In Confidence with Lisa Sun: A Gravitas Podcast

Feeling stuck in your career and don't know how to get unstuck? CEO & founder, former Google executive recruiter and author, Ginny Clarke spent decades sitting on the other side of the table and she says most people are approaching career change completely wrong.   In this episode of In Confidence, Ginny shares the Career Mapping Framework that's helped thousands navigate career transitions, f...

Your job title answers "What do you do?" But who are you beyond how you make money?   Christina Wallace, Harvard Business School lecturer, serial entrepreneur, and author of The Portfolio Life, says ambitious people are the most at risk of shrinking their identity down to a business card. She's built her career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts, calling herself a "human Ven...

Have you ever felt completely exhausted but couldn't explain why? Like you've been busy all day but somehow got nothing done? Or found yourself forgetting things, snapping at people, dreading Sunday nights? Your brain isn't broken. It's burning out.   In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with neuroscientist, keynote speaker, and author Dr. Helena Boschi to solve one of the most common...

If you have ever quietly wondered whether your skills still matter in the age of AI, whether your job is safe, or whether you are already falling behind, you are not alone. The fear is real. But the research tells a very different story than the headlines.   In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with future of work researcher, TEDx speaker, and Harvard Business Review contributor Dr. Ke...

Everyone is talking about AI, but most of the conversation is about what it might take away. What nobody is talking about enough is what AI can actually give you: time back in your day, clarity on decisions that used to take hours, and the kind of leverage that used to require an entire team.   In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with future of work researcher, TEDx speaker, and found...

You are ambitious, you are hungry, and you know you are capable of more. So what is actually standing between you and the C-suite?   In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with Harvard Business School executive fellow, bestselling author, and former Deloitte partner Deepa Purushothaman to break down what actually separates great managers from senior executives and what you need to start...

You are working hard, hitting your deadlines, and doing everything right. So why does the promotion keep not happening? The truth is promotions are not about recognition. They are about readiness and business fit. And most people are never taught the difference.   In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa breaks down the five shifts that take you from entry level to management, drawn from 25 years in...

Have you ever received a piece of criticism that hit you harder than you expected? Maybe it came from a boss, a stranger, or someone whose opinion you cared about more than you wanted to admit. The way you respond to that moment can define your confidence, your career, and how far you go.   In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with Emmy Award winning journalist, news anchor, and founde...

You tell yourself it is not worth it. You let it go. But then you replay the conversation in your head for days. That is not peace. That is avoidance. And avoidance has a cost.   In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa shares practical steps to stop avoiding conflict and start having the conversations that will actually move your relationships, your life and your career forward.   In this episode y...

The praise, the promotion, the applause. External validation feels good and that is completely human. But when your worth depends on whether your boss approves, your post gets likes, or the award comes through, you are chasing a goalpost that never stops moving.   In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa breaks down why so many of us are dependent on external validation, where it comes from, and the...

Do you say yes when you mean no? Do you hold back your work until it feels perfect, even though it never does? People pleasing and perfectionism might feel like two different problems but they come from the exact same place: fear.    In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with bestselling author of Unlearning Silence, TEDx speaker, and former Harvard Law School lecturer Elaine Lin Hering...

Have you ever felt trusted to get the work done but never included in the decisions that shape it? Or discovered that someone at work has been talking behind your back and had no idea what to do next? Before this season launched, Lisa asked you to send in your real work problems. Now she is answering them directly.   In Part 2 of the Work Problems series, Lisa tackles two of the most personal chal...

Have you ever been left out of meetings you needed to be in, or found yourself caught in a power struggle that was making your work life harder than it should be?    Before this season launched, Lisa asked you to send in your real work problems. Now she is answering them directly with proven frameworks, hard earned lessons, and a personal story she has carried for twenty years. In this episode you...

