What's your staying power

Default

I get articles shared with me every day. Thank you, all!

And over the weekend, this one from Fortune hit my inbox. Its headline? “The new American workplace crisis: Return-to-office mandates lead to a working mom exodus”.

And here I’d thought I was the only one calling what was happening an exodus.

But alas, I’m not. And it makes sense to call what we’re seeing in the workplace an exodus of women. The newly emerging wrinkle? RTO = LTO (leaving the office - for good) for many women.

The data, covered in the last week and a half by the Washington Post, Fortune, and Time, confirms what so many of us are sensing: working mothers are leaving the workforce in big numbers, and shifting RTO policies are accelerating the exodus. Add that to the existing pressures in tech - the layoffs, the AI uncertainty, the always-on culture - and what’s we’ve got right here is what we hate to call (but have to) a perfect storm. One that’s sweeping women toward the exits.

But here's what I'm hearing in conversations with women leaders like my VCB companion: the ones who stay aren't just surviving the pressure - they're using it as motivation to build something different.

And they're getting strategic about staying. And staying healthy.

The women I talk to who are thriving absolutely don’t have perfect work situations (who among us does, right now?).

They're women who’ve decided that if the system won't change for them, they'll change how they work within it.

Quick favor: forward this email to someone who wants to find healthy ways to lead and live in these VUCA times. Making the workplace a healthier place is going to take all of us.

Ambition

The new ambition isn't about enduring toxic workplace culture until you can't anymore. It's about seeing these pressures as the catalyst for the small incremental changes that compound over time.

What if instead of planning our exit strategy, we planned our staying strategy?

My coffee companion didn't need permission to leave. She needed some tools and support in finding opportunity areas to make staying sustainable. She wanted to know how to set boundaries in a way that wasn’t career-limiting.

And she wanted to find novel ways of saying no to some things so she could say yes to what matters most.

So we framed out some low-hanging shifts. And here's what she discovered when she started thinking through what those small shifts would mean: not only would she get more time to do focused work, better work…but she would be setting a better example for her team.

In fact, that’s what she was most excited about. How her team would benefit. How the culture around her would shift. And that she would be the catalyst for that healthy-er way of working shift.

By the way, the MVP (minimum viable progress) changes in her initial plan?

• An immediate shift to 25 minute/50 minute meetings

• Removing two large team meetings, reclaiming the time for team-wide focus blocks

• Team working agreements to support disconnecting from work

Seems almost boring, right? But that’s the beauty of it. No permission needed. No comms. It’s in her control to reclaim team time and use it for the highest and best use. And that’s what she did.

Small changes. Big impact.

Starting with what she could immediately control.

GO | DO

Name Your Pressure Point

Estimated time: 20 minutes | Estimated energy: Medium

Pick one pressure point that's currently pushing you to consider your own exit strategy. Instead of planning your escape, consider establishing one small boundary that helps make staying sustainable.

4 SCENARIOS & BOUNDARIES TO BUFFER YOU

• RTO mandate? 

  • Boundary to consider: negotiating one or two dedicated WFH focus days per month for deep work and innovation time.

  Endless meetings? 

  • Boundary to consider: defaulting to 25-minute meetings instead of 30, 50-minute meetings instead of 60.

  • Monthly recurring meeting review. Ask yourself and meeting leaders “can this be shifted to asyn updates?”.

• Always-on culture? 

  • Boundaries to consider:

    • Set one hour/day when you're unreachable for non-emergencies

    • Create team agreements for after-hours disconnection, how you’ll handle emergencies (and what constitutes - and doesn’t - as an emergency) .

• Scope creep? Everything on fire all the time?

  • Have your "not today" phraseology in your proverbial back pocket and practice using it this week.

Your goal isn't to fix everything.

It's to prove to yourself that you may actually have more agency than you’d recognized.

Start small. CELEBRATE your (yes, even small) wins. 

Let the healthy-er work compound over time.

Get In There

📰 This Week's Reality Check:

• Listen to (or read) the Fortune article covering the “Motherhood Penalty” and RTO impact to workforce participation (August, 2025)

• Forbes’ America’s Best Employers for Women article covers the 700 top companies for women based on a joint survey of 140,000 women. (July, 2025)

📚 Deep Dive:

• LIVE! on The New Ambition podcast, I'm joined by the amazing (!) Jodi Innerfield. Don’t miss this gold-star student and AP Swiftie as she talks life after layoff, networking, and how to disconnect.

• NEW! in the Content Vault, a 3-Stage AI Learning Path for Leaders. The only thing certain about AI learning options is that they are overwhelming. I put together a phased approach for leaders (and aspiring leaders) that starts with - can you imagine - ethics!

• Women in AI Ethics: Monthly AI Expert Webinar Series (Last Call Reminder): August 25 at 8AM PT. The topic this month is AI & Education.

Here we are again, you and me. I couldn’t be more grateful. Over the past few months, I’ve talked directly with so many of you. The feedback you’re sharing is so helpful as I work on some pretty exciting developments and partnerships.

Thank you for continuing to support The New Ambition, and for being invested in healthier ways of working. It’s going to take all of us to make the workplace a better place.

And we’ll do it together.