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A woman shared her end of year review chat with her husband on LinkedIn and went wildly viral

Poke Staff. Updated January 15th, 2025

You wait ages for a LinkedIn end of year review to go viral and then two come along at once.

First off it was High Performance podcaster Jake Humphrey who got no end of attention after he shared his KPI chat with his wife over some tasty tapas.

Now it’s a wife’s turn to do something similar to her husband after company boss, the magnificently monikered Stacey Champagne, shared her end of year chat with her husband on – where else? – LinkedIn, of course.

And when we say it’s quite the read, it’s quite the read.

Here it is again, just in case that’s tricky to read in full.

‘I had multiple clear-cut career accomplishments in 2024. My husband? Zero.

‘No certifications. No college courses completed. No documentary features. No awards.

“How do you *do* that?!” I asked from across the dining table, “how are you able to go through a whole year without doing any of these sort of things and be OK?”

‘He didn’t have a response.

‘There is so much to unpack and learn from an exchange like this.

‘Specifically—what’s standing in the way of MY ability to be content without conventional markers of accomplishment?

‘My gut says that this is a question that many people, namely high-performing women, grapple with too.

‘I don’t have an answer, but I’m curious what your thoughts are:

‘Could you go a year without a single new certification, interview, award, promotion and be OK with yourself for it?

‘Would you think of a colleague, direct report, manager, friend, or spouse differently for not doing so?

hashtag#womenincybersecurity hashtag#cybersecurity hashtag#certifications hashtag#careerdevelopment

And it prompted no end of comment after it was shared by @VCBrags over on Twitter.

Except – plot twist! – Stacey Champagne then went on LinkedIn to clarify that it wasn’t actually a negative post at all. Far from it, in fact.

‘The fact that people think I “put him on blast” for not having any neatly rolled-up accomplishments is exactly part of the lesson to be learned from this exchange.

‘People are literally interpreting this post as me shaming him for his zero accomplishments. I see his zero accomplishments as an accomplishment in itself—and one that I am envious of and want to learn from.

‘Anyone who sees this as shaming is playing into the system that interprets a lack or absence of accomplishments as a negative.’

And then – in another unexpected development – guess who subsequently replied? The husband, Jesse Sciuto.

‘I’m Stacey’s husband… hi. First off: the point of Stacey’s post is that she approves of my lack of quals/certs and wishes she could reach my level of zen.

‘One of the best parts of the Navy is that they have told me exactly what they value and what they want me to achieve, so I already did all of that. I’m dual warfare qualified, have a STEM Master’s, and I’ve completed all qualifications and requirements for my current rank and the next rank.

‘Civilians don’t have that luxury. Stacey has to constantly compete and guess what could help her or give her the edge. That sounds like a nightmare to me. I want to see a manual and a checklist.

‘I had 10 pretty rough years and then spent two years at grad school. In January last year I, a communications officer in the Navy, started a job trying roll out a CRM tool to a massive organization. That same month I learned what CRM stood for.

‘I spent the last year learning my vastly new job, getting back into shape, and enjoying my hobbies. I do all of our grocery shopping and cook all of our meals (because I love to cook) which has freed up time for Stacey so she could continue to be the amazing badass she is. I’m the most content I have ever been. Getting CISSP this year though.’

Well, we didn’t see that coming. And it didn’t entirely help, because it prompted responses like this.

Stacey was on hand to clarify, just in case anyone was in any doubt.

‘For the record, he chose to reply. I crossed the hall from my office into his only after he started responding.

‘The fact that saying someone has zero career accomplishments (relative to what I have done) is taken as a negative just illustrates *why* some people may feel the requirement to go after these sorts of things year over year.’

We hope that clears everything up.

At the risk of wishing away 2025, we already can’t wait for the outcome of next year’s review. Finally, a purpose for LinkedIn!

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Source LinkedIn @staceychampagne Twitter @VCBrags Image screen grab