Career planning as a mom working in STEM means evaluating your next role for meaningful work and the conditions that support your family life, alongside its title and pay. Start by identifying your priorities, getting specific about the flexibility you need, and assessing the workplace while it assesses you.
In this conversation with Nate Payne, you’ll explore what to find out before deciding whether another role would actually offer better work-life balance. Want help figuring out where to start? Take the free Career Alignment Diagnostic at solveformom.com/quiz.
You’ve worked hard for your expertise. You want to keep using it, but you’d also like more choice and flexibility. And asking to move a meeting so you can pick up your child can still feel like special treatment.
So, before you make another career move, what would you need to know about the job beyond its title and pay?
In this episode, I sit down with tech leadership advisor Nate Payne to explore why capable, hardworking people get stuck and what we can learn from the environments around them. Nate connects mathematics, human psychology, and economics with lessons from living systems.
We bring those ideas back to your career decisions: the flexibility that matters to your family, the role of recovery in sustainable performance, and how to evaluate a workplace while it’s evaluating you. You’ll leave with questions to help you identify the working conditions you need and investigate whether your next role offers them.
~
In this episode, we talk about
- (3:37): Nate’s approach to systems thinking
- (8:50): Why capable people become overwhelmed
- (22:23): Recovery and resilience: Why restoration belongs in the conversation about performance.
- (42:27): Priorities and decision-making: Comparing what matters to you with how you spend your time and energy.
- (46:57): Workplace fit: What Nate’s relocated plants reveal about the conditions people need to thrive.
- (50:56): The two-way job interview: Assessing the environment you’re joining, alongside what you bring to it.
- (52:01): What you receive in return: Considering flexibility and other benefits beyond financial compensation.
- (56:00): Making your next decision: Trying small experiments without needing to predict your entire career.
~
YOUR NEXT STEP
Want help figuring out where work and family life are getting harder to fit together? Take the free Career Alignment Diagnostic Quiz for a starting point. ➡️ https://solveformom.com/quiz
~
ABOUT NATE PAYNE
“I don’t want my bias, my guilt, my fear of loss to make the decision. I want my priority to make the decision.”
Nate Payne is a leadership advisor, TEDx speaker, and creator of Living Systems Leadership. With more than 30 years in technology, he helps people understand how systems, incentives, and working environments shape their decisions and outcomes.
~
LET’S CONNECT
📫 E-mail hello@solveformom.com
🌐 Visit solveformom.com for more information and FREE resources
