Failure Friday #4: Invisible Work: How I Stalled My Career by Not Showing My Work
Summary
For years, Ran Liu thought great work would speak for itself. It didn’t. In this Failure Friday chat, Ran shares the career-limiting mistake she made by keeping her head down, focusing only on craft, and failing to advocate for herself or make her work visible. We’ll talk about why visibility matters (especially in design), how to balance self-promotion without feeling gross, and what she's learned about influence the hard way.
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