How starting a podcast about work friends finally gave me work friends

The idea for my podcast, Chief Best Friends, came about because it hit me in late 2018 that I was going onto my 11th year of working with a full network of work acquaintances but could hardly count on one hand, anybody that I could call close friends. I kept thinking, "hmm, maybe I just like keeping my professional life separate from my personal life!"

As I dug deeper into that thought, I realise that my preference for separating work and personal life was rooted in years of conditioning. Of thinking that everyone is in it for themselves, that I can't make friends because they're also the ones I compete with for promotions and that if I ever strike it out on my own, that I can only hire strangers and not friends. I could not be more wrong.

Letting curiosity lead the way

Thankfully, after realising the limiting beliefs I had about friendships at work I set out to find people who did exactly the opposite. I wanted to find female founders who were building businesses together. Not just as co-founders but as best friends too. Or anyone who was on top of their profession and was working closely with another female friend in order to get ahead and get ahead together.

I seriously thought it would be hard and that it would take me a while to find these pairs of women. The more I looked for them, the more I uncovered. Sooner than later, I filled rows and rows of these women's profiles whose stories were waiting to be told.

Writing the lesson I needed to learn

Spoiler alert: I ended up telling their stories through the Chief Best Friends podcast, which was all about mixing friendship and business together. I thought that starting a podcast was all about being an expert. However, I felt that I needed to create this podcast because it's the lesson I needed to learn the most and that perhaps, I'm not the only one.

Starting my podcast was life-changing in many ways, and the year since I birthed it into the world was also the turning point in my belief systems. I learnt how to become a better friend and a better colleague. I now value collaboration more than competition. Most of all, I made amazing work friends along the way.