Powrup

00:32:11

Ep 187: Not sure what to do next in your career?

Powrup ·

2026/10/05

The usual advice when a job ends is to work out what you want first, then make a move. Kristen has given that advice to plenty of Powrsuit members, and in this ep of Powrup, Nat and Kristen question it. They talk about the awkward in-between stage after a redundancy, time at home with kids or outgrowing your role (there's even a word for it: liminality). They draw on Herminia Ibarra's year-long study of 23 career changers, who figured out what they wanted by trying things first. Her advice

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00:34:23

Ep 186: How to Disagree at Work in a Polarised World

Powrup ·

2026/09/28

Neutrality used to cost you nothing but now it costs reach.We start with the flashpoints doing the rounds: Ed Sheeran, Sydney Sweeney, Meghan Markle, Jacinda Ardern, return to office mandates, private school vs public school (we could go on).Then the work version, where you can't mute anyone and the project's still due. Using Jessica Tarlov's new book 'I Disagree' as a frame: leave room for people who choose differently, because if every disagreement is a character test

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00:33:40

Ep 185: Why Women Can Be Harder on Other Women

Powrup ·

2026/09/23

Queen bee syndrome is when senior women pull the ladder up behind them. It's real, it's been studied, and the research points to structure rather than personality.We start with the Sydney Sweeney ad and the pick me girl label, then get to the thing Powrsuiters say in hushed tones on calls: one of my worst managers was a woman.A few reasons it happens. There's often only one seat, so enter fierce competition thanks to scarcity. Survival mode sets in, because if proving you're not like

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00:34:43

Ep 184: Are People Getting Ruder?

Powrup ·

2026/09/17

Are people ruder now, or have the norms just shifted under our feet? Speakerphone conversations in the airport lounge, QR code ordering when you've just paid close to a hundred dollars for a couple of burgers and beers, ghosting meetings and catchups - is this the new normal? A researcher has been asking people about rudeness since the 90s and the number has climbed every time, with the biggest rise in customers behaving badly towards frontline staff. She also found nobody thinks they're the

en

00:33:23

Ep 183: Are you past, present or future focused?

Powrup ·

2026/09/07

Your brain has a default time zone: Past, present or future. Kristen found out about it at a dinner party, went home and got AI to test her, and ran a shorter version on Nat. Someone more junior gets the promotion you wanted and it's 9pm, what are you doing?If you're past focused you work out how something happened, which is great for spotting patterns and for backing yourself based on your track record, though you can get stuck diagnosing when you should be deciding. Present focused means

en

00:30:30

Ep 182: Calendar management: do's and don'ts for sanity

Powrup ·

2026/08/31

Your calendar probably isn't a plan. It's a receipt for everything other people asked you to do.We've heard a few common ways people run a calendar. As a receipt, where it's just a record of what you're delivering for everyone else. As a watch list, where you accept everything and then triage it on a Sunday night. Or as a Tetris board, where the blocks are constantly moving around because they have to fit the hours you've actually got.Some of our do's and

en

00:35:07

Ep 181: How to work a room when you'd rather hide in...

Powrup ·

2026/08/24

Networking is the thing most of us dread, so here's how to actually work a room without wanting to hide in the women’s toilet. We start with the liking gap - the research showing people walk away thinking they tanked terribly while everyone else rated them an A. Then in Powrsuit fashion, Nat and Kristen get practical: the walk-in plan, why heading straight for the drinks table gives you a job to do, how to read which groups are safe to join, and graceful ways to exit a convo. In a male-dominated

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00:28:10

Ep 180: Quiet quitting is back (in the worst economy...

Powrup ·

2026/08/17

Quiet quitting is back - and it makes no sense. Jobs are at an all time low, unemployment all time high, and yet work disengagement is off the charts? Nat and Kristen dig into why people are checking out when you'd most expect them to cling on. They cover what’s going on (poor management, burnout and broken promises), and why Gen Z are more likely to quiet quit than boomers. Plus the difference between disengaged and actively disengaged and whether this is all about boundaries and why it’s all

en

00:32:40

Ep 179: Criticism disguised as feedback (and what to do)

Powrup ·

2026/08/10

There's a difference between feedback and criticism, and often what we get is the latter dressed up as the former. So we pull the two apart: feedback is clear, actionable and comes from someone who wants you to win, while criticism can be someone venting and making it your problem. We also dig into why women often get judged on personality rather than work (abrasive, strident, 'too intense'), and why 'you're not ready' is the most useless thing you can be told after missing out on a role. Then in

en

00:35:37

Ep 178: Dating apps are broken (so where do people go?)

