Matt Kantor

You’re the one that leadership trusts when things get hairy. You own your deadlines. You debug left and right. You help the teams through uncertainty. But you’re invisible when it comes to big moves. Promotions are stuck like the trade wars. Comp increases are as flat as Winnipeg. And the feedback you keep getting is: “KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!” That should be a warning sign. But You’ve followed the rules. You were a good solider. Nailed every request, even the ones on Easter. Now you’re...

Remember that time you wanted to get that role you really wanted? You read the posting over and over. You weren’t sure if you were qualified.But when I asked : "what does the job require?"You rattled off every skill. Every tool. And Every outcome.Not hypothetically.... you had done it all.You even led a team doing the same thing just last year. The work was in your bones. But the job title was odd.The department name was new.The salary? A level up from anything you'd made before.So what did...

Most people breathe a sigh of relief once they land a new role. Finally…a paycheck. A title. A new beginning. But before you know it - here comes the quiet trade-off:You double down to “prove your value.”You take on the crap work without complaint.You hide your real ambition because “it’s too early to ask for more.” And within 90 days, your dream job has quietly morphed into another trap. You are back to being a workhorse ploughing the crops you will never eat. After a while, it becomes...

My friend’s been out of work for almost a year.I had a coffee with him yesterday. We talked about his background and what he wanted to do.I suggested he try shifting more to marketingI took a sip of my too-small Cortado, and his reply - "I don't know anything about marketing".He was selling himself short - Shorter than my coffee.After 20 years in corporate communications, you likely know something about marketing. I'm sorry, its true.Often, you don't give yourself credit - as if you can only...

I used to work with a guy named D (I call him that here) — a great engineer, the type every startup quietly leans on when things get tough. He was T-shaped - he could work a bunch of different roles outside of their expected core. He built core infrastructure from day one. He could hang with the customer team or interview or design product features. He's a great guy to work with. But he was tired.Burned out.Quietly worn down by a role that no longer fit who he wanted to become. D dreamed of...

Imposter Syndrome Nearly Stalled My Life I knew my stuff. I still felt like a fraud. No matter what I built or shipped, that voice was always there. Not Good Enough. For years, imposter syndrome ran my life. And I didn’t even realize it. It showed up in small ways at first. I’d get stuck tweaking something to death — code, slides, specs, designs, even having a conversation. Chasing a version of “perfect” that didn’t exist. I’d say yes to every small project, terrified that saying no meant I...

“Too expensive,” Alana said. “And the name sucks.” We were eating oysters. I was showing her my new offer. It’s been 9 months since she could eat oysters. I walked her through the offer: the pricing, the positioning, the transformation. Six hours earlier, she said: “You’ve got 20 years of startup experience, decades of coaching + 3 years mastering LinkedIn from every angle. You know more about this platform than almost anyone. Wrap it in a bow. ” She was right.People are burned out on...