Burn the Map

243,000 people have already received layoff notices in 2026. This episode isn't for them; it's for the ones who survived and aren't sure how to feel about it. If part of you wanted the package, this one's for you. What you'll learn: Why surviving a layoff you wanted to be included in creates a particular kind of emotional confusion, and why that's harder to name than...

Corporate trains you to perform: polished, error-free, ready for an audience. That training works against you the moment you start figuring out what comes next. This episode makes the case for a different posture entirely. What you'll learn: Why treating your next venture like it needs to be "performance-ready" before launch keeps most people stuck What it actually means to start, a...

Flattery is a destabilization tactic, and corporate environments have had decades to perfect it. When someone tells you you're the only person they trust with this, the request and the recognition arrive as a package deal, which makes declining both at once much harder than declining either one alone. What you'll learn: How flattery bypasses your critical judgment before you've had...

Nearly 9,000 Microsoft employees have about a month to decide whether to take a voluntary retirement package. If this model works, they won't be the last. The financial details matter, but they're only part of the calculation. What you'll learn: What Microsoft's voluntary retirement program actually includes and the fine print that changes the math for most people Why staying f...

Most conversations about being stuck in a miserable job focus on the person who's stuck: their identity, their fear, their eventual breaking point. This episode is about the people in the next room. When you stay in a job that wore out its welcome, the cost doesn't stay contained to you. Partners, family members, and close friends absorb your misery whether you intend that or not. And be...

Corporate culture doesn't make you mean all at once. It happens gradually. The culture of correction, the "well, actually" posturing, the incentive models that reward sharp elbows regardless of what the company values say. At some point, you notice the armor has followed you home. In this episode, I look at what that costs you, and why getting in a room with people who love somethin...

The plan you make to leave your corporate job is not the plan that will survive contact with reality. A layoff, a reorg, a sudden directive from the CEO: any of these can detonate a carefully constructed exit strategy. The question isn't whether a surprise is coming. It's whether your plan can bend without breaking. In this episode, I look at how to build an exit plan that's elastic...

You left the job. So why does it still feel like yours? For many people who leave corporate careers, whether by choice or by layoff, the psychological exit takes much longer than the physical one. You're gone, but part of you is still at your desk. In this episode, I explore why that happens and what to do about it. What you'll learn: Why people who've left corporate jobs often keep...

You've been thinking about leaving for a while. Or maybe the decision just got made for you. Either way, you're about to walk out a door, and how you do that matters more than most people realize. The emotional residue you carry out with you (bitterness, relief, grief, pride) doesn't disappear when you hand in your badge. It follows you into whatever comes next. Which means you have...

You spent twenty years getting good at something. Now a tool can do it faster, and your company is thrilled about the efficiency gains. The loss isn't just about your job. It's about mastery itself. The identity you built around being the person who does this specific thing well. The dopamine hit of solving a problem elegantly. The community of people who cared about the same details you...

Someone I know quit a job after 20 years, then immediately took a contractor role on the same team, in the same building. To him, everything changed. To everyone else, nothing did. "Leaving corporate" doesn't have to mean never setting foot in an office again or launching a pottery business. For most people in midlife, it's about getting specific on what actually needs to chang...

Almost half of you said financial risk is why you stay in jobs you don't want anymore. Here's the thing: most of you aren't broke. You have savings. Maybe severance. You've spent thousands on courses and retreats trying to figure out what's next. You're not too broke to take risks. You're spending money to avoid taking them. The real risk isn't leaving too s...

Follow your bliss. Pursue your passion. Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life. For those of us who never felt particularly called to anything, all of it can be a letdown. You wonder what's wrong with you. If you ever felt punished for not having a calling, this one's for you. Rather than brush it off as the realm of cult leaders and artists, I'll position i...

Are you familiar with the state of wanting to want? It feels miserable and heavy. Wanting to want is the annoying time before you can declare what you don't want and get on with figuring out what you DO want. It's the long middle before change can happen, full of effort, pressure, and constant self-judgment. In this episode, I explore why we get stuck trying to want things that look good...

You've worked through your resistance. You know what kind of entrepreneur you are. Now what? Most people stall here because they're waiting for the complete roadmap. But you don't need the whole plan, just one next move. And that move isn't what you think. Your first move isn't execution. It's learning. In this episode, I walk you through specific first actions based...

After 20+ years in corporate, you already have an entrepreneurial operating system; you've just been using it inside someone else's company. In this episode, we explore the three dimensions that determine what kind of entrepreneur you are: who you work with, what you create, and your risk tolerance. Then we match those dimensions to specific business paths: fractional work, franchises, b...

You didn’t plan on becoming an entrepreneur. After decades in corporate life, you assumed you’d stay put, retire quietly, or at least have options. Then layoffs, ageism, and a shifting job market changed the math. For many people in midlife, entrepreneurship isn’t a dream, it’s a reluctant consideration. And that reluctance isn’t a flaw. It’s information. In this episode, we unpack what resistance...

After decades in corporate, asking for help feels like admitting failure. You were the indispensable one, the person with all the answers. Now you're building something new and the skill you avoided most is suddenly essential. Asking for help isn't just awkward, it feels like a violation of the role you always played. Like you're bothering people. Like you have nothing to offer back...

You finally escaped corporate. Three months later, you're at your desk at 8am sharp, working through lunch, feeling guilty about that doctor's appointment you're thinking of canceling. Again. You rebuilt the exact same prison you just left. Same hours. Same guilt. Same burnout. Here's what's happening: your corporate wiring is running your new system. Decades of conditioni...

You think you're not competitive enough to build your own business. But here's what I know: your competitive drive has been there all along, hiding in your irritation, not your achievements. That thing that makes you mutter "oh, absolutely not" under your breath? That's not complaining. That's your inner competitor pointing at what needs to change. In this episode, I&...

You've been isolated for years. You just didn't notice because you were trapped in meetings. So let's confront the isolation you're already living, and the fear that leaving corporate will make it worse. Because work friendships come with an asterisk, and now you're worried solopreneurship means being even more alone. Before you go from the frying pan to the fire, we'...

You've been "planning to leave" for two years. Or you're deep in a 2 a.m. Reddit rabbit hole about fractional work, but haven't contacted anyone. Or you've told three different friends about your brilliant business idea while doing absolutely nothing about it. In this episode of Burn the Map, I'm walking you through the four predictable phases of career reinventi...

At some point, every GenXer leaving corporate faces the question: "What do you do now?" Without your job title, the answer gets stuck in your throat. In this episode of Burn the Map, we're tackling the identity crisis that comes after leaving corporate. How do you introduce yourself when the title that made you legible to the world is gone? And how do you explain your pivot without...

At some point, every GenXer realizes they've been carrying a grudge that only hurts them. The company moved on. The manager moved on. But you're still bitter. In this episode of Burn the Map, we're unpacking the invisible contract fueling your workplace resentment. The one you created but never told anyone about. The one that's draining your energy and keeping you stuck in the...

You’re slogging away in a job that’s slowly draining your soul, but you tell yourself you have nothing to complain about. The paycheck is steady, the benefits are fine… so why does it still feel like something’s dying inside you? In this episode of Burn the Map , we’re talking about pre-traumatic growth: how to make a change before crisis hits, and how to start designing a life that fits without w...