Career Stewardship with Michael Melcher

There are coaches all around the world.  In this episode, we examine executive coaching and career development from the point of view of someone who practices in a different hemisphere.  Michael speaks with Ana Pliopas, Ph.D, a coach in Brazil who trained at the Hudson Institute, where Michael also did his coach training.  They discuss how the pandemic affected the way people see their careers, the differences and similarities in how pandemic stress showed up in Brazil vs. the United States, and how coaching might show up differently in the two countries.  She also shares what she learned in the course of writing her dissertation on the relationships among clients, organizations and coaches.

Career progress isn't just about how competent or hard-working you are.  It can require the ability to attain and exert power within organizations.  This is a scary thing because power tends to have a bad rap.  You might think you can't attain it, or you might not want to attain it.  As our guest Michael Chang Wenderoth explains, power is simply the ability to get your way in the face of opposition, and it's something that you can understand, unlock and use for your own benefit.  Wenderoth is the author of the new book, Get Promoted: What You're Really Missing at Work That's Holding You Back, which is a practical, intelligent guide to mastering power at work.  We discuss how capable people can end up stalling in their careers, how leadership literature might be encouraging you to do the wrong things, and why figuring out the how-to of workplace power can be particularly useful for women and people of color.  And also why saying you need to deal with workplace power to get ahead in your career would be uncontroversial in many other countries.  

In this episode, we speak Lara Sullivan, the CEO of Pyxis Oncology, and a friend of Michael's of many years.  Lara has served as CEO since 2019 after roles at Pfizer, McKinsey & Co. and in private equity.  No slacker, she also has both MD and MBA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.  In this episode, we discuss the role of curiosity in career success, how mentoring works differently from the way people assume, and the role of relationships in "de-risking" career moves.  We also learn how studying Comp Lit in college can be a highly useful preparation for the world of business.  And we'll discuss how what looks like a straight-line progression on the outside can feel very different on the inside.  Lara has a uniquely amazing set of skills and experiences, but many of the lessons she's learned along the way are relevant to nearly anyone.   A great conversation with an inspirational CEO.  Not to be missed! 

And we're baaaaaaaaack.  Michael took a break to write a manuscript and manage some other life and career things, but here we are.  We're kicking off this new season with an exciting Coaching Realness episode.  Jennie Nash, America's favorite book coach and writing entrepreneur, last seen in Episode 31, returns to the pod, only this time as a client.  Jennie's business is doing great but she's facing a big issue:  namely, that to take things up to the next level she's going to have to let go of things, which is easier said than done.  Michael and Jennie get into what is really at the root of this conundrum, what metrics really matter when you're developing a business, and the role of ego in setting out a compelling vision.  Check out this juicy episode and hear what coaching can sound and feel like. 

What is really goes on inside a mentoring relationship?  How do these unique relationships start, evolve, manage bumps along the road, and be useful to both parties?  In this episode, Michael is joined by Lauren Laitin, the founder of Parachute Coaching who is -- spoiler alert -- Michael's mentee.  They review the random way that they met, what initially kicked off their connection, when it turned into a mentoring relationship, and what they've learned along the way. This episode has some mentoring realness a-ha's that you are unlikely to find elsewhere, such as:  mentors aren't motivated primarily by whether they like you.  And: you might have disagreements or conflicts with your mentor.  Best practices for creating your own healthy mentor relationships at the end of the episode. 

In 2018, Lauren Baer ran for Congress from Florida's 18th District.  She won the Democratic primary handily and came close to unseating her rival in a deep-red district.  While she had a stellar professional background, including stints working directly for two Secretaries of State and for the Ambassador to the United Nations, she was a first-time candidate and her district had never had an out, lesbian mom candidate running for the seat.  She now runs Arena.run, an organization that prepares new candidates for office and trains staff to be effective.  But years before all this, Lauren found herself in a career transition, wondering what she could or should do, and how she would accomplish that.  That's when she and our host met, and it's when she was confronted big time with the anxieties and satisfactions that come up in networking.  In this episode, Lauren talks with Coach Michael about her initial views on networking, how she made the process work with her, and how she took it to the next level when running for office. She also has great advice for people thinking of public office but who haven't quite taken the first step.  An extra-delightful and interesting episode!

