Pivot with Jenny Blake

Just yesterday (after we recorded), the U.S. recommendation has gone from avoiding gathering in groups larger than 50 to groups larger than 10. Dr. Michael J. Conseulos and I are back in a “huddle” as we discuss what’s in the news now, and more importantly, practical tips and tools for as many aspects of this pandemic as we can cover.In this episode, we discuss how all of us can stay safe, think through contingency plans, and have crucial conversations with our family members and others as we all practice unprecedented social distancing. What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions for a future COVID-19 conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/askBackground from our kick-off to this series, episode 159: With so much happening daily in the world and global economy around coronavirus, we’re all dealing with massive amounts of uncertainty, pivots at work, and for many—fear and anxiety that comes with not only the health concerns, but questions around how to maintain our livelihoods moving forward.When Momentum member and pandemic expert Dr. Michael J. Consuelos reached out to offer himself as a resource to the JBE team and the MoMo community, I jumped at the chance to record a conversation for all of you as well. Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://PivotMethod.com/161 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Don’t buy in to the fear / media hype” is something I’ve heard more than once this week. No matter how calm you are staying (or not) there is no doubt our lives are already significantly impacted by the spread and precautions around coronavirus, far beyond fear itself. I feel an urgency to keep this conversation going, with real-time content that addresses what’s going on around us, particularly at the intersection of mind, body, and business (my website mission in 2013-2014 before I started this podcast). Acting like nothing is happening and it’s all just “business as usual” strikes me as out of touch, and certainly not Truth While It’s Fresh (a JBE team value). It’s not business as usual for any of us, and I don’t have to tell you that. There are very real impacts we are all navigating daily. For that reason, I have scrapped or postponed several already-scheduled episodes, and am going to release podcasts more frequently for this series, Pivoting Around a Pandemic. This is something unique in most of our lives — the shuttering of broadway, sports, schools, businesses, — not to mention travel bans, self-quarantine, and the very real possibility our family members or we could get sick before year’s end. This episode is for solopreneurs, but I’ll be doing a range that speak to entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and parents throughout the series. For full show notes from this episode, visit http://pivotmethod.com/160 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With so much happening in the world and global economy around coronavirus, we’re all dealing with massive amounts of uncertainty, pivots at work, and for many—fear and anxiety that comes with not only the health concerns, but questions around how to maintain our livelihoods moving forward.When Momentum member and pandemic expert Dr. Michael J. Consuelos reached out to offer himself as a resource to the JBE team and the MoMo community, I jumped at the chance to record a conversation for all of you as well.In this episode, we discuss how entrepreneurs, leaders and organizations can transition from fear and anxiety toward calm, measured action and experiments. How can we know what actions to take? We can’t. These times require responsiveness, vulnerability, transparency, releasing perfectionism, and a willingness to be far more innovative and creative than we have in the past. Michael and I talk about how to shift from victim to hero, how to quiet internal concerns, and small daily actions to focus on—as well as what organizations and entrepreneurs can we learn from each other during “Black Swan” events like these.This is a wide-ranging, imperfect, in-the-moment response so we could at least start the conversation around how to maintain business continuity while Pivoting around a pandemic, primarily for people in information-based roles and industries — and both of us are open to an ongoing series on this topic if/as you find it helpful! Feel free to submit follow-up questions for a future episode at http://pivotmethod.com/ask.Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://PivotMethod.com/159. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s Pivot Podcast is a field report from seeing one of my heroes live! I attended Oprah’s 2020 Vision Tour: Your Life in Focus in Brooklyn in early February, and I was so curious going into this event that I thought you might like to hear about the experience and key takeaways. Oprah is inviting a different headliner from each stop on the tour (ours was Michelle Obama), so if you want a peek into other cities and guests, listen to her Super Soul Conversations podcast — she’s had equally wonderful conversations with Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Kate Hudson, Tracee Ellis Ross, and more. Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://PivotMethod.com/158. