Workday Playdate Episode 373: Take the Risk Before You Feel Ready with Erika Johnson
What if waiting to feel ready is actually holding your career back?
For high achievers, it’s easy to think you need one more sign that you’re ready before making the big career move. But sometimes, the next step only becomes clear after you take it.
In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin talks with Erika Johnson, Senior Vice President of Member Experience and Community at Chief, about taking career risks before you feel fully prepared. With 20+ years of experience across American Express, Capital One, Ernst & Young, Kantar, and Chief, Erika shares how transparency builds trust, how customer experience and leadership intersect, and why the smallest everyday behaviors can have a big impact on how people experience you as a leader.
This conversation is a reminder that readiness is about being willing to bet on yourself.
Inside This Episode:
- Stop Waiting to Feel Ready: Why high achievers can get stuck overthinking, overediting, and looking for external proof, and how taking action can create the confidence you’re waiting for.
- Bet on Yourself: What readiness really looks like, how to navigate imposter syndrome, and why bringing your unique perspective can be more valuable than having every answer.
- Build Trust Through Transparency: How being candid, steady, and clear can help you build credibility, even when you’re navigating unfamiliar work, difficult conversations, or unexpected career detours.
- Lead Through Everyday Experience: Why leadership and customer experience are deeply connected, and how the way you enter a room, hold silence, and push back can shape how people experience your leadership.
- Turn Big Moves Into Micro Steps: How to stop waiting for the perfect plan and start moving forward by breaking a career goal, idea, or conversation into one small action.
What to Do Now:
- Ask “What Are You Waiting For?” Identify one career move, conversation, or idea you’ve been putting off because you don’t feel ready yet.
- Just Do It, But Smaller: Break that big scary thing into the smallest possible next step. Send the email. Write the draft. Schedule the meeting. Make the introduction.
- Practice Transparency: In your next high-stakes conversation, be a little more candid than usual. Say what you know, what you don’t know, or where you see an opportunity to push back, and notice what happens to the trust in the room.
Your Freebie
This is your plug-and-play guide to building an environment where your team feels safe to share bold ideas, take creative risks, and fully engage in the work that matters most.
Download your Psychological Safety Playbook for Leaders here.
About the Guest
Erika Johnson is a dynamic executive leader with 20+ years of experience shaping customer and member experience at some of the world’s most recognized brands, including American Express, Capital One, Ernst & Young, Kantar, and Chief. As Senior Vice President of Member Experience and Community at Chief, Erika leads the strategy, operations, and experiences that shape how executive women grow and thrive. Her work sits at the intersection of strategy, leadership, and experience, helping leaders turn complexity into clarity, build stronger relationships, and move forward with confidence. She is passionate about redefining experience as a critical leadership skill, and using it to drive engagement, belonging, and results.
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