124: How Quiet Achievers Can Build Visibility and Lead with Impact — with Carlee Wolfe

Serena Low speaks with Carlee Wolfe — strategist, connector, and coach with over 20 years of experience leading culture and transformation for global brands including Under Armour, Hyatt Hotels, Apollo Education Group, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Carlee reflects on career pivots, leadership, and values-based growth, showing how saying yes to unexpected opportunities can open the door to transformation — both personally and professionally. Together, Serena and Carlee explore what it means to lead quietly, to honor your energy, and to show up authentically in every season of your life.

Key Topics We Discuss

• Career pivots and purpose: How saying yes to new experiences (like coaching volleyball!) reshaped Carlee’s leadership journey.
• Thriving through change: What it takes to adapt to new environments, communities, and roles with intention and curiosity.
• Living and leading by values: Using your values as an internal compass to navigate growth and align your career with what matters most.
• Introversion and energy management: Understanding your social battery and how to recharge in high-energy environments.
• Quiet leadership: Why influence doesn’t require volume — and how listening, observing, and enabling others are powerful leadership skills.
• Visibility for quiet achievers: Simple, practical ways to share your work, build recognition, and create impact without shouting about it.
  
  

Connect with Carlee: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carleeawolfe

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Work With Serena

If you’re ready to become visible, recognized, and promotable — without performing extroversion — explore Serena’s 1:1 coaching at serenalow.com.au.

This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

My guest today is Carly Wolfe, a strategist, connector, and coach helping people and organizations thrive for change. With more than 20 years leading talent, culture, and transformation across global brands like Under Armour, Hyde Hotels, Apollo Education Group, and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Carly specializes in turning strategy into behavior that takes beyond corporate work to culture athletes, including Paralympic hopefully, and serves on nonprofit boards shaping workforce development and recreation. She brings stories, strategies, and tools that help people move forward with purpose because transformation and career growth don't have to be complicated. Welcome Carly Wolf to the Quiet Warrior Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm uh really, really excited about today's conversation.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

I'm so glad because we're going to have a great conversation, starting perhaps with your reflections on your professional journey and some of your career pivots.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah, thanks. And it's a fun one coming off the bio because it sounds really good, right? Um all our stuff in order. I uh for me, career pivots have shown up kind of in like two ways in my life. Um, one is saying yes to the unexpected. Um, so one of that particularly for me is around coaching volleyball. I got into that uh without really knowing a ton about coaching or really the the sport for that matter. I had just been in recreation and a friend needed a coach. She told me she would help me, and I said yes. And it uh started pretty scary because I had to tell a bunch of 15-year-olds they probably knew more about uh the sport than I did. But that turn, and maybe it's a pivot from it didn't exist in my life to something that has now been profoundly impactful in my life and has taken shape and certainly a learning journey for me, the amount of uh young athletes I've been able to impact in uh in my years of coaching, but certainly in their lifetimes or their their times with me in their life. Uh, and then also the the time now in sitting volleyball, which is an adaptive sport. And uh, for those unfamiliar, it kind of builds into the Paralympic Games, so it runs parallel with the Olympic Games. So that's one big pivot. I think the other pivots for me have shown up in career opportunities that have fueled moves. So I've moved a number of places around the United States, and each of those shifts have come with a new community, new sort of way of living, new jobs, new ways of commuting, doctors, right? All the things that wrap around our lives in uh pivoting and shifting. But each of those have uh opened up a lot of um building amazing friends, finding uh discovery and learning in the places that I live, right from like the desert of Arizona to now I live in Maryland, which were near the ocean. So those are just some pivots, but I I focus on those two because for me, they've really fueled a lot of values that I now have in life and uh try to bring into my work and represent day-to-day in my community and and who I connect with.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

So, what I'm hearing is, Kali, that you said yes first to the opportunity, and you hadn't exactly worked out what that would mean or how things would change, and you adapted to the pivot and to what happened after.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yes. Volleyball was probably an easy, an easy way to say yes to that, like easy in my storytelling, an easy here's the yes. I think for the job opportunities, if I'm reflecting and being fair to the situation, I'm a thoughtful person and an intentional person. So it wasn't about just yes to the move. I think I started with yes and applying or taking a call for that job opportunity, actually, even imagining myself in a different market or a different place to live. And so I think that's where the yes began, and then built into your curiosity about what it could possibly be, and then the eventual yes of yeah, let's let's do it, let's make the move.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

