
#565 Networks, Progression and Guilt: Six Career Opinions From Emma Grede | Start With Yourself
From Squiggly Careers by The Squiggly Career
June 9, 2026 · 48 min
About this episode
Emma Grede shares her provocative career opinions, sparking a discussion on various aspects of building a career on your own terms.
Emma Grede has some strong opinions about careers, and not everyone will agree with all of them. In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from Start With Yourself, Emma's new book, picking out six of her most provocative statements and asking the question: do we agree? Emma Grede, co-founder of Skims and Good American, is refreshingly unfiltered about what it takes to build a career on your own terms. Helen has curated the statements most relevant to squiggly careers, and Sarah hasn't seen them in advance. What follows is honest, at times uncomfortable, and occasionally results in a rewrite. This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Post-it® Brand. If today's episode sparked an idea, stick it down, find out where to buy Post-it® products at go.3M.com/squiggly 🎯 What You'll Learn – Why guilt might actually be a useful signal (and when it isn't) – What "you can do all things, just not all at the same time" really means for how you prioritise at work – Whether an extraordinary career always requires extraordinary effort, and why the word "extraordinary" is more personal than you think – Why pushing off difficult conversations is costing you more than you…
People in this episode
Hosts: Helen, Sarah
Guest: Emma Grede
Topics covered
- career progression
- networking
- guilt in careers
- work-life balance
- building a network
- personal definitions of success
Keywords
- career opinions
- networking
- guilt
- work-life balance
- extraordinary career
- difficult conversations
- prioritization
Sponsors
Post-it® Brand
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Skims, Good American
Books & works: Start With Yourself
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