VIDEO: 🎙️ Ep. 251: Olympic Silver: Finding Your Next Big Career Move with Kate Johnson

What happens when a Silver Medalist, Olympic athlete, F100 leader, women's sports advocate, and cancer survivor shares the lessons she's learned about performance, purpose, and trusting yourself through life's biggest transitions? In this inspiring conversation, I sit down with Kate Johnson, a 2004 Olympic rower, trailblazing sports marketing leader at Google, TED speaker, and breast cancer survivor. Kate's story is a masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and listening to your inner wisdom when the path ahead feels uncertain. For high-achieving tech leaders who are questioning what's next, feeling stuck in the grind, or wondering whether they're still aligned with the work they're doing, this episode offers a refreshing reminder: success isn't just about pushing harder. Sometimes the breakthrough comes from reconnecting to joy, trusting your intuition, and creating space to hear yourself think. ⏱️ Quote Worth Remembering "The 1st and 2nd thoughts are usually based in fear. The 3rd thought is where the truth lives." - Kate Johnson, 2004 Olympic Sliver Medalist, US Rowing W8+ In this episode, we explore: ✨ How Kate wrote "Olympian" as a goal after only six weeks of rowing and made it a reality(!) ✨ The surprising parallels between elite athletics and executive leadership ✨ What it was like building Google's sports marketing practice from the ground up and convincing others to believe in a vision before they could see it ✨ Why finding joy again helped her overcome one of the toughest periods of her Olympic journey ✨ The life-changing lessons she learned during her battle with Stage 3 breast cancer ✨ How a six-month leave of absence transformed her priorities, career, and life ✨ The powerful "third thought" practice that helps quiet fear and reconnect with truth ✨ Why being fully committed matters when deciding whether to stay, leave, or pursue your next big opportunity Moments worth pausing for: 🏅 04:00 — Writing down an Olympic dream after just six weeks of rowing 🚀 18:30 — Building something new at Google and navigating resistance as a trailblazer 💛 28:00 — Returning to joy when hard work alone wasn't producing results 🎗️ 36:00 — The breast cancer diagnosis that changed everything 🌲 41:00 — Why stepping away created clarity, healing, and a new vision for life ✨ 48:00 — The "third thought" technique for making aligned career decisions 🎯 58:00 — How to know when it's time to move on from a role If you've been wondering whether you're playing small, questioning your next move, or feeling disconnected from the work that once energized you, this conversation is a powerful invitation to pause, listen inward, and trust what you already know. 💙 #Pausecast #OlympianMindset #Leadership #CareerGrowth #WomenInLeadership #Resilience #PowerOfPause #ExecutiveCoaching #TechLeadership #CareerTransitions #WomensSports #BreastCancerSurvivor #HighPerformanceLeadership