Tap Your Wild Courage with Jenny Wood

The music used in this episode is Keeping Score by Independent Music Licensing Collective (IMLC) Source: Free Music Archive (CC BY-NC-ND)   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 in 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. WILD COURAGE: Go After What You Want and Get It A bold, empowering, and energizing guide to embracing your ambition and chasing after what you want from an executive who spent nearly two decades climbing the ranks at Google. What if the traits you need to get ahead are the exact opposite of what you’ve been told? To be successful you need to be Weird, Selfish, Shameless, Obsessed, Nosy, Manipulative, Brutal, Reckless, and Bossy. And that takes courage. WILD COURAGE: Go After What You Want and Get It is an energizing and empowering guide to embracing your ambition and chasing after what you want, from Jenny Wood, an executive who spent 18 years from entry-level to executive at Google. Wood reclaims nine traits from their negative shackles and teaches you how to apply them in a savvy and sane way to supercharge your success, whether you’re trying to impress your new boss, snag a stretch promotion, or land a life-changing deal. Wood knows her way around courage. In this book, she shatters conventional wisdom about achieving your goals. She gives you permission to ditch your fear and chase after what you want, unapologetically. Wild Courage will teach you how to be: Ø  Weird: Win as you or lose as “who?” Ø  Selfish: Be your own champion. Ø  Shameless: Kick impostor syndrome to the curb and self-promote with ease. Ø  Obsessed: Push, persist, and perform at your highest level. Ø  Nosy: Get curious to network confidently and learn from others. Ø  Manipulative: Build influence with empathy and manage up like a pro. Ø  Brutal: Draw lines and stick to them. Embrace the power of no. Ø  Reckless: Err on the side of action and take healthy risks. Ø  Bossy: Steer others to success, even if you’re not in charge yet.   Wild Courage coaches you to smash through your fear of discomfort, failure, and the judgement of others, to embrace your boldest self in pursuit of what you want. To be successful, you need to have courage. Wild amounts of it.   Wood can speak to:   Getting what you want. Unapologetically. Increasing confidence at work—and in life. Communicating effectively and powerfully. Recognizing how tiny daily actions can have a big impact. Discovering work-life balance and the power of boundaries.     From the collaborators behind the modern business classic All the Devils are Here comes a damning indictment of American capitalism—and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemic In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it painfully clear that the U.S. could not adequately protect its citizens. Millions of Americans suffered—and over a million died—in less than two years, while government officials blundered; prize-winning economists overlooked devastating trade-offs; and elites escaped to isolated retreats, unaffected by and even profiting from the pandemic. Why and how did America, in a catastrophically enormous failure, become the world leader in COVID deaths? In this page-turning economic, political, and financial history, veteran journalists Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera offer fresh and provocative answers. With laser-sharp analysis and deep sourcing, they investigate both what really happened when governments ran out of PPE due to snarled supply chains and the shock to the financial system when the world’s biggest economy stumbled. They zero in on the effectiveness of wildly polarized approaches, with governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Ron DeSantis of Florida taking infamous turns in the spotlight. And they trace why thousands died in hollowed-out hospital systems and nursing homes run by private equity firms to “maximize shareholder value.”  In the tradition of the authors’ previous landmark exposés, The Big Fail is an expansive, insightful account on what the pandemic did to the economy and how American capitalism has jumped the rails—and is essential reading to understand where we’re going next. SEE LESS From the collaborators behind the modern business classic All the Devils are Here comes a damning indictment of American capitalism—and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemic In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it painfully clear that the U.S. could not adequately protect its citizens. Millions of Americans suffered—and over a million died—in less than two years, while government officials blundered; prize-winning economists overlooked devastating trade-offs; and elites escaped to isolated retreats, unaffected by and even profiting from the pandemic. Why and how did America, in a catastrophically enormous failure, become the world leader in COVID deaths? In this page-turning economic, political, and financial history, veteran journalists Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera offer fresh and provocative answers. With laser-sharp analysis and deep sourcing, they investigate both what really happened when governments ran out of PPE due to snarled supply chains and the shock to the financial system when the world’s biggest economy stumbled. They zero in on the effectiveness of wildly polarized approaches, with governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Ron DeSantis of Florida taking infamous turns in the spotlight. And they trace why thousands died in hollowed-out hospital systems and nursing homes run by private equity firms to “maximize shareholder value.”  In the tradition of the authors’ previous landmark exposés, The Big Fail is an expansive, insightful account on what the pandemic did to the economy and how American capitalism has jumped the rails—and is essential reading to understand where we’re going next. SEE LESS From the collaborators behind the modern business classic All the Devils are Here comes a damning indictment of American capitalism—and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemic In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it painfully clear that the U.S. could not adequately protect its citizens. Millions of Americans suffered—and over a million died—in less than two years, while government officials blundered; prize-winning economists overlooked devastating trade-offs; and elites escaped to isolated retreats, unaffected by and even profiting from the pandemic. Why and how did America, in a catastrophically enormous failure, become the world leader in COVID deaths? In this page-turning economic, political, and financial history, veteran journalists Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera offer fresh and provocative answers. With laser-sharp analysis and deep sourcing, they investigate both what really happened when governments ran out of PPE due to snarled supply chains and the shock to the financial system when the world’s biggest economy stumbled. They zero in on the effectiveness of wildly polarized approaches, with governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Ron DeSantis of Florida taking infamous turns in the spotlight. And they trace why thousands died in hollowed-out hospital systems and nursing homes run by private equity firms to “maximize shareholder value.”  In the tradition of the authors’ previous landmark exposés, The Big Fail is an expansive, insightful account on what the pandemic did to the economy and how American capitalism has jumped the rails—and is essential reading to understand where we’re going next. SEE LESS   Gather Your Courage. Overcome fear to achieve your biggest ambitions. Stand out to get what you want in life. Just don’t expect it to be easy. Chapter 1. Weird: Win as you or lose as “who?” Within your so-called weirdness lie your greatest strengths. Hone and highlight every ounce of weird you’ve got. Chapter 2. Selfish: Be your own champion. Give everyone a leg up at your own expense and get trampled. Start showing up for yourself. Chapter 3. Shameless: Find your swagger. Audacity—shamelessness—is a survival skill. How will you learn whether you’ve got the goods if you don’t act like it first? Chapter 4. Obsessed: Push, persist, and perform. None of these traits will serve you if you don’t learn to deliver—not for some company but to achieve your ambitions. Chapter 5. Nosy: Get insatiably curious. Curiosity drowns out fear and pulls you toward what is most exciting to you. Use it as a compass. Chapter 6. Manipulative: Build influence through empathy. Whether you’re selling a product, an idea, or yourself, the ability to win friends, allies, and supporters is all about mutual benefit. Figure out what people want and get it for them. Chapter 7. Brutal: The power of no. People-pleasing pleases no one and keeps you small. Brutality is cleaner, more effective, and far kinder. Cut through the bull and spare everyone’s time, energy, and attention. Chapter 8 Reckless: Err on the side of action. Better to learn from your mistakes than waste time predicting the consequences of every decision. Think fast and fearlessly—if you’re on the fence, do it. Chapter 9. Bossy: Steer others to success. All the traits and habits that looked so negative in this Table of Contents come together and create a leader. Cultivate allies, partners, and collaborators. Help them aggressively. Push them mercilessly. Win their gratitude. Achieve amazing things together. Instagram LinkedIn