What Your Silence Is Actually Saying by Clive Hays • 2 min read

A CTO told me their head of product was recognized at an all-hands in October. She resigned three weeks later. $290K to replace her.

I talked to her manager.

"Were there any signs?"

"None. If anything, she got more helpful in her last few months. Started documenting all her processes. Created onboarding guides for the team. I gave her a shoutout in our all-hands for it."

I asked when the documentation started.

He checked. September.

I asked when she started interviewing.

"She told HR it was October."

"Pull up her Slack messages from August."

He did. For the first time, he saw it.

July: "When WE launch this next quarter..."
August: "When YOU guys roll this out..."
September: "Whoever picks this up should know..."

"She stopped saying 'we' three months before she left. I didn't hear it."

Nobody does. The shift from "we" to "you" is one of the quietest exits there is. It happens in emails, Slack messages, meetings. The person stops including themselves in the future.

The documentation wasn't preparation for growth. It was preparation for goodbye.

Who on your team recently stopped saying "we"?

Explore more in this weeks newsletter.

Two weeks from today, Neil and I are releasing a book. It's called Already Gone: 78 Ways to Miss Someone Leaving (Pre-order link below). No frameworks

Open article: 78 ways to miss someone leaving by Clive Hays • 2 min read

Annual survey came back: 82% of employees feel valued.
3 months later: $890K in replacement costs.

The survey wasn't just useless. 
It was wrong.

3 of the people who left had clicked "valued." One told me why.

The survey asked if she felt supported by her manager. She thought: "If I say no, will he see this? Will it affect my review? Will I be labeled as difficult?"

She clicked "Agree."

She wasn't answering honestly. She was answering safely. There's a difference.

By the time the results came back in June, she'd already accepted another offer. The survey captured what she was willing to say in March. It didn't capture that she was leaving.

Her manager was blindsided. "She said she felt valued. I saw the data."
He saw what she was willing to say. Not what she actually felt.

Annual surveys don't measure engagement. They measure what employees think their managers want to hear. That's not data. That's theater.

Your last survey came back positive.

How many of those responses were true?

$47M acquisition. Strategic fit. Strong fundamentals.
Everyone smiled for the announcement photo.
Half the team was already on LinkedIn.
This week's newsletter: What acquirers miss in due diligence.

The deal closed in November. $47M acquisition. Strategic fit. Strong fundamentals. Everyone smiled for the announcement photo. Half the team was alrea

Open article: What Acquirers Miss by Clive Hays • 2 min read

Connector of Talent and Success 💼 | Empowering Businesses to Thrive through People | Culture Growth Strategist | Coach | Writer | HR leader | #1 LinkedIn Belgium | Top #150 LinkedIn 🌍

Who I help: Ambitious introverts and people-first companies

Problems: Visibility without burnout, quiet leadership, culture that enables deep work

Outcomes: Promotions, role transitions, retention, high-trust cultures

STRATEGIC HR LEADER AND COACH WITH HANDS-ON APPROACH AIMING FOR THE BEST EMPLOYEE/BUSINESS EXPERIENCE - INTROVERT ADVOCATE

International HR Executive passionate about the link between employee experience and business dynamics. Combining a strong focus on strategic thinking and planning with a structured and factual hands-on approach. A positive well connected team coach with a natural sense of empowering team members in a spirit of challenge, learning and mutual recognition. Sound decision making capabilities based on critical reflections within companies focusing on innovation, change, digital transformation and learning.

A. Group HR Director Alter Pharma (200 FTE - BE/IRL/US) – private equity backed firm defining & implementing HR strategy (from strategy to operations) including definition of mission/vision/strategy & values.
B. Global HR Business Partner BU Kerley international/Tessenderlo Group (+/-300 employees - 11 countries) developing/transforming key HR processes (talent resource planning, talent acquisition, performance management, competency management, learning, reward,..) - HR project lead new factory Rouen, France. 
C. Global HR Executive SWIFT (+/- 3.000 employees in +25 countries) transforming/coaching business and HR into new ways of (digital) working/thinking to improve the employee and business experience 
D. Global Head of Reward Tessenderlo Group (+/- 5.000 employees in +25 countries) - strategic development/transformation reward strategy
E. Development new holistic performance management framework for Tessenderlo Group, including full implementation recognition stream.
F. HR Project Manager : move of the Chiquita EME Headquarters from Belgium to Switzerland (social plan negotiations, c&b setup, recruitment, mobility, new policy/process design,...)

