Podcasts about meaningful work

In this episode of Acta Non Verba, Marcus Aurelius Anderson sits down with Leigh Martinuzzi, host of The Hidden Why Podcast and a multi-award-winning real estate entrepreneur from Australia's Sunshine Coast. They explore how a suicidal brother led Leigh to podcasts, how a radical move to Japan reshaped his understanding of freedom, and how the loss of his father forced him to slow down and realign his life. The conversation covers the power of listening, the discipline of patience, and why internal values matter more than external accolades. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 3:11: How a brother's darkest moment introduced Leigh to the world of podcasts and planted the seed for his own show. 18:48: The moment of elation jogging through a Japanese country town that gave Leigh a profound sense of freedom and clarity about what matters. 36:30: How losing his father forced Leigh to slow down, reassess his workaholic tendencies, and reprioritize health, family, and self. 1:01:25: Leigh explains what "The Hidden Why" means and why connecting to internal values beats chasing external motivators. Leigh Martinuzzi (he/him) is a personal development expert, author, speaker, and the host of The Hidden Why Podcast, one of Australia's leading mindset podcasts with over 1,100 episodes featuring thought leaders from around the world. Based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Leigh is also a multi-award-winning real estate entrepreneur and director of Martinuzzi Property Group, ranked the number one agent in Palmwoods for four consecutive years. His career spans senior management roles at ALDI Stores and Masters Home Improvement, two years teaching English in Japan, and a real estate practice built on doing things his own way. Leigh is the author of The Ultimate Life Map, Delegate to Freedom, and Four Pillars of Success. His mission is to help people live more meaningful, purposeful lives by understanding themselves and turning awareness into practical action. Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever been the one everyone counts on, and still wondered whether anyone actually sees what you contribute?That's Tano, the tortoise at the center of Justin Jones-Fosu's new fable, Stop Chasing, Start Creating. His chase for recognition pulls him into swirl, and he quits the race before he ever sees the finish line.Justin and I talk about moving from external validation to internal alignment and what to do with the "ache" underneath our chasing. We also share simple practices, like Justin's "unseen practice," for leading with steadiness even when no one is applauding. ResourcesStop Chasing, Start CreatingWork MeaningfulNational Study on Meaningful Work leadership and executive briefsConnect with Justin on LinkedInJustin's other appearance on Strong Leaders ServeConnect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/teri-m-schmidt/ or via email teri@strongleadersserve.com.Get 1-on-1 leadership support here: https://www.strongleadersserve.com/coaching

The best remote roles, the ones with real compensation, real flexibility, and real ownership, were never posted on a job board. They are being filled right now through relationships and conversations that started long before any job description existed. If you have been applying to remote jobs consistently and getting nowhere, the problem is not your resume or your experience or the market. It is the assumption that the remote job search works the same way every other job search does. This episode is about what actually works instead. What You'll Learn: Why filtering job boards by remote and applying consistently is one of the least effective strategies for landing a high-quality remote role in 2026 How Rachel applied seriously for four months without a single offer and started getting traction within three weeks by changing one thing about her approach What a target companies list is, how to build one without job boards, and why it changes who you are competing against entirely Why leading with remote as your pitch is the mistake most candidates make and what to lead with instead to get organizations genuinely interested How the best remote careers get filled before anything is ever posted and how to position yourself inside those conversations Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Figuring Out Your Perfect Career Match (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Discover Your Strengths to Find Your Ideal Career (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)  

Hey, Voices of the Bench community! Erich Neuhaus, Marketing Manager at Ivoclar here. Bring greater efficiency and flexibility to your denture workflow with Ivotion, Ivoclar's digital denture system. Ivotion helps labs reduce manual production steps while delivering predictable, high-quality aesthetics. With new shade options available in both Ivotion Dent Multi and our Ivotion Monolithic Discs, you can broaden your offering and deliver more personalized results. Reach out to your local Ivoclar representative today and discover what I've ocean can do for your lab. NOLA Lab Fest is back, and Voices From the Bench will be recording live from the Hilton New Orleans Riverside on October 16th and 17th! Join Elvis and Barbara as they hang out with the HyperDent team, talk shop with some of the best in the dental industry, and host the always-entertaining Lab Family Feud. The fun kicks off Thursday, October 15th, with Jude Grayson leading a half-day workshop for lab owners and department leaders, sponsored by HyperDent. While you're there, check out Roland DGA's CAM trade-in special, where you can trade in your old CAM software for HyperDent and unlock the full potential of your mill with better milling quality, faster milling times, and the ability to mill Ivotion dentures with Elevate denture solutions. Registration is open now at NOLALabFest.com, and spots are limited. Don't miss out on the fun, the learning, and probably a few too many beignets! This week we sit down with Mike Archibald, the “black sheep” of the Archibald family and the third Archibald we've had on the show. Mike shares his journey from starting in his dad's laboratory at just 17 years old to becoming a technician, educator, speaker, and advocate for having the conversations that don't always happen in dentistry. We talk about functional dentistry, ceramics, teaching, family expectations, imposter syndrome, recovery, mindset, and the importance of being willing to step away and find a healthier perspective on life. Mike also tells us about Table 52, his vision for creating a community where people can have honest conversations about the struggles behind the scenes, along with his work with Harvest Dental and Open Bench. It's a very real conversation about dentistry, family, personal growth, and what happens when you stop worrying about looking like you have it all together and start focusing on becoming the best version of yourself. Open Bench: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKvmZEdlxtQM Hey, listeners—ever wonder what Elvis is doing when he's not recording Voices from the Bench? He's a client rep for Derby Dental Laboratory, out in the field every day doing chairside visits and building relationships. His job is simple—keep doctors happy and keep them coming back. And he couldn't do it without icortica. Right from his phone, Elvis can see sales, remake rates, account notes, risks, and cross-sell opportunities—even before he walks through the door. No spreadsheets. No surprises. Just the info he needs to grow accounts. Stop digging for data and start taking action. Head to icortica.com and schedule your demo today. Dental lab owners and managers — are you spending too much time chasing paperwork, checking portals, tracking cases, and answering doctors asking, “Is my crown done yet?” You didn't start a dental lab to become a full-time paperwork wrangler. LabNCloud is the all-in-one, cloud-based platform built by techs, for techs, with 90+ features to streamline your entire lab — from case tracking and invoicing to shipping, time tracking, doctor portals, and automatic digital file routing. Stop managing chaos and start managing your lab. Visit LabNCloud.com to book your free personalized demo. And mention “Elvis is Handsome” to get your first month free. LabNCloud — the operating system for dental labs. Built by techs, for techs.Special Guest: Mike Archibald.

What does it actually mean to have purpose at work? And is purpose something we need to go out and find, or could it already be within us?In this episode of Your Career Journey, I'm joined by Jen Margolis to explore the difference between meaning and purpose, and how both can shape the way we think about our careers.Jen challenges the idea that our purpose has to be a particular job, role or career. Instead, she sees it as something much more personal, a unique “core gift” that can be expressed in different ways throughout our lives.We talk about how to uncover the things that give you meaning through your strengths, passions, values and past experiences, including some practical exercises you can try for yourself.We also explore what happens when your current job doesn't feel particularly meaningful. Jen shares how job crafting can help us find greater meaning in the work we already do, the role leaders and teams can play in creating a shared sense of purpose, and the sometimes difficult relationship between organisational purpose and profit.If you've ever questioned what your purpose is, wondered whether your career is meaningful enough, or felt pressure to find the one job that's supposed to fulfil you, this conversation offers a different way to think about it.To connect with Jen:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jenmargolisWebsite: amberwoodpractice.com Can you also find episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmmaGrahamCareerCoach/videosYour host, Emma Graham, Career Coach and ex-recruiter, is here to help you with: 

Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free. Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home. Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com Episode 2187: Leo Babauta explains that fear of failure, judgment, and choosing the wrong path is what most often keeps people from the purposeful work they say they want. He offers four practices: gradual exposure that starts far smaller than the imagined worst case, allowing yourself to actually feel the fear in the body, dropping the ego story behind it, and opening to the task in front of you. His argument is that the fear does not have to be removed before the work can begin. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://zenhabits.net/fearful/ Quotes to ponder: "Instead, start with youth football, high school football, and then college football before even considering the big leagues." "It's not a problem, it's just a feeling, just an experience, just a part of the meaningful work you want to do." "Being in the present, we can do the work." Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About a year ago, the Future of Everything team was in New York taping a special episode on the innovation economy in front of a live audience, and today we're re-releasing it. We sat down with computer scientist Fei-Fei Li and economists Susan Athey and Neale Mahoney to dig into how AI is reshaping creativity, jobs, education, and public policy, and where it might take us next. It's a wide-ranging, energetic conversation. Whether you're thinking about how AI might reshape your own work, or you're just curious where some of the smartest people in tech and economics think this is all headed, this one's a great listen.Have a question for Russ? Send it our way in writing or via voice memo, and it might be featured on an upcoming episode. Please introduce yourself, let us know where you're listening from, and share your question. You can send questions to thefutureofeverything@stanford.edu.Episode Reference Links:Stanford Profiles: Fei-Fei Li | Neale Mahoney | Susan AtheyConnect With Us:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything WebsiteConnect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / MastodonConnect with School of Engineering >>> Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / FacebookChapters:(00:00:00) IntroductionRuss Altman introduces this re-release of a live episode featuring Fei-Fei Li, Susan Athey, and Neale Mahoney on the future of the innovation economy. (00:00:45) Defining the Innovation EconomyHow new ideas, technologies, and commercialization are reshaping economic growth.(00:02:13) AI as a General-Purpose TechnologyWhat past technologies like electricity and personal computing can teach us about AI adoption. (00:03:23) The Bottlenecks to AdoptionWhy digitization, software costs, training, and organizational change can slow the spread of new technology.(00:06:05) AI and the Labor MarketWhy uncertainty about which jobs AI will disrupt makes social safety nets especially important.(00:08:04) Augmenting Human WorkWhy Fei-Fei Li sees AI as a tool for enhancing human capabilities rather than simply replacing jobs. (00:11:17) Shaping Human-Centered InnovationHow innovation can be designed to complement human skills, creativity, and purpose.(00:12:21) Universities and AI InnovationHow universities can help develop human-centered technologies and lower barriers to adoption.(00:13:45) Government and the AI TransitionHow public investment and policy could help workers adapt while expanding services like healthcare and childcare. (00:15:50) Rethinking EducationWhy AI may force a fundamental rethink of what and how students learn.(00:17:18) Jobs, Adaptation, and Safety NetsWhat history suggests about how economies adjust to technological disruption—and when policy intervention matters. (00:18:33) AI Regulation and InnovationHow policymakers might balance technological progress with appropriate guardrails. (00:21:57) Competition and Market PowerWhy competition, open models, and the cost of AI access matter for innovation and economic opportunity. (00:24:57) Economic OptimismWhy confidence in the American economy has declined and what might help restore it. (00:26:40) Future In a MinuteRapid-fire Q&A: hope for the future, education, robotics, AI accessibility, and the skills the panelists would learn next.(00:30:24) Conclusion Connect With Us:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything WebsiteConnect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / MastodonConnect with School of Engineering >>>Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / Facebook Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if you don't need another idea—you just need to look again at what you already know?In Part Two of the ICON Series, Allison Walsh dives into CREATE and explores how the experiences you've already lived can become the foundation for your next chapter, your personal brand, and the impact you want to make. Creation doesn't always start with a blank page. Sometimes, it starts by looking back at what you've survived, solved, learned, built, and repeated.Allison shares her own story of how personal experience became advocacy, relationships, career opportunities, and eventually a larger body of work. She also explores “expertise blindness”—the tendency to overlook what you know because it feels so natural to you—and explains why the things you make look easy may actually be valuable expertise to someone else.You'll learn how to identify the turning points that shaped you, recognize the problems you solve naturally, articulate the convictions that guide your work, and turn your lessons into frameworks that can become content, workshops, offers, talks, books, or other opportunities. Allison also shares the importance of sharing personal stories from a place of wisdom rather than an open wound—and how to make your experience useful without feeling like you have to put your entire life online.At the heart of this episode is a simple idea: your experience has value when you extract the wisdom, articulate the lesson, and use it in service of someone else. You may not need to create something completely new. You may need to recognize the value that has been there all along—and give it somewhere to travel.In This Episode, Allison Explores:Why your next opportunity may already be hidden inside your experienceWhat “expertise blindness” is and why accomplished women often undervalue what they knowHow to identify the lessons hidden inside your biggest turning pointsWhy the event is the story, but the lesson is the intellectual propertyHow the problems you solve repeatedly can reveal your unique expertiseWhy what feels easy or ordinary to you may be extraordinary to someone elseHow to turn your experience into thought leadershipWhy your convictions are an important part of building a recognizable voiceHow to turn what you know into a framework, methodology, workshop, keynote, book, or offerWhy your expertise needs somewhere to travelHow sharing your ideas can create opportunities you never could have plannedWhy you don't owe the internet your pain or your entire storyHow to know whether you're sharing from wisdom or from an open woundWhy your story becomes powerful when you can turn its meaning into something useful for someone else The Experience InventoryIf you're wondering what you could create from everything you've already lived and learned, Allison challenges you to look for the thread.TURNING POINT — What experience changed the direction of your life or career?WHAT YOU LEARNED — What did you have to figure out, develop, or understand because of it?WHO IT COULD HELP — Who could benefit from what you now know?MAKE IT USEFUL — How could you turn that lesson into a post, framework, conversation, workshop, offer, or resource?You don't need to build the entire business in one sitting. Start by looking for the thread—the idea, problem, or transformation that keeps showing up across different chapters of your life. Your Challenge This WeekCreate your own Experience Inventory.Think about the moments that changed you, challenged you, stretched you, or taught you something you now know how to do differently. Then ask yourself:What did I learn?Who could this lesson help?How could I make it useful?You may not need another idea.You may need to look again at the life you've already lived. About the ICON SeriesICON stands for Intention, Create, Own, Next—a series about intentionally creating your next incredible chapter.This episode is Part Two, focused on CREATE and the process of turning your experience, expertise, and lessons into something that creates value, impact, and opportunity.In the next episode, Allison will explore what it means to OWN your value and close the visibility gap between what you're capable of and what the world knows to call you for. Continue Your JourneyIf you're ready to intentionally create your next incredible chapter, Allison invites you to join the ICONIC Impact Summit on November 5 in Winter Park.And if you're looking for strategic support to turn your expertise, story, and vision into a recognizable platform and business, explore the She Believed She Could™ Collective, where the work centers around mindset, messaging, marketing, monetization, and momentum.This episode is sponsored by AdventHealth for Women. Learn more about their Women's Health Navigation Team and how they're making healthcare simpler for women and their families at AdventHealthForWomen.com. Join Us at Iconic ImpactReady to create your next incredible chapter?The She Believed She Could™ ICONIC IMPACT takes place November 5, 2026, at The Center for Health and Wellbeing in Winter Park, Florida, bringing together ambitious, accomplished women for meaningful conversations around leadership, visibility, business growth, wellbeing, purpose, and impact. The experience continues November 6 with the exclusive VIP Impact Lab at Hi Hello Labs.

Following your passion doesn't mean finding a job that perfectly matches it. Your passion should be the generator: the thing that builds your skills, produces ideas, and makes you unusually good at what you do.In this episode, I explain why you should protect your passion from the market, keep creating, and let the overlap with the economy emerge naturally. Then build a commercial arm around what the market actually values.Support the showIf you enjoyed this episode and want to go deeper, come find me over at dekyon.io/seanmcclure/nontrivialWith a premium membership you get the full NonTrivial learning experience: interactive visualizations of the key concepts, a study space to learn the fundamentals behind each episode, and an "Ask an Episode" feature where you can dialogue with an AI about the details and start connecting ideas across the whole show. Even use AI to convert my insights into usable techniques. There's also personal note saving, full episode transcripts, watch-where-you-left-off, new episode alerts, and a community forum for asking questions. It's where the episode stops being something you just listened to and becomes something you truly understand.

Holly Dixon spent 20 years in the legal field, never once argued a case, and walked away without a single job lined up. She is still happening to her career and figuring out what comes next. Most career change episodes on this show share a complete story from start to finish. This one does not. This episode is the messy middle — the experiments that did not work, the grief nobody warned her about, the identity crisis that came from letting go of 20 years of who she thought she was, and what she has learned about living in uncertainty on purpose while still moving forward. What You'll Learn: Why the experimenting is not the detour on the way to clarity and how every experiment Holly ran gave her specific, useful information she could not have gotten any other way What happens to your identity when you walk away from a 20-year career and why grieving who you used to be is not a sign something is wrong How Holly co-created a four-month exit plan with her boss instead of giving two weeks notice and why that approach set everyone up for success including herself Why the survival instinct that tells you to just pick something and get back to work can be one of the biggest obstacles to actually finding what fits What living in uncertainty on purpose looks like in practice and how it becomes a skill you can build rather than a personality trait you either have or you do not Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Six Career Experiments To Help You Discover Your Ideal New Role (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Should I Quit My Job? How to Know It's Time (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)  

In this episode of Voices in Leadership, host Melissa Andrews, President and CEO of LeadingAge Virginia, welcomes interns Jack Day and Xavier Lawson to share their experiences working with the organization. Jack, a VCU junior majoring in digital journalism with a minor in political science, discusses his role as a marketing and communications intern and how his previous work in elder-care dining sparked an interest in aging-services advocacy. Xavier, a VCU junior studying financial technology and data science, shares his experience as a business and technology development intern, including his work helping launch LeadingAge Virginia's Group Purchasing Organization, Services & Solutions. They discuss taking on meaningful projects, learning through trial and error, using new technologies and developing skills outside their comfort zones. The conversation also explores mentorship, networking, the value of paid internships and the supportive environment that gave them the freedom to learn, make mistakes and grow professionally.Voices in Leadership is produced by Association Briefings.

There is something you came here to create. A book. A business. An idea. A body of work. A message. A different life.But at some point, if you want to bring that thing into the world, you actually need to be seen.In this episode of DREAM MAKERS, Claire Byrt sits down with Bec Sands, author of What You Came Here to Create, visibility mentor and PR consultant, for a bloody good conversation about what it really takes to stop hiding, start creating and become more confidently visible.And no, the answer is not waiting until you magically feel confident enough.Bec shares her own journey from being terrified to go live on Instagram to launching a book, doing radio interviews and becoming the person who can handle being seen. We talk about why confidence is built through action, how to create evidence that you are capable, what rejection is really bringing up, the relationship between visibility and safety, and why being seen can become an act of service rather than self-promotion.We also go right into the reality of building a creative business and meaningful work over time. Starting before you know exactly where it is going. Taking the next step instead of crushing yourself under the weight of the whole dream. Learning to problem-solve when things don't work. Staying in the game. And remembering that ultimately, we're not just creating a book, business, brand or offer. We're creating a LIFE.If you are a dreamer, creative, entrepreneur, author, coach or human with something inside you that you know you want to bring into the world, this conversation is your reminder: you do not need to be completely ready. You do not need to know how it all unfolds. You need to start, keep moving, and build the self-trust to know that whatever happens next, you can handle it.Because the world cannot experience the thing you came here to create if you keep it hidden.Connect with Bec: https://www.becsands.com/ https://www.instagram.com/becsands get the book https://www.cameheretocreate.com/ GET YOUR COPY HERE. Let Your Vision Be Bigger Than Your Bullsh*t. Get brave, stop doubting, make the dream real. GET STARTED TODAY Seven days DREAM to DONE. On-demand. Self-paced. Seven days of powerful recordings and worksheets to help you lay down the fear, resistance and overthinking - and start building your dream in just 7 days.

