What to expect in this episode of Web Lunch

I had the pleasure of joining Salma Alam-Naylor for a meal and talking to her about being a person vs. being a persona, aligning creativity and self-expression with business goals, and inventing villains as an excuse for not doing our best work.

Coming to terms with being extremely online

How much of yourself is too much to put online? Should we truly be ourselves, or a persona that we inhabit online? This is… complicated. We dig into it.

How to reconcile our creativity with business needs

Is it possible to be creative at a job that expects us to deliver business value? (Spoiler: yes.) Salma and I discuss how we find creative opportunities within the constraints of a full-time job, the power of learning the business side of things, and our strategies for connecting our ideas to monetary return to the company.

How to get buy-in for creative ideas

It’s possible to pitch and work on extremely fun, creatively challenging work as part of your day job — if we can convince stakeholders that it’s going to get them great results. We talk about how to make the business case for creative ideas.

What success actually means (maybe)

How do you know you’re “successful”? Is it financial gain? Fame? Title? Salma talks about different measures of success that are more fulfilling than any of these for her.

We talk about what kind of impact we care about — and which kinds we actively reject these days.

What is Web Lunch?

In Web Lunch, host Jason Lengstorf joins talented, successful, and — most importantly — happy web professionals for a meal and a conversation.

These experts have:

  • Built careers that are resilient in the face of an ever-changing software industry
  • Achieved proper compensation and recognition for their efforts
  • Found joy and growth in their work — instead (or sometimes on the other side) of burnout

In each conversation, Jason aims to learn the strategies, mental frameworks, and techniques that got them there. Watch to learn how you can build your own resilient, lucrative, joyful career.