Karen Levy Newnam is a smart, funny, deep-thinking, artist-turned-business woman, self-described goofball. If you think that covers it, it doesn't. At all.   Woven through experience as a writer, actor, producer, college instructor, retail manager and marketing manager are threads of self-discovery, self-awareness and self-improvement. A conviction that bringing one's best self to others is the starting place for getting on the same page. That becoming one's best self is work. Our life's work. And at work we cross paths with others on their journeys.   This episode gets personal with Karen's characteristic honesty about what it means to be a woman in the workplace. A woman senior director in the workplace. A work-in-progress, woman senior director in the workplace. But with class and humor and authenticity that makes you want to work for Karen. Or with her. Or just talk with her, like I got to do. Here are some of my favorite ahh-ha! moments:   5:50 and on - Karen's plan for getting on the same page with herself - by the decade 10:47 and on - Therapy, habits and who am I personally? Professionally? 17:19 - Mentors who cared enough to tell me I was holding myself back 23:12 and on - Expressing emotions at work and a Viktor Frankl quote about creating space between stimulus and response 30:18 - Is "You need to stop" wrong to say when a subordinate is insubordinate on a conference call? 35:32 - If you aren't introspective at work you aren't going to be on the same page with others 40:07 - The ABCs of describing rather than evaluating behavior - especially someone else's 43:15 - Male and female supervisors can be direct, but the fallout is different 51:48 - What's in your span of control - and not - about how you're viewed 1:03:58 - How my mentee made me a better person, and staying relevant at work