Own Your Career Or Someone Else Will! (The POWER Framework) (S2E3)

Careers don’t stall because you lack talent; they stall because you lack leverage. We zoom straight into the POWER framework—five pillars that turn you from a passenger into the driver of your own path. No fluff, no clichés, just the playbook: personal accountability, options through money, work your network, ever battle ready, and reputation as currency.

We start by dismantling the myth that managers are responsible for your growth. Ownership looks like asking precise feedback, chasing the ugly projects that matter, and building skills without waiting for approval. 

From there, we get real about money as a career tool. A walkaway fund gives you breathing room to negotiate, leave toxic roles, and take strategic moves that compound into leadership scope. You don’t need a windfall—just a halt to lifestyle creep, small automatic transfers, and a clear target for six months of expenses.

Networking becomes simple when you treat it as generosity on a schedule: consistent check-ins, thoughtful comments, helpful intros, and showing up when it’s inconvenient. Then we shift to readiness. Quarterly resume refreshes, a clean LinkedIn headline that signals outcomes, and a grab-and-go portfolio keep you sharp when opportunities show up fast. Finally, we get honest about reputation. How you act when things go sideways, how you share credit, and how people feel after working with you determine who speaks your name in the rooms that matter.

By the end, you’ll choose one pillar to focus on for the next 30 days and leave with small, specific actions that build real momentum. If this hit home, share it with a friend who’s stuck, connect with me on LinkedIn at Jassani Courtney for deeper dives on each pillar, and hit subscribe for more straight talk that actually moves your career forward.

Chapters

• 0:00 Straight Talk And The Big Myth
• 1:05 Introducing The POWER Framework
• 2:04 P: Personal Accountability
• 7:18 O: Options Through Money
• 15:04 W: Work Your Network

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and should not be considered formal legal advice. Please note that the policies of your company and laws in your country may vary. Also, the views expressed by the host or his guests do not necessarily reflect the views of any other company or entity.