I'm glad you mentioned curiosity. I think that's an important one about following your curiosity and seeing what happens after that. But also, I think a willingness to experiment, a willingness to find out, a willingness to change. And it's not easy to change, is it? Every pivot required you to uproot in a sense and build your community again. And it's not easy doing things like, you know, just as simple as admin things, like your doctors, your dentists, and all that when it's uh attached to a particular location, having to find a new uh uh support system and a new provider and doing that repeatedly.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it takes time. I look I'd be the first to admit that it's both a scary thing and an exciting thing, and remembering when one feels heavier than well, maybe when the scary feels heavier than the excited, um, that there's a reason behind it. And holding that reason or intention strong when you come up against the why did I do this? Or um, gosh, I really can't, I really can't find a doctor that I like. How do I how do I get that fixed? Um and I smile and laugh because I think it seems simple, but these are the things that do wrap around our our lives and help us feel not just comfortable in a cozy sense, but comfortable in a true sense of like who we are, right? How we're moving in the world, the people around us, the support systems we have. Um and it it I think with each move, I learned to be lean in when things were tough to know there was purpose of why it was tough and to know that eventually that would I would overcome. But I think, you know, my first move, probably not having that muscle yet and having to like figure that out. So, you know, I think intention, your point, curiosity about what could be, um, and and and holding that true.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Holding that true. And that is something we can't prepare for in advance. It's something that comes with actually doing the thing, putting ourselves in the ring, in the arena, trying it out and finding out how difficult it is, finding out what we're capable of, or meeting our own limits and then seeing whether we can expand those limits a little bit. So I think over time you built that muscle. How has that flowed over into the way you navigate your career, your professional decisions?

SPEAKER_01 6:43

I I think for me, well, first of all, I love the analogy of the arena and just kind of getting in there. Um, because I think in life that that's what it is, right? It's really hard to make predictions, maybe day to day, like when we think about our tasks or our jobs. Um but really when you think about the scheme of life, right? We're always kind of navigating something that's new that's coming up, um, an unexpected weather change, um a someone we bumped into in the street, whatever that may be, right? These sort of like intersections happen all the time. So, how do you embrace those or take those in and um take them for yourself? So for me and my career, I think it's it's been that it's been open to when a different type of project comes along saying, I don't know if I know all of the answers or totally know how to do this, but yeah, let's like figure it out. Um or it sorry, I should go on that because in that, I I don't want to pretend that it's also just me and my my journey. Like for me, the way that I also like to think about taking on those uh those yes moments and getting in the arena is about also who do I surround myself with? I I love connecting with people. I love uh I don't have all the answers, and I know that other people do. So how do I you know seek that out? I think it's also I'm a big learn by do. I also learn a lot out loud. So perhaps it's it's been for me finding those values in myself to lean on in the times of when I don't know, or that I'm in that arena, maybe I feel feel down. And so I um in reflecting and maybe thinking about our conversation, like I or in others, it's like, what are your values and how do you exercise those in those moments to take them into your your career and how you're wanting to grow or move? Maybe take that challenge on that you haven't felt confident enough to take.

Values As A Decision Compass

SPEAKER_00 8:40

That's a good point that you mentioned values. So I see values as a sort of internal compass that tells me where my priorities are at this moment in this season of life. And then I make decisions that are in alignment with those values because what I've learned is that when I don't, when I go the opposite way, when I don't honor my own values, I create an internal incongruence that that becomes that conflict that makes it very difficult. It's almost as though I have to pretend or act as one kind of person when actually I mean something else or I care about something else. And I I see that as such a waste of energy.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Yes. Yeah, I I think I think um life can be tough enough. Why why put on sort of um an added roadblock for ourselves, which is to your point, I think what you're trying to say is try to be somebody that we're not ultimately. Um but perhaps that's also easier said than done. Because I I think knowing your values is also spending that time reflecting, leaning into those, testing them out, right? So sometimes the uncomfortable, like in in knowing in knowing oneself is to also know what you're not about. And that can come from reflection, that can come from experience. Uh and so where are you taking inventory on the lessons that life is offering you along the way to help kind of refine? And then to your point, I think I think along the way is an important statement because it does evolve, right? You said season, and I couldn't agree with you more, right? Maybe this season brings these sets of values. The next season, maybe I still have my core values, but maybe I added add one on or shift one. Makes total sense.