Powrup ·

2026/08/04

Nat and Kristen get into why dating apps have got so bad - and general swipe fatigue (the same friction-removing tech logic has leaked into job hunting), and why Gen Z are heading back to real-life 'third places' like run clubs and work for dating. Then the bit that actually matters for your career: why who you partner with makes or breaks it.Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review! Got a topic for us? Email hello@powrsuit.com. Follow Powrsuit on LinkedIn and Instagram, or join us at

en

00:34:47

Ep 177: Are you the drama? Victim, villain, hero at work

Powrup ·

2026/07/29

Nat and Kristen turned up in matching green tops to talk about the roles we all slip into when things go sideways - victim, villain and hero. Kristen owns up to being a chronic hero (that dopamine hit of solving everyone's problem, whether they asked or not), Nat cops to villain as her go-to, and they use a very unhinged Married At First Sight dinner party to show all three playing out in real time. Where the drama triangle came from (a 1960s sports doodle, weirdly) and why these roles still run

en

00:36:57

Ep 176: The first 90 days (and why you're allowed to...

Powrup ·

2026/07/21

A Powrsuiter put her hand up for a stretch role, got it, then froze - terrified that asking questions would make her look stupid. Nat and Kristen unpack why that's textbook imposter phenomenon, and why the first 90 days are for diagnosing before you prescribe, not hitting the ground running (a pretty damaging bit of advice, when you think about it). They cover the listening tour, why no one's paying you to know everything on day one, and the exact questions that build credibility instead of

en

00:38:41

Ep 175: How to talk to sceptics (without needing to win)

Powrup ·

2026/07/14

Kristen got cornered at a party by a guy insisting women are outstripping men on every metric, and spent the weekend rarked up about it (now officially in the Oxford English Dictionary, by the way). So Nat and Kristen come armed with the stats they wished they'd had - like why 40 years of women dominating university hasn't dented the C-suite, and the broken rung that sees just 89 women promoted for every 100 men at the very first step up. Then the practical bit: how to handle these

en

00:26:13

Ep 174: Allyship and Man Flu

Powrup ·

2026/07/07

Nat and Kristen dig into allyship after an event where the allies in the room got an actual rule sheet - turn up, listen, don't take up space. One of them still found a moment to stand up and announce that men get man flu, and honestly, it was a highlight. They debate what an ally even is, why sponsorship beats mentorship for closing leadership gaps, and the difference between welcoming allies and accommodating them. Plus how to move allyship from 'I'm a good person' to things you do on a Tuesday

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00:34:24

Ep 173: Why Your Managing Up Isn't Landing

Powrup ·

2026/06/30

A Powrsuiter came to us with a familiar problem: she's scheduling one-on-ones, building rapport, sending proactive updates - and her manager's response is... nothing. Not hostility, just indifference. Turns out she’s probably missing one critical angle. Nat and Kristen dig into the direct conversation worth having - one that's about strategic alignment, not reassurance-seeking - and how to frame it. And if all else fails? We share what research says about staying in a role where your

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00:32:33

Ep 172: Why No One Asks the Obvious Question

Powrup ·

2026/06/23

Nat and Kristen get into why the most useful question in any meeting - the basic, obvious, 'dumb' one - is almost always the one nobody asks! Turns out 70% of people are holding back in meetings, doing constant mental maths about whether it's worth it. They get into the blue collar vs white collar question thing, what psychological safety actually looks like in real life, and three questions worth keeping in your back pocket before any new project kicks off. Plus some openers that

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00:30:38

Ep 171: Stop Waiting to Be Noticed

Powrup ·

2026/06/15

Nat and Kristen take a quiz to find out what kind of follower they actually are (Nat's a recovering chaos-agent, Kristen's an eye-roller with a popcorn habit). They get into the five followership styles - passive, alienated, survivor, conformist, effective - and why almost everyone reckons they're the 'good' one, which obviously can't be true. If you've ever saved your real opinion for after the meeting, worked yourself to the bone waiting to be noticed, or can't

en

00:33:40

Ep 170: Everyone's Flat Right Now (Not Just You)

Powrup ·

2026/06/08

Nat and Kristen dig into the motivation gap that's showing up everywhere right now - teams low on initiative, leaders exhausted by it, and nobody quite sure why. They cover a few reasons people are checked out (spoiler: six years of economic chaos can do that), why change fatigue is different this time, and whether the generational blame game is actually useful. Plus: why running faster is not the answer, and the case for doing absolutely nothing in your 15-minute gaps instead of

en

00:25:54

Ep 169: Your Calendar Is Not a Democracy

Powrup ·

2026/06/02

Nat and Kristen get into why so many of us treat a meeting invite like a court summons - accepting on autopilot, turning up unprepared, and wondering why we feel busy but not strategic. Turns out, saying yes to everything gets you a great reputation as a doer, and quietly sidelines you from the rooms where decisions actually happen. They cover the practical fixes too: how to graciously decline or clarify before you commit, why prepping for a meeting completely changes your role in it, and the very

en

00:30:17

Ep 168: Write Your Own Obituary (No, Really)

Powrup ·

2026/05/25

Nat and Kristen wrote their own obituaries - one involves a yacht, gin martinis, Michelle Obama, and a request for dramatic sobbing (guess who). The other is a manifesto. Both are surprisingly useful. This episode is about using your obituary as a filter: for your values, your career, and whether you're actually living the life you want or just a very organised version of the default one. Plus: living funerals, why the robot (AI) makes a terrible life coach, and what happens when you're too

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