The Coffee Chat (#56)
My conversation with Jessica Galica - Author of 'Leap: Why It's Time to Let Go to Get Ahead In Your Career’, former Bain consultant and mom to two!
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Hi there 👋🏽
I do a lot of my work in the space of experience (think user experience, customer experience, employee experience, learner experience…) and one of the things that I always push my teams to do is to use visualizations.
Visualizations are SO powerful to turn experience into something tangible and help someone else grasp all the complexity that said individual experiences. Really no better way to build empathy.
When I stumble upon a great visualization my heart is always happy.
A few weeks back I stumbled upon these two pictures and I was like FINALLY someone gets my brain!
Me being me I had to go find the person who created this which lead me to Ashley Chang, CEO at Sundays an executive assistant service company built to support parents at work and home. Sundays mission is helping parents get time back, which I think we would all agree is much needed!
☕ Now, on to today’s coffee chat…
Jess had built an accelerated 15-year corporate career at some of the world’s most prestigious companies like Apple, Bain & Company, and Siemens—advising Fortune 100 clients, leading global sales teams in Tech, and directing GTM strategy.
While being on this journey at some point she realized her true passion was in the people development space - she is now an Executive Coach & Advisor specializing in helping organizations to advance their high performers into leadership positions, and supporting individuals to get to the next level in their career. Jess is also a published author of - Leap: Why It’s Time to Let Go to Get Ahead in Your Career, a book helping women and moms to contemplate and navigate major career transitions.
We instantly hit it off as she is an ex management consultant and a working parent who understands navigating dual ambitions.
Below is my conversation with Jess…
Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your family
My name is Jessica Gallica, but you can call me Jess. I'm a mom to two wonderful kids—a three and a half-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. We call Boston home.
On the professional front, I spent the first 15 years of my career chasing traditional notions of success, working for some of the top companies globally, including Bain and Apple. But when I embraced motherhood in 2020, it prompted a deep reflection on my career identity and what I envisioned for the next phase of my life. This introspection led me down a path where I transitioned into coaching, specializing in women's leadership and helping women navigate the complex terrain of careers and motherhood.
I even authored a book titled 'Leap: Why It's Time to Let Go to Get Ahead in Your Career.' And now, I've completely transitioned away from my corporate career to focus entirely on assisting individuals in crafting careers and lives filled with purpose. It's been an incredible journey.
So, in some sense, it sounds like you're describing what they often call the "post-achievement professional" phase, where you're not just caught up in that conventional, clichéd rat race anymore because you have sort of achieved tremendous professional success.
But let's rewind to those moments when you were immersed in those environments. You attended a prestigious school, worked at Apple, then you joined Bain, which is undeniably a highly competitive place. After that, you moved back to tech leading global teams in sales, another competitive and prestigious environment. These places tend to attract a certain type of person and many people aspire to work in such places. Human ego does funny things. So, what prompted you to say, "Hey, I want to step out of this"?
At Bain, there's this running joke that it's made up of insecure overachievers, and honestly, there's some truth to that. What you ask is such a significant question—how do you move beyond this ingrained upbringing that's so focused on achievement?
Well, a few things happened that made me lift my head up and consider something different. First, I wasn't particularly happy or fulfilled in those roles, even though I had spent over a decade in them by the time I started thinking about it. So, there was this sense of, "Huh, what's going on here? I'm not feeling fulfilled on the path everyone says I should be the happiest on." So, there was this recognition of dissonance, this realization that this path wasn't working for me.
And then, secondly, as we discussed before hitting record, there's the transformative power of motherhood. When I became pregnant with my daughter, I had this incredibly clear wish for her—to be comfortable in her own skin, authentic, and to live life on her terms. But when I looked at myself in the mirror, I realized I wasn't embodying those wishes for myself. Parenthood, especially motherhood, was profoundly transformative for me. It made me step outside of just focusing on the rat race. So, it was really those two things—time and realizing this path wasn't working, and the transformative experience of motherhood—that allowed me to reassess my priorities.
