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 information create momentum that compounds over time.
No generic advice. No recycled career tips. Just honest conversations designed to provoke a question worth thinking about long after the episode ends.
New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.
Episodes
81 episodes
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 a slide that never comes, and one notices her team isn't on the list.In this ...
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 this episode, Leslie Ferry explores why the same recognition can energize one person an...
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 think of that?"In this episode, Leslie Ferry shares that moment from her own car...
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 at work and who others actually experience. It's present in every relationship you ha...
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 changed what every career stage requires, all at once. Early-career professionals are...
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 a new, invite-only community I'm building around this work.I’d love for podcas...
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, something with a track record. That instinct makes sense, but a best practice doe...
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 episode, we get into what's being asked of professionals, people leaders, and senior ...
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 firsthand when I stepped into a role leading a newly acquired business, ready to...
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 strange part: we're usually the last to know, since the misread doesn't happ...
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, Live, September 24th at 7PM Eastern. We'll dig into The Wiring Gap, the book's...
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, understanding where the organization actually stands, and knowing their teammates well enough ...
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. Today's thought is about what goes into the preparation, and it might not be what yo...
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. Usually, it isn't. Today's thought is about what's being weighed in that silence.
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. Today's thought is about what's different between you, and it isn't what you might assu...
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 reasoning behind that decision as clearly as you remember the outcome itself? Fo...
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 information and usually a sign that two people are approaching the same work from differe...
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 decision this year. What's the reasoning behind it, beyond what was decided?
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 of days, not a fully resolved concept.Here's the first one: two people can he...
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 that was never coming.That same invisible filtering happens in every meeting, eve...
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 true of the human skills that make our knowledge of others accurate, such as active ...
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 three kinds of knowledge work now requires: technical knowledge, our functional e...
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.Resilience is the ability to recover from setbacks without losing sight of what you'r...