4 Reasons Why My Professional Betrayal was the Best Thing for my Career

Why do I consider my professional betrayal the best thing that ever happened to my career?

Here are a few reasons:

1. Amazing mental resilience. All that stuff they say about women and tea bags and strength? Totally true. If you would have asked me how I thought I would have reacted in that situation, I would have said "curl up in a ball and die." But when it actually happened, I channeled major queen energy and literally amazed myself. Who knew?! Not to brag, but I honestly reminded myself of Elizabeth Warren just a little. Imagine!

2. Full-on fearlessness. Y'all. People thought I was fearless before my betrayal. My former boss (not the betrayer) even gave me a bracelet that said "fearless" because she said I would “do whatever it took to get a job done.” Well, if you thought pre-betrayal Jade was fearless, post-betrayal Jade is literally unstoppable. You can come for me every way and I won't bat one single magnetic eyelash. I feel like I have now had the worst things that can happen to you in your career happen to me, and I lived to tell the tale. And what’s that happens, you realize you can really just do whatever you want.

If you have been betrayed and would like to use the experience to transform your career for the better, come register for my course Woman in the Arena: How to Turn a Professional Betrayal into the Best Thing That Happened to Your Career using the G.R.A.C.E method.

3. No more nice girl. Prior to my betrayal, I was a model employee. I crossed every T and dotted every I. I came in early, stayed late, and did every little request my boss asked of me. I did all of this because I thought it would result in job security. But after getting fired from this job, I realized that "being good" does not result in any kind of professional safety. Once my eyes were opened to this, I started to see it play out again and again—high-achieving women who twisted themselves in knots to deliver on their boss’s every whim, and who still got burned in the end. This actually really helped me to achieve better work-life balance. I realized you really can’t control the outcome of a job so you should just do what is best for you.

4. Massively motivated to break the cycle. It was one of the most crushing disillusionments of my professional life to have a boss who I thought was such a feminist role model, only to find out that behind-the-scenes she was anything but. I feel like it aged me ten career years. But through that experience, I became even more motivated than ever to be the authentic lady leader I wish I could have had. I would be the one to represent a new lady leader, one who did deliver on their promises, one who was as supportive behind the scenes as I was on a stage. I’ve always been a feminist, but you could say I went from determined to downright devout. Similarly, having my betrayer as my reverse role model has been hugely motivating. Anytime I am feeling lazy or trying to avoid a hard conversation, I just remind myself, “If you don’t get up right now, you are acting exactly like You-Know-Who” and I fly out of my chair every time.

If you have been betrayed and would like to use the experience to transform your career for the better, come register for my course Woman in the Arena: How to Turn a Professional Betrayal into the Best Thing That Happened to Your Career using the G.R.A.C.E method