It's time for another real coaching session.  Michael's client-for-the-day is Meghan Daum, host of The Unspeakable podcast and author of many bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including The Problem With Everything.  Meghan is a writer who hit all the marks of literary success early in her career.  She published her first collection of essays at 30, and since then has written several additional books of essays plus a comic novel.  But in recent years she's made a big pivot and this has presented big challenges, as she shared in a fascinating episode she called The Tyranny of the Mid-Career Pivot.  So Michael invited her on the show to have a coaching session about it.  Michael is a huge fan of Meghan's work but in this episode is just a coach.  The topic in front of them relates a lot to money - namely, how to make more of it.  Curious?  Tune in. This is some good stuff!

We often plan our lives assuming best-case scenarios:  the fastest commute, the home that will always rise in value, the jump to a new exciting job.  But sometimes we have to deal with things that are not on our wish lists.  One of these is disability.  Disabilities can be temporary or permanent, hidden or visible, predictable or a total surprise.  At least 15 percent of the workforce deals with disability.  What can you do to manage this?  And what should your company be doing?  In this episode, we are joined by Michael's business school classmate, Ed Gray, who is Director of Partnering Programs and Accessibility at Avid.  In the past few years, he gradually lost his eyesight and he talks about his journey, what he's learned about living with a disability, and how you can navigate disability – and help your company navigate it as well. Notwithstanding the serious nature of the subject, Ed is as much a character now as he was when Michael met him in the 1990s.  Join us for an informative, heartfelt, serious and funny conversation. 

What if you end up achieving a big dream, but discover that it's someone else's dream, not your own?  What do you do then?   This week, we are joined by Executive Coach Jennifer Chow Bevan.  Jenn and Michael talk about how putting your head down and working hard isn't always the best strategy for career happiness, and how true insight is difficult but can come over time.  We talk about imposter syndrome, pivotal feedback moments that shake up our thinking, the pluses and minuses of the immigrant experience as it relates to careers, why "presence" is a loaded word, and what to do when we discover that the behaviors that got us here aren't necessarily going to get us there.  A very personal, wide-ranging and fun conversation. 

This week we go DEEP and ask:  If you were really present in your life, as opposed to being stuck in your head most of the time, what might you experience?  Michael is joined by executive coach Duncan Drechsel, who walks us through the subtleties of this thing called awareness:  what is it, why it is important, and how we can develop it.  We learn how cultivating awareness fits into leadership – and how our busy, task-oriented work lives seemed almost designed to prevent any actual awareness.  Duncan shares three specific techniques for beginning to cultivating this mysterious but essential quality and – spoiler alert – none of these have to do with thinking harder. 

You have a brain and, guess what, it has an impact on how you function.  What can you do to make sure it functions well?  In this week's episode, we speak with executive coach Deb Elbaum about what we can learn from modern brain science.  Deb trained as a physician before going into coaching, so she's a great source for distinguishing evidence-based realness vs. wishful thinking.  Among other things, we learn about the continued plasticity of the brain, why breathing and movement are so important to optimal brain functioning, and how you can use language to start creating new neural pathways. Listen in and learn how to help your own brain do its best work!

Michael Roberts is the Executive Director of Comprehensive Youth Development (CYD) in NYC.  CYD partners with three public high schools to give support to students from disadvantaged backgrounds so that they can complete high school and start adult life successfully.  (Michael M has been on the Board of Directors of this org for more than a decade.). Michael R is best known for his leadership and experience in the philanthropic and not-for-profit worlds, but he actually started out as a Broadway performer.  He shares with us why courage is so important, what his parents taught him about planning for careers. and how to figure out where to make your mark in the not-for-profit world. 

In this week's episode, we have a special guest, NPR host Ailsa Chang, who shares her own career story.  Ailsa grew up as a high achiever, which led to a career in corporate law that she discovered she had no interest in. In her 30s, she enrolled in a Master's program in journalism and decided to pursue the much rockier road of radio journalism.  And look at her now!  Ailsa shares how likely success seemed when she started (spoiler alert: not very), why the radio is a more visual medium than television, and what it's been like being an Asian-American reporter during a year of attacks against Asian-Americans. She also shares the interesting fact that legions of people constantly tell her how she should speak, act and be, which is why any good career starts with embracing yourself.  Not to be missed!  