Introversion And Managing Your Energy

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yes. So values they change with time, they evolve with time. And uh when we're in a different season of life, our values may shift slightly. So it's important for people to realize that. While we're on the topic of pretending to be someone we're not, where do you see yourself on the introversion, extroversion spectrum and how has that changed over time?

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Yeah, I love this. Uh in reflecting in this, I think um I I think where I landed with this was kind of a situational introvert, um, in the sense that I like or such like it's situational, maybe, is on this on the on the scale. I do enjoy connecting with people and having and and getting energy from that. I also really do enjoy and value my personal time in the sense of in being and trying to be intentional about that balance. And I think, you know, we talked about values. I think that's taken me some time in life to like really figure out. Because if you saw me or connected with me or knew me, you'd probably say, Oh, Carla's just extrovert, she's always out there. But really, I do need that that time or even the close time with a few, uh, a few close, very close personal friends. Um, and figuring out what that where when that needs to apply and when the I always maybe use the gauge of like where my batteries are at and how am I feeling, maybe not just even in the day, but the week or at the moment, and um flexing with with what I need.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

I'm glad there is flexibility that's mentioned in there because sometimes people think that when you're an introvert, you're locked into that place on the spectrum, and that's all you can do. And there are certain things you can't do because you're introverted. So I like to encourage people to think of the spectrum that you move up and down, as you say, it's situational, which means it's context dependent. Yes, and your energy goes up and down.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. And and it and it can for me, for example, if I'm in a room with a lot of people I know, like maybe that's not as much. Um, and I'm I'm I'm obviously we're talking a lot about people, but I think that can also be spaces, places. Um, I think newness for me, maybe we'll go with that. Newness is where kind of my extroverted energy maybe uh lessens quicker. Um, and I think maybe it's just the taking all in and wanting to engage, but not knowing maybe how to hone, hone, which is where then the battery kind of recharges. So yeah, and it's interesting, it's as we're reflecting, it's interesting to think about where that situational applies. And for me, actually, I hadn't uh thought about it that way in terms of also spaces and places and the energy that comes with that. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

I think yes, that is a really good point about the spaces and places because there's also that overlap between people who are highly sensitive and people who are introverted. So people who are very sensitive to noise, to lighting, to spaces, and all these things carry their own energy too. Certain spaces have got a kind of energy that uh makes you feel tired very easily. And so it's good for people to be uh self-aware and to notice where their social battery is at that uh on that day, what kind of head space they're in, how they're feeling about things, you know, really tune into what your body is telling you and pay attention to those signals because there's nothing worse than feeling obliged to stay to the end of an event, which I used to do, thinking that you know it was rude of me to leave earlier. But now what I'm saying to people is that uh if you know your battery is let's say two hours, then you know make sure you still have some in the tank when you actually when you get up and go. And don't make it such that you're completely, you know, depleted before you feel you can leave.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Yes, yes. I'm with you. I also stayed, I used to stay too long. Maybe I still wrestle with this, to be honest. Um, I don't like to miss out on things, I like to be a part of the conversation and the action. So uh one thing that's uh maybe come to realization for me is but maybe by extension of what you mean about like where do your batteries last is I know that I'm not my best self when I right have have drained that energy. And so what what and what service am I providing to myself or as an example by friends or the people that you're with to just kind of be there? Um, I I think there's more in an engagement. So maybe it's engagement versus versus presence, and not the presence isn't important because right, there's a lot of strength and presence or um yeah, but engagement I think goes like one one one further. Um maybe I'm thinking of like a better word than presence, maybe uh just by by being, and that's fine. But I think where and maybe actually maybe now that we're reflecting, where do you want to sit? Like, where do you want to engage and be okay with that? Now that I kind of reflect on that, to the spectrum of where do you want to be and know how you want to show up? And for me, I think that's been like the clarifying question is how do I want to show up with others? For me, it's about engagement. I do want to be talking, doing a lot of things, connecting in big spaces. Um, but for others, that might look differently. I think that would be.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Yes, yes. And I think that goes back to what you said about intention. So, what is the intention in attending this event, going to this conference, going to this workshop, meeting all these people? If I know why I'm there, then I can adjust my bandwidth to amplify my energy and my presence for that two-hour block.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