What if the life you worked so hard to build no longer feels aligned with who you're becoming?In Part One of the ICON Series, Allison Walsh explores the powerful process of reinvention and what it means to intentionally create your next chapter. From career changes and entrepreneurship to identity, personal growth, and finding greater alignment, Allison shares the lessons she has learned through her own seasons of reinvention—and why starting again does not mean starting from scratch.You may have the career, business, title, recognition, or stability you once dreamed about, yet still feel like something is missing. If you've been asking yourself, “Is this still right for me?”, this episode will help you recognize the difference between simply being successful and being truly aligned with the life you're building.In This Episode, Allison Explores:The 4 signs that you may be ready for reinventionWhy success can stop feeling like alignmentHow gratitude and growth can exist at the same timeWhy your identity can become limiting when it is tied too closely to a title or roleThe difference between being capable of something and being called to continue doing itWhy working harder isn't always the answer when something no longer fitsHow to recognize whether a difficult season is developing you or depleting youWhat to do when your future requires more space than your current life can holdHow to conduct an intentional reinvention auditWhat you should honor, release, carry forward, and practice nowWhy you don't have to burn down your current life to begin creating your next chapterHow to start building your next career, business, or opportunity before you're ready to make the leapThe Reinvention AuditIf you're in a season of change, Allison challenges you to evaluate four things:HONOR — What has this chapter given you?RELEASE — What no longer fits?CARRY FORWARD — What experience, skills, relationships, reputation, and strengths are you taking with you?PRACTICE NOW — What decision can you make today that reflects the woman you're becoming?You don't need to map out the next five years. You simply need to get honest about your next right move.Your Challenge This WeekTake a few minutes to complete your own reinvention audit.Write down four headings:Honor. Release. Carry Forward. Practice Now.You don't need to figure out your entire future. Start by telling yourself the truth about what no longer fits and identifying one decision that moves you toward your next chapter.Because reinvention isn't about becoming someone entirely different.It's about becoming a more complete expression of who you've been becoming all along. About the ICON SeriesICON stands for Intention, Create, Own, Next—a series about intentionally creating your next incredible chapter.This episode is Part One, focused on intention and reinvention.In the next episode, Allison will explore how you can turn everything you've lived and learned into something that creates value, impact, and opportunity for others. Continue Your JourneyIf you're ready to intentionally create your next incredible chapter, Allison invites you to join the ICONIC Impact Summit on November 5 in Winter Park.And if you're looking for strategic support to turn your expertise, story, and vision into a recognizable platform and business, explore the She Believed She Could™ Collective, where the work centers around mindset, messaging, marketing, monetization, and momentum.This episode is sponsored by AdventHealth for Women. Learn more about their Women's Health Navigation Team and how they're making healthcare simpler for women and their families at AdventHealthForWomen.com.Join Us at Iconic ImpactReady to create your next incredible chapter?The She Believed She Could™ ICONIC IMPACT takes place November 5, 2026, in The Center for Health and Wellbeing | Winter Park, Florida, bringing together ambitious, accomplished women for meaningful conversations around leadership, visibility, business growth, wellbeing, purpose, and impact. The experience continues November 6 with the exclusive VIP Impact Lab at Hi Hello Labs.

In this episode, Sociologist Cindy L. Cain joins Andrew Soren to discuss her new book, Called to Care? Health Care, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work, based on fifteen years of research with healthcare workers.Cindy challenges a familiar assumption about burnout: that meaning is something individuals must find, or recover, on their own. Her research argues that meaningfulness is created through the interaction between workers, their colleagues, and the structures and cultures surrounding their work. When those conditions make it difficult for people to see progress or act on what they care about, their sense of purpose begins to erode.That means burnout cannot be addressed through individual coping strategies alone. Organizations also need to examine how work is designed and where people have the freedom to make a difference. Based on a memory care facility in her research, Cindy shares how creating small, visible forms of progress can give workers a greater sense of control, even when the larger outcomes remain beyond their influence.Andrew and Cindy also dig into the pivotal role of middle managers. These leaders may not control an organization's biggest decisions, but they help shape the everyday environments in which people either connect with, or become disconnected from, the meaning in their work.This conversation offers a more systemic and hopeful way to think about burnout: meaningful work is neither an inherent quality of a job nor something each person must manufacture alone. It is something we create together.Key TakeawaysBurnout's standard definition includes a "loss of purpose or efficacy" component that many studies quietly stopped measuring. Cindy argues it's actually the root of the whole problem, not a minor piece of it.Because the root cause is structural, the fix has to be structural too: individual coping tools can help, but they leave the organizational obstacles untouched."Progress" with visible forward motion, even in small amounts, functions as a locus of control: often the one lever workers can still pull when the bigger levers (hours, structure, outcomes) are out of reach.Care North, a memory care facility with unusually low turnover, delegated real autonomy down to CNAs and built its culture around small, specific rituals rather than top-down initiatives.Mid-level leaders may be the most pivotal people in the whole system: they rarely control the institution, but they have outsized control over the "microcultures" where real change actually happens.Healthcare organizations function as "status zoos," where professional, organizational, and social status intersect to shape who has access to meaningful work and who doesn't.Meaningfulness is neither purely individual nor a fixed property of a job; it emerges from the ongoing interaction between workers and the structures of their workplace.Why This Episode Matters Most conversations about burnout focus on what individuals can do to cope better. Cindy Cain's research points somewhere else: at the organizational structures that produce burnout in the first place, and at how much can change when leaders are willing to redistribute control rather than roll out another wellness initiative. One of the episode's sharpest implications is about who actually holds that power. It's not necessarily senior leadership, but the mid-level managers who stay connected to what's happening on the ground and have real, underused control over their team's day-to-day culture. For anyone leading a team inside a system they don't fully control, which is most people, this episode offers a hopeful reframe: meaningful change is often smaller, more local, and more achievable than it looks from the top.About Our Guest Dr. Cindy L. Cain is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, specializing in organizations and workplaces within healthcare. Her research focuses on settings where care work is most emotionally and physically demanding, including end-of-life care and dementia care. She is the author of Called to Care? Health Care, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work (Rutgers University Press, 2026), and has contributed to From Crisis to Catastrophe: Care, COVID-19, and Pathways to Change (2023) and Caring on the Clock (2015). Beyond her academic work, Cindy has direct experience as a care worker for children, adults at the end of life, and people with developmental disabilities.Mentioned in This EpisodeCalled to Care? Health Care, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work by Cindy L. CainJulie Haizlip, University of Virginia, and her research on "mattering" in healthcareTeresa Amabile's research on the progress principleCindy Cain's Substack, featuring personal essays connecting these themes to her own work and creative lifeAdditional academic articles by Cindy Cain

Incentives matter, sure. But what should you do when following the incentives means quietly participating in something wrong? Psychologist Adam Mastroianni argues that obeying bad incentives--shading a headline for clicks, keeping the found wallet because no one's watching--is "loser behavior," a surrender of the hardest and most human task: figuring out right from wrong for yourself. In this wide-ranging EconTalk conversation, he and Russ Roberts explore Le Guin's "Omelas," the "big fish" you glimpse that could upend your whole life, and Charles Sumner's near-fatal courage. They wrestle with whether good incentives or good people matter more, why lavish academic salaries may attract exactly the wrong scholars, and the moral lessons of marriage.

Jackie gained 40 pounds in four months. Her nervous system was off. She was dealing with depression, a toxic workplace, a failing relationship, and a job that had stopped feeling like her, all at the same time. Most people in that situation wait for things to calm down before making a move. Jackie did the opposite. She changed her career, left her relationship, and relocated simultaneously. This episode is about how she did it, what made it possible, and what she found on the other side. What You'll Learn: How a toxic workplace triggered a physical and mental health collapse and what finally made Jackie recognize it was time to stop pushing through Why Jackie walked away from a leadership track everyone expected her to take and what that decision revealed about what she actually needed from work What it looks like to navigate a career change, a divorce, and a relocation at the same time without losing your footing entirely How Jackie landed two job offers simultaneously for the first time in her career and the values-based framework she used to choose between them Why the weight came off, the energy came back, and the depression lifted once she aligned her work and life with what actually fit her   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now!  Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Should I Quit My Job? How to Know It's Time (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) How to Figure Out What You Really Want (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)  

What if quitting was courageous? In this episode, I sit down with Lindsay Crouse, a former New York Times journalist and producer who spent 15 years at the Times, where she worked in Opinion and helped commission hundreds of short documentaries for Op-Docs. As an endurance athlete herself, Lindsay also became known for telling powerful stories about female athletes, pregnancy, sponsorship, and the hidden challenges women face in sport. Now, Lindsay has written a book about quitting.We talk about why our culture celebrates pushing through at all costs, how perseverance can become a trap, and why quitting can sometimes be the wiser, braver, more values-aligned choice. Lindsay shares what led her to leave the Times, how motherhood changed her relationship with work and running, and why so many women in midlife start asking whether the lives they built in their twenties still fit who they are now.I also share a story I haven't really talked about before: the moment I decided to quit chasing sponsorships after pregnancy, even though I was still winning races. I had overcome so much, but the cycle of overdelivering, being unseen, and trying to prove my worth had become damaging to my mental health. Someone called it “positive quitting,” and that phrase has stayed with me.This episode is for anyone who has been taught to never give up, but is starting to wonder whether continuing is actually helping or hurting. It's about identity, motherhood, sport, learned helplessness, hope, sunk costs, fear, and the freedom that can come when we stop forcing ourselves to stay on a path we've outgrown.Top 5 TakeawaysQuitting is not always failure: Sometimes quitting is the choice that allows us to preserve our energy, integrity, health, and future possibility.Perseverance can become passive: Continuing is also a choice, even when it feels like the default.Identity can keep us stuck: When we are known for something, it can feel terrifying to let it go, even if it no longer fits.Women often feel pressure to “hold up the sky”: In sport, work, motherhood, and life, quitting can feel like confirming someone else's bias instead of honoring our own truth.Hope can be complicated: Optimism and hard work can keep us locked into paths where we no longer have real control or momentum.LINKSLearn more about Lindsay CrouseFollow Lindsay on InstagramRead The Case for Quitting: The Surprising Benefits of Opting OutListen to What It Really Means to MatterListen to Hope Is the Strategy: Burnout, Mattering, and Meaningful Work with Jen Fisher  --------------The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

