Shows / The Career Edge™
The Career Edge™
Welcome to The Career Edge, where we unpack how work actually works.
Most professionals spend years figuring out the unwritten rules of the workplace on their own. This show is built to change that.
Hosted by Leslie Ferry, creator of Zee, The Career Edge explores the questions most career conversations never ask. What actually drives careers forward. How others interpret your decisions, communication, and actions through their unique lens. And how small, deliberate shifts based on this…
Episodes
- The Career Edge™
The Ask That Builds a Strong Work Relationship
Building relationships at work can start with something you already do every week: your work. When you ask someone for input before your work goes out, you get…
- The Career Edge™
Making Time to Build Judgment
Now that AI does more of the work, everyone is looking to us for judgment. So how do we spend the rest of our week to build it? In this episode, Leslie Ferry…
- The Career Edge™
The Challenge Is Yours Now
An investor asks where a company should focus next year, and a VP of Finance hands the question to one analyst on her team. A year or two ago, she would have…
- The Career Edge™
Four Listeners, Four Paths to Clarity
An investor wants a new view of the company's performance by Thursday morning. Lena, a VP of Finance, gives her team one clear message, and on Wednesday…
- The Career Edge™
When the Work Isn't What You Pictured
It's the kickoff call for a six-week launch, and the project lead tells the team, "Take it wherever you think is best." One teammate is thrilled, one waits for…
- The Career Edge™
Recognition Looks Different to Everyone
A project lead gives a teammate a big public shout-out for catching an error that saved a launch, and the teammate calls it a team effort and goes quiet. In…
- The Career Edge™
Why Didn't You Think of That?
A presentation to your boss's boss goes well, except for one question you didn't see coming. Then, in the hallway afterward, your boss asks, "Why didn't you…
- The Career Edge™
The Wiring Gap
There's a gap shaping every professional relationship, and it's invisible from the inside. I call it The Wiring Gap, the distance between who you intend to be…
- The Career Edge™
What's Required at Every Career Stage Just Got Elevated
Today's the day, my book, The Career Edge, is officially out. To mark it, I'm sharing something that explains why it and this show exist: a look at how AI has…
- The Career Edge™
Understanding The Wiring Gap: Yours & Theirs
A quick bonus episode. I'm hosting a live conversation, Understanding The Wiring Gap: Yours and Theirs, on October 7th at 7 PM Eastern; the first gathering of…
- The Career Edge™
What It Takes to Be Understood
Being understood at work comes down to two kinds of knowledge. When facing a decision at work, most of us look for what's worked elsewhere, a best practice…
- The Career Edge™
The Upsurge Era: What This Moment Requires
Something has shifted at work, and it's not your imagination. The bar feels higher, and it happened fast. I've started calling it The Upsurge Era, and in this…
- The Career Edge™
Right Intent, Wrong Aim
A best practice earned its reputation for a reason. But it answers a general question; it doesn't know your organization's specific situation. I learned this…
- The Career Edge™
The Last To Know
Misreads happen every day at work. A careful approach can look slow. Directness can look uncaring. Thoughtful, quiet thinking can look disengaged. And here's…
The Career Edge™The Career Edge - Live
A quick bonus episode: I've written a book. It's called The Career Edge, and it comes out September 22nd. I'm celebrating with a live session, The Career Edge…
- The Career Edge™
The Opportunity Nobody Posted
The people who keep getting unexpected opportunities aren't usually the most technically skilled in the room. What sets them apart is something else…
- The Career Edge™
You Rehearsed All Morning. Why Did It Go Sideways?
We rehearse our words for the moments that matter, over and over, until we're sure we've got it right. Then we say it, and the reaction isn't what we expected…
- The Career Edge™
Why Did the Room Go Flat?
You pitch something you're sure about, and the room goes flat. You might even see one or two eye rolls. It's easy to assume the idea itself was the problem…
- The Career Edge™
What Do You Hear When Someone Says 'Circle Back'?