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What kind of company are you building (or working for)? Are you optimizing for chaos or for calm? One of my favorite books from recent years as it relates to company culture — even if you're a culture of one (or one+) — is It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy At Work, by Basecamp co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.Jason and David aim for a calm company, so every chapter (and business area) is about asking the question: How do we create calm? How do we choose calm?This episode is preview lesson from my—totally free!—mini-course, Free-up Founder Time. I cover strategies for time blocking and content batching, and walk you through exactly how I set-up my schedule each week (knowing that life and work never go perfectly to plan).After you listen, register for the course here — in 15 short actionable lessons, I cover topics like content batching, time blocking, getting ready for your big break, courage cookies, luck trucks, and a whole lot more. Each lesson as a combination of helpful tools, templates, podcast episodes, and book recommendations also available in audio format (most are 5-10 minutes long) for learning on the go.Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://PivotMethod.com/157. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m so excited to share this week’s Pivot conversation with one of my longtime friends and most important mentors, Michael Bungay Stanier. We talk about tipping points, preparing for TED Talks, and transitioning out of the CEO role from the company he founded nearly 20 years ago, Box of Crayons. We are also celebrating the launch of his latest brilliant book, The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious, and Change the Way You Lead Forever.To enroll in free upcoming workshops on the Pivot Method as a coaching for managers, mentors, and leaders, visit PivotMethod.com/live. Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at PivotMethod.com/156. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s episode was recorded while on the road, preparing to speak at the International Monetary Fund to help them kick-off new career programs for 2020 (an honor!).Thankful for a quiet hotel room all to myself in the midst of puppy-training (semi)chaos, I stacked a call with my attorney for a licensing contract, then recorded this interview and two solo shows — true to this week’s topic of navigating life as a professional speaker!Grant and I discuss guidance from his new book, The Successful Speaker: Simple Steps to Make a Living Off Your Message, on everything from pricing, to outreach, to navigating life on the road.Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at PivotMethod.com/155. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s solo episode, we have the two-month report from the puppy training trenches! Michael and I brought Ryder home December 8, our little angel-in-a-fur-coat — aka the pup-pup. Take one look at his 8-week old cuteness in the photo gallery below and you'll understand why! For inquiring minds, he's a German Shepherd—albeit a tiny one in the early photos, he has doubled in size in just two months. As our neighbors tell us daily (we make so many friends now!), "Look at those paws! He's gonna be BIIIIIG!"📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/154 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2007, while working within Sheryl Sandberg’s Online Sales and Operations organization at Google, I received a coaching session that changed my life. This was before the word coaching (and careers revolving around it) was ubiquitous outside of the sports arena.In this episode I share more about how that one session helped spark an entire movement that’s still alive within Google today: an internal “drop-in” coaching program—to make coaching accessible, easy to sign up for, and free—for all employees at all levels of the company. I’ll dive into the big themes and mechanics of how to set this up if you’re hoping to run a pilot within your organization. That first coach, Erik, in just two sessions also inspired me to attend coach training myself in 2008, restart my (at the time) sleeping website Life After College, and gave me hope that I could be an author someday . . . and the rest is history :)Shoutout to Denny Clark for submitting the Listener Q&A that inspired this episode! Learn more about Pivot Programs at PivotMethod.com/companies »📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/153 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s episode is another one of my favorite formats, just two new (soul) friends shooting the breeze in what we’ve dubbed a “podcast tango” :) Given that we both have podcasts, we decided to just hit record and do this joint conversation, neither of us officially interviewing the other. I hope you enjoy this conversation jam with insta-BFF Kristoffer “KC” Carter (shout-out to our mutual mensch mentor Jonathan Fields who introduced us!), whose new podcast This Epic Life is one I know you’ll also love. We deepen our budding BFF-ship and discuss the BIG topics of life—including death, dips, permission to shine, business pivots, his yogic and meditation practices, and much more. 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/152 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices