Big F*cking Dreams

Your biggest client is rude to you and your team. Everyone in the industry knows he's like this. And every meeting, you freeze — then spend the rest of the day furious at yourself for staying quiet.  In this episode, Hannah answers a listener who's been swallowing her opinions to protect a major account, with a boss who people-pleases too.  Here's what we want you to hear: your job is not to be ag...

You know LinkedIn could open doors. You also know that posting feels like walking onto a stage where everyone's waiting for you to trip. So you don't post. And the gap between the career you want and the career you have keeps growing.  In this episode, Hannah answers a listener who wants to build her expertise in public but is terrified of being judged, laughed at, or seen as stupid.  Here's what...

Your CEO is messaging at 10PM. You're anxious. Your notifications are on. And nobody actually asked you to do any of this.  In this episode of Hannah Hotline, Hannah tackles a letter from "Anxious at 10 PM", a professional whose new CEO, a former management consultant, works late and on weekends, creating an unspoken pressure that's quietly taking over her evenings.  Hannah breaks down Nobel laure...

You gave 15 years. "Exceeded expectations," every single time. And then one review drops: "not strategic enough." No warning. No conversation. No chance to fix it. If you've been blindsided at a performance review, this episode is for you. I break down exactly what to do when the feedback feels vague and unfair — and how to turn a gut-punch into a documented plan that protects you. What we cover:...

You've quit jobs before. You've been in therapy. You've read the books. And yet you're sitting here thinking: "Is this all there is?" Sound familiar? In this bonus episode of Hannah Hotline, we break down why most career change advice fails and the 4-step method that actually sticks.  Here's the problem: traditional career coaching is all action, no self-awareness. So you jump into a new job, and...

You've got the title, the salary, and the golden handcuffs, but you're secretly terrified it's too late to start over. Sound familiar?  In this episode of Hannah Hotline, there's a 50-year-old senior leader who's unfulfilled in her high-paying operations role and scared she's not good enough to do anything else.  There's a reason you feel stuck - and it's not your age.  Here's what we cover: - Why...

He's a "great guy" but he calls pregnant teammates "disabled," doles out off-color jokes in your one-on-ones, and swings between warm and erratic so fast you get emotional whiplash. Sound familiar? In this episode of Hannah Hotline, we break down how to handle a boss who's unpredictable and inappropriate without quitting and without losing yourself. This isn't about managing his moods; it's about...

Are you a high performer who constantly says "yes" to new projects? You're not alone. You're likely paying the "competency tax."  In this episode of Hannah Hotline, we break down why being the "reliable one" at work is actively damaging your health and career trajectory.  If you're burnt out, stressed, and feeling punished for your own competence, this episode is your wake-up call. We cover: Why h...

Hannah is back with a big announcement, a full rebrand, and an honest conversation about what it actually looks like to simplify your business without guilt. In this episode, Hannah shares why she's transitioning  Big Fucking Dreams to Hannah Hotline , scaling back from weekly to fortnightly episodes, stepping back from Instagram and TikTok, and going all-in on LinkedIn and YouTube. Plus — the 40%...

"You're not getting a raise because you never asked for one." You've been crushing it at work for years. You show up early, deliver exceptional results, and you're genuinely good at what you do. Then you find out your new male colleague, doing the exact same job, is making $35K more than you. Your stomach drops. The resentment sets in.  Here's the uncomfortable truth: Most women don't negotiate th...

"Stop protecting the people who treat you poorly." Are you the person who jokes about being a "people pleaser" but goes home feeling drained, anxious, and deeply resentful? You might not just be "nice"—you might be experiencing the "fawn" trauma response.  Most of us know fight, flight, or freeze, but fawning is the lesser-known, often more dangerous response where you literally prop up people who...

Ever felt like your boss is taking instructions from a chatbot? In this episode of Hannah Hotline, we're tackling a listener's story about a CEO who is completely obsessed with using AI in business, even when it's clearly producing garbage. When your leadership team treats AI-generated projections as gospel, it doesn't just create frustration; it kills team morale. Hannah unpacks the messy reality...