Your boss says four words, and you feel relief. The person next to you hears the same four words and feels their stomach drop. Neither of you misheard them…
- The Career Edge™
Right Idea, Wrong Time
Think of an idea, yours or someone else's, that felt right - one you expected to get the green light quickly. But it got shelved instead. Do you remember the…
- The Career Edge™
What Friction Reveals
Think of one relationship at work that's created friction for you recently, the kind where you walk away a little frustrated. The friction itself is…
- The Career Edge™
The Decision Behind the Decision
Every organization makes a big call every year. How much of the reasoning behind it reaches the people carrying it out? Think about your organization's biggest…
- The Career Edge™
Two Ways to Get to Yes
Something's changing here. For the next six weeks, instead of full episodes, I'm sharing shorter, one-thought topics, something worth sitting with for a couple…
- The Career Edge™
What Makes Your Career Move
You send a teammate a three-word text, can we talk, meaning nothing urgent. They read it as something's wrong, and spend an hour bracing for a conversation…
- The Career Edge™
Excellence Has No Finish Line
Even elite tennis players are still refining their serve, and jazz musicians are still finding new dimensions in scales they've played for decades. The same is…
- The Career Edge™
Three Types of Knowledge Work Requires
Before the Upsurge Era, mastering your craft was enough to be considered excellent at your job. That's no longer the whole picture. This episode breaks down…
- The Career Edge™
Bounce Back or Bounce Forward at Work?
Last episode, we took apart judgment and leadership. Today, we do the same with two more outcomes everyone's talking about: resilience and adaptability…
- The Career Edge™
AI Gave Us What We Wanted. Now What?
For years, there has been a consistent desire at work for more meaningful, substantive responsibilities versus repetitive tasks. AI has taken on the routine…
- The Career Edge™
Human Knowledge Before Every Skill
Active listening. Critical thinking. Feedback. Communication. Resilience. Leadership. AI literacy. Everyone agrees these matter more than ever. But agreeing…
- The Career Edge™
The Upsurge Era™: What This Moment Actually Requires
AI has moved the starting point for every role, at every level, to a place that used to take years to reach. This episode names that shift, The Upsurge Era…
- The Career Edge™
The Curious Way to Connect at Work
Most of us have colleagues we work alongside every day whose work we have not yet taken the time to explore. Not because they are not interested, but because…
- The Career Edge™
Leading Each Person, Not Just the Team
Leading a team and leading each person on it are two different things. The second is where the real impact lives. In this episode of The Career Edge, Leslie…
- The Career Edge™
These Are Not Four Separate Skills. They Are Deeply Interconnected.
Most professionals think of active listening, critical thinking, intellectual humility, and strategic communication as separate capabilities to develop one by…
- The Career Edge™
Putting Human Knowledge to Work
Putting Human Knowledge to Work Understanding how the people around us are wired is the foundation. Activating it leads to greater understanding. In this…
- The Career Edge™
Everyone Has a Wiring Gap. Here Is How to Start Seeing It.
The Wiring Gap is foundational to every relationship we navigate at work, every team we are part of, and the pace of our career momentum. And it runs in both…
- The Career Edge™
Frictionless Working Relationships Are Not About Chemistry
We rarely choose most of the people who depend on our work. They arrived through a hire, a reorganization, a project assignment, or simply because your roles…
- The Career Edge™
What If Career Growth The Second Half of the Year Is About a Relationship, Not a Goal?
Most mid-year reflections focus on what you want to accomplish. This episode suggests a different question worth considering. Who are you misreading? And who…
- The Career Edge™
Same Meeting. Two Completely Different Experiences.
Two people sit in the same meeting. The same idea gets discussed. The same decision gets made. And they walk away with completely different experiences of what…
- The Career Edge™
Everyone Is Wired Differently. Here Is How to See It.