In our Pride Month special, Michael interviews bestselling author and general cool person, Dorie Clark, author of Reinventing You, Stand Out, Entrepreneurial You and, forthcoming in September, The Long Game.  Dorie explores how to reorient ourselves to see the big picture so we can tap into the power of small changes that, made today, will have an enormous and disproportionate impact on our future success.  We also talk about how careers have changed in the past 30-50 years, and how to approach shaping your career when many of the past paradigms have gone way.  And we also share how we ended up with excellent mental health notwithstanding growing up in the dark, homophobic past and what learnings there might be from that. 

Sometimes career stewardship involves writing a whole entire book!  This is not a task for the meek but it is doable – and maybe it's doable with less pain than is normally associated with the process.  In this week's episode, we speak with author, publisher and book coach extraordinaire Jennie Nash, who is the CEO of Author Accelerator and happens to be Michael Melcher's very own and highly valued book coach.  Michael and Jennie talk about what would-be authors do wrong, why writing a book will probably not change your entire life but still possibly be worthwhile, and the role that book coaches can play in helping you get where you want to go.  A lively, entertaining episode! 

Networking is a necessary part of career stewardship.  It can be hard to find the time, know what to say, and overcome discomfort.  But it's even harder if you don't have preexisting relationships, grew up speaking a different language, and are trying to make a career change.  Yet, it's still possible to triumph.  In this episode, Michael takes a deep dive with a former client of his, "Emily."  Emily was born and raised in another country, grew up speaking a non-European language, came to the U.S. as an adult, and attempted a major career change during a massive recession.  She was successful – after a LOT of hard work.  In this deeply personal conversation, Emily talks about what she learned, how she has dealt with doubt and imposter syndrome, and the ways her views on careers have changed.  Not to be missed!

No matter how you slice it, work involves getting things done.  "Getting Things Done" is the name of a bestselling book published nearly 20 years ago by David Allen, and it's spawned a community of ardent practitioners.  In this week's episode, Michael Melcher is joined by Michael Dolan, a coaching colleague who also has deep knowledge of how this program works.  We learn why the worst thing for our brain is an open loop, why most to-do lists are of limited utility, and how even though this work is about productivity, it can also make us into better human beings.   Check it out, and then go check off those boxes! 

Just because you've spent years of effort and hundreds of thousands of dollars on your education doesn't mean you are prepared for your big career.  Crazy, but true.  The world of work is different in many ways from school; just because you've been successful in one doesn't mean you'll hit the ground running in the other.  So, what can you do?  Today we're joined by Niki Khoshzamir, the CEO of PracticePro, a social enterprise that helps new grads set themselves up for success in their new careers.  We talk about the unwritten rules of career success, why your most important relationship is your relationship with yourself, the challenges and rewards of being first generation, how to talk up potential mentors, and why looking for sponsors might be a distraction.   Born and raised in Iran, educated in Vienna and the U.S., and a successful lawyer-turned-entrepreneur, Niki is fascinating person in her own right and has some great tips for cultivating resilience.  Check it out!

Career stewardship includes knowing how to navigate problems like bias, prejudice, and bullying, as well as doing our part to create workplaces that don't have those problems.  Currently, there is a lot of talk about these kinds of problems, but what can you actually do?  In today's episode, we speak with Kim Scott and Trier Bryant and get some specific, practical tools for dealing with unfairness in the workplace.  Kim Scott is the author of the best-seller, "Radical Candor," and recently wrote a wonderful book, "Just Work: Get Sh*t Done, Fast and Fair."  Trier Bryant is a former Air Force Captain and veteran of Twitter and now the CEO of Just Work, the company.  We talk about the specific different roles we can play in problematic situations, the different strategies we can use based on the nature of the problem, and in general how to move from being bystanders to "upstanders."  A super-refreshing perspective on dealing with some thorny issues.