There's much more we could delve into, but those were the key factors for me. Part of it was just time and realizing this just continues to not work and part of it was this stepping into motherhood and the transformation that happened
Were there ever any individuals, mentors perhaps, within these organizations who offered a different perspective? Or maybe folks telling you to tough it out for a few more years, that things will get better, that everyone's life is tough for a while? Or maybe even warning you that you might regret your decisions or advising against letting go of such opportunities?
There's always someone who will offer you advice, whether it's to do something or not to do it. So, my focus shifted to listening more to myself. Throughout my career, I've often heeded the voices of others—the external narratives dictating what success should look like and what the right or strategic move was. By that point, no one was more fearful or averse to making changes than me. I was terrified, and I didn't need anyone else to emphasize how scary it was—I had already internalized those fears. So, in response to your question, I'd say that there will always be people advocating for both sides. What's truly powerful and impactful is reconnecting with your own voice. I had completely lost touch with mine, silencing it for a long time. Thus, the crucial step was beginning to uncover and listen to the wisdom that resided within me.
I love this. What a truly empowering way to approach life decisions!
This pushes me though to ask a question - None of us should be miserable and none of us should martyr ourselves and persist unhappily just to fulfill a statistic but at a structural level how do you think we can genuinely address this problem of retaining talented women who desire a fulfilling life within the confines of a structured corporate environment? Do you think there's a silver bullet solution to this issue ?
First and foremost, we need affordable care, and I use the term "care" broadly because it extends beyond just parenting. Many individuals find themselves in the sandwich generation, caring for both children and aging relatives. Childcare specifically is prohibitively expensive for 80% of American families. There's a lot of privilege in being able to afford these services—coming from a consulting background, most consultants can make choices based on their preferences. However, when we zoom out and consider the bigger picture, it's clear that the government needs to step in and create more affordable care solutions.
Moving on to the employer realm, what women, and increasingly more men as parents, want is flexibility. It's intriguing how flexibility often gets tied up in discussions about remote work. But the truth is, women don't necessarily want to work from home—they want what working from home allows them: flexibility. They want the freedom to take their child to appointments during the day, to handle unexpected childcare issues without panicking, or to simply throw in a load of laundry while working. Flexibility is the most desired factor for women, especially working mothers.
So, the silver bullet here lies in offering flexibility. I'd particularly like to see more options that enable people to work part-time. Anecdotally, I'm surrounded by high-performing women who are also navigating demanding seasons of parenthood. The number one thing I hear from them is, "I wish I could find part-time work." While there's never a perfect solution, organizations that can offer flexible part-time work, say 50% to 70%, for parents, would be making a significant step in the right direction.
And then I guess seamlessly let them ramp back on if and when they desire. I could totally see parents wanting part time options for the first 10-15 years of their kid’s life and then ramping back on. This would work beautifully if organizations would still consider them for those executive positions.
Which is a great pivot to talk about your book - Leap and this whole idea of why is it time to let go to get ahead in your career. Tell me more about that?
So, I'll give you an overview of the book first, and then I'll delve into what the subtitle means. Essentially, the book is designed to assist women who are navigating or considering significant career shifts and transitions. While it's not exclusively focused on the intersection of motherhood, we do recognize that these major career shifts often coincide with motherhood. That's where the book comes in—it explores what holds women back from making these changes, offers practical strategies to set them up for success, and highlights the benefits of aligning their careers with a sense of purpose and fulfillment in their broader lives.
Now, about the subtitle, "Why It's Time to Let Go to Get Ahead in Your Career." When I say "let go," what I'm really emphasizing is the need to release the notion that there's only one rigid path to success. Many women of our generation, especially those in leadership roles or transitioning into them, have grown up with various iterations of the same message—whether it's "lean in," "you can have it all," or "Girlboss." Essentially, the underlying message has been to push harder and keep going. However, I view this narrative as incredibly limiting—it closes off numerous avenues to success for women. Therefore, I urge women to let go of this external definition of success and instead, create their own, more authentic path.
I love that. I am all about expanding the definition of success. I think you touched upon two crucial aspects of the subtitle: letting go and getting ahead. How does that work? Those seem conflicting?
In the book, I share numerous stories of women who actually experience greater success when they make these thoughtful, strategic changes in their careers. This success manifests not only in a holistic sense, such as being more present parents and experiencing more peace and joy in their lives, but also in more traditional metrics of success, like income, prestige, or title.
