Third time through the pacing exercise and it finally clicked. The trick for me was writing the other person's likely objection on a sticky note before the call instead of rehearsing my own opening line.

This reminded me of Conversations Under Pressure but with a warmer framing that landed better for me. Or at least for my situation as a self-employed contractor who works with agencies, a land trust, and teaches one night a week as someone with deep field experience but no academic footing, in a trade that was historically apprenticed rather than taught.

I hope there are more sessions with Maren. I still struggle to answer in-group loyalty or credential snobbery when it shows up layered with ageism, self-selected circles, and the anxiety underneath it all — loss of standing, relevance, and the sudden beginner feeling people are facing right now as the tools change under them.

Question for the group — does anyone have a script for the part where you have to name the problem out loud to someone who outranks you? Chapter four covers the tone but not the opening sentence.