Time to read: 3mins
This Is Your Inside Edge: If you a mission-led change maker who wants to do something meaningful with your one precious life.
NO GOING BACK
I'm sharing this with you because negotiation isn't easy.
But a negotiation with yourself? That’s one of the hardest ones you'll ever face.
Last July, I made a commitment to myself, I was never going back into a corporate role.
I knew the life I wanted to live, and it sure as heck wasn’t going to be spent massaging the egos of insecure leaders just to get things done.
I’ve worked with some incredible people in my corporate career, many of whom have become good friends and mentors. But not one of us has ever managed to escape the bureaucracy and politics that come with large organisations.
What I failed to realise early in my career was this: the system is designed to defend the system.
Bureaucracy exists because it needs bureaucracy to maintain the current order. It’s much harder to build a business that is self-managing, where smart people sit in the right seats, making the right decisions and achieving the right outcomes.
I mean, where would mediocrity go if that were the case? Where would inadequate leaders hide if bureaucracy didn’t exist? What would they do if they weren’t pushing paper and pulling out the red tape? How else would they get their power fix if it weren’t from reminding people that they were the ones in charge?
At some point, I realised: I don’t want to be in that game.
I made a powerful decision: I wanted to work with people who want change, not those invested in proving they’re in charge.
Changemakers.
The ones who dream bigger than themselves.
The ones who want to make a meaningful contribution to the world.
The ones who aren’t leading with their egos or feeling significant because of the power they wield over others.
CHOOSE FAITH, NOT FEAR
Since making the commitment to never go back to a corporate role, I’ve never felt freer.
It shifted the way I show up and how I allow myself to be seen. I’m closer to being the truest expression of myself than I’ve ever been.
What I hadn’t realised, at least, not fully, was that part of me prior to that, was still holding onto a safety net.
I had previously told myself I was done with corporate employment, but I was still leaving the door cracked open, just in case. A part of me was still negotiating with myself, afraid to fully trust that my work, my way, would be enough.
And I see it so clearly now:
Keeping that door open was my fear of failing.
By leaving the option there, just in case things didn’t work out, I wasn’t all in on my own success.
And you can’t create something extraordinary when part of you is still hedging your bets.
So I closed the door.
And in doing so, I stepped fully into my own work, in my own way.
I stopped accepting drawn-out sales cycles, endless follow-ups, and corporate indecision.
I stopped waiting for permission.
And something incredible happened, the right people started showing up.
Because I don’t need corporates.
I work with changemakers.
And inside every organisation, yes, even the big bureaucratic ones, there are people who are done waiting.
Those are the people I want to /and do work with.
And those are the people who move.
THE REAL WIN
Maybe you know this feeling.
You’re showing up, doing the work, trying to move things forward, but instead, you’re met with slow decision-making, endless roadblocks, and people who say they want change but aren’t actually willing to take action.
I know it well because I lived it.
For two years, I spent so much time trying to convince the wrong people of the value of negotiation, chasing leads, following up, waiting for approval cycles to turn.
And then I stopped.
I made a decision to hold my own minimum standard. To stop trying to convince people of the value of my work and instead focus on the ones who already knew it mattered.
And everything shifted.
I stopped chasing clients.
Instead of spending my time trying to persuade the unwilling, I became visible to the people who were already all in.
The changemakers.
The ones who have big dreams and don’t want to waste another year flailing while their teams struggle, mourning the fact that they don’t know what best practice looks like.
These are the people who move. The ones who don’t need convincing because they already know where they want to go, and they know exactly who can help them get there.
I hadn’t fully understood before just how much energy I was expending holding space for hesitation.
When I let go of that?
Everything became clearer. Lighter. More aligned.
And the lesson wasn’t just for my work. It was for life.
Because how often do we hold on to things, conversations, relationships, opportunities, that we hope will shift, rather than stepping fully into where we already know we need to be?
Maybe it’s worth asking:
Where are you waiting for permission? Where are you holding space for something that isn’t moving?
Because what if the thing you’re waiting for isn’t a better explanation, a clearer strategy, or more time,
What if it’s simply a decision?
YOUR INSIDE EDGE:
- Where in your work or life are you expending energy on the wrong things?
- What would shift if you held your own minimum standard?
- Where are you waiting, when you already know what needs to happen?
Because the moment you decide, there’s no going back.
Keep going and keep growing.
Warmest,
Glin
'Together We Create More Valuable Agreements'
Responses