Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel cover image

Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Living for Approval and Start Living for You

Feb 24, 2025
Ahyiana Angel, LinkedIn's Podcast Ad Ops Producer and host of the Switch, Pivot, or Quit podcast, teams up with Hayley Saltzman, LinkedIn's Editor at Large, to challenge traditional notions of ambition. They dive into the tension between chasing personal fulfillment versus societal approval. The duo discusses the gendered perceptions of ambition, sharing personal stories of redefining success and overcoming fear. Listeners gain practical tips on how to reconnect with their ambitions and embrace a more authentic life.
32:26

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • The podcast discusses how ambition can be a double-edged sword, with societal expectations often pressuring individuals, particularly women, into traditional molds of success.
  • Listeners are encouraged to prioritize intrinsic motivation over external validation by embracing fear as a pathway to personal growth and authenticity.

Deep dives

Redefining Ambition

Ambition is a word that elicits strong feelings, as not everyone relates to it positively. Some see it as a driving force that fosters growth, while others feel it pressures them into a box defined by external expectations. In a discussion, one colleague expressed discomfort with the label of ambition, feeling it did not encapsulate her identity or the complexity of her capabilities. She emphasized a preference for being described as kind or driven rather than ambitious, suggesting that the term can carry negative connotations, especially for women who might feel pressured to conform to a competitive mold.

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