For most high performers, it looks like showing up on time, delivering results, and holding everything together, while feeling nothing about any of it. New research shows 83% of corporate professionals are experiencing burnout right now, with women in senior leadership burning out at nearly double the rate of men. But the version driving those numbers is one most people have never learned to recognize, because from the outside, it looks like a perfectly stable career. In this episode, we'll break down what career burnout actually looks like for high performers in 2026, the three forces quietly driving disconnection at work, and why the single most important thing you can do before making any career move is correctly name what you are actually dealing with. Because the version that keeps most people stuck is the quiet kind. The kind that survives by staying unnamed. What You'll Learn: Why the most common version of career burnout in 2026 does not look like suffering from the outside and why that is exactly what makes it so hard to catch The three forces quietly driving burnout for high performers right now and why pushing through harder is making each of them worse Why burnout and boreout feel identical from the inside but come from completely different causes and require completely different solutions Why correctly naming what you are experiencing is the single most important step and what changes the moment you do How Lisa spent seven years in a role that looked stable and flexible from the outside while slowly going numb inside it and what finally broke the cycle Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Executive Burnout: Making A Midlife Career Change (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Should I Quit My Job? How to Know It's Time (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Scott had a great leadership team, great clients, great culture, and great brands. He also had burnout so deep it was following him home to the dinner table. The hardest part was that there was nobody to blame and nothing obvious to point to. When the usual culprits are missing, most people do nothing. Scott did something else entirely and went from a 20-year advertising career to owning a franchise he loves in less time than he ever thought possible. What You'll Learn: Why burnout without a bad job is one of the hardest versions to catch and act on and what the signs actually look like when there is no villain in the story How outgrowing a career, not overwork or a toxic boss, can produce genuine burnout symptoms and why most people never make that connection What career experimentation actually looks like in practice including the option Scott almost dismissed entirely that ended up being the right move Why identifying your values before investigating options is the step most people skip and why skipping it is what sends people back to the same type of role with a different company name How the same signature strengths that built a 20-year corporate career translated directly into building a business from scratch Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Figuring Out Your Perfect Career Match (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Should I Quit My Job? How to Know It's Time (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

If you are in burnout right now, there is a very good chance you have already tried the obvious solution. You took some time off. You rested. And two to four weeks later, the exhaustion came back. Not because you did not rest enough. Because rest on its own is not recovery. It gets you back to baseline. It does not get you back to yourself. This episode is about what actually does. What You'll Learn: Why rest alone relieves burnout symptoms for an average of two to four weeks before they return and what the research says actually creates lasting recovery The difference between psychological detachment and just being away from work and why most people in burnout have never actually experienced the former What intentional structured recovery looks like in practice including the specific combination of elements research shows actually addresses the root causes of burnout Why most people in active burnout cannot find the energy to make a career change and what has to happen first before that becomes possible What the Career Rest & Reset program is, who it is built for, and how it works for people still going to work every day on empty as well as those already on leave Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.

What if the pieces of your life that didn't go according to plan were actually leading you somewhere better? Amy Peterson had a dream. From the age of 14, she wanted to become the first female general manager of a Major League Baseball team. She built her education around that goal, fought her way into professional baseball, and eventually became an attorney for the Detroit Tigers.But the career she thought was her calling ultimately led her to something very different.In this episode of Smart Women Talk, Katana sits down with Amy, Founder and CEO of Rebel Nell, a Detroit social enterprise that transforms fallen graffiti into beautiful jewelry while creating employment and opportunity for women facing barriers to work.You'll discover:How Amy turned discarded pieces of Detroit graffiti into a business built around purposeWhat the women of Rebel Nell taught her about resilience, confidence, and second chancesWhy the systems designed to help women escape poverty can sometimes make moving forward even harderHow creativity and meaningful work can help women rediscover their confidence and worthWhat Amy learned when the career she'd dreamed about since childhood wasn't ultimately where she found her purposeAt Rebel Nell, there's a rule: never fall in love with the top layer—it's what's underneath that matters. That's pretty good advice for jewelry. It may be even better advice for life.Tune in and discover what can happen when we look beyond the surface, reclaim the pieces, and create something beautiful from what we find.Amy Peterson is the Founder and CEO of Rebel Nell, a women-owned social enterprise that transforms reclaimed materials into meaningful jewelry and gifts while creating employment, opportunity, and support for women facing barriers to work.Inspired by the stories and resilience of women living in a nearby shelter, Amy built Rebel Nell on the belief that business can be a powerful force for social change—combining workforce development with creativity, purpose, and economic empowerment.A former attorney for the Detroit Tigers and executive with RISE, Amy has built a career at the intersection of business, community impact, and social change. She also co-founded The Congregation and The Rectory, two projects dedicated to breathing new life into community spaces in Detroit.To learn more about Amy, visit rebelnell.com.

Getting laid off feels like a crisis. That feeling is exactly what makes the next few moves so costly. Most professionals respond the same way after a layoff in 2026 — they treat it like a fire to put out as fast as possible, start applying everywhere, and take the first thing that comes back. They end up in a slightly different version of the same situation wondering how they got there again. We've worked with thousands of professionals through layoffs and career transitions. What we've seen consistently is that the first 48 hours after a layoff determine whether the layoff becomes a career emergency or career leverage. What You'll Learn: Why treating a layoff like a career emergency is the most expensive mistake you can make and what to do instead The four stabilization steps to take before you touch your resume, update LinkedIn, or apply anywhere Why you should not sign your severance agreement right away and what to look for first How 85% of career changers after a layoff maintain similar or better pay The framing shift that turns a layoff into the most valuable career reset you have ever had Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Six Career Experiments To Help You Discover Your Ideal New Role (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Two identical candidates walk into the same interview with the same resume. One gets the job. The other doesn't. It has nothing to do with how well they prepared or what they know. It has everything to do with how well they leveraged human psychology. This episode breaks down the five most common interview question types that trip people up, what most candidates get wrong, and the specific frameworks that change the outcome for anyone in a career transition or senior-level search. What You'll Learn: The Past-Present-Future framework for answering "tell me about yourself" in a way that is immediately relevant and builds a bridge from your experience to exactly why you are here. How to tell the productive truth when asked why you are leaving without oversharing, lying, or giving an answer that costs you the offer Why answering "what are your strengths?" with skills is the wrong move and what to say instead to make the interviewer feel like they already know you. How the SBO storytelling method works, why behavioral questions are actually the easiest to own once you have 15 to 20 stories ready, and how to build that inventory from scratch. What changes about interviews at the senior and executive level and why clarity about what you want matters more than any answer you could give. Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Discover Your Strengths to Find Your Ideal Career (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free. Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home. Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com Episode 2160: Joe Wilner explains what meaningful work actually requires, starting with the question of what someone would pay to do if money were irrelevant. He argues that respected colleagues, an honest inventory of talents and values, and a self-written job description matter more to career fulfillment than salary, and that hitting an impasse is a signal for professional growth rather than a failure. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://digtofly.com/how-to-find-career-fulfillment/ Quotes to ponder: "Recognize that money does not provide enduring career satisfaction." "Enjoy the process more than the proceeds." "Working with people we respect and appreciate is essential for career fulfillment." Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amelia spent eight years as a media communications director before a layoff sent her straight into panic-applying for whatever came up. Natalie knew networking was her next move and then sat frozen for two months because it felt transactional. Laura had the numbers: referrals converted to interviews at eight times the rate of cold applications, and one of those referrals is now her boss. The split between a job search that lands a job and one that lands a career you love isn't luck, connections, or the resume, but the mindset behind it. What You'll Learn: The one mindset mistake that sets everything else in motion and why most job seekers are making it before they ever hit send on their first application What avoidance motivation is, why a layoff triggers it automatically, and how it causes smart people to land in a worse version of the same situation with a different company name Why two months of networking paralysis is more common than anyone admits and how one reframe completely changes the results you get from the people you already know Why referrals convert to interviews at more than eight times the rate of cold applications and what that means for where you should be spending your job search energy The difference between a search that lands you a job and a search that lands you a career you actually love and why the tactics are completely different Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Should I Quit My Job? How to Know It's Time (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Stuck in a Career You're Unhappy With? Fear Of Taking Risks Could Be Keeping You There (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)  

One woman spent seven years in a role that everyone told her she should be grateful for while she was slowly falling apart inside it. Another quit fast, convinced that leaving the job would fix everything, and then spent the next two years finding out why it didn't. Neither outcome was what either of them expected. And what finally worked for both of them isn't what you would guess either. If you've been asking yourself whether you should quit your job, this episode is going to change the question entirely.   What You'll Learn: Why "should I stay or should I go?" is the wrong question and what to ask yourself instead before making any career change decision What boreout is, how it differs from burnout, and why the absence of a dramatic reason to leave is not proof that you don't have a real one What quitting reactively actually costs you and why removing the job doesn't automatically remove the problem that made you want to leave What a bridge role is, how Amanda used one to create breathing room while doing the real work of figuring out what she actually wanted, and how to build one for yourself How to have the conversation with your partner about wanting to quit in a way that builds support instead of fear and what to do if you've been skipping that conversation entirely   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes How to Figure Out What You Really Want (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Six Career Experiments To Help You Discover Your Ideal New Role (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)   Mentioned Episode What Career Burnout in 2026 Actually Looks Like (How To Fix It And Find Career Satisfaction) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Staying in the job you've outgrown feels like the safe choice. It feels steady. It feels comfortable. It feels like the responsible thing to do until you're ready to make a move. But what if staying wasn't safe at all? What if it was costing you more than leaving ever would and you just hadn't calculated it yet? This episode introduces the Cost of Staying Formula and the three hidden costs most high performers never factor into the decision. What You'll Learn: Why the cost of leaving a job feels real while the cost of staying stays invisible and how to calculate what staying is actually costing you over 2, 5, and 15 years What opportunity cost looks like in a career context and why high performers in misaligned roles stay flat while those in aligned roles compound How staying in a non-fit role makes you a worse negotiator, changes how you interview, and directly impacts the salary you are willing to accept in your next role What the compounding drain tax is, why the energy lost to draining work never stays at the office, and how it depletes exactly the resources you need to make a strong exit Why "can I afford to leave?" is the wrong question and what to ask instead when you're ready to get honest about the real cost of staying   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes An Overthinker's Guide To Making Better Career Decisions (Spotify /Apple Podcasts) Should I Quit My Job? How to Know It's Time (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)  

This episode highlights two conversations had in the process of making "Finding Meaningful Work: Navigating Pressures Around Chosen Career Paths and Finding Joy in the Process," with Rei and Ricky, sisters who work in the environmental science and policy field and Hannah Testa, a youth activist who started a nonprofit in high school called Hannah for Change. This episode explores topics of cultivating hope in the face of the climate crisis, being empowered in finding a career path that suits you, and not letting your age define who you are or the work that you do. 

