In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Jenny Wood, former Google executive and author of Wild Courage, to explore what it really takes to grow your career in the evolving workplace.

You’ll learn:

• Why being bold, direct, and even “a bit much” can be your biggest asset
• How to get promoted without waiting for permission
• What's non-promotable work—and why it’s holding your career back
• How to confidently self-promote and build lasting influence
• What traits you’ve been told to suppress that are actually superpowers

This is a must-watch for professionals navigating the future of work who are ready to take control of their careers and show up with confidence.

Want to dive deeper into this topic? Read Nirit’s Forbes article, “Being Nice Won’t Get You Promoted. Nosy, Bossy And Shameless Will.“, to explore these ideas further.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM_OQeMkkew

Guest Information:

In her 18 years at Google, Jenny Wood grew from entry-level to executive, and she most recently led a large operations team that helped drive billions of revenue per year. In 2021, she started a passion project within Google called Own Your Career, which grew to one of the largest career development programs in Google’s history. Through the program she founded, she has trained tens of thousands of people on: acing a job search, building relationships, personal branding, effective email writing, landing the right mentor, maximizing workplace influence, and most importantly, increasing confidence. Jenny’s writing has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Forbes. She is an FAA-licensed private pilot, a daily hiker, an improv student, a tap dancer, and a zucchini bread connoisseur. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her two young children and her husband, Jon. She met Jon by chasing him off the NYC Subway, and the New York Times featured their story.

https://www.instagram.com/itsjennywood/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyilles

https://itsjennywood.com/book

Chapters:

0:00 The Subway Moment That Changed Everything

1:33 How to Get Promoted at Work

3:10 From Google Executive to Career Coach

4:43 Wild Courage: Traits That Drive Career Growth

5:04 Why Being a Bit Much Is a Career Superpower

6:45 The Truth About Self-Promotion at Work

8:09 Your Power Assets: How to Talk About What You’re Good At

11:34 Translating Your Skills to New Roles

14:03 Get Promoted by Building Influence

18:18 Avoiding the Career Trap of NAP Work

22:34 How to Say No and Set Work-Life Boundaries

24:39 The Power of Brutal Honesty at Work

29:44 Handling Rejection and Bouncing Back

35:21 Know When to Flip Jobs Using the FLIP Framework

38:51 Final Thoughts: One Small Step of Wild Courage