Politics is one of those careers that is featured frequently in television and movies, but how much do we really know about it?  In this week's episode, we examine ways you can get into politics and what it's like when you're there.  Our guest is Maria Robles Meier, a political staffer and inclusion expert who grew up in a working-class family in Nebraska and built a career working on Capitol Hill, ultimately running the Senate Diversity Initiative under former Senator Harry Reid.  Maria and Michael talk about what it's like being the only person who looks like you, the difference between being fully engaged and only one foot in, and how she ended up having 1,500 individual networking meetings (that is not a typo!).

In this episode, we interview Soraya Darabi, general partner and co-founder of the venture-capital firm, TMV.  We learn about how one ends up as a VC when you're from a family that never read the business section of the New York Times, the value of doing a ton of internships when young, and what it's like to work in an industry that has a lot of people born on third base who think they hit a triple.  We reflect on how important relationships are for success in the tech-investment world, and also how others can denigrate your relational assets even as they are desperately trying to access them.  We also learn that it can be fun, even electrifying, to be different and not like the others and that there's a lot to be said for loving the subject matter you're working in.  A super-interesting episode!

How many bad, boring or ineffectual meetings have you attended this week?  How many bad meetings do you expect to attend in your lifetime?  It doesn't have to be this way.  It's possible to have good meetings and if you know how to make them happen, your career will benefit.  The question is:  Do you have the courage to make this happen? In this episode, we speak with coach and organizational psychologist Dennis Adsit about how to triumph over bad-meeting culture.  We start with the interesting insight that if everyone tends to experience the same thing there is probably a systemic problem at play.  We review best practices, talk about the responsibilities of meeting organizers, note that "facilitator" is a role and not a person, and discuss how you can make meetings better, even if you're just an attendee.   We make the point that "inclusion" and "going to lots of meetings" are not the same concept, and how one of the most liberating things you can do for someone is to tell them they don't need to be at the meeting.

Age doesn't mean what it used to.  The current workplace contains as many as five generations. It's not uncommon to work alongside people who may be the age of your grandparents – or the age of your grandchildren.  It used to be that you would move from being middle-aged to old, but now we have a whole new stage of life called "Middle Adulthood" – the period of life from 50 to 70+ when people are still very much engaged in the workplace and in living.  In this episode, we speak with Marci Alboher, a writer and expert on the intergenerational workplace.  We learn about the idea of "stage not age," examine our preconceptions on what we thought aging would feel like, and look at the various ways that we self-segregate by age, even when it's not good for us.  We also ask a key question:  are you just a one-channel communicator? 

Do you feel uncomfortable with self-promotion?  Join the club.  Lots of people have hesitations, discomforts, or hang-ups about American-style career self-promotion.  Yet talking about yourself, your capabilities, and your interests are not optional.  It’s a requirement of career stewardship.  In this episode, Michael is joined again by his colleague, Leslie Hom.  They talk about the particular cultural choices of “American-style self-promotion” (and how shows up quite distinctly in the Netflix show, “Emily in Paris”), discuss why it doesn’t come naturally to everyone, and analyze some of the specific reasons we can get skeeved out by talking about ourselves.  And then they offer some suggestions about what you can do to feel and get better at this.  

Season 2 of the Career Stewardship podcast kicks off with a bang.  In Episode 21, we introduce a new, occasionally recurring feature:  coaching realness.  Michael has a coaching conversation with Liz, a 31-year old who is at a professional crossroads, and the convo is real, unscripted and human.  Among other questions, Michael and Liz examine what she’s passionate about vs. what she knows, how to deal with family opinions and pressure regarding career options, and how a big new relationship does or doesn’t fit into career planning. 

Season 2 of Career Stewardship starts on January 6!  In the meantime, here’s one of Michael’s favorite episodes from “Meanwhile.”  He speaks with noted author, teacher, citizen of the world, and now writer on the HBO series “Calm,” Faith Adiele, who also happens to be his close friend of 30+ years.  Faith helps to examine what we mean by creativity, how we can misconstrue it and recover it, and what it means to express our creativity – whether in our day job or elsewhere else.  Plus she has a really cool exercise you can do.  A funny and informative conversation.    