Professional coaching certification Better Minds at Work               2018 - 2019
Centre for Creative Leadership - senior leadership program           Q1-2 2018
Management Development Programme Vlerick (17 days)		  2010 - 2011
Strategic Compensation & Benefits Management, Vlerick 		  2007      
Master degree in Law&Taxation, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven    1997 - 1998

Steven Claes

She had the highest retention in the company.
They passed her over twice.

The feedback? "Needs more presence in leadership meetings."

But when I dug deeper:
→ Her teams stayed longer than anyone else's
→ Her projects delivered early, consistently
→ Her cross-functional relationships were the strongest in the division

She wasn't lacking presence. The organization hadn't learned to recognize her kind of leadership yet.

I've watched this play out for 20 years as a CHRO.

The quiet leader gets labeled "not a team player." The thoughtful contributor gets told to "speak up more." The one who needs processing time gets dinged for lacking executive presence.

Meanwhile, they're the ones noticing what everyone else missed. Thinking three steps ahead while others are still talking through step one. Building relationships that actually matter instead of collecting business cards.

We're not shy. We're not stuck up.
We're listening. Observing. Taking it in before we speak.

And if an introvert opens up to you? Know that trust was carefully given.

Your way of showing up isn't wrong. It's just different, and often exactly what your team needs.

📩 Daily success as an introvert? These are the techniques I swear by: 
https://lnkd.in/eSdKpkMs

🔁 Know an underrated introvert? Repost this to remind them they’re not alone.

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CHRO | Introvert Advocate | Career Growth for Ambitious Introverts | HR Leadership Coach | Writer | Newsletter: The A+ Introvert (60% Open Rate)

Louise Corbin

They said I was too much.
Turns out they were too limited.

A brilliant CHRO told me recently: "Steven, I've spent 15 years toning down my opinions, holding back, pretending shallow conversations were enough when depth is all I've ever craved."

I understood immediately.

I've lived it too.

Softened my directness to seem "diplomatic."
Smoothed my edges to appear "approachable."
Pretended small talk satisfied me when I was hungry for real connection.

And I ended up feeling like an outsider.

Because I WAS an outsider in places where I'd shrunk myself just to belong.

The pond people have labeled me:

→ Too quiet (meaning: you're hard to read, and that unsettles me)
→ Too direct (meaning: you skip the performance, and I can't handle that)
→ Too intense (meaning: you make me think, and I'd rather not)
→ Too ambitious the "wrong way" (meaning: you chase impact, not just visibility)

But two decades as a CHRO taught me this: Every time you shrink yourself, you train people to expect less from you.

When you're constantly making yourself smaller:
→ You attract relationships that require you to stay small
→ You master the art of being less than you are
→ You construct a career that fits everyone but you

I once believed the introvert advantage meant networking like an extrovert. Speaking louder. Being more visible.

I was wrong.

The true advantage? Recognizing that your need for substance IS your value.

When I stopped apologizing for choosing depth over surface, everything shifted.

1️⃣ You stop dimming your light so others feel comfortable in their mediocrity.

2️⃣ You surround yourself with people who see your intensity as integrity.

3️⃣ You discover your tribe. The ones who view thoughtfulness as strength, not a flaw to fix.

The teams needing someone to navigate complexity? They relied on me.
The cultures hungry for authentic leadership? They found me.

But only because I showed up fully. Not the diluted version.

Not everyone can handle you at full strength.
That's not yours to fix.

The people meant for you? They'll swim out to meet you in deep water, even if it scares them.

