UNSHAKEABLE HER: Silence imposter syndrome, build real influence and get promoted on your terms
Doing brilliant work and still getting overlooked?
Unshakeable Her is for ambitious, capable women tired of second-guessing themselves and exhausted by navigating workplace rules nobody explains so you can grow your influence & get promoted.
Hosted by Caroline Esterson, who has spent 30 years helping thousands across hundreds of organisations uncover what is really going on and still get promoted.
This podcast offers practical, repeatable ways to build influence, confidence, and career momentum.
Each week, you’ll learn:
- How to grow your influence without becoming someone you don’t like
- The science behind imposter syndrome and what actually works to overcome it
- How to build confidence so you can stop being overlooked, and finally get the promotion you deserve
With new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, ‘Unshakeable Her’ delivers stories, strategy, and insight to help you become someone nobody can shake.
New here? Start with fan-favourite #56 or jump into Imposter Syndrome with #7
UNSHAKEABLE HER: Silence imposter syndrome, build real influence and get promoted on your terms
#24 | How to Turn Quiet Effort Into Influence, Visibility, and Promotion Momentum
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In this episode, Caroline expands the conversation on the career flywheel, turning focus to two critical and often overlooked power moves: Find Your Friends and Be Seen. While many professionals focus on the tangible aspects of work like spotting problems, solving them, and delivering results, careers rarely accelerate without visibility and connection.
Caroline explores why hard work alone doesn’t travel, the psychology behind recognition gaps, and how reputation and relationships carry your impact further. Drawing on research from McKinsey, LeanIn.org, and Harvard, she unpacks the hidden dynamics of trust, credibility, and informal influence and offers practical steps to turn quiet effort into visible impact.
TAKEAWAYS
- Most careers don’t stall from lack of skill, but from lack of visibility and connection.
- Networking isn’t about collecting contacts; it’s about building trust.
- People can’t value what they can’t see.
- Women are 43% less likely to be recognised for their ideas, even when contributing equally - a visibility gap, not a capability gap. Many men experience this too, especially those conditioned to believe their work “speaks for itself.”
- The strongest networks are built on Amplifiers, Anchors, and Challengers - people who mention your name in rooms you’re not in, ground you when doubt hits, and push you to play bigger.
- Consistent visibility habits (from sharing progress updates to amplifying others) turn effort into evidence and contacts into champions.
- Quiet credibility becomes unstoppable when it’s seen, shared, and supported.
SOUND BITES
- “Hard work doesn’t travel, reputation does.”
- “Networking isn’t collecting contacts; it’s curating trust.”
- “Visibility isn’t vanity. It’s clarity.”
- “If people can’t see what you bring, they can’t value it.”
- “Turn effort into evidence, and contacts into champions.”
- “Quiet brilliance doesn’t get noticed, visible impact does.”
RESOURCES
What's Your Networking Style? Quiz
Connect with Caroline here
New episodes are released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Stuck, simmering, or onto something juicy? I want to hear it. Drop me a line at caroline@inspireyourgenius.com - I read them all.
And here is the Spotify Playlist to accompany UnShakeable Her.
This podcast explores resilience, imposter syndrome, and credibility while unpacking how boundaries, conflict, and feedback shape the way we handle pressure, influence, and guilt at work. It also looks at promotion, work-life balance, people pleasing, decision making, and visibility, offering honest conversations about how to grow professionally without losing your confidence or yourself.
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