People-Pleasing is Holding You Back in Your Career
Laura Quick
If you’re a woman in the workplace, chances are you’ve felt the pull of people-pleasing. Early in your career, it can feel like a survival instinct—wanting to get things right, be liked, and prove yourself. We walk in with goals for where we want to be in the future, whether within our current organization or across our career as a whole. But what happens when people-pleasing stops being a stepping stone and starts becoming a roadblock?
The reality is this: People-pleasing can keep you stuck.
It can create a perception that you’re someone who will go with the flow of whoever is in the room rather than someone who has a clear perspective. Over time, this can lead to a lack of respect from colleagues and leadership. Instead of being seen as a strategic thinker, you may be overlooked for leadership roles because decision-makers don’t see you as someone who brings innovation, challenges ideas, or solves problems.
Why Authenticity Is a Career Advantage
Leaning into authenticity at work doesn’t mean being difficult or contrarian—it means:
- Understanding your own perspective and being prepared to articulate it clearly.
- Recognizing that you won’t always agree with everyone—and that’s not only okay, it’s healthy.
- Knowing that agreeability in a thriving organization only works when it’s authentic.
If you’re agreeing just to avoid conflict, you’re not actually contributing to the growth of your department or organization. Worse, you may be impeding progress without realizing it. People-pleasing can unintentionally send the message that you’re not a problem solver, that you’re unwilling to challenge inefficiencies, or that you don’t have the vision to push an organization forward. And when leaders don’t see you as someone who questions, innovates, or refines processes, they may not see you as someone who is ready for the next level in your career.
Your Permission Slip to Lead with Authenticity
If you’ve been playing small and waiting for permission to speak up, consider this your sign: Lean into authenticity.
- Use your voice.
- Articulate solutions to problems you see.
- Learn the skill of discerning when and how to disagree for the overall health of your company, your team, and your own career growth.
The most successful women I know aren’t the ones who agree with everyone—they’re the ones who know when to challenge, when to offer a fresh perspective, and when to confidently advocate for what they believe will move the organization forward.
So here’s your permission slip: You don’t have to be the most agreeable person in the room to be the most respected. You just have to be willing to show up as the leader you already are.
By Samantha Southerland
•
July 24, 2026
I once watched a room full of grown adults spend forty-five minutes arguing about a shade of blue. Forty-five minutes. Not healthcare. Not the economy. Not anything with actual stakes. Blue. Was it navy? Midnight? Slate? Trustworthy? Sophisticated? Did it feel approachable enough? Too approachable? Not approachable in the right way? Y'all. I sat there and watched what can only be described as a hostage negotiation between fully employed professionals and a color wheel. And I couldn't help but wonder — when exactly did we decide our logo was responsible for doing all the heavy lifting? Business owners love their logos. I get it. A logo feels real. You can see it. Put it on a shirt. Debate it endlessly in a conference room while someone refills the coffee. What a logo cannot do — not ever, not once in the history of business — is create trust. That's your job. A human job. Not a design job. Nobody wraps around the Chick-fil-A drive-thru because of a cartoon chicken. Nobody slaps a Nike swoosh on their kid's backpack because of the font. Those logos represent trust that was earned a thousand times over before the logo ever got involved. A logo is a shortcut to a reputation you already built. That's it. And yet. I have watched companies spend months — months — perfecting a logo while their customer experience is out here completely unsupervised. The phone isn't answered. The website hasn't been touched since 2019. Nobody followed up on the proposal. The email sat in someone's inbox for two weeks. But the blue? The blue is perfect. Here's the truth: customers don't fall in love with logos. They fall in love with how you made them feel. The logo just shows up at the end and takes all the credit. Kind of like the attractive friend who barely touched the group project but somehow gets an A and everyone's grateful they came. For the record — we do logos. We love logos. A great logo is a beautiful thing. We just refuse to hand you one without making sure the rest of the house is in order first. Because a great logo deserves a great reputation to stand behind it. And that's the part we really care about getting right. Good Grit helps businesses build brands that actually earn the logo. Let's talk.