The rest will stay on shore, insisting the ocean is "too much."

Let them.

If you're an ocean, stop shrinking yourself into a pond.

If you're built for depth, you don't have a career problem.
You have a boundary problem.

The moment you address that, everything transforms.

As 2026 starts: Which boundary will you finally protect in the year ahead?

💾 Save this & ♻️ share if you're an ocean refusing to become a pond

📩 Join Weekly depth in The A+Introvert Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e7xQPNtn

Quiet does not mean weak.
It means intentional. And that changes everything.

For 20 years, I heard the same advice:
"Speak up more."
"Be more visible."
"Get more executive presence."

I tried. Really tried.
But forcing myself to be louder never made me a better leader.
It just made me exhausted.

So I stopped fighting my wiring.

Today, I'm a CHRO.
Still introverted. Still leading.

And here's what I've learned from two decades in the C-suite:
Introvert isn't a limitation. It's a leadership advantage.

Every letter in INTROVERT reflects a strength I lead with and build teams around.
(See image)

My favorite? “T is for Trusted.”
Because trust doesn’t come from speaking the most.
It comes from meaning what you say.

The best teams I've built were never led by the loudest voice in the room.
They were led by the one people knew they could count on

So if you've spent years wondering why you don't fit the mold of a "typical leader"...
Maybe the mold was never made for you.

Stop fixing what was never broken.
Start building with the strengths already in you.

💾 Save it if you're done trying to lead like someone else.
🔁 Repost if you're quiet is your power.

📬 Want some of my go-to introvert tips I swear by:
→ https://lnkd.in/eSdKpkMs

Your workplace was not designed for you.

Not if you're an introvert.
And no one wants to talk about it.

You have no idea what storms people are walking through. But for introverts, the workplace often adds to the storm instead of offering shelter.

Every day you're fighting a quiet battle.
Meetings that drain you.
Open plans that scatter your focus.
The constant pressure to "be more visible."

You just want to do good work without exhausting yourself.

The truth is most introverts are walking through storms alone. And no one sees it.
➟ They deliver excellent work, then watch someone louder get the credit
➟ Back-to-back meetings leave zero time to recover
➟ They hear "speak up more" when their strength is thoughtful contribution

Ping pong tables and pizza Fridays?
Nice. But they do not fix what's actually draining you.

"Be more visible" and "network more"?
That advice ignores how introverts actually build influence.

What introverts need to do their best work:
✅ Leaders who value depth over volume
✅ Recognition for written work, not just who speaks loudest in meetings
✅ Meeting-free blocks for actual focus time
✅ Permission to recharge without feeling guilty about it
✅ Career paths that do not require constant performance
✅ Time for thoughtful processing before decisions
✅ Cultures where reflection counts as much as quick reaction

This is what makes introverts want to stay.
A workplace that honours different strengths.
That recognises quiet confidence.
Where people succeed without burning out by Tuesday.

What is ONE thing your workplace does (or does not do) that makes the biggest difference for you?

🔁 Repost this if you want to support introverts in your network.
📩 My weekly A+Introvert Newsletter → see profile 👆 or featured section

Matthew Smith

"Don't fall in love with success. Fall in love with the habits that bring success."

That would've saved me years.

Twenty years ago, I was the ambitious introvert.
Crushing tasks. Exceeding targets. Getting nowhere.

Then my mentor pulled me aside.
"You're winning battles. But you're losing the war."

I was working harder than anyone else in the room.
But I was still invisible.

Success is borrowed. Habits are owned.

The project you deliver? That's success.
The deep work that made it brilliant? That's a habit.

The recognition you earn? Success.
The daily rituals that keep you going? Habit.

Chase success without habits, and you're building a career on sand.
Build the right habits, and success has no choice but to follow.

Quiet leaders who last do not fall in love with the spotlight.
They fall in love with:

⏰ Morning routines that protect their energy
🚫 Calendar blocks that make space for focused work
🤔 Time for reflection that sharpens judgment
📚 Reading habits that widen perspective
🛡️Boundaries that preserve their sanity

Promotions can be delayed.
Bonuses can be cut.
Recognition can be missed.