We’re busy preparing Season 2 of Career Stewardship!  In the meantime, here is a bonus episode from Michael’s other podcast, “Meanwhile.”  In this episode, Michael speaks with coaching colleague Hanna Hart about receiving feedback – why it’s so important and why it can be so hard! They offer tips on how to manage yourself in the process, how to make the best of challenging feedback, and how to make feedback from any source something that helps propel you forward. 

“We want to hear from people who know things.  And they are a lot of different ways of knowing.”  - Katie Orenstein In this episode, we speak with Katie Orenstein, founder, and CEO of the hugely influential organization, The OpEd Project.  The goals of the OpEd Project are to change minds and change the world, in part by helping underrepresented voices find their platforms.  In this interview, we discuss how stories are told, who tells them, and what happens when previously unheard voices take center stage.  We talk about how telling your story strengthens not just your voice but also your personal agency.  And we examine what it means to step forward if you have been working two, three, or four additional “shifts” in addition to your day job.  

If you really want to grow in your career, it’s going to take more than buying a book of tips from an airport bookstore.  You need to examine your inner landscape, ask yourself what needs to change, and anticipate what’s going to be hard about that change.  In this episode, we speak with Pam McLean, the CEO of the Hudson Institute of Coaching, which is where Michael got his own coaching training back in the day.  Pam and Michael talk about what it means to “go out onto the balcony,” explain the concept of “the self as coach” and offer some guidelines for coaching yourself.  We learn how coaching is simultaneously a conversation, a relationship and a space and why reflection becomes ever more important as you get older. 

What do you do if what you want doesn’t square with the dreams your parents have for you?  This is a common problem – and it’s even more intense when you are first-generation, the golden child, and the standard-bearer for an entire extended family or even community.  What happens when you exchange what others see as a sure thing for something that doesn’t check off as many boxes of “making it?”  Do you dare not to turn in that winning lottery ticket? In this episode, we talk with Lauren Moses, a coach who is the Director of Management Leadership for Tomorrow.  Lauren is an expert on this topic and also someone who has made this journey herself. We talk about how you manage the pressures to live up to the expectations of others who don’t actually have your life and how you make the shift into work that actually fits your own skills and passions.  An episode that is equal parts practical and poignant.  Not to be missed!

Michael Melcher has ANOTHER podcast – “Meanwhile:  A Podcast to Improve Your Life” – and this week we are bringing you a sample episode for you to check.  “Meanwhile” is a podcast that Michael created with another coach, also named Michael, and it covers all ways you can improve your career and life meanwhile everything else is going on.   Topics include listening, powerful questions, when to finish or give up long-term goals, creativity, the positive side of boredom and many others.  In this bonus episode, the Michaels talk about A’s and B’s, terms that refer to people who give you energy and those who sap your energy.  Guess which ones you should focus on?  Enjoy hearing this other side of Michael M.  Next week we’ll be back with another Career Stewardship episode.

In this week’s episode, we speak with Liz Craft and Sarah Fain, veteran TV writers/producers/showrunners who are also the hosts of the wonderful podcast, Happier in Hollywood. Liz, Sarah and Michael discuss the ingredients for thriving in a long-term, gig-economy career, the ingredients of successful partnerships (ask yourself, “what are you pretending not to know?”) and why good Midwestern manners may be the secret to career success.  Also, how ignorance can sometimes be your biggest asset. A fun-filled exploration of all the ways that your career may have a lot in common with that of glamorous Hollywood television writers!  Finally, a gauntlet is thrown down: do you want to be part of the next generation or the last generation?  A must-listen-to episode! 

Episode 16 is the second of our two episodes dealing with starting off right.  Coach Hanna Hart joins us again with her provocative idea that the onboarding begins in the interview process.  While we often experience interviews as stressful, high-stakes situations where you just want future employers to LIKE us, we learn that you can use interviews as vehicles to set ourselves up for success.  And alternately, if we just assume that things will work out on their own, they might not.  This topic is especially important in our current Zoom world, where we can’t just show up to a new job and build relationships around the proverbial water cooler.  Listen in for some specific ways to empower yourself to be successful.