What if meaningful work isn't something you find, but something you grow into?In this episode of the InspirED Podcast, Andrea De La Cerda sits down with entrepreneur, media personality, and confidence coach Raj Girn to explore the unexpected path that led her to meaningful work. Growing up between two cultures, Raj shares how balancing the expectations of a traditional South Asian upbringing with life in the United Kingdom shaped her understanding of identity, purpose, and leadership.Their conversation explores how becoming a mother became the catalyst for Raj's own self-discovery and how building Anokhi Media created opportunities not only to support others but also to better understand herself. Together, Andrea and Raj discuss entrepreneurship as a vehicle for personal growth, why imposter syndrome never fully disappears, and how confidence is built one intentional step at a time.They also explore the importance of finding communities that genuinely support growth, embracing vulnerability in leadership, navigating cultural and religious expectations, and learning to extend grace to yourself throughout every stage of life.Whether you're building a business, changing careers, or simply questioning what's next, this conversation is a reminder that meaningful work often begins with becoming more fully yourself....CHAPTERS00:42 Introduction to Raj Gurn02:03 Raj's Early Life and Cultural Dichotomy04:32 Navigating Conflicting Ideologies09:42 Becoming a Mother and Self-Discovery14:38 Building Anokimedia and Community Support18:35 Imposter Syndrome and Personal Growth24:44 Embracing Femininity in Leadership26:22 The Power of Vulnerability in Community27:46 Navigating Isolation and Community Needs28:55 Breaking Free from Cultural Expectations31:24 The Journey of Self-Discovery34:08 Finding Grace in Personal Growth36:19 Liberation Through Self-Realization39:38 Inspiration for Women in Transition...RESOURCES ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Raj GirnInstagramThe Open Chest Confidence AcademyLinkedInAndrea De La Cerda⁠⁠⁠Business Audit⁠⁠⁠⁠The InspirED Rewrite⁠TAG ANDREA ON INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@andreadlc_coach⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...CONNECT WITH KANDULA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kandula Blogs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. . .ABOUT ANDREA DE LA CERDAAndrea De La Cerda is a highly accomplished communications professional with over 25 years of experience in the fields of advertising, communications and marketing. Throughout her career, Andrea has held key positions in renowned advertising agencies, brand consultancies and in-house marketing departments before creating Kandula. She possesses a deep understanding of consumer behavior and market trends, allowing her to develop innovative communication strategies that resonate with diverse audiences. Andrea received both her B.A. in Advertising and Business Administration and a M.A. in Education from Pepperdine. She is currently pursuing her Accreditation in Public Relations and is a member of PRSA.. . .WORK WITH USKandula works with nonprofits, entrepreneurs, educational institutions, and established brands dedicated to expanding their influence and amplifying their impact through purpose-driven communication strategies. Reach out to work with us!

Two years after his first visit, Justin Jones-Fosu is back, and this time he's rewritten a story we all thought we knew. His new fable, Stop Chasing, Start Creating, reimagines the Tortoise and the Hare and asks a question most of us never stop to consider: what if the tortoise was never slow, just wise, strategic, and intentional?In a conversation that moves from absent fathers to morning routines to a live run through the Core Emotion Wheel, Justin and the Hills dig into the quiet exhaustion of chasing worth from the outside in and what it actually takes to start creating meaning from the inside out.In this episode:•Why "information fatigue," not just overwork, is driving so much of our burnout•The Tortoise and the Hare, retold: proving your worth vs. simply being your worth•Phyllis on Identity, and 20 years of chasing her siblings' approval•"Getting on the wrong train" why running fast doesn't help if you're headed the wrong way•Why meaning doesn't mean happy •The Meaningful 67 Challenge and the seven small habits behind it•"Create before you consume" — protecting the first 10 minutes of your day. About Justin Jones-Fosu: Justin is a meaningful-work researcher, keynote speaker, and author of six books, including his newest fable Stop Chasing, Start Creating: A Timeless Fable on Mindset, Resilience, and Meaningful Work His work is grounded in a national study on meaningful work in America, and the foundation he built funds schools and technology labs in Ghana. This is his second time on the Connection Codes podcast.Resources mentioned:Get the Core Emotion Wheel (free) → https://connectioncodes.co/cewJustin's last book "Stop Chasing, Start Creating: A Timeless Fable on Mindset, Resilience, and Meaningful Work" → https://a.co/d/09sVKYQOJustin's "number 67" tool → https://workmeaningful.com/this-is-my-67/Join The Connection Codes Community: https://connectioncodes.co/community

AI tools are flooding inboxes with hundreds of applications a day and almost everyone is running the same playbook. Recruiters are overwhelmed, the pile is massive, and the people getting lost in it are not the least qualified. They are the ones who sound the most like everyone else. This episode is about the one thing that actually cuts through in a job market like this one and why almost nobody is doing it.   What You'll Learn: Why the most polished and professional-sounding applications are often the ones that get ignored first and what to write instead How to use AI as a drafting tool in your 2026 job search without letting it strip out the one thing that actually makes people respond to you The psychology principle behind why specificity works when generic language never does and how to apply it across every application, message, and interview answer What the real difference looks like between an application that disappears into a pile and one that makes a hiring manager feel like they are already in a conversation Why the bar to stand out in a 2026 job search has never been lower and the specific, practical steps to clear it   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes Figuring Out Your Perfect Career Match (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)   Mentioned Episode AI Job Displacement: 4 Skills That Build Real Job Security and Future-Proof Your Career (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

I'm not getting older...you're getting older. And everything is just fine. Right?In this episode of Around The Horn in Wholesale Distribution, Kevin Brown and Tom Burton look ahead to the upcoming 200th episode celebration while unpacking another week of news affecting manufacturers, wholesale distributors, independent sales agents, and the global supply chain.Kevin and Tom begin by previewing the special 200th episode celebration, which will bring together a strong group of industry voices, including Mike Marks, Dirk Beveridge, Dan Schubert, Alex Chissofsky, and Steve Levy. They also reflect on the continued growth of the show, the expanding audience across podcast platforms, YouTube, LinkedIn, and the newsletter, and the importance of creating a weekly resource for the distribution and manufacturing community.The conversation then turns to the economy, including July consumer price data, producer price trends, inflation, interest rates, bond markets, mortgage rates, and the possibility of future rate cuts. Kevin and Tom discuss why the market may be stabilizing in some areas, while still facing uncertainty from energy prices, geopolitical pressure, and election-year dynamics.From there, they dive into supply chain and tariff issues, including the latest developments around tariff refunds, Section 301 tariffs, legal disputes, customer transparency, and the ongoing impact tariffs are having on distributors, manufacturers, contractors, and customer relationships. They also discuss the importance of balanced trade, the likely durability of the current tariff structure, and where tariff policy may stand a year from now.The episode also covers major distribution trends, including the economic impact of the HVACR distribution market, the KPIs that matter most for mid-market distributors, and the continued consolidation of independent distributors through acquisitions such as SRS Distribution's expansion into HVAC. Kevin and Tom discuss why consolidation may continue, but also why new independent distributors are likely to emerge from the talent and culture gaps created by large acquisitions.In the AI segment, Kevin and Tom explore the growing tension between AI hype and AI reality. They discuss concerns around failed implementations, immature products, unclear ROI, rising AI costs, governance mistakes, and the importance of choosing the right technology partner rather than simply chasing the newest tool. They also look at broader public skepticism around generative AI and the need to balance real risks with the meaningful productivity gains AI is already creating inside businesses.Finally, the episode touches on the human side of business, including the loss of institutional knowledge, the “silver tsunami,” knowledge transfer, leadership, busyness, and the importance of creating meaning beyond constant motion.As always, Kevin and Tom connect the headlines back to the practical realities of wholesale distribution and manufacturing, helping leaders understand what these trends mean for their customers, teams, technology decisions, and growth strategies.Timestamps and Chapters: 00:00 — Introduction and Episode 202 Setup 03:30 — Previewing the 200th Episode Celebration 08:15 — The Growth of Around The Horn 13:45 — What Around The Horn Covers Each Week 16:30 — LeadSmart Technologies and the Enterprise Growth Platform 20:15 — Inflation, Consumer Prices, and Interest Rate Expectations 27:30 — Bond Markets, Mortgage Rates, and Housing Pressure 34:00 — Election-Year Market Uncertainty 39:15 — Tariff Refunds and the $100 Billion Question 47:00 — Customer Transparency Around Tariffs 52:30 — Section 301 Tariffs and the Future of Trade Policy 59:00 — HVACR Distribution's Economic Impact 1:04:30 — KPIs That Matter for Mid-Market Distributors 1:12:15 — Process Improvement Through Software Implementation 1:17:00 — SRS, HVAC Acquisitions, and Distribution Consolidation 1:22:15 — AI Hype, AI Reality, and Technology Partner Risk 1:28:00 — Public Skepticism Around Generative AI 1:32:45 — AI Costs, Token Usage, and Budget Overruns 1:38:15 — The Human Side: Knowledge Transfer and the Silver Tsunami 1:42:00 — Busyness, Leadership, and Meaningful Work 1:47:30 — Closing Thoughts and 200th Celebration ReminderLeave a Review: Help us grow by sharing your thoughts on the show.Learn more about the LeadSmart AI B2B Sales Platform: https://www.leadsmarttech.com/Join the conversation each week on LinkedIn Live.Want even more insight to the stories we discuss each week? Subscribe to the Around The Horn Newsletter.You can also hear the podcast and other excellent content on our YouTube Channel.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.