But habits?
They compound.
They decide who you become.

The introvert's edge isn't volume.
It's systems that keep working when the noise fades.
__________
Repost if you're done proving yourself and ready to build yourself

I built some tools for Introverts around exactly this. https://lnkd.in/eSdKpkMs

Ngan Pham

Networking like an extrovert nearly cost me everything.

More events.
More coffee chats.
More small talk with people I'd never see again.

I thought more connections meant more opportunities.

I was wrong.

What I actually built was exhaustion.
And a contact list full of people I barely remembered.

When I finally dropped that belief, everything changed.

I stopped chasing quantity.
Started protecting my energy.
Invested in fewer people, went way deeper with each one.

The networking events I skipped?
Cost me nothing.

The shallow connections I let go?
Made room for the ones I actually need.

After 20 years as a CHRO, I've watched too many introverts burn out trying to play the extrovert game.

The ones who thrive?

They stop forcing what drains them.
They build their network around how they actually work best.

This weekend, try this:

→ Text one person who genuinely energises you. No agenda. Just checking in.
→ Say no to one thing you were going to push yourself through.
→ Spend 10 minutes in stillness. Introverts don't recharge in crowds. They recharge in quiet.

Letting go of the wrong approach is not giving up.
It's making space for the right one.

What's one thing you're letting go of this weekend?

💚 Happy Friday, friends.

♻️ Repost if you believe success should never require self-erasure.

💌 I write the A+ Introvert Newsletter. Weekly insights for introverts who lead quietly and build deeply. No fluff, ever.→https://lnkd.in/e2Yn259g

A cat that dreams of becoming a lion must first lose its appetite for rats.

This African proverb stopped me cold.

Because for years, I was that cat.

Chasing the safe wins. The invisible contributions. Work that kept me comfortable but never actually challenged me.

Rats felt manageable. Low risk. Low visibility. Low reward.

And for introverts? Rats feel even safer.

We tell ourselves that staying small is strategic. That avoiding the spotlight is wisdom. That if we just keep delivering quietly, someone will eventually notice.

But here's what two decades as a CHRO taught me:

The rats never run out.

There's always another inbox to clear. Another meeting where you stayed on mute even though you had the answer. Another task that feels productive but changes absolutely nothing.

Meanwhile, the lion work sits there waiting.

→ The difficult conversation you've been rehearsing in your head for months.
→ The one where you finally tell your manager what you actually want.
→ The role you're qualified for but haven't applied to because it feels too visible.
→ The idea you keep refining privately because sharing it would mean being seen.

The shift doesn't start with action.
It starts with appetite.

You have to:
→ Stop craving the comfort of smallness.
→ Stop finding safety in being overlooked.
→ Stop confusing busyness with progress.

I spent years perfecting rat-catching. Efficient, reliable, forgettable.

Until I realized something painfully obvious: nobody promotes the best rat-catcher.

They promote the person who stopped chasing rats long enough to hunt something that actually mattered.

The shift from cat to lion isn't about becoming louder.

It's about becoming hungrier. For work that moves you forward, not just work that keeps you busy.

So here's my question:

What's one "rat" you've been chasing that you know won't get you where you want to go?

Because I'm willing to bet you already know the answer.

♻️ Share if you're done playing small
📬 Want to build your lion appetite? These tools helped me:
→ https://lnkd.in/eSdKpkMs

"You're too quiet for executive leadership."

My boss said that to me at 32.
I replayed it for years.

Every meeting I stayed silent.
Every presentation I let others take over.
Every networking event I left early.

I believed him.

The lateral moves? I blamed myself for not being louder.
The passed-over promotions? Thought I didn't sell myself enough.
The struggling projects? Maybe I was too introverted to lead.

I carried those stories like stones in my pocket.
Getting heavier with each new challenge.

Then something shifted.

The promotions I didn't get kept me learning.
Now I lead with knowledge, not just ambition.