By Samantha Southerland
•
July 8, 2026
I was standing in line at a coffee shop last week, minding my business, when the phone behind the counter started ringing. The woman at the register stared at it. Her coworker stared at it. They looked at each other. They looked at the phone. They looked back at each other. It rang five times and died. Nobody answered. Nobody moved. Nobody seemed remotely bothered. And I'm standing there holding my cup thinking — y'all. The person on the other end might have wanted to order coffee for fifty people. Might have been asking about catering. Might have just wanted to know if they're open on Sunday. We'll never know. Because nobody picked up. And I couldn't help but wonder — how many businesses are out here spending thousands of dollars just to get someone to call, and then just... don't answer? Here's the thing. I talk to business owners all day long. Smart ones. Ones who have built something real and are ready to grow. And when they sit down with me, they know exactly what they want. More social media. A better website. Google ads. A video. An email that actually makes people click. Not a single one has ever looked me in the eye and said "Samantha, we need to answer our phone." And yet. Companies will spend $10,000 on a website. $15,000 on ads. $20,000 on a brand video that honestly slaps — and then take three days to call somebody back. Like customers in 2026 are over there cross-stitching and patiently waiting. They are not. We live in a world where people track their Amazon package like it's a missing person. Two-day shipping feels offensive now. And somehow we expect those same humans to sit tight while we get around to returning their inquiry? Not gonna lie. That's the actual problem. The marketing isn't broken. Your customer journey is. Because here's what marketing actually does — it gets somebody curious enough to reach out. That's it. Everything that happens after that phone rings, after that email lands, after that DM comes in? That's on you. Which means sometimes the highest-return thing you can do for your business isn't run another ad. It's pick up the phone.
By Samantha Southerland
•
June 24, 2026
Marketing gets people to your front door. Everything else determines whether they stay.
By Samantha Southerland
•
July 24, 2026
I once watched a room full of grown adults spend forty-five minutes arguing about a shade of blue. Forty-five minutes. Not healthcare. Not the economy. Not anything with actual stakes. Blue. Was it navy? Midnight? Slate? Trustworthy? Sophisticated? Did it feel approachable enough? Too approachable? Not approachable in the right way? Y'all. I sat there and watched what can only be described as a hostage negotiation between fully employed professionals and a color wheel. And I couldn't help but wonder — when exactly did we decide our logo was responsible for doing all the heavy lifting? Business owners love their logos. I get it. A logo feels real. You can see it. Put it on a shirt. Debate it endlessly in a conference room while someone refills the coffee. What a logo cannot do — not ever, not once in the history of business — is create trust. That's your job. A human job. Not a design job. Nobody wraps around the Chick-fil-A drive-thru because of a cartoon chicken. Nobody slaps a Nike swoosh on their kid's backpack because of the font. Those logos represent trust that was earned a thousand times over before the logo ever got involved. A logo is a shortcut to a reputation you already built. That's it. And yet. I have watched companies spend months — months — perfecting a logo while their customer experience is out here completely unsupervised. The phone isn't answered. The website hasn't been touched since 2019. Nobody followed up on the proposal. The email sat in someone's inbox for two weeks. But the blue? The blue is perfect. Here's the truth: customers don't fall in love with logos. They fall in love with how you made them feel. The logo just shows up at the end and takes all the credit. Kind of like the attractive friend who barely touched the group project but somehow gets an A and everyone's grateful they came. For the record — we do logos. We love logos. A great logo is a beautiful thing. We just refuse to hand you one without making sure the rest of the house is in order first. Because a great logo deserves a great reputation to stand behind it. And that's the part we really care about getting right. Good Grit helps businesses build brands that actually earn the logo. Let's talk.
By Samantha Southerland
•
July 8, 2026
I was standing in line at a coffee shop last week, minding my business, when the phone behind the counter started ringing. The woman at the register stared at it. Her coworker stared at it. They looked at each other. They looked at the phone. They looked back at each other. It rang five times and died. Nobody answered. Nobody moved. Nobody seemed remotely bothered. And I'm standing there holding my cup thinking — y'all. The person on the other end might have wanted to order coffee for fifty people. Might have been asking about catering. Might have just wanted to know if they're open on Sunday. We'll never know. Because nobody picked up. And I couldn't help but wonder — how many businesses are out here spending thousands of dollars just to get someone to call, and then just... don't answer? Here's the thing. I talk to business owners all day long. Smart ones. Ones who have built something real and are ready to grow. And when they sit down with me, they know exactly what they want. More social media. A better website. Google ads. A video. An email that actually makes people click. Not a single one has ever looked me in the eye and said "Samantha, we need to answer our phone." And yet. Companies will spend $10,000 on a website. $15,000 on ads. $20,000 on a brand video that honestly slaps — and then take three days to call somebody back. Like customers in 2026 are over there cross-stitching and patiently waiting. They are not. We live in a world where people track their Amazon package like it's a missing person. Two-day shipping feels offensive now. And somehow we expect those same humans to sit tight while we get around to returning their inquiry? Not gonna lie. That's the actual problem. The marketing isn't broken. Your customer journey is. Because here's what marketing actually does — it gets somebody curious enough to reach out. That's it. Everything that happens after that phone rings, after that email lands, after that DM comes in? That's on you. Which means sometimes the highest-return thing you can do for your business isn't run another ad. It's pick up the phone.
By Samantha Southerland
•
June 24, 2026
Marketing gets people to your front door. Everything else determines whether they stay.