Real talk for women in leadership—delivered every other Thursday. Short, story-driven notes on confidence, visibility, hard conversations, and building a career you actually want. Expect practical tools, honest takes, and the occasional “wait… I needed that” moment.
The decision probably isn't the hard part
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What’s for dinner? Where do you want to go to eat? Is it just me, or are those sometimes the hardest decisions of the day? Unfortunately, this newsletter is not going to solve your dinner dilemma. We’ll leave that to the professionals. But it did get me thinking: Why do some decisions feel so hard—especially at work? Should you approve the big project and the large investment? Do you need to change direction? Is it time to let a team member go? Sometimes we’re not actually stuck on the decision. We’re avoiding the conversation that comes after it. Annoying, right? We tell ourselves we need more information. More time. Another meeting. A better plan. Maybe one more spreadsheet—although, personally, the spreadsheet is never going to save me. But a lot of the time, we already know what needs to happen. We just don’t want to tell the person it affects. Maybe we don’t want to disappoint them. Maybe we’re afraid they’ll react badly. Maybe they’ve been loyal to us. Maybe we genuinely care about them. Or maybe they’re going to make it a whole thing. You already know the type. So instead, we work around it. We reorganize. Add another process. Launch another initiative. Take on more ourselves. We do everything except deal with the actual issue. All of that activity may keep us busy, but it doesn’t move us any closer to where we need to go. In the latest episode of Loud & Lifted, Kasey D’Amato and I talk about how to stop circling the decision and start moving forward. Ask yourself: • What is the decision? • Why is it necessary? • How can I communicate it directly and fairly? • What reaction am I willing to let the other person have—without trying to fix it for them? 🎧 Listen to the full episode with Kasey: The goal isn't to become cold or stop caring about people. It’s to understand that being a thoughtful leader doesn’t mean protecting everyone from discomfort. Sometimes the clearest, kindest thing you can do is make the decision, communicate it honestly and allow the other person to have their response. So, what’s the one conversation you’ve been avoiding? It may be time to finally cross it off the list. Now, back to the other big decision: What’s for dinner? Stay Loud & Lifted, Betsy P.S. If conversations like this one are exactly what you've been missing — Loud & Lifted Circles are officially launching in person in Central PA. Small groups, real talk, women who get it. Message me if you want more information. |
Loud & Lifted
Real talk for women in leadership—delivered every other Thursday. Short, story-driven notes on confidence, visibility, hard conversations, and building a career you actually want. Expect practical tools, honest takes, and the occasional “wait… I needed that” moment.
I have been thinking a lot about the word loud lately. Which is probably a good thing considering I named a podcast Loud & Lifted. But to be clear: I have never believed being loud means being the person who talks the most, interrupts everyone or pounds her fist on the table until people listen. That is not really the point. To me, I wanted to use the word loud in the title because being loud has always been about using your voice. Speaking up. Sharing what you think. Advocating for yourself...
I’m just going to say it. We spend a lot of time talking about the boys’ club, broken systems and all the ways men make it harder for women to succeed. And yes, all of that exists. But we are avoiding another huge part of the problem: women are tearing other women down at work. They are leaving women out of meetings. Withholding information. Spreading rumors. Questioning someone’s credibility behind her back. Smiling in her face while quietly trying to make sure she doesn’t get the...
Women aren’t simply leaving jobs. Many are reassessing how—and where—they want to work. More than 455,000 women exited the U.S. workforce during the first eight months of 2025, and 58% of those departures were voluntary. At the same time, women started 49% of new businesses in 2024—up from just 29% in 2019. Women may be leaving traditional corporate structures, but they aren’t necessarily leaving their ambition behind. They may simply be redirecting it. It’s no surprise we hear so much about...