The struggling projects taught me to listen for what wasn't being said.
That skill transformed every team I touched.

What I've learned about how introverts process setbacks:

→ We don't bounce back. We build back.
→ We don't forget feedback. We mine it for truth.
→ We don't perform resilience. We develop it in silence.

What others saw as weaknesses were actually strengths forming:

Avoided office politics → Built trust through work instead
Skipped self-promotion → Let results speak louder
Stayed in roles too long → Mastered depth others rushed past
Took time to process → Made better decisions than those who reacted fast

Today I'm CHRO.
Still quiet.
Those "setbacks" were my education.

Every introvert I've hired has a similar story.
Told they were too quiet. Too thoughtful. Too slow.

Now they're running divisions.
Transforming cultures.
Leading without performing.

Your setbacks aren't failures.
They're data points.

Your quiet processing isn't weakness.
It's how you turn feedback into fuel.

That boss who said I was too quiet?
He was half right.
I was quiet.
But I was building.

♻️ Repost if you've ever been underestimated for being quiet

📩 Looking for some daily success techniques as introvert:
https://lnkd.in/eSdKpkMs

Introverts don't need fixing.
Your workplace culture does.

For 20 years, I watched companies try to "improve" their introverted employees.

They sent them to presentation skills workshops.
They placed them in open office layouts.
They nudged them toward noisy networking events.

But they missed what really needed changing.

Meeting norms that reward the loudest voice.
Brainstorms that drown out deep thinkers.
"Collaboration" that looks more like constant interruption.

When I was 32, a VP pulled me aside.
"You're too quiet. That'll hurt your career."

So I tried to become louder.
More visible.
More like everyone else.

Eventually I realized something important.

I wasn't the problem.
The environment was.

Today I'm a CHRO.
Still quiet.
Still thriving.

Not because I changed who I am,
but because I focused on changing the system.

If you're doing this:
❌ Telling introverts to speak up more
❌ Requiring constant collaboration
❌ Assuming quiet means disengaged
❌ Defining culture through happy hours
❌ Rewarding visibility over value

Try this instead:
✅ Send agendas in advance so they can prepare
✅ Start meetings with quiet time for written input
✅ Offer multiple ways to contribute, not just talking
✅ Create quiet zones for focused work
✅ Recognize the impact, not just who talks the most

The most innovative companies don't try to fix introverts.
They build environments where introverts can shine.

Quiet-friendly cultures boost productivity.
Written brainstorming surfaces better ideas.
And your next big idea might be sitting silently in the corner.

The companies losing top talent right now?
They're still trying to make introverts louder.

The ones winning?
They're creating spaces where every style can thrive.

If someone seems too quiet,
maybe the system is too noisy.

Stop trying to change them.
Start changing what's actually not working.

Because a culture that works for introverts
works better for everyone.

💬 What's one small change that could make your workplace more inclusive for quieter thinkers?

♻️ Share if you believe quiet leadership deserves more respect

📩 Join 100K+ ambitious introverts who get free weekly career tips: https://lnkd.in/e7xQPNtn

Burnout isn't about working too hard.
It's about pretending too much.

For introverts, the real crisis is not the workload.
It's performing extroversion 40 hours a week.

7 signs you're burning out from the performance:

1️⃣ Hiding in your car between meetings. 
→ This is not odd. It's survival mode.

2️⃣ "I'm fine!" when you're clearly not. 
→ The mask stays on. Always.

3️⃣ Your best work happens after everyone leaves. 
→ Because finally, you can stop performing.

4️⃣ Sunday night dread about people, not tasks. 
→ Your nervous system already knows what Monday brings.

5️⃣ Social battery dies by Tuesday. 
→ You're not weak. You're drained from acting all day.

6️⃣ Calls drain you more than the actual work. 
→ It's not the content. It's the constant "on" that kills you.

7️⃣ Recovery takes the whole weekend. 
→ Two days to recover from five is not a sustainable equation.

