EP49: The 3 Types of People Who Need to Quit Corporate (and Find Meaningful Work)
If your career looks great on paper but feels wrong in your bones, you’re not alone. In this first episode of the relaunched From Corporate to Calling, I share the 3 types of people who urgently need to quit corporate — and why finding more meaningful work isn’t optional, it’s essential.
Whether you’re:
stuck in a corporate job that drains your soul,
working in a nonprofit, startup, or sustainability role that still feels like corporate in disguise, or
carrying the mindset of corporate even after you’ve left…
…this episode is a wake-up call and a lifeline.
You’ll hear why staying in systems that demand we sacrifice our humanity leads to burnout, misalignment, and the loss of work–life balance — and why choosing a career change, especially in your 40s or beyond, can help you find your purpose, your calling, and a more fulfilling career.
It takes courage to quit your job and create a values-driven, purposeful career. But staying stuck isn’t neutral. Our inaction harms us and the world around us.
If you’re questioning your work life and wondering if it’s time to make a change, this episode will help you see yourself clearly — and remind you that meaningful, regenerative work is possible.
Listen here
Full Transcript
Alisa:
If your career looks great on paper but feels wrong in your bones, you're not alone. Welcome to From Corporate to Calling, your lifeline into meaningful work.
I'm Alisa Murphy, a regenerative business mentor and former startup CEO who walked away from corporate systems to create work that brings life. Each week I share stories, reflections, and provocations to help you recognize the signs of burnout and make a career change with purpose.
If work looks good but feels wrong, this is your invitation to get out of corporate and into your calling.
Last week I took myself on a little field trip to Canary Wharf in London. I rarely go to London these days, and I certainly don’t go to places like Canary Wharf — which, if you don’t know, is the financial district of London.
The reason I went was to light a fire in my belly, to light a fire in my work. That’s not to say the fire wasn’t there, or that I didn’t believe in my work. But it felt more like a steadily burning candle than a roaring fire.
It took me a long time to embrace gentleness, a slower pace, and a more feminine energy in my work. That all came together in this candle-like expression. My work was previously known as Regenerative Worklife, and I really wanted to focus on why I feel that a regenerative approach to work is so critical, life-changing, and life-giving. I still 100% believe that.
But, as you’ll know if you’ve listened to the bonus episode that relaunched this podcast, I realized I needed to go where my clients were. I needed to go where the people who feel the pain of corporate work most acutely are. That’s what brought me to Canary Wharf — and it worked in terms of lighting that fire.
It was a beautiful sunny day, with planting and greenery around the waterways. Coming out of the tube station, I thought: Oh, this isn’t so bad. I sat on a bench, people-watching for a while, and it didn’t feel as lifeless as I had expected.
But then I realized: I was sitting out in the sunshine, in the middle of the day, at my own pace, with no agenda. I wasn’t inside those glass buildings all around me. I wasn’t on the 25th floor of Morgan Stanley. Whoever was in there wasn’t out here in the sun, enjoying food, smiling at passersby. Those are the people feeling the pain.
I took myself into a little espresso bar near the station. Looking out at all these financial corporations, it came to me so strongly: my fundamental belief is that we all need to quit corporate.
I’ve known that since I started this work a little over a year ago, but now I feel emboldened to state it strongly and clearly. As I sat there with my coffee, I got out my notebook and wrote down the three types of people who urgently need to quit corporate. That’s what I want to share with you today.
So have a listen. See if you agree with me. See if you recognize yourself in one of these people. And if you do, please consider this a lifeline.
You don’t need to tolerate the situation you’ve found yourself in. It is not “normal,” just because so many people are living like that. There is something better. I know in my bones we can reimagine our relationship with work, build businesses and careers that bring us back to life, and that bring life to those around us.
The 3 Types of People Who Need to Quit Corporate
I’ll be honest: I’m going to read this as I wrote it down. There’s not a lot of filtering here. I’m being blunt, because that’s how strongly I feel.
If you happen to work for Patagonia — or one of the handful of corporations genuinely doing things differently — maybe this doesn’t apply. But for everyone else, I’m confident it does.
Type 1: You’re in corporate and it’s soul-destroying.
You know your work is soulless.
You don’t align with your company’s values — maybe you’re not even sure they have any.
You’re there for the money. Or maybe prestige, lifestyle, or self-worth.
You’ve been caught in the trappings of a lifestyle that demands to be fed with cash.
You’ve made an unholy bargain: giving huge swathes of your life — your time — in exchange.
It feels wrong. It’s soul-destroying. You leave your humanity at home and grin and bear it. You tell yourself you’ll find a way to make a difference someday. You know how capable you are, and you keep convincing yourself what you’re doing makes sense — that it’s “responsible” and “necessary.”
Meanwhile, parts of yourself are silently screaming. You distract yourself with busyness, responsibility, and work that leaves no space for doubt to creep in.
Type 2: You’re not technically in corporate, but it feels like it.
Maybe you work for a nonprofit whose compassion doesn’t extend to its workforce.
Or you chose sustainability, only to find it’s often just a sticking plaster, an excuse for business as usual, a box-ticking exercise.
Your passion to make a difference is withering because the reality doesn’t match the promise.
Or maybe, like me, you joined a startup — fired up by the mission, excited by the culture. But over time, you see entrenched powers and corporate systems creeping in, until you start to wonder if startups are just corporate in disguise.
Type 3: You’ve left corporate, but it lives on in you.
Maybe you already quit, or found a rare organization doing things differently.
But something inside you is still tied to corporate paradigms.
You work far more than you need to.
You panic when you’re not producing something of value.
You struggle to find balance between life and work.
You don’t know who you are outside of work.
Corporate is alive and well within you. And that’s true for many of us — myself included.
Whichever type you identify with, all three urgently need to quit. Why?
To reclaim our humanity.
To be part of building new economic systems.
To reimagine our relationship with work.
To regenerate ourselves, our communities, and the world around us.
I have no evidence that’s possible inside corporate culture. That’s why I believe we all need to quit.
Quitting takes courage. You’re choosing the road less travelled, going against strong societal conditioning that tells you to take the “responsible” route: stability, safety, the comfort of being a cog in a big system.
It’s really hard to quit. Few people feel the urge and just walk into their boss’s office to say “I’m out.” For most of us, it takes:
Facing our fears.
Resourcing our nervous system to handle the shift.
Having a concrete plan we can act on with confidence.
That’s what I offer inside Courage to Quit — a 90-minute confidential session, just you and me. Together we’ll feel the fear and plan your corporate exit anyway. You’ll leave grounded, empowered, clear on your “why,” with an actionable step-by-step plan to get out of corporate.
However you move forward, please don’t delay. Our inaction is not neutral. Staying inside corporate systems harms the world — and it harms us.
That’s what this podcast is for: a lifeline out of corporate and into meaningful work that brings us back to life.
Thank you for being here. I look forward to speaking with you again next week.
If this episode of From Corporate to Calling was helpful or inspiring, follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. And if you know someone questioning their career, send them this podcast. Lifelines are meant to be shared.
Remember: you don’t have to tolerate burnout or misalignment. You can redirect your skills into meaningful work that brings life back to you and to the world around you.
Thank you.