Human knowledge does not happen accidentally. It requires a starting point. A framework that guides what to look for and reveals why some messages land with…
- The Career Edge™
The Other Knowledge Behind Every Promotion and Recognition
The professionals who get promoted and whose work gets recognized have something in common. They have expanded the knowledge they built throughout their…
- The Career Edge™
Output Is Not What Gets You Noticed
Strong output matters. But it is not what gets you noticed, promoted, or tapped for the work that moves your career forward. In this episode of The Career…
- The Career Edge™
The Missing Step to Career Success
You have heard the advice: be more strategic, communicate more effectively, give better feedback, build your network, and lead your team more intentionally…
- The Career Edge™
What Every Team Needs From Their Manager
Last episode, we talked about what your boss needs to see from you. This episode flips the view. Whether you lead a team or you're on one, understanding what a…
- The Career Edge™
What Your Boss Needs To See From You. And How To Show It.
What you currently desire at work: recognition, more interesting projects, greater purpose, more autonomy, a promotion. It all runs through one person first…
- The Career Edge™
What Becomes Possible When The Wiring Gap Closes
Understanding The Wiring Gap™ is one thing. Seeing it in real time, in a specific relationship, with a specific person, is something else entirely. That is…
- The Career Edge™
Your Biggest Work Questions. One Answer.
Our interpretation layer shapes every read we make about the people we work with. And it is sitting underneath some of the most pressing questions…
- The Career Edge™
The Wiring Gap™: The Other Side
Every signal we send passes through another person's unique wiring before it lands. That interpretation layer shapes every professional relationship we have…
- The Career Edge™
Building Your Own Feedback Loop
Every signal we send passes through another person's unique wiring before it lands. That interpretation layer is always present. And closing the distance it…
- The Career Edge™
Career Opportunities We Can't Engineer
Every signal we send passes through another person's unique wiring before it lands. That interpretation layer is always present. And sometimes, when others can…
- The Career Edge™
The Wiring Gap Inside the Skills We Use Every Day
Every signal we send passes through another person's unique wiring before it lands. That interpretation layer is always present. And it shows up in the most…
- The Career Edge™
The Gap You Can't See From the Inside
Every decision we make, every conversation we have, every signal we send passes through another person's unique wiring. What eventually lands on the other side…
- The Career Edge™
A Career Plan Isn’t Enough
Most professionals have a plan. Know where you want to go. Build the skills to get there. Find the right relationships. Make your work visible. Execute. And…
- The Career Edge™
Accountability: Leading Others and Leading Yourself
Accountability is one of those words everyone uses. And most professionals experience it the same way, as something that happens after things go wrong. A…
- The Career Edge™
The Feedback You're Hearing Isn't the Feedback You Need
We know feedback is how we grow. We tell ourselves we want it. We believe we're open to it. But knowing something intellectually and experiencing it…
- The Career Edge™
Your Story Is Your Career Edge
The shortcuts that used to signal capability — the title, the credential, the brand name on the resume — are carrying less weight than they used to. What's…
- The Career Edge™
Your Title Isn't Your Career Story
A title is an outcome. Your contribution is your career. Most professionals have those two things backward, spending more energy thinking about the title than…
- The Career Edge™
The Wiring Gap
There's a gap shaping every professional relationship you have right now. You can't see it from the inside. And some professionals never do. In this episode of…
- The Career Edge™
The Trust Signals You Don't Know You're Sending
Trust isn't built on intention. It's built on evidence. Evidence that others observe, interpret, and draw conclusions from — through their own wiring, not…
- The Career Edge™
Trust Can’t Be Assumed. It Must Be Signaled.
Trust isn't a feeling that quietly builds in the background while you focus on your work. It's a conclusion other people reach based on specific signals they…
- The Career Edge™
How to Recognize Work Style Patterns in Real Time
Most professionals spend meetings focused on their own contribution — their idea, their analysis, their recommendation. But the most valuable information in…