After 20 years in HR, I've watched this pattern destroy talented people.
Not because they weren't strong.
Because they were never given permission to stop pretending.

What helps (for you):
→ Block 10 minutes between meetings. Non-negotiable.
→ Replace one call with async. Protect your voice.
→ Batch high-contact tasks on specific days. Guard one deep-work block.
→ Stop apologizing for needing quiet to think.

What workplaces need to change:
→ Create meeting-free blocks for real work.
→ Default one weekly update to async instead of live.
→ Train managers to lead introverts: advance agendas, written input options.
→ Design offices with actual quiet spaces, not just open-plan buzz.

Your energy is real.
Your limits are legitimate.
Your need for space is not weakness.
It's wiring.

Which sign hit closest to home?

♻️ Repost to help introverts burning out in silence.

💌 Want to thrive without burning out: https://lnkd.in/eSdKpkMs

A shark in a fish tank stays small.
In the ocean, it grows to its full size.

The science may be shaky, but the principle holds:
Environment dictates growth.

Introverts work the same way.

But here's what nobody talks about: we don't just need bigger environments.

We need environments with depth.

For years, I tried to grow in loud rooms.

Networking events.
Open offices.
Brainstorm sessions where speed won over substance.

I wasn't shrinking because I lacked ambition.
I was shrinking because I was in the wrong water.

Kurt Lewin, one of the founders of social psychology, proposed that behaviour is a function of both the person and their environment.

You cannot outwork a bad fit.

The typical growth questions fall short for introverts

❓ Am I growing here?
❓ Am I being challenged?

Here's what we need to ask instead

❓ Does this environment reward reflection or just reaction?
❓ Can I contribute in writing, not just in real-time?
❓ Do the people here value depth, or only volume?
❓ Is there space for quiet processing, or just constant noise?
❓ Am I becoming more myself here, or less?

If the answers point to "less" and you can change your environment, change it.

But sometimes you cannot leave yet.

So you build your ocean where you are:

→ Curate inputs that expand your thinking.
Books, podcasts, communities that go in depth, not wide.

→ Find one or two people who match your wavelength.
Mentors or peers who value substance over small talk.

→ Create pockets for depth.
Block time for focused work, even if the culture does not protect it for you.

→ Set quiet challenges for yourself.
Write the memo that showcases your thinking. Lead the project that needs patience over speed.

Your environment shapes your growth.
Your choices shape your environment.

Introverts don't grow by swimming faster.
We grow when we find depth.

Stop trying to grow in a fish tank.
Find your ocean. Or start building one.

💾 Save this and ♻️ repost if you believe introverts deserve environments built for depth

📩 Want to build your ocean? These are the techniques I swear by:
https://lnkd.in/eSdKpkMs

Being "always available" destroyed my best work.

My sharpest thinking happened at 6am before anyone could reach me.
My worst decisions came from back-to-back calls with no space to process.

For years I wore it like a badge of honor.
Responding within minutes.
Never missing a meeting.
Always on.

As a CHRO, I thought that's what leadership looked like.

I was wrong.

7 truths about introvert productivity:

🔋 90 uninterrupted minutes beat all-day availability
Research shows it takes 23 minutes to regain focus after an interruption.
This is where real work happens.
Not in constant collaboration.

🔋 Transition time is not optional
15 minutes between meetings to reset is not luxury.
It's how your brain works.

🔋 Alone time is strategic
Your brain recharges in quiet, not chaos.
Biology, not antisocial behavior.

🔋 Saying no is a productivity strategy
Three meetings with real substance beat twelve status updates.

🔋 Email beats video calls for most things
Async communication protects time for work that actually matters.

🔋 Morning energy is sacred
Give your peak hours to hard thinking.
Not admin.

🔋 Your calendar should reflect your nervous system
Not everyone else's expectations.

Productivity is not about doing more.
It's about protecting your energy for what actually matters.

♻️ Repost for the introvert doing real work after everyone leaves
📩 Weekly introvert career insights → https://lnkd.in/e2Yn259g

You're still replaying it. The moment you said the wrong thing in the meeting.