And then after that, I have to make sure I decompress. And for me, that looks like not talking to people for a couple of hours, you know, for the rest of the day.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah. Yeah. I love that one. And I'm going to add another layer. I'll use like uh attending uh a work conference, right? I might think about, you know, it's usually there's a little half hour, you know, half hour of networking, come gather, and then you listen to the sessions. I know that that first half hour, if I use it, wisely I can meet some new folks, maybe see friends, and that it's gonna be high energy. And also because it's also new people in a big place where it's maybe noisy, but that will also be energy. And I know that I'll be sitting and engaging and listening. And so, how do I balance those things and know that okay, I have a big moment, I have some down, uh quieter downtime. And then I also know at some point I'm gonna go back home or to my hotel room, which is really then the where the batteries can recharge. But I think I I love what you said, and I'm just playing it on an example for me, how I've thought about a scenario like that, because I do want to get the most out of connecting with people, but I know that I can't give that all day.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

And for me, I like to mix it up as well. So it would be maybe one break, one coffee break would be dedicated to talking to people, doing the networking, and the next coffee break I would be withdrawing into a corner, going for a walk, getting some fresh air, perhaps, to make sure I recharge my battery even for a short time before I launch myself back into that energy of being with other people.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Let's talk about leadership. So, how does one lead and grow without being the low loudest voice in the room?

SPEAKER_01 18:13

I I think this is kind of a common misconception and an opportunity holistically as leaders think about how they lead. Um, I think there's a lot of power in the quiet leader. It's about listening, it's about observing, understanding. And in those moments, being able to then connect, right? Connect with others because I've listened to you. Maybe I have a um better sense of what you're trying to do. If I've created pause, I can be a little bit more clear about where we're headed, right? It's about I think setting also the tone for the team and that you don't have to be the largest voice, you can be a part of or enabling to. And I think those are really powerful things a leader can set. So I think sometimes leader can feel loud, right? Um, especially as you think about uh a leader in sport, quite literally, potentially one of the loudest on the court because people need to hear and be be directed. But even in sport, the quiet leader, there's a lot of reflection of the person that's in the gym when no one else is. And so it's it's really goes back to I'm gonna pull on our word from earlier, which is values and how are you supporting others? And I think there's power in in that in that quiet, which is which is about full community.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

And to expand on that, I would say the quiet leaders' strengths are actually to do with uh community, as you mentioned, enabling, which you also mentioned, facilitation, making space for other voices to be heard, um, a sense of inclusiveness, the listening, that presence, and none of that has to be loud.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

Yes, uh I couldn't agree anymore.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

What about the quiet achiever that wants to build visibility and gain influence at work, but they don't want to have to pretend to be someone they're not. How would they do that?

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Yes, I love this. Um, the quiet achiever. It's a it's I think a tough one uh in in the spirit of the quiet achiever, right? Because you're you're wanting to contribute and perhaps not, and maybe I'm projecting a little bit, but not be the loud leader or the loud achiever. Um, and I think something that I've come to over the years is that how do you shift from the quiet achiever to the impact connector? So how are you taking things that you're driving forward and creating impact on and connecting that in other places? And that might be a connection in a conversation, it might be a connection in another body of work, it might be a connection in how you think about your goals, but how are you leveraging that in conversation with others? I think is a way to maybe fold that into the work in a natural way. And maybe without that idea, my the question would be how are you taking quiet achieving and fold that into how you connect in your work and still spotlight things that you're you're making happen? And maybe to flip it on its head, it's shifting from individual impact to maybe organizational impact. The organization wins when it also knows what its individuals and teams and departments and functions are doing. And you can't build that up without acknowledging the individual uh that's that's that's that's doing the work. So um perhaps it's in service to others by sharing, is uh I guess what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

And I think when you say in service to others, that lights the quiet achievement. Because they are very much about serving, contributing. They just do it quietly without attention. And in service to others and communicating, sharing. I think that part may be a bit challenging for some quiet achievers because they may be thinking, I'm not that good yet, or you know, there's some imposter syndrome going on there, some self-doubt. And there's also that desire to they they want their work to be recognized, but they don't necessarily want to have to shout about it and tell people about it. They're hoping it gets noticed just because it's that good. So how how do you encourage them to communicate more about the value they're bringing and the work they're doing?

