In this coaching interview, Lynne Levy speaks with former senior director of product Lauren about her transformation from a toxic work environment to becoming Chief Product Officer and co‑founder of a stealth startup. Lauren recounts feeling underappreciated and overwhelmed in a senior director role, reaching a breaking point, and seeking help after attending Lynne’s free class. The coaching program provided a mindset shift, practical tools like the SCARF framework, and a supportive community that helped her reframe challenges, maintain realistic optimism, and ultimately quit her job. While on maternity leave she began the program, which boosted her confidence and clarified her career aspirations. Lauren realized she was aiming too low, leveraged the program’s insights to pursue a higher‑impact role, and now leads product strategy at a startup she co‑founded. She emphasizes that the program’s biggest value was community and the realization that all leaders, regardless of experience, face similar struggles, and that she was already capable—she just needed a new perspective.
Chapters
Lauren, so good to see you.
Me too.
I've been, I've loved watching your progression. So let's talk about where were you before you joined the program?
So I was the senior director of product at a company that, you know, I was just very underappreciated, I felt like, and I was over a whole department, but it was just a very toxic work environment. So I was doing my best to keep my team's spirits lifted, but then in the same point, I was absorbing all of the negativity that was coming down the pipeline. So, um, yeah, I just reached kind of a breaking point, I guess, with that and ultimately decided that this, you know, after attending one of your classes, the freebie, I was like totally all in because I could just feel the energy was so positive and I knew that I was going to get tools to at least get me through what I was dealing with, which it did. It helped quite a bit until I finally did just quit cold turkey. But, you know, it really helped me to reframe things and keep a positive— not necessarily positive, but a realistic and, you know, kind of upbeat attitude for my team. And but also I kind of work through, okay, these are the realities of things. What can we control? Let's focus on those things, that kind of stuff. So it was very, very helpful. And I think even my team could see a change in me when I— so I came back, I was on maternity leave actually when I started the program and then I came back or it was shortly after something like that. And I think they saw a switch flip. But yeah, it definitely was my way of getting out.
Absolutely. So what if you could name 2 key learnings from the program? What were they?
One that I use all the time is SCARF, because just being able to reframe, and I still use that, like, you know, no, no team is perfect. You're not going to go from one team that's imperfect to another team that's all of a sudden perfect. People are human, people are human natured, and they're going to get worked up about different kinds of things. And so just having that framework, I can kind of more easily take a step back and say like, oh, this is what's going on. And then I'm able to address it versus being like, God, I wonder what's going on in that guy's head or girl, whoever. But honestly, for me, the program, a lot of it was just about community for me because I think that it was so helpful. I guess this is a takeaway. It was so helpful to see that, you know, I'm kind of a different sort of animal. I don't come— I didn't come from tech. I am now in a tech-type role. I'm in a— I can say I'm in medical devices. And so it's sort of a hardware situation where you have a little bit of both. So I was really nervous going into this to feel like I'm this other kind of animal. What do I have to offer? How am I going to move that way? I knew that was where I wanted to go. And I think the takeaway was that, like, like everybody is struggling no matter how many years of experience they have. We all struggle with the same stuff and we're all just human and we're all working through it. And I'm more than capable of handling the things that I'm handling now. And so, you know, and I was, I was already capable of doing these things. I did. I didn't really need anything new except for a mindset shift.
There we go.
Exactly. And this got me there. I think I was already a good leader, but now I'm more, I'm a greater leader because I was able to, I'm able to take a step back more easily now and I'm able to reframe things and I'm able to see when it's me and when it's not me.
So tell everybody, where are you now? What are you doing now?
Yeah. So I'm actually Chief Product Officer at a stealth startup, so I can't speak too much to what I'm actually doing, but I did go, I did make the leap. Um, I realized partway through the program that I was actually aiming too low. Like when I, actually at the very beginning, you told me I was aiming way too low. When I was trying to migrate from consumer packaged goods over to tech, I thought I was going to have to take a big pay bump or pay decrease and go down the pipeline. And I was going to have to go from senior director down to product manager or something along like that. And, and you quickly called out that that was just not the case at all because I was already in a strategic role. It didn't make any sense. And it was really a mindset thing. Again, it goes back to that. But then I quickly realized that I really wanted to take more ownership of my path and That is why I actually did pursue like co-founding a startup because I mean, I am a co-founder on the group that I'm in and, you know, I do feel like I have more say. I am in a group of people who are very respectful, which is great because we do have different personalities and stuff, but it's nice because, you know, I do feel heard and we all have different expertise and that's respected. So So far it's great. I mean, we're not, we're working on the startup journey. You know, it is, it is got highs and lows and it's all over the place, but that's what I kind of was seeking out anyway. And so for me, it was a perfect fit. And I think I'm in exactly the spot that I need to be right now. And hopefully it all shakes out. Um, before I enjoyed the program, I felt lost. I felt like I was in a horrible toxic place with my work. I was not enjoying, I was enjoying the work part of my work, but I was not enjoying the day-to-day other stuff. Um, and it was incredibly stressful. And so yeah, it was, I just felt terrible. Yeah.
And were you scared when you first joined?
Oh, totally. But I would say that the group that I joined into really made me feel comfortable. Um, so the stress went away pretty quickly once I started getting into it because I mean, I was super stressed and kind of scared and nervous, but That was easy to overcome.
You did it anyway.
I did. Yeah. I took a leap and it worked out.
And tell us in big words, where are you now?
I am now Chief Product Officer and co-founder of a stealth startup. And it's a very exciting, it's been very exciting. So, and an enjoyable experience.
I am so excited for you, my friend. Now I'm going to stand up. I am so excited for you. I mean, what a difference when you were— when our first conversation and you were in the Target parking lot crying.
Yes. Oh God, I remember it so well. It was the middle of the day. It was like on a break of some kind, and I just was so def— I was so defeated. I felt like I had no control, even for my own team. I'm very protective of my teams, you know, and It was hard. It was really hard.
