Isobel Cowell

Hi 👋 I’m Izzy and I don’t want to be an entrepreneur.

I know, LinkedIn blasphemy 😰

But I don’t.

🚫 I don’t want to work 16 hour days, 7 days a week.
🚫 I don’t want to start a company from scratch and stress about it’s success.
🚫 I don’t want to go off by myself and start a business from my back bedroom (I want to be in a team, always!)

And if you do, then I think you’re amazing!

But that’s not my personal definition of success.

Success to me is:

⏰ Finishing work by 6pm to spend time with my family
☀️ Spending the weekend in the sun and going out with my friends
😴 Getting 9 hours sleep a night

And if that means not hitting 6 figures by the age of 23…then that’s fine by me!

So despite what everyone on LinkedIn tries to tell you:

Not everyone has to be an entrepreneur.

And not everyone WANTS to be an entrepreneur 🤷‍♀️

P.s: If I end up owning a company in 5 years time…you did not read this post 😳

#diaryofatwentysomething #success #entrepreneur

I’m a 23-year-old manager of a remote team.

And 5 months ago, I started to break under the pressure.

According to LinkedIn, you have to be absolute best friends with everyone in your company.

Not just generally liked…but if you’re not “the favourite” or have the social battery to be on hand every single second of every day then you’ve failed.

But this is your reminder: as a manager, you DON’T have to be everyone’s favourite person.

What you DO need to do:

~ Don’t just look at the hours your team work, but also look where brain space is being drained
~ If someone’s struggling, help them find the root of the problem rather than taking over
~ When your team messes up, ask “what’s going on?” before jumping to conclusions
~ Be empathetic to your team as humans, not employees
~ Apologise when you get stuff wrong
~ Set your own boundaries

But you’re there to do a job, and if you make friends along the way: Incredible.

But if you make your team's lives even 25% easier, you’re doing amazing.

Leadership isn’t a school popularity contest 🤍

P.s: this is especially important for leaders going through neurodivergent journeys…navigating relationships is hard enough without getting caught up in the often toxic LinkedIn leadership narratives.

I’m a 22-year-old manager aka the youngest person in the company.

And I don’t pretend to be an expert on leadership.

In fact, I hold myself back from talking about it here because I have such intense imposter syndrome.

But the weirdest part is, I don’t get that same anxiety when I’m actually…managing.

- When I’m having a 1-2-1
- When I’m delivering a full team training
- When I’m creating an action plan with a stressed team member

I feel completely normal.

But LinkedIn is a different story.

And enough is enough, so here’s what I’ve learnt from being a manager (so far…):

- Set very clear expectations
- Don’t assume anyone understands what you mean, lay it all out
- Make people feel special: your words can brighten or ruin someone’s day
- Your teams wins are their’s, their failures/challenges are yours
- People really enjoy feedback if it’s helpful

But most importantly, give yourself some slack. You’re learning just as much as everyone else.

So just enjoy it 🤍