In this episode, Hannah sits down with Andrea Bombino - motherhood and career coach, matrescence expert, and longtime friend - to unpack the developmental transition into motherhood that almost no one talks about: matrescence. Coined in the 1970s and only recently brought back into the mainstream, matrescence describes the profound physical, psychological, and identity-level transformation that ha...

"I told the CEO the truth, and then I was fired." If you have a strong sense of justice and integrity, you've likely felt the sting of corporate politics. You see a problem, you fix it, and instead of being rewarded, you're sidelined or pushed out. In this episode, Hannah breaks down the high-performer's "Integrity Trap." She explains how to navigate these environments without sacrificing your sou...

You've achieved everything you set out to achieve. So why do you feel like you're losing your edge?  For high performers and executives, we are wired to believe that more work, more hustle, and more sacrifice is the answer to every problem. But what happens when the very mechanism that built your success — your relentless drive, starts to feel like a cage?  In this episode, Hannah gets vulnerable...

In this episode, Hannah tackles a deeply relatable dilemma sent in by a listener who hates her job, wants to switch roles, but feels guilty about joining a new company while planning to get pregnant. Hannah cuts through the noise with her signature no-BS approach, reminding us that company loyalty is a two-way street, and more often than not, it only runs one way. From anti-discrimination laws to...

The most dangerous thing a high performer can do? Stick to a bad plan just because they "said they would."  We are taught that consistency is a virtue. We are taught that changing our minds is a weakness, a sign of indecision, or a failure of control. In corporate environments, being "Rule Book" (as Hannah was affectionately nicknamed at LinkedIn) is a badge of honour.  But there is a massive diff...

You're senior, successful, and capable, so why is this one coworker still living rent-free in your head?  In this Hannah Hotline episode, Hannah responds to a listener navigating a persistent grudge against the colleague who covered her maternity leave.  Hannah breaks down the real psychology behind why grudges stick, introduces the Grey Rock Method for disengaging from toxic dynamics, and reveals...

Nine years ago, Hannah Kissel made the most important decision of her life. She was sitting in a bathtub, a few days before her 27th birthday, and she realised something: she didn't want to do this anymore.  Not life — but the version of it she was living.  In this deeply personal solo episode, recorded on her 36th birthday and 9-year sobriety anniversary, Hannah shares what she's never talked abo...

Your nervous system is sending you a message. Are you listening?  High performers are often the last people to admit they're burning out because they're still getting great performance reviews while their body quietly falls apart.  In this episode, Hannah responds to a listener who has been in back-to-back burnout cycles for two years. She's a project manager at a major financial institution - bri...

Feeling overwhelmed? It's probably not what you think it is.  In this raw, unscripted solo episode, Hannah shares what came out of her most recent therapy session - a realisation that stopped her in her tracks.  She'd been feeling overwhelmed. Shutting down. Going full "sloth monster." And when she traced it back to the source, it wasn't burnout. It wasn't doing too much. It was the complete oppos...

You can be powerful. You can be liked. They're not opposites. If you've just stepped into a bigger leadership role and you're about to have the hardest conversations of your career, this one's for you. In this Hannah Hotline episode, Hannah coaches a listener who has rocketed from career-changer to C-suite executive in just three years, now managing nearly 30 people and reporting directly to the C...

"How you do money is how you do everything." If you've ever frozen when you should have acted, avoided looking at your bank account, or made a financial decision out of fear. This episode is going to hit differently.   Hannah sits down with Julia Scott, Sydney-based financial advisor, wealth mentor, chartered accountant, and founder of Love Luck Wealth and the upcoming FinTech platform Jane, to ta...

Being made redundant isn't just losing a pay cheque, it's being told you're no longer part of the tribe. And when your identity is tied to your work, that hits hard.  In this episode, Hannah responds to a listener who was recently made redundant, loved her job, is now terrified of falling behind in an AI-disrupted market, and is completely frozen when it comes to networking. Hannah breaks down exa...

In this episode, we unpack the sunk cost fallacy, the mental trap that keeps people stuck in jobs, relationships, projects, and decisions simply because they've already invested so much time, money, or energy. We explore why walking away can feel so hard, even when something is no longer working, and how identity, fear, loyalty, and past effort can cloud clear decision-making. Through personal sto...