Years ago, Ben wrote that his personal mission statement was “to help people reach their full potential” and our conversation touches on this theme in many different ways. Ben is a former car rental pro turned consultant turned HR executive. His work in HR landed him on the cover of Human Resource Executive. It’s pretty … Read More
Tash Walker is the founder of a firm and spends her Fridays making marmalade. Before instituting a four-day workweek at her firm, The Mix, she barely had time for her relationships. She decided to start doing research about different ways of working. There had to be a better way than the default options of “Summer … Read More
Listen => Web • Itunes • Stitcher • Google Play • Overcast • Spotify Dr. Laura Gallaher joins me from Serbia, where she is part of Remote Year, a community that travels to twelve locations within a year with a cohort of people working remotely. Laura is an organizational psychologist who studied humor and communication in the workplace and notably completed a dissertation with “that’s what she … Read More
Listen Now: Itunes • Stitcher • Google Play • Overcast • Spotify Romy is an employee engagement consultant turned coach. She built her career consulting for and working in Fortune 100 companies on all challenges employee-related. Her mission is to drive meaningful and behavior-based change for mid-level leaders that helps them operate in a more productive and human way in the workplace. There … Read More
In this episode, Cody Royle and I discuss what sets high-performing NFL organizations like the Patriots and the Giants (and others apart from the rest). Cody is the author of Where Other’s Won’t: Taking People Innovation from the Locker Room into the Boardroom.
Chris is the founder of uncommonly and an avid fan of the long-running CBS television show Survivor. A former teacher, marketer, and management consultant, Chris has an eclectic mix of skills and professional experience. Chris has worked with over a dozen Fortune 500 clients spanning multiple industries including Media & Entertainment, Publishing, Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, and Corporate Social Responsibility. He is obsessed with inspiring great leadership and creating incredible learning experiences that change the way people think and operate.
He always knew he wasn’t cut out for the default path. He had been inspired by an entrepreneurial thread that has run through his family. His grandmother would go through people’s garbage to find treasures to fix up and sell at the local flea market. While he wasn’t sure how it would play out for him, being surrounded by so many people that were self-employed gave him confidence that he could do the same.
When he was in the corporate world, he saw himself as a two-year career hopper, mostly driven by the fact that he never felt he had the freedom to truly have ownership or create. Now, on his own, he sees things differently and is energized by a feeling of “limitless creation.” Now he can “build whatever he wants…create whatever he wants.”
A lot of the skills that have enabled him to take this leap have come from his various experiences in the corporate world. In consulting, he was at a point where he was selling work, managing relationships, managing projects and doing the work. He also credits his work experience in consulting and working with a wide range of companies for enabling him to build an ability to adapt to change and be resilient.
“if I literally just keep doing what I’m doing, but stop doing it for you guys but start doing it for myself, I’m going to be wildly successful”
So for him, it wasn’t as much a leap as a continuation of what he was good at but on his own terms.
He started “vlogging” after working with a life coach who kept asking “what do you want?” After reflecting, he realized “he wanted to be an influencer, he wanted to have a voice…” He started posting once or twice a week and started learning how to shape his voice and put it into the world. This helped him build confidence that in addition to the solid foundation of skills, enabled him to take the leap to build his own company.
Chris has been puzzled by the lack of inspiring role models in the corporate world. Religion, arts, and athletics — sees a lot of mentors and people stepping up, but saw such a lack of leadership and mentorship in corporate America.
To him, however, there is hope. He sees the leader of the future as someone who is “obsessed with who they show up as.” Instead of obsessing about revenue or metrics, they are worried about showing up as love, joy and passion instead of fear, doubt and loneliness. He believes raising awareness about who we are showing up as increases the awareness of who we are and how we are making decisions.
Instead of role models in the corporate world, he is inspired by people like Tyra Banks, who have been able to continuously reinvent herself and succeed across many domains.
Chris is not one to wait around and has similar advice for others. He would say to someone early in their career: “as soon as someone has an idea they want to do something else, they should go…” They can ask themselves the simple question
“Is this my future?”
If it’s not, he believes you need to start laying the foundation for a move as soon as possible. He also dispels the idea that you should fear what people think if your resume has a bunch of one or two-year stints.
“Anyone who calls into question your resume because you jumped every two-years, does not understand the direction the workforce is headed and does not understand what the future of work looks like.”
I loved Chris’ thoughts on how many people are inclined to settle for the average. Which means that more people are actually competing at a mediocre level of talent than someone who aspires to do great work. Chris challenges people with the question: If you could create anything, what would you create?
He applies this to his own consulting company he is trying to build. He likes to set big goals for himself, with a target of building a $1 million consulting business with 5 team members this year. This may sound crazy but to him it’s actually easier than competing with the twenty colleagues for one promotion spot at his old company.