Today’s episode started with a simple client conversation about recognition.

. I shared a moment I’ll never forget from a workshop I ran in India with 30 construction leaders. One card said, “I’d be happy if my leader just said thank you.”

That card stopped the room.

Everyone stood up.

That memory took me straight back to a book I keep coming back to, The Courage to Be Disliked. It’s easily the most annotated book on my Kindle, and honestly, it feels like one long highlight.

I read out passages that question our obsession with recognition, approval, and being liked. The book makes a brutal point: when your sense of contribution depends on recognition, you are no longer free. You start shaping your life around other people’s expectations. You end up loyal to everyone and owned by all of them.

I also touch on workaholism as a “life lie” – using work to avoid other responsibilities and parts of life that feel harder to face. That one stings for a lot of high performers.

The thread that ties it all together is this:

Real contribution doesn’t need applause.

If you genuinely know you’re useful, you stop chasing validation.

This episode is part reflection, part reading, part uncomfortable mirror. If recognition is driving your decisions more than you’d like to admit, this one will land.

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