We put a lot of effort into getting new jobs.  But that’s not the end of the story. How do we ensure things go well once we’ve started?  Episodes 15 and 16 are both about starting off right.  In this episode, Michael speaks with colleague Dennis Adsit, Ph.D., about misconceptions we can have in starting new jobs, especially in very senior positions.  We learn that there is a huge amount of new-job roadkill out there and that relying on your strengths can sometimes be counterproductive.  To borrow the title of a well-known coaching book, what got you here won’t get you there.  Listen for some specific tips on starting off right.   

Negotiation may not be something you do every day but doing it well can have long-lasting benefits.  In this week’s episode, Michael is joined again by his colleague, Rebecca Zucker, who lays down the law about why you should always negotiate – even if it gives you the heebie-jeebies.  We learn why it’s a mistake to assume that merit alone will lead to appropriate rewards and that the best way for people to meet your needs is for you to share what they actually are.  We learn how to have a pre-offer conversation, how to “bundle” your priorities, and how to position yourself as being on the same side as your counterparty, not their opposition.  Also, why you might consider hiring a female divorce attorney.   

When you are reaching out to meet someone or asking them for help of some kind, your success will often depend on how you make the request.  We have a lot of hang-ups about asking for things:  we often feel uncomfortable doing so, and we often have a limited idea of how others might help us.  So getting good at making requests is a big deal.  In this episode, Michael is joined by Rebecca Zucker, a partner at Next Step Partners, who has some very clear views about what does and doesn’t work when it comes to making requests.  We learn that you can’t expect the world to read your mind, that going in “wide” can be less polite than being specific, and, as with anything else, it pays to do your homework! 

Vision is an important part of career stewardship but coming up with a career vision isn’t always easy.  You might not know where you want to be in the future or you might have lots of different ideas, none of which seems more than 15% likely. But there are specific practices you can undertake to explore and articulate your potential future life. In this episode, we learn the value of articulating the “what” before we know the “how,” how to transform vague ideas into compelling vision statements, and the role of experimentation in understanding what you really want.  Michael shares how an implausible dream led him to an exciting life living in a Taipei hospital.  To quote Larry David, this episode is PRETTY, PRETTY, PRETTY GOOD. 

“We’re living with five generations in the workplace for the first time. I like to think of it as an intergenerational potluck where we each bring to the table what we do best.”  -- Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author  In Episode 5, we talked about dealing with age at a tactical level.  In this episode, we blow up our assumptions about what it means to be “older” and talk about the cool things that may await you when you are an “elder.”  Michael is joined by the wise entrepreneur and bestselling author Chip Conley.   They discuss building careers of relevance and meaning at all stages of life – and it’s an episode full of golden nuggets. Chip Conley is the hospitality maverick who helped Airbnb's founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand.  He’s also the founder of the Modern Elder Academy.  Chip and Michael discuss: Midlife relevance: Chip’s experience at Airbnb, where he was twice as old as the average employee Navigating career transitions: learning to cultivate and repurpose what you’ve learned Building intergenerational alliances where wisdom flows in both directions His latest entrepreneurial (ad)venture, The Modern Elder Academy Cultivating learning: what Chip has been writing in his “Wisdom Book” every week over the past 32 years Chip’s favorite book of all time and its central lesson

Informational interviews are one of the most important ways we learn about careers and jobs, build connections, and present ourselves as potentially wonderful hires.  Info interviews might seem lower-stakes and less formal than actual job interviews, but the Career Stewardship podcast is here to challenge you to take them seriously!  In this episode, Michael is rejoined by New York coach Sarah Stamboulie, for her take on hard-core prep for informational interviews.  The more you put into something, the more you are going to get out of it, and Sarah shows us how to put in way more than you might have planned – consider it the difference between throwing together a tuna casserole versus cooking a five-course gourmet dinner.  Also, Michael reveals that when you are meeting a super successful person who used to be your chill study partner in b-school, you still need to screw your head on straight before the meeting. 

What really goes on in interviews?  In this episode, Michael explains why you should take interview feedback with a grain of salt and why you shouldn’t expect interviewers to do their jobs very well.  We drill down into the specifics of “competency-based interviewing,” which sounds pedestrian and a little dull but is essential to showing your real value and wowing your audience.  Michael also gives some tips about what to do if you are lacking what appears to be a key job requirement (such as “MBA preferred” or “10 years of sector experience required”).  We take a trip down memory lane and discover why being the most interesting and charming candidate of the day doesn’t mean you’ll get the job – and clarify what to aim for instead.

