Tap Your Wild Courage with Jenny Wood
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Release Date: 03/23/2025
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
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Mark Fava episode: Liberosis (Instrumental) by Nihilore, via Free Music Archive (CC BY) Mark C. Fava is an author, retired Navy officer, and an aviation lawyer. He currently works as a Vice president at The Boeing Company. Fava flew as a Naval Flight Officer and Mission Commander in the P-3 Orion, accumulating more than 3,000 flight hours, tracking Soviet submarines during the Cold War. He retired in 2015 from the Navy Reserve as a Captain. He has led a national aviation law practice at a major law firm. From 2001 to 2004, he worked as the Chief...
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Steve is a visual artist whose work has been displayed in numerous galleries, juried exhibitions, and prestigious corporate art spaces. He’s planning on transitioning to full-time artist from managing the creative side of a web design firm he founded 25 years ago. Previously, Steve had engaged in numerous careers: media training, tech journalism, book writing (he penned more than 50 solo titles and collaborations, including a million-copy, bestselling parenting book). He was also the founder of a successful ad agency and founder of numerous ill-conceived small businesses that failed...
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Website: BERNADETTE JOY isn’t just another financial expert—she is a passionate advocate for financial literacy and empowerment and a sought-after financial coach and speaker. Having paid off $300,000 in debt by age 37 she is a living testament to the power of smart money habits having achieved a net worth of $1 million in her 30s as a first-generation Filipina-American. Bernadette’s story is proof that anyone can take control of their finances and thrive. Since launching Crush Your Money Goals® in 2020, she has impacted thousands of people nationwide, offering...
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Melody Wilding: The music used in this episode is Simulator by Scanglobe Source: Free Music Archive (CC BY-NC-SA) By An indispensable guide to navigating power dynamics, building effective relationships with higher-ups, and earning more authority, freedom, and confidence at work—from one of today’s “most innovative career coaches” (Insider). Do you feel vulnerable to the whims of your boss, peers, or internal politics, pushing through each day with a nagging undercurrent of anxiety? Maybe you’re micromanaged, interrupted in meetings,...
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In her 18 years at Google, Jenny Wood grew from entry-level to executive, and she most recently led a large operations team that helped drive billions in revenue per year. In 2021, she started a passion project within Google called Own Your Career, which grew to one of the largest career development programs in Google’s history. Through the program she founded, she has trained tens of thousands of people on: acing a job search, building relationships, personal branding, effective email writing, landing the right mentor, maximizing workplace influence, and most importantly, increasing confidence. Jenny’s writing has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Forbes. She is an FAA-licensed private pilot, a daily hiker, an improv student, a tap dancer, and a zucchini bread connoisseur. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her two young children and her husband, Jon. She met Jon by chasing him off the NYC Subway, and the New York Times featured their story.
WILD COURAGE: Go After What You Want and Get It
A bold, empowering, and energizing guide to embracing your ambition and chasing after what you want from an executive who spent nearly two decades climbing the ranks at Google.
What if the traits you need to get ahead are the exact opposite of what you’ve been told? To be successful you need to be Weird, Selfish, Shameless, Obsessed, Nosy, Manipulative, Brutal, Reckless, and Bossy. And that takes courage. WILD COURAGE: Go After What You Want and Get It is an energizing and empowering guide to embracing your ambition and chasing after what you want, from Jenny Wood, an executive who spent 18 years from entry-level to executive at Google. Wood reclaims nine traits from their negative shackles and teaches you how to apply them in a savvy and sane way to supercharge your success, whether you’re trying to impress your new boss, snag a stretch promotion, or land a life-changing deal.
Wood knows her way around courage. In this book, she shatters conventional wisdom about achieving your goals. She gives you permission to ditch your fear and chase after what you want, unapologetically.
Wild Courage will teach you how to be:
Ø Weird: Win as you or lose as “who?”
Ø Selfish: Be your own champion.
Ø Shameless: Kick impostor syndrome to the curb and self-promote with ease.
Ø Obsessed: Push, persist, and perform at your highest level.
Ø Nosy: Get curious to network confidently and learn from others.
Ø Manipulative: Build influence with empathy and manage up like a pro.
Ø Brutal: Draw lines and stick to them. Embrace the power of no.
Ø Reckless: Err on the side of action and take healthy risks.
Ø Bossy: Steer others to success, even if you’re not in charge yet.
Wild Courage coaches you to smash through your fear of discomfort, failure, and the judgement of others, to embrace your boldest self in pursuit of what you want. To be successful, you need to have courage. Wild amounts of it.
Wood can speak to:
- Getting what you want. Unapologetically.
- Increasing confidence at work—and in life.
- Communicating effectively and powerfully.
- Recognizing how tiny daily actions can have a big impact.
- Discovering work-life balance and the power of boundaries.
Gather Your Courage. Overcome fear to achieve your biggest ambitions. Stand out to get what you want in life. Just don’t expect it to be easy.
Chapter 1. Weird: Win as you or lose as “who?” Within your so-called weirdness lie your greatest strengths. Hone and highlight every ounce of weird you’ve got.
Chapter 2. Selfish: Be your own champion. Give everyone a leg up at your own expense and get trampled. Start showing up for yourself.
Chapter 3. Shameless: Find your swagger. Audacity—shamelessness—is a survival skill. How will you learn whether you’ve got the goods if you don’t act like it first?
Chapter 4. Obsessed: Push, persist, and perform. None of these traits will serve you if you don’t learn to deliver—not for some company but to achieve your ambitions.
Chapter 5. Nosy: Get insatiably curious. Curiosity drowns out fear and pulls you toward what is most exciting to you. Use it as a compass.
Chapter 6. Manipulative: Build influence through empathy. Whether you’re selling a product, an idea, or yourself, the ability to win friends, allies, and supporters is all about mutual benefit. Figure out what people want and get it for them.
Chapter 7. Brutal: The power of no. People-pleasing pleases no one and keeps you small. Brutality is cleaner, more effective, and far kinder. Cut through the bull and spare everyone’s time, energy, and attention.
Chapter 8 Reckless: Err on the side of action. Better to learn from your mistakes than waste time predicting the consequences of every decision. Think fast and fearlessly—if you’re on the fence, do it.
Chapter 9. Bossy: Steer others to success. All the traits and habits that looked so negative in this Table of Contents come together and create a leader. Cultivate allies, partners, and collaborators. Help them aggressively. Push them mercilessly. Win their gratitude. Achieve amazing things together.