This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil

What if midlife isn’t the beginning of the decline, but the beginning of something entirely new?

We’ve been sold a pretty outdated life plan: learn, work, climb, achieve, retire. Preferably while raising children, maintaining friendships, exercising, drinking enough water, keeping our relationships interesting, remembering everyone’s birthdays, and figuring out what the fuck is happening to our hormones.

Yeah. That plan could use an update.

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil talks with Lynda Gratton, one of the world’s leading experts on the future of work, professor of management practice at London Business School, and author of Living the Hundred Year Life: How to Build a Career That Lasts and a Life You Love.

They explore:

Why the traditional learn-work-retire model no longer fits a 100-year life

How longer lifespans are changing careers, retirement, and the future of work

Why women have been living multi-stage careers long before workplaces caught up

The eight “threads” that help create a fulfilling, sustainable life and career

Why relationships, friendship, adventure, and calm are essential to avoiding burnout

Why calm may be one of the most neglected resources in women’s lives

How to create more calm without pretending we suddenly have hours of free time

The difference between the future self you hope for, expect, and fear

Why adventure doesn’t require blowing up your life or booking a trip around the world

Why you might want to take a little piece of retirement now instead of saving all of it for someday

So if you’re asking, “What’s next for me?” maybe you don’t need the entire answer yet. Maybe you get to keep weaving, experimenting, and choosing as you go.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to HeyPolo.com/work or use code WORK and get 40% off your first year

Connect with Lynda:

Website: https://www.livingthe100yearlife.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-100-Year-Life-build-career/dp/1399432966/ref=sr_1_1

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynda-gratton-3b179813/

Assessment: https://www.livingthe100yearlife.com/assessment

Related Podcast Episodes:

On Sabbaticals, Reinvention, and Getting Older | Unfiltered & Unhinged

JoySpan: A Smarter Way To Age Well (And Break Free From Anti-Aging Culture) with Dr. Kerry Burnight | 425

Why “Rewirement” Beats Retirement (and How to Do It Right) with Anne Chow | 350

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Somewhere along the way, a lot of us got way too practical. We learned what’s realistic, reasonable, and likely to work. We became responsible adults who pay the mortgage and don’t launch every half-baked idea that hits us in the shower.

Great. But what if being “realistic” is sometimes just fear with better branding?

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil talks with Dr. Salima Bhimani, moonshot architect, entrepreneur, former Alphabet Chief Strategist for Responsible Technology, CEO of 10x Responsible Tech, and author of Invent Now: The Next Leap in Moonshots.

Salima challenges the idea that innovation, AI, emerging technology, and moonshot thinking belong exclusively to Silicon Valley geniuses with billion-dollar budgets. Instead, she argues that human ingenuity exists everywhere—and that the future gets a hell of a lot more interesting when everyday people stop being passive recipients of technology and start participating in what gets built.

They explore:

What a moonshot idea actually is—and why it’s not just for tech billionaires

Why Salima believes we’re wasting enormous amounts of human genius and potential

How AI and emerging technology are lowering the barriers to innovation

Why humanity—not technology—is the real moonshot

How to stop underestimating your own ability to create change and make an impact

The importance of community and collaboration when solving complex problems

Why we tend to underestimate our own impact while wildly overestimating everyone else’s

How purpose and creativity can emerge during messy, uncertain seasons of life

Why friction, frustration, and problems may be exactly where the best ideas are hiding

What Salima calls the “third space,” where human ingenuity and technology come together

This isn’t about convincing everyone to cure cancer, build the next Google, or become an inventor. It’s about getting a little less impressed by what’s “realistic” and a lot more curious about what could be possible.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to HeyPolo.com/work or use code WORK and get 40% off your first year

Connect with Salima:

Website: https://salimabhimani.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Invent-Now-Next-Leap-Moonshots/dp/1394394020

IG: https://www.instagram.com/moonshotmaven_salimabhimani/

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Pioneers: 8 Principles for Building a Business That Lasts with Neri Karra Sillaman | 383

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We’re living in the age of the quick fix. Three steps to happiness. One habit to eliminate anxiety. A supplement for every symptom. Enough already.

Because grief is complicated. Mental health is complicated. Relationships are complicated. We are complicated. And when we reduce deeply human experiences into easy solutions, we don’t just oversimplify the problem—we risk making people believe they’re the problem.

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil talks with Dr. Celeste Birkhofer, clinical psychologist, adjunct clinical faculty member at Stanford Medical School, and author of Beyond Quick Fixes. Together, they explore the five inner resources that support mental health, emotional resilience, healthy relationships, and personal growth—and why strengthening ourselves from the inside out matters more than finding the next hack.