There are two things that people consistently find most meaningful in their work and they have almost nothing to do with the job title, the industry, or how much the work pays. The first is adaptive leadership: the ability to guide others through change they didn't choose and can't fully control. The second is work that is who you are, not work that feels good, but work that is built around the things you can't stop doing, the way you naturally think, and what you bring to a problem that nobody else taught you. This episode is about why both of these things matter more right now than they ever have and how to start building them before the market forces the question. What You'll Learn: Why adaptive leadership is the most transferable and meaningful career asset available and how to know if you already have it without realizing it The critical difference between finding work you love and finding work that is who you are and why only one of them makes you consistently more valuable over time What signature strengths actually are, how they differ from skills, and why aligning your work with them changes not just how meaningful work feels but what you're capable of contributing Why credentials are declining while character and demonstrated capability are rising and what that means for how you position yourself right now The five-year look-back exercise that surfaces where your strengths and adaptive capacity actually live and why the clues are already there   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes Discover Your Strengths to Find Your Ideal Career (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Six Career Experiments To Help You Discover Your Ideal New Role (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Eileen Crossin had built the kind of career many people aspire to—leadership roles in advertising, a stint at TikTok, and eventually a seat in the C-suite. But during an industry conference in Las Vegas, she found herself thinking, I can't have these conversations anymore. Days later, she resigned.In this conversation, Eileen and Bradley talk about what happens when a successful career no longer feels like your own. They explore nonlinear careers, the tension between effort and surrender, why major changes can affect the people closest to us, and Eileen's belief that finding purpose may be less about becoming someone new than remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.Eileen also shares how meditation, mindset, spirituality, and entrepreneurship have shaped the life she is building now—and what she has learned about trusting yourself when the next step isn't obvious.Eileen is the CEO and founder of Quantum Potential, a mind-training and L&D company that helps B2B sales teams think differently to accelerate performance. Drawing on 20+ years of C-suite revenue and growth leadership at companies including TikTok, she blends executive rigor with contemplative practice through her proprietary Momentum Method™. She is also a founder at Meet the Possible You, a purpose and transition program for women. Outside of work, she's a vintage fashion lover and a certified mindfulness meditation teacher currently writing her first book, Unrealized—a memoir about breaking the rules to become who you were all along.  She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son. Website: getquantumpotential.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eileen-crossin-3327043/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eileenlcrossin/

On a Friday afternoon, Monika got a call from her supervisor: telework is done, be in the office Monday. After 30 years building a career around flexibility and autonomy, it was gone in a single phone call. When a return-to-office mandate hits, most people do one of two things: comply and resent it, or quit without a plan. This episode is about the third option: a specific, step-by-step process for turning your RTO mandate into career leverage without burning a single bridge. What You'll Learn: Why an RTO mandate is one of the most powerful career values-clarity tools available and how to use the discomfort as structured data instead of just reacting to it The three questions that determine whether your RTO situation is a dealbreaker, a negotiation, or a strategic starting point for an intentional job search How to ask for a remote work exception in a way that actually works, including the one conversation move most people skip that changes the outcome The step-by-step job search playbook for searching intentionally while still fully showing up at your current role, without burning a single bridge How Monika turned a Friday afternoon RTO mandate into a strategic hire at a new organization without ever submitting a single application Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Should I Quit My Job? How to Know It's Time (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Executive Burnout: Making A Midlife Career Change (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)   Other Related Episodes: Creating A Path To Your Ideal Career (And The Tool You Need To Make It Happen) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) How To Define Your Ideal Career When Making A Career Change (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) How to Get a Raise When You Negotiate Your Next Role (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Laura liked her company. She just hated what she was doing every day. So instead of updating her resume and hitting the job boards, she did something most people never think to try, she proposed a role that didn't exist yet, got it approved, and moved into it. Four years later, she did it again. If you think you have to leave your company to find work that actually fits, this episode will make you reconsider.   What You'll Learn: Why the internal job board is not the universe of available options and where the real opportunities inside your organization actually live The three-part framework for proposing an internal move that gets a yes including the psychological reason most internal moves fail before they ever reach a decision-maker How to use test drive conversations inside your own organization to surface invisible roles and build the relationships that make an internal move possible How to know whether an internal move is the right answer for your situation or just a delay of the inevitable Why Laura had to do this process twice and why that's not a failure but exactly how intentional career design is supposed to work   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Designing Career Experiments and Testing New Careers (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)   Other Related Episodes How To Define Your Ideal Career When Making A Career Change (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Finding Your Ideal Career Path: Uncovering Roles You Didn't Know Existed (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

In this episode: financial independence, life design, envisioning, mini experiments, asking what you actually want with Adam CoelhoEpisode SummaryAdam explores the deeper question that comes after building financial freedom: what do you want that freedom to make possible? Through three anonymized stories, he shows how FI can create options, but clarity comes from envisioning, experimenting, and choosing a new story before life defaults into “one more year syndrome”Resources & Books MentionedFree FI Life Jumpstart ExerciseAsk What's Possible Workshop“The Predicting Brain” by Regina Pally

