S1E01: Introduction
(podcast links at the end of the article)
What the Hell is Café Grit all about?
☕️ Beth Anne Campbell, are you opening a restaurant? 🥞
No, I am not taking on food preparation, although the thought of serving up bacon all day does have its appeal. 🤤 🥓
Café Grit is a podcast for people who want down-to-earth conversations about careers, corporate life, and finding fulfillment.
No…not the bullshit corporate brainwashing stuff. 🤮
❌ You’re not going to get tips on how to climb to the top of the company food chain.
❌ You’re not going to be asked to suck it up and accept the changes your organization is implementing (the ones you have BIG concerns about).
❌ We’re not going to show you how to tolerate the horseshit you experience in your job so that you can be an ideal employee and serve your company better.
This isn’t Who Moved My Cheese? —which is a wonderful book, by the way—but we are well beyond that. 🧀
✋🏼 Raise your hand if any of these sound familiar in your work world:
☑️ You feel like you’ve totally lost your mojo. You were once a superstar but now you’re an afterthought.
☑️ You have no voice, or you’re not being heard. You’re coming to the table with solutions for the corporate madness (just like you always have), but now all you get is crickets.
☑️ You’ve been thinking about—or maybe even already pursuing—a different job, career, or even your own business. Because you’re tired of the insanity.
☑️ You’re actually manifesting your stress physically, in your gut. It’s a knot that never really goes away. You are beginning to acknowledge—deep down there where the truth can’t hide—that something has to change.
☑️ You work with egos the size of Texas. Some of your "leadership" might be considered authoritarian dicks...er, sorry...dictators.
☑️ You’re dealing with a virtual tornado coming at you every fucking day.
And here’s the big one:
☑️ You used to love your job but now you hate it.
If even one of these resonates, then Café Grit is the podcast for you.
What else?
🤬 There will be swearing. I am very passionate about all of this and sometimes that comes out in the form of f-bombs. That passion might occasionally give way to anger. Conversely, I might break out into a random show tune without warning. I can’t explain it. 🎵
My idea of professionalism is a bit unorthodox and might involve puppies, baby goats, 🥓bacon books, and hoodies as office attire (because why not?). And, I hope there is a lot of laughter too because I do tend to find humor in just about everything. 🤣🤣🤣
So now you have been warned.
But don’t let any of that fool you. I am dead serious about calling out your corporate nightmare and helping you go after what makes your heart sing.
So who the Hell is Beth Anne Campbell anyway? Why is she doing this?
☝🏽 First, let me tell you who I am not: I am not a CIO, CEO, CFO, C-whateverthefuck-O (although full disclosure: I have called myself the Chief Executive of Getting Shit Done in the past). I am not a Director, Executive, or even an upper or middle manager. I don’t have a PhD or even an MBA.
What I AM is a woman who has worked in the corporate world for over 2 decades, for multiple companies large and small. Just like many of you.
🥓📚 In February 2020 I published my first book, Where The Hell Is My Bacon? which is one big corporate horror story involving the technology department at one of my former jobs and fried pork. Yes, bacon plays a starring role (as it should in everything 🤟🏾), but it’s really about a group of people finding their voice in the chaos of the corporate world. They dealt with the same things many of you are dealing with right now.
😂 Yes, the book does have a lot of humor and bacon jokes and bacon recipes, but it also contains some powerful messages about trust, communication, change management, and employee engagement.
💼 Concepts that corporations all too often get painfully wrong.
I wrote this book–and I am doing this podcast—because I am passionate about all of these things.
And I know you are too. Because since the book came out, I’ve had dozens and dozens of people just like you tell me that they are (or were) living a similar story. Their tales may not be exactly the same scenario, but the underlying themes are the same. 👩🏻🦱 👨🏾🦱👵🏼🧑🏼🦱👩🏼🦰👩🏾🦱👨🏻🦳
They’ve had the same experiences with bad leadership, not having a voice, too much coming at them, no fulfillment, etc., etc., etc.
🙄 And they are tired of it. You are tired of it.
