When Your Inside Voice Finally Goes Public
Corporate Exit Diaries - Week 5
September 26, 2025
This week I wrote about telling a surgeon he "navigated a colon like a motherf*er" during a procedure observation. I also launched a website, created my first LinkedIn newsletter, and discovered that admitting professional filter failures resonates more than sharing business wisdom.
Sometimes the stories you're most embarrassed to tell are exactly what people need to hear.
The Chapter That Made Me Cringe
Monday's post led with that colonoscopy disaster - the moment my professional filter completely glitched and I complimented surgical technique using language that would make my grandmother clutch her pearls. The room went dead silent. I wanted to disappear.
But writing Chapter 23 about "When Your Inside Voice Goes Rogue" forced me to examine the pattern: I've been toggling between Harvard customer service voice and complete verbal chaos my entire career. No middle ground. Either overly professional or forgetting I'm in a business setting altogether.
The engagement on that post was immediate. People connected with the mortification more than any polished business insight I've shared. Turns out everyone has their own "oh shit, did I really just say that out loud?" moment.
The Filter That Kills Authenticity
Wednesday's business lesson pulled directly from the chapter content - the impossible tension between being real enough to stand out and professional enough to not get fired. I documented the vicious cycle: excitement about sharing authentic thoughts, fear of corporate consequences, posting safe sanitized content, frustration with being a fraud, repeat.
Most corporate employees are stuck in this exact loop. They know their filtered content is boring, but they also know their mortgage payment depends on not offending HR.
The breakthrough isn't dramatic - it's gradual erosion of caring more about authentic expression than corporate approval. For me, it started with writing for publications without asking permission first.
Friday's Infrastructure Reality
By Friday I was deep in website launch mode, newsletter setup, and all the boring behind-the-scenes work that nobody wants to hear about but everyone needs to do. Creating simple blog templates instead of custom graphics for every post. Choosing function over perfection.
The lesson from this week's house-building metaphor holds: you can't skip the foundation work. Whether it's transformer boxes before 19-foot ceilings or basic website functionality before beautiful design, the unsexy infrastructure determines whether your vision becomes reality or stays a pretty dream.
What's Actually Working
Five weeks into documenting this transition, the pattern is clear: vulnerability outperforms optimization every time. My most polished, strategically crafted posts get modest engagement. The raw admissions about professional disasters and personal fears create genuine connection.
People don't need more business advice disguised as clever metaphors. They need permission to be human while building something meaningful. To admit they're terrified of failing. To acknowledge they don't have it all figured out.
The Corporate Exit Diaries approach works because it documents the messy reality rather than the highlight reel. The colonoscopy story, the smoking guilt, the parenting fears - these aren't professional missteps to hide. They're the human experiences that create trust and connection.
The Newsletter Launch
This week brought the first Corporate Exit Diaries newsletter - deeper dives into the content that resonates most on LinkedIn. No grand strategy, just expanding on what's already working.
The response reinforced what I'm learning: people want honest documentation of building something meaningful, not another list of entrepreneurial tips. They want to see someone figure it out in real time, complete with verbal disasters and self-doubt spirals.
The Uncomfortable Growth
Chapter 23 forced me to confront how exhausting it is to constantly toggle between professional personas. How corporate environments train us to split ourselves in half - the real person and the work person - as if authenticity and competence can't coexist.
But watching my content performance over five weeks proves the opposite. The more honestly I share my actual thoughts, struggles, and embarrassing moments, the more people engage. Authenticity doesn't kill credibility - it builds it.
Next Week's Reality
Chapter 24 awaits. More manuscript progress to document. More honest admissions about what it actually takes to transition from profitable work to purposeful work without blowing up your life.
The website is live. The newsletter is launched. The foundation work continues.
No roadmaps. No guarantees. Just the ongoing documentation of becoming whatever comes after where I am now.
The transformer boxes before the 19-foot ceilings. Always.
This is part of my Corporate Exit Diaries - real-time documentation of finishing my book and transitioning from profitable work to passionate work. No roadmaps, no guarantees, just honest progress.