Linda Misegadis: The Identity You Built for Everyone Else

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Linda Misegadis: The Identity You Built for Everyone Else

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What happens when you've spent decades being the most reliable person in the room — and you finally stop to ask: reliable for whom? In this warm, wide-ranging episode of Leaderspace, host Cathleen O'Sullivan is joined by Linda Misegadis — senior government strategist at UKG, global DEI ambassador, certified payroll professional, and host of the Her Resources Podcast. Linda built her career the way many high-achievers do: nose down, hard work, always available, always solving. She led one of the most complex technology change projects in Denver's public sector history and then walked into the VP of Sales of the company whose software she'd just implemented and told him, clearly and directly, that she didn't think they understood the public sector space at all. He offered her a job. Linda and Cathleen explore what it costs to tie your identity to being the one everyone counts on, how introversion becomes a leadership superpower once you stop letting others use it as a label that limits you, and why the most important question in any career transition isn't what's next — it's who am I actually? They talk about the trap of availability culture, what burnout really looks like when you've built your reward system around being indispensable, and the slow, nonlinear work of separating your professional identity from your sense of self. They also go deep on what it means to lead through complexity without consensus paralysis, how COVID quietly pushed Linda from observer to connector, and the particular challenge women still face in corporate life in 2026 — not just in being heard, but in being seen for the right things. This is a conversation about the courage it takes to stop performing reliability and start building something that actually belongs to you. If you've ever been the go-to person, the Swiss Army knife, the one who always raises their hand — this one is for you. Cathleen's question for this episode: what is it costing you to keep staying quiet about something you've already noticed? Episode Timeline: 00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction 00:02:38 Introducing Linda Misegadis 00:07:04 Heritage, Roots, and Identity 00:11:09 What Has Shaped Your Identity? 00:15:10 The Trap of Being the Reliable One 00:19:09 Who Is Linda Now? 00:21:39 AI, Layoffs, and the Human Side of Work 00:31:36 How COVID Made Linda a Connector 00:34:17 Introversion as a Leadership Strength 00:40:29 Leading Without a Title 00:44:00 The Audacious Move That Changed Everything 00:48:00 The Risk of Always Being the Problem Solver 00:53:46 The Reward Behind Constant Availability 01:00:52 How the Reward Has Shifted 01:04:14 Approaching Complex Problems 01:11:24 Women's Voices in Corporate Life — Still Not There Yet 01:13:36 One Piece of Advice for Women Entering Leadership Key Takeaways: The Reliable One Is a Role, Not an Identity: Building your sense of self around being available to everyone is a reward system, not a foundation. Recognising what that role is costing you — in energy, in clarity, in career direction — is the first step to changing it. Introversion Is a Skill Gap, Not a Personality Sentence: Linda didn't network because she'd never been taught how, not because she was incapable. Once she separated the label from the limitation, she built a podcast, a community, and a career chapter on her own terms. Observation Is Underrated Leadership Data: Stepping back and watching — really watching — builds pattern recognition that others miss. The quietest person in the room often sees the most. Someone Has to Make the Call: Consensus has its place, but leadership means being willing to own a decision, not manage a committee. The people around you are counting on someone to choose. The New Reward Has to Be Real: When you stop being the one who solves everything, the satisfaction has to come from somewhere else. For Linda, it became the pride of watching her team step up. The reward needs to be replaced — not just removed. About Linda Misegadis: Linda Misegadis is a Senior Government Strategist at UKG and Global Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Ambassador, based in Colorado. She is a Certified Payroll Professional (CPP), Certified Public Manager (CPM), IPMA-CP, and Prosci Certified Change Manager who has spent her career helping organisations navigate complexity — and bring people with them through it. She previously served as Director of Citywide Payroll Operations and Administration for the City and County of Denver, where she led a workforce management deployment across 13,000 employees. Her defining career pivot came when she walked into the VP of Sales of the company whose software she had just implemented, told him plainly that she didn't think they understood the public sector space, and left with a job offer. She is also the co-host of the Her Resources Podcast. Connect with Linda Misegadis: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindamisegadis Website (Podcast...

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