Open Office Hour.
FREE Monthly Online community
Are you second-in-command?
The one who solves what your manager can't. Who carries their stress on top of your own. Whose ideas get used — just never quite get the credit.
Being good at your job turned into being taken advantage of. Now it's expected. And when you've tried to say something, you've probably been told you need to be more resilient, more productive — more of everything except supported.
Are you second-in-command?
The one who solves what your manager can't. Who carries their stress on top of your own. Whose ideas get used — just never quite get the credit.
Being good at your job turned into being taken advantage of. Now it's expected. And when you've tried to say something, you've probably been told you need to be more resilient, more productive — more of everything except supported.
You're not imagining it
There's a name for what you're feeling: "quiet cracking." It's being called the successor to quiet quitting — people who look fine on the surface, hitting every deadline, saying yes to everything, while quietly eroding underneath from an unsustainable load and a lack of recognition. Recent surveys suggest it's affecting over half of US workers. It's not about being lazy or checked out. It's about feeling unseen and unsupported.
And what you've been calling "managing up"? For a lot of second-in-command leaders, that's quietly become code for absorbing someone else's stress, moods, and unfinished decisions — without the title, the pay, or the credit that should come with it.
Both patterns are being talked about more than ever right now. Open Office is where you get to talk about your version of it, with people who don't need it explained to them first.
What is Open Office Hour?
Open Office Hour is a FREE, informal monthly online gathering for second-in-command leaders — the deputies, the right-hands, the ones quietly running the show without the title. A space to share what's really going on, be heard without needing to explain, and leave with something you can use.
No pitch. No slides. No performance. Just a space held by me, Justine — because this needed to be more than a LinkedIn post. It needed to be a room, a space, a community — to help leaders protect their energy and find the confidence to shine.
What to expect
Monthly 60 minute, online, group meetings.
A short opening naming the pattern, so you know you're not imagining it
Open, honest sharing — as much or as little as you want
Peer support from others carrying the same weight
A reframe and one practical tool for your next week
A reminder of the qualities that made you good at this — the same ones quietly used against you
This is for you if:
You're doing leadership-level work without the title or pay
You manage your manager's stress and mood on top of your own
Your ideas get credited to someone else
You've thought you could lead better than the person you're propping up
You're exhausted but still showing up — and it's starting to cost you
This is NOT for you if:
You'll leave with:
Confirmation this isn't a "you" problem but give you insight what is within your control to change
A boundary you can actually hold — one that lets you keep caring, without giving away your energy to do it
A different way to see this chapter — not proof you're not cut out for leadership, but proof of the leader you don't want to become
Connection with people who understand, without starting from scratch
Bespoke Art work by Sana Berezhna