Spending 20 minutes a day working on your career sounds so manageable. So why is it so gosh darn hard to do every day and how can you actually get yourself to do it?   Michael is joined by internationally bestselling author Gretchen Rubin to figure this out!  Gretchen Rubin is the host of the popular podcast “Happier with Gretchen Rubin” and is the author of numerous books on happiness and habit change, including “The Four Tendencies.”  In this episode, Michael and Gretchen talk about four types of personalities – Upholder, Questioner, Obliger and Rebel – and how each can best take on the project of working on their career.  It’s all about how to make progress while still being the person you actually are.  An episode not to be missed!

In this episode, we examine the narratives that we tell ourselves about our careers, particularly in times of stress and change.  If your career is the movie Star Wars, are you a side character at that weird bar?  Or are you Luke Skywalker?  We always have some default narrative­­—the question is whether it’s doing us any good.  Michael is joined by Leslie Hom, a coaching colleague from San Francisco. They talk about “the hero’s journey” as it plays out in Star Wars, mythology and everywhere else, and examine what it means to cast yourself as the protagonist of your own story.  This doesn’t mean ignoring the ways that we are challenged by external events but it does mean thinking about what our own calls to action might be, and what types of responses we can create.  Leslie shares an exercise for examining your own hero’s journey, and Michael briefly recounts the plot of the 1990’s business bestseller “Who Moved My Cheese?” 

In Episode 2, we talked about decoding your values.  In this Episode 6, we explain how to apply your values for greater satisfaction and success in work, leadership, and life.  Michael is joined again by coaching colleague buddy Hanna Hart.  They talk about using values to identify what you want in a particular job, using values to assess an organization’s culture (and whether it’s going to work for you), using values as to build your own leadership, and using values to identify what’s not working in your life–and then taking action.  They also talk about the relevance of knowing your values even when you feel you have no choice but to take or continue in a particular job.  Hanna shares the eminently doable “value of the week” exercise, and Michael gives his younger self a stern talking to. 

In this episode, we explore a big “ism” and investigate whether it’s such a big deal: specifically, how to deal with your career when you are 40+, 50+ or beyond. Michael is joined by New York coach Sarah Stamboulie. They talk about myths people have about age and career change, how to deactivate potential landmines, and how to get what you want, even if your cultural referents skew more toward The Mary Tyler Moore Show than to Cardi B. (One tip: if you don’t want to experience age discrimination, don’t practice it–so no more trashing Millennials or Gen Z.)

Is it possible to make a big career change, even when you have a few years under your belt? The answer is a resounding YES . . . provided you keep a few key things in mind. Michael is joined by coach and fellow working dad Peter Gandolfo, and they discuss some of the ins and outs of making a major career pivot. We learn about the experimental method, how to deal with friends or family who don’t seem supportive, and how to approach a big change when you aren’t sure what you want.

Career fulfilment isn’t really about following your passion. Instead, it comes from building something that is in tune with your personal values. We all have a set of core personal values, but we rarely take the time to identify what they are. Once we do, we have a magical decoder ring for adapting our career to who we really are (and also explaining why we loved, hated or were ambivalent about past jobs). Michael explains what values are and how they work, and then does the “Peak Experience” coaching exercise with his intern, Harrison Ross. Once you hear it done, you’ll be able to do it yourself and with your friends.

Just because you don’t have a big rolodex populated with powerful names doesn’t mean you can’t attain career success. In this episode, Michael and guest coach Hanna Hart talk about one of the most important ideas in careers, “the strength of weak ties,” which means that people you barely know or have fallen out of touch with can be some of the most positive sources of career progress. We learn how Hanna turned an awkward cocktail party encounter into a career-changing opportunity, why being uncomfortable while networking is a good thing, and why it’s always a good idea to write an amazon review for an acquaintance who has written a book.

To get what you want out of your career, it helps to have a framework.   Episode 1 lays out what career stewardship is all about.  Michael lays out a four-part model for managing your career over time, and introduces the life-changing “20 Minutes a Day” concept.  More info at http://careerstewardship.com.