Episode 183: Rejection (and how to bounce back)
/“My boss pulled me aside and said, ‘so we’re really struggling and we’ve decided to eliminate your position effective immediately. So you need to pack up your desk and go.’”
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
“I think women are socialized to please, to get approval, and rejection is the opposite of that. You know, we’re not getting approval.”
Rejection plays a part in everyone's work experience. It certainly has in mine. No one likes getting rejected - but is it harder on women?
Jessica bacal
In this show I speak to Jessica Bacal, author of The Rejection that Changed My Life, about the sting of rejection and what we can learn from it. We also meet nonprofit leader Amy Campbell Bogie. She talks about two searing rejections she went through, and how to emerge gracefully from what can feel like a slap in the face.
Jess spoke to 25 women for her book, each of whom learned something useful from their rejections. That’s not to say that rejection always has a silver lining - or if it does, it might be hidden. Rejection feels awful. But even when I look back to my most painful work rejection, it still taught me something, even if it was something I didn’t want to hear.
You can also read a transcript of the show.
Further reading: Thanks to Jess Bacal I found out about the work of UCL professor Raina Brands, the co-author of this 2017 Harvard Business Review piece on women executives’ response to rejection.