The decision that caused extra work.
The email you hit send on too fast.

At 2am, you zoom in on every face.
Every silence.
The question underneath: do they still trust me?

What I've learned after 20 years in HR:
People care less about the mistake itself.
They care about what you do next.

✔️ Take responsibility
✔️ Communicate clearly
✔️ Follow through consistently

That advice works. But for introverts, there's a step before the step.

Our nervous system treats mistakes like threats.
So we go quiet. And quiet gets misread as indifference.
We withdraw. We overcompensate.
We rehearse conversations that already happened.

The problem?
Silence rarely repairs trust.

My Quiet Repair Plan:

1️⃣ Name the mistake in one sentence
"I missed a dependency. That created extra work."
No over-explaining. No spiraling. One clear sentence.

2️⃣ Own it 1:1, not on stage
Three sentences in private work better than a public performance:
"I've been thinking about what happened."
"Here's what I see now."
"Here's what I'll do differently."

3️⃣ Make the fix visible
Pick one new behaviour.
Use it consistently.
Let actions speak louder than apologies.

4️⃣ Ask for micro-feedback
Not: "Do you trust me again?"
But: "Was that clearer than last time?"

Small questions feel safer. For both sides.

A visible mistake, handled well, can build your credibility faster than playing it safe ever will.

That's what quiet confidence looks like.
Not perfection. Recovery.

♻️ Repost for the introvert still stuck in the replay loop at 2am.
📩 Weekly tools for quieter leaders → https://lnkd.in/e2Yn259g

The lighthouse doesn't chase ships.
It stands still. And they find their way.

I spent 10 years being the ship.

From 30 to 40, I was drowning in the chase.
Speaking louder in meetings where I had nothing to add.
Networking harder at events that drained my energy.
Projecting confidence I didn't feel in rooms that didn't need me.

Doing everything leaders were "supposed" to do.

Exhausting myself trying to be seen.

Then I watched the quietest engineer become CTO.

While I was running around like a ship without a compass, she stood still.
Like a lighthouse.
She never chased the promotion.
She attracted it.

While others networked, she built systems that worked.
While others pitched ideas, she solved real problems.
While others performed leadership, she delivered results.

The promotion found her.
Three companies tried to poach her within months.
She never applied for any of it.

That moment changed everything for me as an introvert CHRO:

Chasing drains you.
Attracting energizes you.

While others chase the spotlight, we become the steady light others steer toward.

Stop chasing what drains you.
Start building what attracts success:
→ Deep expertise over shallow networking
→ Quality relationships over quantity connections
→ Consistent delivery over constant visibility
→ Thoughtful strategy over reactive hustle

The lighthouse does not announce itself.
It stands steady.
Its light cuts through.
And every ship finds its way.

♻️ Repost if you believe quiet leadership deserves more visibility

📩 Want to be the lighthouse? These are some techniques I swear by: 
https://lnkd.in/eSdKpkMs

Stop forcing yourself to be "on" all day.

Your boss sees quiet.
Your close team sees hilarious.

Your network sees reserved.
Your best friend? Sees you acting like an extrovert.

And here's the thing.
Everyone holds a different version of you.
That is not broken. That is strategic.

➡️ When you are around people who give you energy, you show up fully. 
➡️ When you are around strangers or high-stakes rooms, your battery drains faster than you'd like.

This is not two people.
This is one person with limited energy making intentional choices about where to spend it.

Most introverts sabotage themselves trying to be the same everywhere.

So they either:
➡️ Exhaust themselves performing for everyone
➡️ Hide completely and wonder why nobody knows what they can do

Here is the breakthrough:

➡️ Stop trying to be consistent.
➡️ Start being intentional.

You are not broken because you go quiet at a conference.
➠ You are smart because you know the return on your energy investment.

You are not unfriendly because you skip happy hour.
➠ You are protecting your ability to show up fully in the meetings that actually matter.