SPEAKER_00: 0:23

What's up, career conquerors? Welcome back to My Friend and HR. I'm Jasani, and if you're new here, buckle up, because we don't do corporate fluff here on this show. Let's get started, and I'm gonna hit you with some straight talk right out of the gate. Guess what? Your boss doesn't necessarily care about your career. And before you get all in your feelings about it, I need you to know something. It's actually not their job. Your career is your business, not theirs, yours. So if you're sitting around waiting for somebody to hand you a promotion like it's a participation trophy, or waiting for your manager to suddenly become the career godmother, or waiting for HR to magically recognize your talent, I got news for you. You're gonna be waiting longer than people who still think Blockbuster is coming back. So today I'm going to break down the power framework. These are five principles that separate people who actually control their careers from people who are just going along for the ride and just hope that things work out. This is the framework I wish somebody had slapped me upside the head with 15 years ago. This would have saved me a lot of frustration, a lot of sideways moves that went absolutely nowhere, and way too many nights staring at the ceiling, wondering why in the hell didn't I get promoted. All right, so what the hell is power? Well, it's an acronym. And I know not another acronym, but stick with me because this one is actually useful. Not the corporate ones that your company makes you memorize during orientation that you probably forget about by lunchtime. These are five pillars. Master these and you've got real control over your career. Not the fake, I'm important because I got invited to a meeting kind of power. This is the kind of power that gives you options when everyone else is trapped. So let's start by talking about what power stands for. First, the P. It stands for personal accountability. Your career trajectory is 100% your responsibility. Not your managers, not HRs, definitely not your companies. It's yours. And yeah, I know that's scary, but we're gonna deal with it together. Next, you have the O, which stands for options through money. You can't make bold career moves when you're living paycheck to paycheck. And here's the hard truth, Tom. It is difficult for broke people to have career options. Instead of career options, they have financial obligations. Remember, financial wellness equals career freedom. W stands for work your network. You need to build relationships before you need them. You know, like a normal human being, not like the person who only calls when they need something or needs somebody to help them move. Your network is your net worth. And I know influencers love saying that one, but it's actually true. E stands for ever battle ready. Resume updated, LinkedIn current, skills sharp. Stay ready so you don't have to get ready. Because scrambling to update your resume while you're panicking about getting laid off, yeah, that's not a power move. And finally, we have R, which is reputation as currency. Your brand can either open doors or close them. What are people saying about you when you're not in the room? Because that's what actually matters, not what you put in your email signature. Now, I know some of you are already thinking, Jasani, this sounds like a lot of work. And you're actually right, it is a lot of work. But you know what else is a lot of work? Being stuck in a job you hate because you don't have options. Watching people who aren't as good as you get promoted because they know how to play the game and you don't. Scrambling to update your resume at 11 p.m. after you just got laid off via Zoom. That's exhausting too. The difference is one kind of work moves you forward. The other kind just kind of keeps you stuck in the same place, complaining about the same stuff. So let's break down each pillar. And I'm gonna give it to you straight. No sugar coating, no corporate speak, just real talk. So starting with P, personal accountability. Now, this is the foundation because without this, the rest of it doesn't really matter. You can't build a house on quicksand and you can't build a career without taking ownership. And here's a phrase I hear all the time, and I mean constantly. My boss doesn't invest in my development. And every time I hear it, I want to respond with, okay, and why should they? Look, I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but let's think about this for a second. Your boss has a company or a department to run. They got quarterly targets breathing down their neck, they got their own boss expecting results, and they got their own career to worry about. So, genuinely speaking, why would they prioritize your development over literally everything else that's on their plate? Now, don't get me wrong, there are some good leaders out there that do invest in their people. I've actually worked for some, and it is amazing when it happens. But even the best boss in the entire world is not going to care about your career as much as you care about it. You know why? Because it's your career, not theirs, it's yours. So, what does personal accountability actually look like in real life? It means that you don't sit around waiting for training to magically appear. You go find it yourself. Udemy costs 15 bucks, I think. Coursera actually has free courses. Coursera has courses. LinkedIn learning probably came with a premium subscription that you're not even using. YouTube literally has everything. You just have to stop Doom scrolling and actually go get it. The resources are out there. It also means you don't wait around hoping that someone will eventually give you feedback. You actually ask for it. I know it's a wild concept, but schedule 30 minutes with your boss. Ask specific questions like, what's the one thing I can do better to be more effective in this job? Not the generic, how am I doing? Because that's going to get you a generic answer. You need specificity. It also means you don't wait for opportunities just to fall in your lap like manna from heaven. You go create them. Volunteer for the project nobody else wants to touch. Solve the problem that everybody's been complaining about for six months, but nobody's actually fixing. Make yourself so valuable that they can't ignore you. And here's the uncomfortable part: it means you have to stop blaming external factors for where you are. Now, before you come at me in the comments, I am not saying that external factors don't exist. Discrimination is very real. Bias is real. Toxic workplaces are absolutely real. I've experienced it, I've seen it, and I am absolutely not dismissing any of that. But in the face of those very real obstacles, you still have agency. You still have choices, maybe not great choices, but choices nonetheless. And the moment you accept that your career is your responsibility and not your bosses, everything changes. Because now you're not sitting around being a victim of your circumstance. You become the architect. You start to actually build something. I had a mentor tell me once, and I am never gonna forget this. He said, Josani, nobody's coming to save you. And at first I was like, damn, that's kind of harsh. But then later it hit me. And to be honest, reflecting on it now, it's probably one of the most empowering moments in my career. Because if nobody's coming to save me, that means I have to save myself. I decide where I'm going. I get to take action. I'm not waiting on permission or validation or somebody to finally notice me. All right, let's talk about the O options through money. And before anybody gets weird about talking about money, let me just say this. We are all adults here. Money matters, and acting like it doesn't is just performative nonsense. And here's the hard truth nobody wants to say out loud, but I'm gonna say it anyway. It is hard to make good career choices when you're broke. Period. End of story. When you're living from paycheck to paycheck, you don't have a lot of options. You have financial obligations. Can't leave that toxic job? Of course you can't, because you need the health insurance and your child has a medical condition. Can't negotiate your salary? Nope. Because you need that paycheck to clear on Friday or your rent check bounces. Can't take that strategic lateral move that would set you up for VP in two years? Absolutely not. Because the rent's due in two weeks and strategic moves don't pay strategic bills. And look, I'm not judging. I have been there and I have stayed at jobs I absolutely hated because I couldn't afford to leave. I've taken roles that are way beneath my skill level because I needed the income like yesterday. And trust me, I get it. But here's what I learned the hard way. Financial wellness is not about being rich. It's not about having a Tesla and a vacation home. It's about having enough breathing room to make choices that are best for you and your family, not choices you made because you're desperate and out of options. So let me give you a target. Start with trying to build a three to six month emergency fund. I call it your walkaway money. Some people call it the screw you fund. Call it what you want. I just need you to get one. Because when you've got six months of expenses saved up, suddenly everything changes. You're not desperate anymore. You can negotiate from a position of strength instead of weakness. You can walk away from toxic situations. You can take calculated risks that might not pay off immediately, but will pay off in the long run. Money gives you options, and options are power. Now, I know some of you are thinking, Josani, I can barely pay my bills right now. How in the hell am I supposed to save up six months of expenses? And what I would say is do what I did. Start small. I'm talking 50 bucks a month, 100 bucks a month, whatever you can swing without having to eat ramen every single night. The goal isn't to get there next month. The goal is to start moving in the right direction. And here's another thing: stop lifestyle inflation. And you know what I'm talking about. You get a$10,000 raise and immediately your brain goes, new apartment, nicer car, let's eat out more. And before you know it, that raise is gone and you're still living paycheck to paycheck just with nicer stuff. What if you kept your lifestyle exactly the same and banked that raise? What if that extra$500,$800,000,$1,000 a month went straight into your Freedom Fund instead of into another streaming service that you're probably not even watching? I know it's not sexy, it's not fun. No one's gonna post about it on Instagram, but you know what is sexy? Having options. Being able to tell a toxic boss to actually shove it and mean it. And here's the bottom line: money does not solve everything. And I'm not saying it does, but it does give you choices. And in your career, choices equal power. When you're not desperate, under duress, you can negotiate with actual confidence instead of hoping that they don't lowball you. You can walk away from situations that are destroying your mental health, you can invest in your own skill development without having any kind of guilt, and you can take strategic career pivots that might take some time to pay off. And you can choose growth and fulfillment over just surviving. Financial wellness isn't some nice-to-have things, it's a career strategy. Now let's move on to the W. Work your network. How many times have you said this? And be honest, I really need to start networking. Cool. But you know what? You really needed to start networking three years ago. But since we can't go back in time, the second best time to start is right now. So let's go. Here's the thing about networking that nobody actually tells you. It's not about collecting business cards like it's Pokemon. It's not about having 10,000 LinkedIn connections that you never have really talked to. It's about building real relationships with people who can help you and more importantly, people you can help. Because iron sharpens iron. And I know that's corny, but it is so true. When opportunities open up, your network gives you the heads up before it even gets posted on LinkedIn. When you're thinking about making a career move, your network can give you the real intel. But here's the catch. And this is where most people screw it up. None of that works if you only show up when you need something. You cannot wait until you're unemployed to start building relationships. You cannot wait until you desperately need a referral to start engaging on LinkedIn. You cannot wait until you're in panic mode to reach out to people you haven't talked to in the last five years. That's not networking. That's being that friend who only calls when they need to borrow money. Don't be that person. Do better. Build now and benefit later. So how do you actually build a network that matters? Not that fake performative kind, but real relationships. First, you can attend industry events, conferences, meetups, whatever. And when you're there, actually talk to people. Don't just sit in the sessions and taking notes like you're back in college and then disappear to your hotel room to catch up on emails. That defeats the entire purpose. Engage, have conversations, and just be a freaking human being. Second, be intentional on LinkedIn. And I don't mean posting those cringy motivational quotes with sunrise pictures. I mean engaging meaningfully. Comment on people's posts, not just great posts or the applause emoji. Actually share a thought. Start a real conversation. Third, reach out to two to three people per month to check in. No agenda, no ask. Just, hey, I saw you post about X. How's that going? Or hey, I was thinking about that conversation we had. How's everything been? That's it. Just build the relationship. And fourth, and this is big, give before you ask. Share opportunities with your network. Make introductions. Offer to help even when there's nothing in it for you. When you consistently add value to other people, they remember. And when you do eventually need something, they actually want to help because you're not just some taker. And finally, show up when it's inconvenient. Spend time at those conferences when you're tired. Go to those networking events after a long, long day when you'd rather go home and just go watch Netflix. Because here's the truth: your network just isn't a professional insurance for when things go bad. It's professional acceleration for when you want things to go better. That job you want, your network knows about it before it's posted. That promotion you're chasing, your network can put in a good word. That board of directors' role that you're interested in, trust me, your network knows what it takes to get included in a conversation. But you've got to put in the work before you need it. That's just how it works. Next up is E. Ever battle ready. So pop quiz. When was the last time you updated your resume? If you had to think about it, you're probably behind the power curve. Here's the problem with how most people operate. They wait until they need a job to get their resume ready. And by then, you're scrambling, you're stressed out, you're desperate, you're trying to remember all the accomplishments you did back in 2022 while you're also panic applying to everything on Indeed at 2 o'clock in the morning. And guess what? The desperation shows. Recruiters can smell it through the screen. You need to stay ready so you don't have to get ready. That's the whole game. So what does ever battle ready actually mean in practice? It means your resume gets updated quarterly. Not when you get laid off, not when you see a job posting you kind of like quarterly. Every three months, sit down and add your accomplishments. Update metrics, refresh your skills, keep it current. It means your LinkedIn profile is optimized and actually reflects what you're doing now. Not your job title from two years ago, not that position you left in 2021. And definitely not that generic headline that says, experienced professional seeking opportunities. Come on, again, we can do better. It means your skills stay sharp and relevant. The industry is moving and you better be moving with it. It means your portfolio is ready to share at a moment's notice. Whether it's a presentation deck, a project summary, code samples, whatever your industry requires, you have it and it's ready. Not the old I can pull it together. No, it's done, it's polished, it's ready to go. Now I can hear some of you already say, Jasani, isn't that being disloyal to my current employer? And I say, absolutely not. This isn't about disloyalty. It's about being loyal to yourself and to your career. Let me ask you something. Do you think your company is being disloyal when they have contingency plans? When they are running financial models on what happens if they need to cut 10% of staff? Or how about when they're interviewing your replacement before they even tell you about it? Then why are you holding yourself to a different standard? Being ready does not mean you're actively looking. It means you're prepared. And keep in mind, some of these opportunities will happen within your current organization. It's like having insurance. You don't buy car insurance because you're planning to crash a car. You buy it because it might happen and you want to be comfortable in case it does. It's the same thing here. You don't keep your resume updated because you're planning to leave tomorrow. You keep it updated because opportunities don't wait for you to get your act together. The recruiter who slides into your DMs tomorrow about that role you actually want, if you're not ready, you might miss it. That internal position that opens up next week would be perfect for you. If your LinkedIn looks like it's a ghost town and you have to scramble to update everything, you lose momentum. If you can't confidently talk about what you've accomplished recently because you haven't thought about it, you end up fumbling the bag. Opportunities go to the people who are ready right now, not to the people who need two weeks to get it together. So ask yourself, if your dream job opened up today, could you apply right now with confidence? Or would you need to scramble? If the answer is scramble, you got some work to do. And finally, the R. Reputation is currency. Here's something they don't tell you in business school. Your resume gets you the interview, your reputation gets you the job. What are people saying about you when you're not in the rooms? Because that, my friends, is what actually determines your career trajectory. I've seen incredibly talented people, genuinely brilliant, get passed over for a promotion because their reputation was absolute garbage. I've also seen people who are just okay technically get opportunities left and right because everybody wanted to work with them. Skills do matter, but reputation matters more. Your reputation gets built in three places, and you need to pay attention to all of them. First, how you show up when things are good, when the product is going well, when you're winning, when everything's smooth. Are you generous with credit? Do you lift other people up? Or are you the person hogging all the spotlight? Because people notice. Second, and this is the big one, how you show up when things go sideways, when the project implodes, when you make a mistake, when the deadline gets missed. Do you own it? Do you stay calm and try to figure out solutions? Or do you start pointing fingers and start making excuses? Because that's where your real character starts to show. Third, how you make other people feel. Do people walk away from conversations with you feeling valued, heard, respected? Or do they walk away feeling small, dismissed, or like they just got steamrolled? Maya Angelos said it best. People will forget what you said and they'll forget what you did, but they will never, ever forget how you made them feel. And those are facts. Reputation follows you everywhere, to every interview, every networking event, every internal opportunity. It's always there, either working for you or against you. All right. I guess it's time to bring this whole conversation home. So put in the comments down there which one of the pillars are you gonna work on? And I want you to pick something for this month. Pick one and just one. Do not try to fix all of these at once because that is too overwhelming and you'll end up not doing any of them. Pick the one that you feel is holding you back the most and commit to working on it this month, not next quarter, not next year, this month. Because here's the truth, and I really need you to hear this. The power to change your career is already yours. Right now, today. You don't need permission from your boss, you don't need a promotion first, you don't need to wait for the perfect moment. You just need to decide to use it. So, what's it gonna be? Keep waiting around for someone to hand you your career on a silver platter, are you gonna take control and build it yourself? The choice is yours, and it always has been. All right, my friends. Before you leave, I need you to do me a favor. If this episode hit home for you, even if one thing I said made you go. Damn, I kind of needed to hear that. Send it to a friend who's stuck and complaining about the same job for the third year in a row. Post it on LinkedIn. Drop it in the group chat with your work friends who are also tied to the BS. And if you want to go deeper on the power framework, I've been breaking down each one of these on LinkedIn. Connect with me at Jassani Courtney and we can keep this conversation going. And oh, if you're new to the podcast, do me a favor, hit subscribe. We drop new episodes every two weeks with the same straight talk about building better careers. No corporate fluff, no motivational poster nonsense, just real actionable advice. So until next time, be well. Not just to others, but to yourself as well. And remember that your job is meant to support your life. Your life is not meant to support your job. Take control. Use your power. I'm Desani Courtney, and this is my friend in HR. Until next time, my friend.

SPEAKER_01: 21:01

This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and should not be considered formal legal advice. Please note that the policies of your company and laws in your country may vary. Also, the views expressed by the host or his guests do not necessarily reflect the views of any other company or entity.