Finding meaningful work at 50 or 60 isn't about starting over, it's about admitting something has been off for a while and finally doing something about it. Scott Ingham spent 18 years in pharmaceutical sales watching the challenge slowly disappear from work he used to love. Glenn spent 20 years in healthcare sales hitting every external marker of success while quietly knowing something essential was missing. Both of them found meaningful work after 50 and this episode explains exactly how they did it. What You'll Learn: What meaningful work actually means after 50, the research-backed definition that goes beyond passion and gives you something concrete to build toward Why the "I'm too old to change careers" belief keeps more high performers over 50 in the wrong role than anything else and the science that dismantles it directly How the Ideal Career Profile turns decades of accumulated self-knowledge into a precision tool for finding purposeful, well-paid work after 50 Why starting with job boards is one of the worst first moves in a career change over 50 and what to do instead What both Scott and Glenn found on the other side, not just a better job, but a fundamentally different relationship with work   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes Stuck in a Career You're Unhappy With? Fear Of Taking Risks Could Be Keeping You There (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Discover Your Strengths to Find Your Ideal Career (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Episode Description:This is a From the Archive episode with Ray Dalio. Ray Dalio built Bridgewater Associates into one of the most influential investment firms in the world. But in this archive conversation, James is less interested in the headline version of success and more interested in the painful turning point that made Ray rethink everything.At 34, Ray's business nearly failed. He had been confident—by his own description, arrogant—and a wrong market call left him broke, humbled, and forced to decide whether to quit or rebuild.That failure became the origin story behind many of his principles.Ray explains that the experience taught him to fear being wrong in a useful way. Instead of retreating, he began seeking out the smartest people who disagreed with him. He learned to triangulate among independent thinkers, write down his decision criteria, study how similar events had happened in history, and build systems that reduced risk without giving up upside.The conversation then moves into the central ideas of Principles: pain plus reflection equals progress; failure equals success if you turn it into learning; and every person should write down the principles they use to deal with reality.James and Ray discuss the five-step process for success: set audacious goals, identify the problems blocking those goals, diagnose root causes, design ways around them, and execute. Ray emphasizes that no one is good at all five steps, which is why people need others who can supply the strengths they lack.A large part of the episode focuses on Bridgewater's culture. Ray explains idea meritocracy, radical truth, radical transparency, thoughtful disagreement, and believability-weighted decision-making. In his view, the goal is not democracy or autocracy. The goal is to get the best ideas on the table, stress test them, and make better decisions.James pushes on the human side of this: what happens when disagreement feels like a fight? Ray answers by describing the “two yous”—the thoughtful, logical self and the emotional, reactive self—and why writing down principles can clarify which values bring people together and which values separate them.The conversation closes with habits, meditation, creativity, the economy, debt cycles, wealth inequality, cryptocurrencies, and Ray's formula for a successful life: dreams plus reality plus determination.Editorial Note:This is a From the Archive episode. References to Bridgewater's assets, Ray's Forbes net worth, the economic cycle, cryptocurrencies, interest rates, central-bank policy, and current market conditions reflect the original recording period.This episode discusses investing, markets, debt cycles, and cryptocurrencies, but it should not be treated as financial advice.What You'll Learn;Why Ray Dalio sees his early career failure as one of the most important events of his life.How being wrong pushed him toward radical open-mindedness.Why Ray believes pain plus reflection equals progress.How to turn mistakes into principles you can use next time.Why failure can become success if it produces learning.The five-step process Ray uses for achieving goals.Why no one is good at every step of success.How thoughtful disagreement can improve decision-making.What an idea meritocracy is and why Bridgewater built around it.How believability-weighted decision-making differs from democracy or hierarchy.Why Ray believes meaningful work and meaningful relationships must go together.How writing down principles clarifies relationships, teams, and personal choices.Why habits control so much of life—and how they can be changed.How meditation helps Ray access calm, creativity, and clearer thinking.How Ray thinks about debt cycles, economic risk, wealth inequality, and cryptocurrencies.Timestamped Chapters:[03:00] The Failure That Changed EverythingJames asks about the early mistake that left Ray's business nearly finished at age 34.[04:06] Humility Balancing AudacityRay explains how going broke forced him to calm down, rethink risk, and become more open-minded.[05:46] Finding Smart People Who DisagreeHow Ray learned to triangulate among independent thinkers and raise the probability of being right.[06:59] Understanding the Mechanics of RealityRay revisits the Mexico debt crisis, the dollar, deflationary forces, and what he missed.[09:06] Radical Open-Mindedness and Idea MeritocracyThe failure led Ray to build a company around thoughtful disagreement and independent thinking.[11:00] Write Down Your Decision CriteriaRay urges listeners to write down the principles they use to make decisions.[14:21] Money Has No Intrinsic ValueRay explains why money only matters as a tool for getting what you actually value.[15:30] Learning to Fail WellRay criticizes the education system for rewarding right answers instead of teaching people how to learn from failure.[18:02] Pain Plus Reflection Equals ProgressRay explains why pain is a signal and why reflection turns it into usable knowledge.[20:23] The Five-Step Process for SuccessGoals, problems, diagnosis, design, and execution become Ray's loop for improving life and work.[23:38] Diagnosing the Root CauseJames asks Ray to identify the root cause of his early failure, and Ray names his own arrogance.[24:55] Joseph Campbell and Returning the BoonRay connects The Hero with a Thousand Faces to his decision to pass along the principles he had learned.[28:06] Failure Equals SuccessRay explains how he trained himself to see failures as puzzles that produce “gems.”[31:25] When Principles ChangeJames asks when Ray has failed at his own principles, and Ray discusses the challenge of leadership transition and governance.[34:20] Can People Really Disagree With the Boss?Ray pushes back on the idea that hierarchy prevents honest disagreement at Bridgewater.[35:41] Meaningful Work and Meaningful RelationshipsRay explains why radical truth and radical transparency are designed to support both work quality and human connection.[37:19] Believability-Weighted Decision-MakingRay describes how disagreements can be resolved by weighing the judgment of people with relevant expertise.[42:12] How to Handle Dysfunctional OrganizationsRay advises people to define the terms of their relationships and ask how disagreements should be handled.[48:11] Would Everyone End Up With the Same Principles?James asks whether writing down principles would eventually lead people toward similar truths.[49:10] The Two YousRay explains the conflict between the logical self and the emotional self, especially when disagreement triggers fight-or-flight.[51:10] Changing Direction at Any AgeJames asks how people stuck in old patterns can find the courage to start again.[52:46] Habits, Failure, and Reprogramming YourselfRay describes his most valuable habit: treating problems and failures as puzzles to solve.[56:03] Health, Meditation, and CreativityRay discusses where he has and has not built strong habits, and why meditation has been so important to him.[59:07] Meditation as a State of Calm ControlRay explains how meditation quiets the racing mind and helps create equanimity and creativity.[01:00:52] Finding the PullJames asks how a young person can identify goals, and Ray recommends self-discovery, experimentation, and reflection.[01:04:06] How the Economic Machine WorksRay outlines productivity, short-term debt cycles, long-term debt cycles, central-bank policy, and where the economy sat at the time.[01:07:29] Two Economies and Wealth InequalityRay explains why averages can hide the economic reality of the bottom 60% versus the top 40%.[01:11:00] Cryptocurrencies and BlockchainRay distinguishes blockchain technology from individual crypto assets and compares the space to the early internet.[01:14:26] Dreams + Reality + DeterminationRay closes with his formula for a successful life and why reality must be understood, not avoided.Additional Resources:Ray Dalio's official Principles site — Ray's home for Principles, How the Economic Machine Works, TED2017, Principles for Success, and related tools.Principles: Life and Work — Simon & Schuster — Official publisher page for the book discussed throughout the episode.Bridgewater: Our Founder — Bridgewater's official biography of Ray Dalio and his career at the firm.TED: “How to build a company where the best ideas win” — Ray's TED2017 talk on radical transparency, algorithmic decision-making, and idea meritocracy.How the Economic Machine Works — Ray's 30-minute explainer video is available through the official Principles site.Principles for Success — Simon & Schuster — A shorter illustrated adaptation of Ray's principles.The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell — The book Ray mentions when discussing the hero's journey and “returning the boon.”The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg — The habit book Ray and James reference while discussing how behavior can be reprogrammed.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Meaning is about being mindful of the effect you have on other people."What makes a life meaningful? We often think purpose and meaning are the same thing, but according to Stanford professor Brian Lowery, they're fundamentally different. Purpose is what drives us. Meaning comes from the impact we have on others. In this live episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart from Stanford's LEAD Me2We event, Lowery and Matt Abrahams examine how our relationships shape who we become, why sincerity matters more than authenticity, and how leaders influence others through every interaction. Along the way, they share practical insights on giving better feedback, building stronger connections, and creating workplaces where people can thrive.Key Takeaways:Meaning comes from your impact on others. Purpose is what drives your actions, but meaning grows when your work positively influences the people around you and continues beyond your own involvement.The way you show up shapes the people around you. Leaders create better teams by practicing self-awareness, communicating with sincerity, and giving feedback that recognizes people's intentions while helping them grow.Activity:Notice your influence. At the end of each workday, write down one interaction that may have shaped someone else's experience—positively or negatively. Reflect on what you communicated beyond your words and what you want to do differently tomorrow.Episode Reference Links:Brian LoweryEp.23 Look Within: How to Lead with Self Awareness and VulnerabilityEp.84 Quick Thinks: How Others Define Us  Ep.142 Power and Persuasion: Live Insights from Stanford Experts Connect:Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart PremiumEmail Questions & Feedback >>> hello@fastersmarter.ioEpisode Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart WebsiteNewsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.ioThink Fast Talk Smart >>> LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTubeMatt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction (00:39) - Purpose vs. Meaning (02:12) - The Ripple Effect of Meaning (04:06) - How Others Shape Who We Are (05:20) - The Leader's Role in Shaping Others (08:58) - Self-Awareness & Psychological Safety (11:48) - Sincerity vs. "True Self" (12:53) - Feedback For Grow (17:13) - Becoming Better Humans (18:46) - Conclusion ********Thank you to our sponsors.  These partnerships support the ongoing production of the podcast, allowing us to bring it to you at no cost.With LinkedIn Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence, knowing you're getting the best talent for your needs. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com/fast

One of the biggest reasons smart, capable people stay in careers that don't fit is contributed to a well-documented quirk of human psychology called the availability heuristic. It states, if the only version of work you've ever known is the one you've been living, your brain literally cannot picture anything different. In this episode, we'll unpack three ways to change that without making a dramatic career shift. You'll also learn: Why thinking harder about your career options never works and what rewires your beliefs faster than any amount of reflection alone How a single 15-minute test drive conversation can expand what feels possible more than months of research or planning Why career change over 40 isn't starting over, it's the moment you finally have enough experience to do work entirely on your own terms What work can actually look like when you stop assuming it has to look like what you've always known.   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources   What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes How to Figure Out What You Really Want (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Designing Career Experiments and Testing New Careers (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)  

Most people assume the work that drains them is just part of the job, something to push through, optimize around, or get faster at. But the real reason certain tasks deplete you has nothing to do with how skilled you are. It comes down to a distinction between your skills and strengths and how often your work is in alignment. What You'll Learn: The critical difference between skills and strengths and why confusing the two is what keeps most high performers trapped in work that slowly drains them Why getting better at draining work never actually solves the problem and what a strengths-based approach does instead How to use your natural wiring to build the right skills and clear tedious tasks off your plate in a way that actually sticks Why routines aren't just time management tools, they're acts of intentional career design that compound over time into a work life you want to show up for How clearing draining work and protecting your energy is one of the most effective ways to prevent burnout before it starts   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes Discover Your Strengths to Find Your Ideal Career (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) How to Figure Out What You Really Want (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)  

When being physically unable to work feels like a relief after 22 years of practicing law, that's not burnout, that's a breaking point. Misty Leon knew she wanted something different, she just thought it would take ten years to get there. She was wrong. Ten years took twelve months and in this episode you're going to learn: How Misty launched a 10-year business plan in less than twelve months and what finally made that possible after years of putting it off Why a career experiment that looked like it failed on paper turned out to be the exact thing that unlocked her next move How a counterintuitive productivity practice created more space in her workday and made her more valuable to everyone around her What autonomy actually looks like as a career non-negotiable and why most people don't realize how much it matters until they've spent years without it The one question every person in a good-enough job should be asking themselves right now   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes Designing Career Experiments and Testing New Careers (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Six Career Experiments To Help You Discover Your Ideal New Role (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Christine Dold | Owner of The Bakery on the Corner | Craftsmanship, Community, and the Joy of Meaningful Work  Christine Dold is the owner of The Bakery on the Corner in Hart, Michigan, a beloved small-town bakery that has been serving the community for generations. After an unexpected career path led her into the baking industry, Christine and her husband, Greg, purchased the historic bakery in 2017 and have continued its nearly century-long tradition of handcrafted donuts, fresh-baked bread, and exceptional customer service. Through countless overnight shifts, unwavering consistency, and a deep commitment to quality, Christine has become a cornerstone of the Hart community.  Christine joins me today to share how an accounting degree and a love of horses unexpectedly led her into the bakery business, why preserving the legacy of a 90-year-old business is both an honor and a responsibility, and what it takes to produce fresh donuts while the rest of the world sleeps. We discuss the discipline behind mastering a craft, the importance of consistency in serving a community, the value of hard work, why small businesses thrive through authenticity, and how finding work you truly enjoy can lead to a fulfilling life.  "Donuts are good for your mental health." – Christine Dold  "If you don't love what you're doing, find something that you do love." – Christine Dold  "I love handling the dough. I love making them. If you don't love it, find something that you love to do." – Christine Dold  This Week on The Wow Factor:  How an unexpected career change led Christine from accounting and horse management to owning a historic bakery  What it takes to preserve and operate a nearly 90-year-old family bakery while maintaining its reputation for quality  Why the overnight baking schedule requires precision, discipline, and a true passion for the craft  The importance of consistency, authenticity, and community in building a successful small business  Why Christine believes hard work, gratitude, and personal responsibility are still essential ingredients for success  How finding work you genuinely enjoy can transform even the hardest days into meaningful ones  Christine Dold's Words of Wisdom:  Success starts with finding work you genuinely enjoy. When you're passionate about what you do, even the difficult days become worthwhile because you're creating something meaningful for others and taking pride in doing it well.  Connect with Christine Dold:  The Bakery On the Corner  Connect With Brad Formsma:  WOW Factor Website    Brad Formsma on LinkedIn    Brad Formsma on Instagram    Brad Formsma on Facebook       