Staying quiet in meetings feels comfortable, but we live in a world where the people speaking up are the ones moving up. In this episode, Lisa and Naeemah give you the tools to finally speak up with confidence.   Naeemah Elias is a speaker, leadership coach, and founder of Elias Presence Ventures who spent over a decade climbing the corporate ladder before teaching others the secrets she learned a...

Have you ever messed up at work? Or even worse, it involves someone more senior than you? Before you spiral, over-apologize, or try to disappear and hope it goes away, Lisa is breaking down exactly what to do next.   In this solo episode of In Confidence, Lisa shares her three-phase plan for recovering from a mistake at work. You'll learn: Why your boss cares more about your response than the mist...

Have you ever stayed quiet in a meeting because you were worried about how your pushback would land? Or stayed silent about something you deserved because you did not want to rock the boat? That fear of being labeled difficult is costing you more than you think.   In this episode of In Confidence, Lisa sits down with HR expert, four-time TEDx speaker, and author Dethra Giles to solve one of the mo...

You raised your hand. You did the work. You were ready. And somehow, you got passed over for the opportunity.   In this episode, we're tackling one of the most searched questions in professional development: how do I stop being overlooked at work? Lisa is joined by Jessica Chen, Emmy Award-winning journalist, Columbia University instructor, and bestselling author of "Smart Not Loud: How to Get Not...

What if grief and joy could exist at the same time? What if rebuilding your life wasn’t about “moving on,” but about making meaning out of what happened?   Kelly Cervantes, author of The Luckiest and Normal Broken, joins us for a deeply human conversation about loss, identity, and resilience. In this episode of In Confidence, Kelly and Lisa unpack how to live with grief without letting it define y...

Welcome to Season 3, the Last Quarter Challenge. Think of it as a training plan for your confidence with weekly micro-moments that ladder up so you enter 2026 stronger than ever.   Our final micro-moment is Rewire a Fail. Setbacks are inevitable. What determines your confidence is not whether you fail, but how your brain processes the failure afterward. When something does not go as planned, your...

What if success wasn’t a scorecard, but a sense of connection? What if the most powerful thing you could do this week was to stop treating life like a zero-sum game?   Ruchika T. Malhotra, author of Uncompete and Inclusion on Purpose, joins us for a conversation about redefining success, rejecting scarcity thinking, and building a life rooted in community.   In this episode of In Confidence, Ruchi...

Welcome to Season 3, the Last Quarter Challenge. Think of it as a training plan for your confidence with weekly micro-moments that ladder up so you enter 2026 stronger than ever.   This week's micro-moment is Worst, Best, Most Likely. When we face uncertainty, our brains tend to jump straight to the worst case and treat it as fact. This practice helps you widen the lens. By naming the worst case,...

Every January starts the same way. Big goals. High hopes. And a familiar sense of pressure. But not this January.   In this solo episode of In Confidence, Lisa Sun shares a practical planning strategy designed to help you step out of resolution pressure and into clarity. Drawing on 11 years advising Fortune 500 CEOs and more than a decade building Gravitas through growth, setbacks, and reinvention...

Why do we judge so quickly, especially at work, across generations, and in moments of change? What if the real reason is simpler than we think, and what if curiosity is the fastest way back to connection?   Kim Lear, generational researcher and speaker, joins to unpack how culture, technology, and the events of our formative years shape what we value, what we fear, and what we are willing to sacri...

Welcome to Season 3, the Last Quarter Challenge. Think of it as a training plan for your confidence with weekly micro-moments that ladder up so you enter 2026 stronger than ever.   This week's micro-moment is Lead with Compassion and Curiosity. The easiest thing to do when someone frustrates you is to judge. The hardest thing, and the one that builds confidence, is to stay curious. When you take a...

What happens when the fear of looking awkward keeps you from speaking up or trying something new? How do you stop chasing perfection and start building courage instead? And what if awkward moments are actually proof that you are growing?   On this episode of In Confidence, Henna Pryor, workplace performance expert, two-time TEDx speaker, and author of Good Awkward, joins Lisa to talk about awkward...