Lynne Curry

Question My boss thinks he's the smartest person in the room. He's not. He's just the most arrogant. Here's the problem. I like my job.

Question On my second week at a new state job, a coworker laughed and casually dropped, “Hitler had some good ideas.” I froze, thinking it a joke, until another coworker added, “Yeah.

Question One of my coworkers shares deeply personal details about her life in meetings. Divorce updates, medical procedures and how she's navigating all of it.

Your manager gave you the right next step: Take this to your company's leadership. To succeed, you need to shift your argument. Right now, you're framing this as a fairness issue. The people who can fix it will hear it as a business decision.

Go back if you're returning to a different opportunity, not just familiar territory. Look for real changes: Scope leadership, flexibility, compensation, influence.

The more employees outsource difficult communication, the less they trust their own instincts.

But losing faith in a career isn't the same as losing your future. The healthiest professionals I know avoid wrapping their entire identity around one organization, one role or one industry.

Unfortunately, our culture often interprets turning down a promotion as a lack of ambition. In reality, it reflects self-awareness. I once worked with a highly successful consultant who turned down a leadership position his colleagues coveted. When others asked why, he said, “I'd rather do the work than manage the people doing the work.” Years later, he remained deeply engaged, highly respected and happy in his work. You remind me of him. You love nursing. Not the prestige attached to nursing. The actual work.

Successful organizations need leaders willing to respect the knowledge of long-term employees and employees open-minded enough to understand change might be required.

One short-lived job doesn't define a career. Hiring managers know that even good employees end up in the wrong job. Many have experienced that themselves. They want to know whether your overall career demonstrates reliability, professionalism and strong performance. Thirty-nine years of solid work tell a far more compelling story than one recent short-term job.