Most career change advice assumes something went wrong, but what if success itself is the problem? Dan spent 27 years being promoted away from meaningful work, earning a six-figure salary in a role that looked perfect on paper and felt completely wrong on the inside. If you're a high performer stuck in a successful career that doesn't fit, this episode breaks down the exact framework that helped Dan find fulfilling, well-paid work without starting over and how you can do the same.   What You'll Learn: Why high performers are the most likely to end up in roles that don't fit and why being rewarded for the wrong work is the hidden obstacle nobody warns you about The difference between being good at something and it being a Signature Strength and why confusing the two is what keeps most successful people stuck How the Ideal Career Profile works as a decision-making filter not just for finding a new role, but for knowing exactly which offer to say yes to Why Dan took a title that looked like a step down on paper and ended up making nearly three times his previous salary doing work he loves The one question to ask yourself that cuts through the noise when you're weighing whether to stay or go   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes An Overthinker's Guide To Making Better Career Decisions (Spotify /Apple Podcasts) Stuck in a Career You're Unhappy With? Fear Of Taking Risks Could Be Keeping You There (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

If you're job searching in 2026 and following every resume rule you've been told, one page only, match every keyword, avoid two-column layouts, optimize for the ATS, this episode is going to change how you think about your resume and your entire job search strategy. Sam Wright runs the data side at Huntr, and he's analyzed over 1.7 million job applications, more than 240,000 resumes, and over a million job postings to find out which resume rules actually get people hired, and which ones are just guesses everyone kept repeating. The results are surprising. Two-page resumes outperform one-page resumes across the board. Resume tailoring is 2X more effective at driving interviews. Referrals convert at a massively higher rate than cold applications. And most of what you've been told about the ATS is a myth. Scott and Sam break down the resume myths costing you interviews, the tailoring strategy that actually works, why your target job title matters more than your resume format, and the data-backed job search moves that separate the top 10% of applicants from everyone else. What you'll learn: Why the one-page resume rule was never actually tested (and what the data shows about two-page resumes) The 5-step resume tailoring process that doubles your interview rate Why "optimizing for the ATS" is a myth (and what actually gets your resume seen) How to write a resume summary that stands out (without sounding AI-generated) Why referrals convert at a massively higher rate than cold applications, and how to build them The exact application strategy Sam recommends: how many jobs per week, how fast to apply, and how to target the right roles Connect with Sam Wright: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-b-wright/ Try Huntr: https://huntr.co   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Discover Your Strengths to Find Your Ideal Career (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Send us Fan MailA spouse looks you in the eye and says, “You're not on vacation.” That line can sting, but it can also save you. Mark Boutin joins us to talk about what happens when a high-achieving dad realizes work has quietly taken over the moments that matter most, and what it actually looks like to change course without blowing up your values or your family.Mark shares his path from a long career in accounting and finance to entrepreneurship, including the pressure of building multiple businesses at once and the chaos that followed. We get into the real-life fatherhood side too: raising four kids with a big age gap, keeping family dinner as a daily anchor, and learning patience when the “machine gun of requests” starts the second the little ones wake up. Along the way, we talk sports, resilience, and why kids copy what we do more than what we say.Then we break down Mark's practical coaching tool, the BOOM Morning framework: Body, Others First, Orientation, Meaningful Work. It's a simple morning routine for busy dads and entrepreneurs who want better focus, better health, and better leadership at home, plus realistic baby steps if you feel overwhelmed. If you're chasing “work-life balance,” fighting comparison, or trying to start over at 40 with confidence, this conversation will give you a clearer next move.Subscribe for more honest dad-to-dad conversations, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review to help more parents find the Quarterback Dadcast.@markboutin@The_Legacy_LabSupport the showPlease don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts!  Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes! 

Summary In this episode, Andy sits down with Tom Rath, one of the most respected researchers on wellbeing and human potential, author of What's the Point? Turning Your Purpose Into a Superpower. Tom argues that we can be incredibly busy while slowly drifting away from what matters most, optimizing our schedules while our lives quietly leak away. Andy and Tom explore why "follow your passion" can be harmful advice, how status seeking becomes career quicksand, and why our smartphones may be one of the greatest threats to purposeful living. They also discuss how many of us inherit ambitions from our parents that we never consciously chose, and how an honest awareness of mortality can sharpen our clarity, intentionality, and sense of purpose. Rather than treating purpose as one grand calling, Tom reframes it as something we create in small moments throughout the day. If you're looking for a practical, and honestly a little uncomfortable, guide to leading and living with more purpose, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "Here's what I know with absolute certainty: you're wasting most of your day. Not because you're lazy, but because you've never asked the right question. You're so busy being busy that you've forgotten to ask why. You're optimizing your schedule while your life leaks away, hour by hour in meetings that don't matter and tasks that won't be remembered next week, let alone next year." "If you fail to do those things in a day and take that initiative and have those meaningful and purposeful conversations, and you put those off until tomorrow, tomorrow never really comes because we get into that responsive mode." "Passion by definition starts with you, and it's a little self-oriented, whereas I would argue purpose by definition has an other orientation to it, which is a much better idea for anchoring your energy in a day." "If you're not connecting back with the impact that it made on one person that day, it fails to kind of count in the way we motivate ourselves and think about our work on a daily basis." "I would argue that 90% of the purpose in life is built in those moments, not in some epiphany on a sunny day." "I would estimate that at least 80% of people, maybe 90%, make it all the way to the very end of their career in their life without ever seeing what they could have been best at in life." "Even as managers and leaders, if we don't take care of our own health and wellbeing first, we just have no shot at even being our best for other people that we manage." "There's always someone making twice as much as you or 10 times as much as you, and there's always somebody with more followers or more listeners or more readers or whatever it might be." "The eulogy virtues are about what am I doing today so I'll be a better dad, a better husband, a better friend, to help readers, to help people with the products I'm working on." "I would argue that 80% of people I see out in public today, out in the wild, are essentially working for their smartphone." "Their smartphone's running their life, and they're the ones salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs every time the darn thing blinks or buzzes or vibrates, right?" "Having your phone out sends an implicit message to the other person that the little black box on the table matters more than the other person, and it degrades the quality of the conversation." "The one thing we've all got in common is we have today to try and do some things that serve a purpose and help another person, and if you miss that opportunity, it's gone." "None of them, none of the headstones say anything about those kind of resume virtues that we were talking about." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Start of Interview 02:08 Busy, Yet Drifting from What Matters 05:50 Rethinking the "One True Calling" 07:38 Why "Follow Your Passion" Can Backfire 09:26 From "What Do I Do?" to "Who Do I Help?" 11:20 How Our Parents' Paths Shape Us 12:11 When Admirable Influence Becomes a Limiting Script 15:01 Unlearning the "Always the Hardest Worker" Mindset 16:55 Are We Nudging Our Kids Into Our Dreams? 19:23 Status Seeking as Career Quicksand 22:02 Choosing Your Own Scoreboard 23:38 Smartphones and the Threat to Purpose 26:28 Making Technology Work for You 28:05 How Mortality Sharpens Purpose 30:52 What the Headstones Don't Say 32:33 Helping Kids Build Lives That Matter 35:21 End of Interview 35:48 Andy Comments After the Interview 40:20 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Tom and his new book at tomrath.org/whats-the-point. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 132 with Tom Rath. An earlier conversation with Tom, digging into his story and his research on wellbeing. Episode 140 with Tom Rath. Another previous discussion with Tom on wellness and living with strengths. Episode 31 with Adam Grant. Adam's first-ever podcast interview, where he shares insights on how to lead with meaning. Episode 261 with David Epstein. A conversation about his book Range, a helpful complement on career decisions for kids and for us. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Topics: Purpose, Leadership, Career Development, Passion, Wellbeing, Intentionality, Status, Comparison, Digital Distraction, Mortality, Parenting, Meaningful Work, Project Management The following music was used for this episode: Music: Summer Awakening by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The median job search time in 2026 is now 108 days — a 30% jump from just one quarter ago. But if you're trying to make an intentional career transition into meaningful, well-paid work, that number is only half the story. Here's what the data doesn't tell you, and what actually determines how long your career change will take. What You'll Learn: The critical difference between a conventional job search and an intentional career transition — and why confusing the two is what keeps most people stuck The two variables that determine your career change timeline more than anything else: clarity and validation How Linnea used an Ideal Career Profile to land a role four levels above where she started — without applying to hundreds of postings How Kara went from a 13-year federal career with a 5-month runway to a Chief of Staff role she loves — in exactly 5 months What the first four months of an intentional career transition actually look like, month by month, before you ever send a single application   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes Figuring Out Your Perfect Career Match (Spotify / Apple Podcasts) Designing Career Experiments and Testing New Careers (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)   Mentioned Episode Six different types of Career Experiments (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Most people who've been fired walk into their next interview dreading one question above all others: "So why did you leave your last position?" I've been on both sides of that question. As a former HR leader, where I've fired hundreds of people, and also as an employee who was fired during my career. I even made the mistake of telling interviewers I was laid off instead and it almost cost me everything. In this episode, we break down exactly how to answer the fired question honestly, without setting off alarm bells or tanking your chances. We'll cover the specific language to use, the psychology behind why it works, a simple three-part story framework that turns a potential disaster into a demonstration of self-awareness, and when to bring in expert help before it costs you an offer. If you've been fired and have interviews coming up, this episode is the prep you actually need.   What you'll learn Why lying about being fired (even just saying "laid off") is a risk that can end a job offer after it's already been made The three-part story framework I used after being fired that led to multiple job offers without misleading anyone How to present the circumstances of being fired so the interviewer draws their own logical conclusion without you having to over-explain or assign blame   Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation   Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.   Related Episodes An Overthinker's Guide To Making Better Career Decisions (Spotify /Apple Podcasts) Figuring Out Your Perfect Career Match (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)