You do not need to be the same version in every room.
You need to decide which rooms deserve your full energy.

What is one event or meeting you are going to skip this week, guilt-free?

♻️ Repost this for the introvert who needs permission to stop performing

We promote the loudest voice.
Then wonder why teams burn out.

I've spent 20 years in leadership.
And I've watched brilliant introverts get overlooked again and again.

They didn't fall short.
They quietly pulled ahead.

Harvard and Wharton research tells us something most companies ignore. Introverted leaders drive:
➜ 28% higher productivity
➜ 84% more engagement
➜ 50% lower turnover

So why do we still mistake quiet for weak?

Because we've built systems that reward volume over value.
Visibility over results.
Performance over substance.

This carousel breaks down:
➜ What the data really says
➜ Why introverts make elite leaders
➜ How to lead with quiet confidence

The quiet ones in your meeting today?

They're not disengaged.
They're processing at a level most leaders never reach.

💾 Save this for your next leadership conversation.
♻️ Share if your culture still mistakes noise for leadership.

Your Team Thinks Quiet Means Weak (The Data Disagrees)

I ignored the warning signs for 3 years.
Then my body made the decision for me.

Most leaders still think burnout is a discipline problem.
Better time management. More willpower. Stronger boundaries.

Yet the introverts I work with burn out even with perfect calendars.
Color‑coded.
Blocked.
Optimised.

Still exhausted.

The real issue? Their energy design has holes.

As a CHRO working with introverted leaders, I see the same pattern on repeat:

→ Saying yes to a "quick call" that hijacks your only thinking block
→ Attending the meeting you weren't needed in, just to be seen
→ Skipping the 10-minute buffer because "it's just one more"

One VP was ready to quit.
Exhausted by Tuesday.
Every. Single. Week.

We implemented the 3B Framework:

→ Boundaries: Clear office hours for interruptions
→ Buffers: 15-minute blocks between meetings
→ Being Selective: 3 strategic meetings, not everything

Result: 40% fewer burnout symptoms.
Same influence. Better decisions.

Your exhaustion is not a discipline problem.
It is a design problem.

Swipe through for the full 3B Framework.

💡 Save this before your next burnout warning sign.

👉 If your energy at work or in rooms full of people feels unfixable, this will change how you see it and how you show up:
https://lnkd.in/eEk9FQBx

You're Not Tired. You're Overspent. (And Now what?)

I stayed quiet in meetings for years.

Then one CEO told me:
"When you speak, I know it matters."

I'd spent years thinking my silence was a liability.
Turns out it was my edge.

Most communication advice for introverts?
"Just speak up more."

But more communication does not equal better communication.

⬇️ Swipe to learn how introverts turn quiet into influence.

💾 Save & repost this before your next meeting.
📩 Get my newsletter The A+ Introvert → link in carousel last page

Stop Apologizing For Not Speaking Up Immediately (Really)

Stop trying to be a louder leader.

In 20 years as CHRO, I've watched brilliant introverts burn out.
They tried being more visible.
More charismatic.
More loud.

When teams take initiative, introverted leaders drive 28% higher productivity.

Not despite being quiet.
Because of it.

Your quiet leadership is not the problem.
The cult of charisma is.

⬇️ Swipe through to see how quiet leaders actually lead.

💾 Save this before your next leadership moment.
📩 Join ambitious introverts in The A+ Introvert Newsletter → link in carousel or my profile

Stop Trying To Be A Louder Leader (Do This Instead)

I spent 10 years faking extroversion.
Turns out, my introversion made me CHRO.

3 quiet wins that outperformed loud:

→ 47 minutes of silence in a tense board meeting.
One sentence that shifted the entire conversation.

→ 24 hours to think instead of reacting fast.
Saved €2.3M.

→ 8 private conversations instead of one big pitch.
Unanimous approval. Zero politics.

⬇️ Swipe to see how each moment played out.

Ambitious introverts: stop performing. Start leading.

💾 Save this before your next leadership moment.
♻️ Repost to empower the quiet leaders in your network.

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