You know it sucks. It is becoming more and more clear that your work life is about as fulfilling as cleaning up dog shit. 💩
🗣 And oh, yes, we’re going to talk about that dog shit. Because it’s important to call it out.
But let’s not get discouraged. We’re going to talk a lot about the good stuff too, what comes next after you decide something has to change. That might be:
👊 A better work life, in a culture that isn’t toxic (whether it’s your current job or elsewhere).
👊 Fulfillment. For the love of all that is human…FULFILLMENT!
👊 Finding and using your voice. Being that superstar again.
👊 Owning your own business! Being your own boss! Getting paid for your creativity!
👊 Loving what you do to earn a living, whatever that is…finally.
⭐️ It is real conversations about careers, corporate life, and finding fulfillment for people who want something better. It’s for anyone who wants something different, whatever "different" is.
Beth Anne Campbell, why are you doing this? What is your “why?”
👩🏻🦰 I was talking to my coach Heidi a few weeks ago, and she was challenging me to identify what is my driver for wanting to do this podcast.
I struggled at first because I have so many reasons. I talked about some of them earlier. But what is my real driver? 🤷🏻♀️
🤜🏼 🤜🏽🤜🏻🤜🏾 And then it hit me: I am the person in a contentious meeting who has people messaging her saying, “Are you going to say something?” Or afterward, “I’m so glad you said something” or “Thank God you said something.” 🗣
I am the one sitting in a conference room waiting for people who are smarter than me, more powerful than me, and who definitely make a shitload more money than me, to speak up about things that need to be fixed…and they never say a goddamn thing. 😤
So I do.
🙋🏼♀️ I am the hand raiser, the speaker upper, the one who wants to get it out on the table so we can figure it out. I have never given a shit about protocol or sugar-coating the message or withholding information that doesn’t need to be withheld.
I have always sought out real, truthful, transparent conversation about work. All of work. Because I find that the vast, vast majority of people at every level of the company want that too. 👊🏻
And the more I hold to that transparency standard, the more I find, almost without question, that it works out for the better.
👉🏻👉🏼👉🏾 So THIS. This is what drives me. If I can use my voice and my courage to help others find theirs—whatever that voice may be and whatever it may be calling—then goddamn it, I’m going to try.
What are you, the listener, going to get out of this?
Why should you listen to even one minute of this podcast? 🤔
🏆 Because you’ll know that you are not alone. There are so many others in the same boat. That in itself is comforting.
🏆 Because you’ll get acknowledgment that what you are feeling and going through is very normal.
🏆 Because you'll get excited when you realize that there is hope, there are options, there is something better out there.
🏆 Because you’ll have a hand to hold when it gets scary. And it is sometimes scary but it’s also exciting.
🏆 Because you will find your voice and you’ll realize that you don’t have to settle. You don’t have to deal with the bullshit.
🏆 Because you’ll learn from some very smart, successful, awesome people who have gone through the same thing.
🏆 Because you will hear some great stories and maybe even laugh a little.
That, my friends, is what Café Grit is all about.
So as we get into the next few episodes, I want you to start thinking about what it is that you need to make it better.
👊🏾👊🏼👊🏻 Let’s get these conversations going!
All right Grit Squad…don't forget to follow #cafegrit on LinkedIn and check out the Café Grit Podcast for more real conversations about corporate life, careers, the quest for fulfillment, and finding your voice. Please leave a review on the platform of your choice if you think it doesn’t suck!
You can also find more information and more discussion in our private group: Café Grit. I’d love to hear your comments, questions, suggestions for future topics, or corrections (except for the Grammar police…you all can just keep your damn mouths shut, no one wants to hear from you).
And check out Where The Hell Is My Bacon? How An Innocent Pork Product Conquered Employee Engagement And Change Management At A Large Midwestern Corporation for the true story of how one stressed-out IT department found their voice through bacon. Also available in the UK and other countries.
That’s all for now, we’ll talk to you soon…and remember: You don’t have to deal with the bullshit, and there IS something better out there. Let’s figure it out together.
Take it easy…