They explore:

The five inner resources that create a stronger foundation for mental health and well-being

How to develop a healthy sense of self, self-esteem, agency, and self-compassion

Why coping strategies learned in childhood may no longer serve us as adults

The difference between healthy coping and patterns of over-control, avoidance, numbing, or perfectionism

Why strong relationships—and learning to tolerate disappointment and repair ruptures—are essential to well-being

How to ask for the kind of support you actually need instead of expecting people to magically know

Why self-compassion and personal growth can (and should) exist at the same time

What the “wise self” is and how to strengthen and trust that internal voice

Why professional mental health support matters when life becomes painful or overwhelming

The work isn’t to constantly fix ourselves. It’s to know ourselves, strengthen ourselves, and build the inner resources that help us meet whatever life hands us with more capacity, compassion, resilience, and trust.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to HeyPolo.com/work or use code WORK and get 40% off your first year

Connect with Celeste:

Website: https://www.celestebirkhofer.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Quick-Fixes-Ingredients-Fulfilling/dp/B0GRWSRJLK

IG: https://www.instagram.com/celestebirkhofer

FB: https://www.facebook.com/celeste.birkhofer

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celeste-birkhofer-phd-psyd-85525a9/

Substack: https://drcelestebirkhofer.substack.com/

Brainzmagazine: https://www.brainzmagazine.com/executive-contributor/celeste-birkhofer

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Women have been told for years that they need to negotiate more—but what if that isn't the real problem?

In this episode, Nicole welcomes negotiation consultant, Harvard research fellow, and founder of Moon Negotiation, Joan Moon, to unpack what the research actually says about women and negotiation. Together, they challenge outdated myths, explore the impact of gender bias at the bargaining table, and share practical strategies that help women advocate for themselves without abandoning who they are.

From salary conversations to flexible work arrangements and everyday communication, this conversation reveals that negotiation isn't about becoming more aggressive—it's about becoming more strategic.

In This Episode Nicole and Joan Discuss:

Why the idea that women are "bad negotiators" is a myth unsupported by research.

How gender bias—not lack of skill—often influences negotiation outcomes.

Why women excel when negotiating for others but face different expectations when advocating for themselves.

The power of the win-win approach and how to frame requests around shared success.

How asking better questions leads to stronger negotiation outcomes, and why listening is often a negotiator's greatest advantage.

The importance of uncovering the other person's underlying interests instead of making assumptions.

How to negotiate non-salary benefits like flexibility, time, and professional support.

Practical strategies for performance reviews, raises, and promotion conversations.

Common negotiation mistakes women make—and how to avoid them.

Together, these insights offer a practical roadmap for approaching negotiation with confidence, clarity, and a win-win mindset.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Start your risk-free Greenlight trial today at Greenlight.com/TIWW. Don't wait to teach your kids real-world money skills!

Connect with Joan:

Website: ww.moonnegotiation.com

IG: https://www.instagram.com/moonnegotiation/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moonnegotiation

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanmoon413/

Mini Online Course: https://course.moonnegotiation.com/fundamentals-of-negotiation-for-women-EXPRESS

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Women are told to be strong, but not hard. Confident, but not intimidating. Emotional, but for the love of God, don’t be too sensitive. Apparently, there’s some magical “just right” version of womanhood—but nobody seems to have the address.

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil talks with Dr. Sasha Hamdani, board-certified psychiatrist, mental health educator, and author of Too Sensitive about why feeling deeply isn’t a flaw to fix. They unpack rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), what happens when emotions hijack logic, how hormones impact sensitivity, and practical ways to regulate without stuffing, numbing, or apologizing for what’s being felt.

In This Episode:

Why sensitivity isn’t weakness—and can actually be a leadership strength

What rejection sensitive dysphoria is and why rejection can hit so damn hard

How to regulate emotions without suppressing them

Why hormones matter more than women have been taught

Why the goal isn’t thicker skin—it’s greater self-awareness and control

Feeling deeply isn’t the same as being fragile. The goal isn’t to become less sensitive—it’s to understand it, work with it, and stop shrinking perfectly human parts of ourselves just because they make someone else uncomfortable.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Start your risk-free Greenlight trial today at Greenlight.com/TIWW. Don't wait to teach your kids real-world money skills!

Connect with Sasha:

Website: https://www.drhamdanimd.com/toosensitive

Book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250423764/toosensitive/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thepsychdoctormd/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thepsychdoctormd

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Stop Saying “I’m Fine”: Nervous System Regulation for High-Achieving Women with Michelle Grosser | 372

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Share the Love:

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices