By Nicole McMackin, President & CEO of Irvine Technology Corporation

I am thrilled to share that my book, SAY IT ANYWAY: Eleven Leaders on the Conversations That Changed Their Careers, will be available on Amazon this November.

For the past several years, I have had the privilege of interviewing remarkable leaders on my Elevate Your Career podcast. Over time, I noticed something. When I asked what truly changed the direction of their careers, the answer was almost never a promotion or a title. It was a conversation. One they were nervous to start, one they almost avoided, one they had to say anyway.

This book brings together eleven of the most impactful of those interviews. You will meet leaders like Laura Schwab, a former Notre Dame tennis captain turned automotive executive, who learned the courage to be uncomfortable; Stefanie Causey, who started as a single mom earning $9.25 an hour and became a transformation leader at IBM; Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, CEO of ECOS, on the advantage of being an outsider; Bryan Muehlberger, former CIO of Red Bull North America, Beachbody and Vuori, on turning career gaps into assets; and Dan Lader, CIO of Impac, on navigating the hidden job market.

The book is organized into four parts: The Invisible Ceiling, The Power of Difference, Visibility and Advocacy, and Modern Authority. Each chapter follows a simple framework I call C.H.A.R.M.: Context, Hurdles, Action, Results and Meaning. And every chapter closes with Key Takeaways and a “Try This Today” exercise, so you can put the lessons to work the same day you read them.

Every page of this book was shaped by more than 30 years of interviewing thousands of professionals, and by the conversations I have had on Elevate Your Career. Along the way, I learned that success leaves clues, and that the people who grow fastest are the ones willing to have the hard conversation. This book is my way of passing those clues along.