So, it debunks this myth that by letting go of one career track, you're inevitably sacrificing success. There are countless examples where women not only maintain their level of success but are actually propelled into even greater levels of achievement. This is an essential point to highlight.
Is there an example you can share?
The book features a plethora of real women's stories, and one that stands out to me is about Dr. Melynda Barnes. She was a facial plastic surgeon, which is a highly coveted subspecialty within medicine and surgery. Despite this prestigious position, she reached a point where she felt compelled to leave her job and transition into health tech. As you mentioned earlier, the reaction from her family, friends, and colleagues was disbelief—they thought she was crazy for leaving such a desirable job. However, she had this gut feeling that she wanted to do something more impactful and different.
In the end, she took the leap and joined a growing company called Ro Health. Fast forward, Ro Health is now valued at over $5 billion, and Dr. Barnes has risen to the C-suite as the Chief Medical Officer. She's also involved in numerous public health boards in and around New York. What's remarkable is that she's achieved greater success not only in terms of fulfillment and joy in her work but also by traditional metrics like income, title, and impact.
This example beautifully illustrates that making a career change doesn't mean you're fading into irrelevance—it can actually propel you towards even greater success..
I love that notion that choosing to step away from this doesn't mean resigning yourself to a life of irrelevance and being forgotten. Instead, it can truly propel you toward wherever you want to go next. It's a powerful reminder that the focus always needs to be on personal growth.
The fear of irrelevance can be quite daunting because these environments tend to make you feel incredibly significant and valued. They have their toxic elements, of course, but on a daily basis, you're made to feel special by the people around you, who often make assumptions about who you are and what you're capable of.
But you have to remember you are wonderful and capable and at the end of the day you deserve to be fulfilled and happy.
What's the best thing you have watched recently?
I'm having fun watching "Made in Heaven" on Amazon Prime!
What’s the best thing you have read recently?
"Patriarchy Blues" by Frederick Joseph
What’s the best thing you have heard recently?
Julia Louis-Dreyfus' podcast "Wiser Than Me"
🤓 Open tabs…
(I have modeled this section after those “open tabs” that we all have with a few (okay 30-40) interesting links that we promise we will eventually get to one day. These are the links that I had open for sometime that I finally got to …)
⭐ The mom who invented gender reveals regrets it (🎧)
In 2008, Jenna Karvunidis was looking for ways to involve her distant mother in the life of her soon-to-be child. Fifteen years, thousands of acres of wildfires, and a few plane crashes later, she wishes she could put the genie back in its bottle
⭐No equality for working women in any country in the world, study reveals
No country in the world affords women the same opportunities as men in the workforce, according to a new report from the World Bank, which found the global gender gap was far wider than previously thought. Closing the gap could raise global gross domestic product by more than 20%, said the report.
Report author Tea Trumbic said childcare and safety issues particularly affected women’s ability to work. Violence could physically prevent them from going to work, and childcare costs could make it prohibitive. While 95 countries enacted laws on equal pay, only 35 had measures in place to ensure the pay gap was addressed. Globally, women earned just 77 cents of each dollar earned by a man. Addressing the childcare gap would immediately lead to a 1% increase in women’s participation in the labour force. The report said less than half the countries had financial support or tax relief for parents of young children and less than a third had quality standards in place for childcare that could assure parents of their children’s safety.
⭐Killing It at Work But Still Worried? You Might Be an ‘Anxious Overachiever.’
Never finished proving themselves, these ambitious strivers look to their employers for affirmation. They take comfort in working for brand-name businesses, finding the prestige reassuring. The strong company cultures at elite institutions initially feel comforting — there’s a reason “cult” and “culture” stem from the same root word. They are self-motivating and self-disciplining. They “never rest on their laurels – or even rest,” as Empson has written. Employers love their commitment….If you fall into this camp, you may already be recognizing yourself. And maybe burnout is starting to feel like a way of life.
📖 My private thoughts from my very public diary…
(Sometimes on X (Twitter), sometimes on Threads)
I would love to hear from you, feedback is always welcome!
And if you happen to know an inspiring working parent who should be featured in a future edition (or if you yourself are one) - please do get in touch
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Disclaimer: All views expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer