# Episode 7: When Success Becomes a Birdcage

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-knowing-moments-7732605/episode-7-when-success-becomes-a-birdcage
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-knowing-moments-7732605/episode-7-when-success-becomes-a-birdcage.md
Podcast: [The Knowing Moments](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-knowing-moments-7732605)
Published: 2026-06-01T15:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/b40ebf13
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.transistor.fm/b40ebf13/48f7125a.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-knowing-moments-7732605/episodes/episode-7-when-success-becomes-a-birdcage
Duration seconds: 1364

## Resource

There’s a phase that’s harder to name than failure. It’s when the role that once felt impossible now feels… routine. When the business is growing, the team is strong, and your calendar has never been fuller. And yet. Something starts to feel different. Not wrong. Just different. In this episode, I go back to the years when I had built something real at Microsoft — and began to realize, slowly, that the very things making the work meaningful were also making it impossible to imagine leaving. The platform. The recognition. The rhythm that had quietly become a birdcage. Because success, it turns out, creates its own kind of invisible trap. The question isn’t whether things are working. It’s whether they’re still growing you. For newsletter updates, sign up here . For video episodes, visit our podcast on Apple , YouTube , or Spotify . Follow us on LinkedIn , Instagram , and Facebook . Send your feedback and suggestions for future episodes to feedback@theknowingmoments.com Logo and other art courtesy of Andy Reddout

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## Transcript

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