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

One question that I'd like to put out there for folks is how do you feel about your colleague or your friend that does great work and they don't share or you don't get to or you don't know about it? Maybe you like find out about it days later and you're like, oh my gosh, that's so great. I wish you would have told me. Um if that is what you feel of your friend, imagine that that's what people feel of you. Meaning people do want to not only celebrate you, but you obviously want to you know have that recognition. But I think there is a community aspect of supporting one another, of moving work forward together. And community by nature means that everyone's involved. And so, how do you find those opportunities to share? So, one maybe that's one angle is that others do want to share as you want to share in theirs. So perhaps it's just a reflection of uh mirroring back what you hope of others. I think the other maybe potential cons consideration is how are you how are you thinking about um I don't know, I guess perhaps the the the question of um if you were looking back, if you were like speaking from the organizational lens, what would you what would the organization want to know from you? And that might be another framing you can kind of put out there. And so I think it's kind of these reflections of like what matters to you? What are you when you go into in the work context every day, like how are you wanting to um you're obviously there with purpose. And so how do you leverage that purpose to pull out how you might want to share? The last thing I'll leave with is about learning opportunities, right? Sometimes in sharing, others can can benefit from things that you've done. Uh, quite literally, like, hey, I had this project success. Here are the things that we did, right? And you can pass that on. So I think all of these are still in that spirit of maybe service beyond, um, but maybe some questions to consider and how to think about that in a more personalized way.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

I really like what you said about the learning opportunities. I think sometimes we overlook how something as simple as sharing a slide deck or, you know, doing a lunch and learn can benefit someone else in a very, very short time. So it displays your expertise. It's also a way of being in service of, which you've mentioned as one of the important things to do. And that ties in too to the values of the quiet achievers ethos, I think, in wanting to be uh helpful, wanting to contribute, wanting to be part of that um organizational purpose. So that is a great strategy, the learning opportunity.

unknown 25:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

What is um one thing, one final thing that you want introverted listeners to take away from our conversation?

SPEAKER_01 25:43

I think finding your way to engage, to share. We just got to talk about um uh uh um putting out to connect because I think sometimes the idea of I think sometimes we we lose this the option to be ourselves and navigating a world of a lot of different ways of operating. So I'm just gonna use the example we just ended on around like how do you how does the quiet achiever share out? Sharing out in its spirit could sound difficult, could could be very overwhelming. Let's break that down to something that feels more personal. Can you do that on Slack? Can you do that on text? Can you do that passing in the hallway? Can you do that having a lunch or a coffee with someone that you enjoy? How are you spending a few minutes in your one-on-one on this? Um, are you writing an email? Right. I'm just sort of like naming things out or putting things out there because I think this speaks to the individual needs. How do you engage in ways that are meaningful for you? This extends to work, this extends to how you think about networking, uh, meaning maybe it's just a little message, it's a coffee, or this extends to how we spend energy. So lean into yourself, find what works for you because what works for you is what fuels you and moves you forward and um gives you that energy back that uh brings us so much joy and enrichment in life. So I think find you and lean into you.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Beautiful. And that's a perfect way to end. So thank you so much, Kali, for sharing your wisdom with us on introversion, on leadership, on all the ways that quiet achievers can become more visible without having to pretend to be someone they're not. I love all the practical strategies that you've shared because I think even if one person just takes one strategy and starts applying it on Monday morning, they will immediately see a difference in the way their interactions go and in the way they feel about themselves and about how safe it can be to start sharing some of their expertise with others.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Yes, yes. Uh that's the hope. One just one little nugget. Uh-huh, and I've certainly learned a few here in uh spending time with you. So thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

If you're ready to be seen without having to perform extroversion, the Visible Introvert Academy is your next step to be seen and build influence without pretending to be who you're not. Link in the show notes, and we'll also have Kylie Wolfe's details in the show notes for you to check out and connect with her. See you at the next episode. I'm so grateful that you're here today. If you found this content valuable, please share it on your social media channels and subscribe to the show on your favorite listening platform. Together we can help more introverts thrive. To receive more uplifting content like this, connect with me on Instagram at Serenalo, Quiet Warrior Coach. Thank you for sharing your time and your energy with me. See you on the next episode.