Leah Warwick: Hi everyone, I’m Leah Warwick, and you’re listening to The Admin Edge.

We’re very lucky at ASAP to collaborate with extraordinary people, and Concetta Green is one of them. A speaker at APC and EA Ignite, Concetta came up as an EA and transitioned to chief of staff and career coach with a wellspring of knowledge to share.

Concetta sat down with ASAP’s Lydia Davidheiser on the show floor at EA Ignite, and I hope what you take away is Concetta’s deep wisdom to light your own career journey

Lydia Davidheiser: Hello. I’m Lydia Davidheiser, senior content coordinator for ASAP, and my guest today is Concetta Green, chief of staff at Harvard Business Publishing and speaker at this event, EA Ignite.

Welcome to the podcast, Concetta.

Concetta Green: Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here.

Lydia Davidheiser: We’re so excited to have you! And today we’re going to be talking about the unglamorous truth about career reinvention.

Concetta Green: Hey, now.

Lydia Davidheiser: Quite the topic, and I will say we see this question all the time within our community. They feel stuck. They’re like, “What do I do next?” They’ve hit a wall, “I’ve hit the ceiling.”

And so, career reinvention sounds exciting in theory; but in reality, it’s often uncomfortable and uncertain. And you have had such a wide range of experiences across different organizations and industries.

Was there a point where you realized you needed to reinvent yourself to keep growing?

Concetta Green: I would say yes, especially if you look at my track record. I’ve done a little bit of everything, in the background. But for me, I decided it was time to make a change when I found myself giving out way too much, to everyone else, more than I would even think of to give to myself. And that was killing me. It was really breaking my systems down physically, and I was telling myself a lie that in order to matter, my work had to be really hard.

I had to get out of that. I didn’t realize that was a story. This is totally a plug for people to see a business coach or a career coach. It was a story I’d been telling myself, and I had to shift that narrative.

So now I can pause a little bit. I can take some breaks if I need to.

Lydia Davidheiser: Absolutely. I think there are a lot of admins that assume “reinvention” means “starting over,” and that can bring up a lot of fear – when really they may have been building the foundation for their next move all along.

So when talking about career capital, or the value that you build over time that creates future opportunities, what does that actually look like in practice for someone in an EA or chief of staff type of role?

Concetta Green: I think, to your point, you should think of your career—EAs, PAs, administrative professionals—as a snowball. Everything leads to the next thing. Everything is foundational for whatever the next thing is that’s coming. So, nothing is too small. Nothing is too big. Everything is foundational, and it’s making you richer. It’s giving you more presence for what is to come.

I think it’s important to be thoughtful about what your own personal gaps are, having people around you that will tell you the truth. You know, “Is there anything that I’m missing? I feel like I’m doing a really good job here. What else could I be doing? How else could I potentially grow? What do you think about what I have here?” Then also pursuing opportunities that push you to your own growth edge.

Super uncomfortable! But when you’re kind of uncomfortable, like, “I think I can do this, but I’m really sweaty about it,” that’s usually a good sign. Like, “Hey, get in there, prove it to yourself. You can knock this out.”

Lydia Davidheiser: Which reminds me so much of our keynote this morning, Jess Gardiner. She was talking about growth mindset, about being able to accept feedback, to jump over that hurdle.

Concetta Green: Yes. You have to be honest with yourself. You have to sit down and be grounded. Bring yourself out of the clouds of career fantasy: “Where am I right now, and where would I like to be next? Where do I envision myself in the next three to five years? What would feel nice to try?”

It takes some of the pressure out, and it lets you play a little bit. You can explore, and you don’t have all this pressure of, “Oh my god, if I don’t do this, my whole life is going to be destroyed, and I’ll never work again.” Which is not true. Our fear side tells us that. But that’s not reality.

Lydia Davidheiser: Exactly. And when that anxiety is so strong—this is a great segue—for someone who feels stuck, but doesn’t know what their next move is yet, how can they start building momentum?

Concetta Green: Easy: Movement. Energy, as a principle, has to have a place to go. So it’s coming in from some place, it gets stuck, and you know it, you can feel it, and there’s gotta be an exit.

So, understanding that there is always a choice, there is always an option, there’s always another way. The moment we forget that we have choice is the moment we lose access to creativity and options. So, giving ourselves some space to say, “There’s gotta be another way.” Again: “What am I missing?”

And not just staying in your own head, because that’s another form of stuck-ness. Talk to some people who think differently than you, because their perspective can shift everything for you, and can get that momentum going for you again.

Lydia Davidheiser: Absolutely. I even notice that with myself, regardless of career reinvention, of how getting external output and advice can really take you outside of your own head, when it’s so loud.

Looking back, talking about your personal journey, because you’ve done so much: What do you wish someone had told you earlier about navigating change, especially within corporate environments and office politics?

Concetta Green: There are invisible rules in every environment, and I think it’s important to show up authentically as yourself; but more importantly, to listen and to watch for the nonverbal cues.

Now, sometimes that can be a little tricky for the neurodivergent. It’s hard sometimes to read certain cues that everyone else might take for granted or that the larger group might take for granted.

But finding ways to tap into, “What did you really mean? Can you be very specific about that? When you say this word—when you say ‘aggressive’ or ‘intrusive’ or ‘creative,’ what exactly do you mean?” So that there’s no gray area in between.

I think the invisible rules are important because they’re tied to politics. Politics is tied to relationships, and beneath any org chart, there’s another org chart that you cannot see and that you would not ever imagine because it’s probably a lot more complex than can be documented.

But being aware of where the landmines are, and obviously building good relationships across the org. Not just staying in your own little pocket, your own little world, but actually making friends with somebody in finance, chatting with somebody in product management: “What do you guys do?” Being really curious. A lot of times, curiosity will open the doors that your title won’t.

Lydia Davidheiser: Fantastic advice, Concetta. And we have a listener question for you.

Concetta Green: Hey now! Let’s go.

Lydia Davidheiser: They write, “I feel ready for more, but I can’t seem to get anyone in my organization to see me as anything beyond my current title. What do I do to change that?”

Concetta Green: I think we all feel that at some point. I think that’s very real.

I’ll be honest, as a coach, what I hear in that question is: that person is putting a lot of power for their life into the hands of other people.

So, I would probably spend some time sitting with perspective. Again: “What is it that I’m not seeing in myself? What is it that I’m scared to really look at and admit? Is there a place that I’m hiding? And why am I assuming that people should know what’s inside here? I don’t know what’s inside their minds, so why would they know what’s inside here?”

That’s a big start, because the way we show up impacts the way people experience us. That takes a different level of mindfulness. That’s not just your average, everyday “I’m just going to show up and clock in.” You have to be really thoughtful about being curious, where you’re showing up, the kind of question that you’re asking.

It leaves little breadcrumbs, and then those breadcrumbs open doors for conversations that you might wanna have.

I would encourage that listener to sit with perspective, and also move 10% closer toward courage in getting toward what you really want, and articulating what you want.

Sometimes it’s journaling. Sometimes it’s sitting with ChatGPT. Sometimes it’s sitting with some really good friends or coworkers. But do something. Again: Movement gets whatever that energy is that’s stuck, it gets it unstuck.

Lydia Davidheiser: Yes. Just gotta take that first step.

Thank you so much for joining us here on The Admin Edge, Concetta. Where can listeners find you online?

Concetta Green: They can find me at concettagreen.com, and they can also find me on LinkedIn at Concetta Green. I try to keep it very simple.

Lydia Davidheiser: Amazing, thank you so much again.

Concetta Green: Thank you, this was wonderful.

Leah Warwick: Thank you for listening to The Admin Edge, produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals. Original music and audio editing by Warwick Productions, with audio and video production by 5Tool Productions. If you like this podcast, please leave us a nice review, five stars, and subscribe.

If you’d like to submit a listener question, you may do so on our website at asaporg.com/podcast.