Disrupt Your Career

Al is the founder of Betterwork Labs, a talent advisory firm, and works with companies on how to attract, develop, and retain diverse workforces. Throughout his professional career, he has helped hundreds of professionals build growth-oriented mindsets and achieve their career goals. He also writes, researches, and speaks about trends related to the future of career development, learning, and the employee experience. Al received his Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Theology from Boston College, and his MBA from the University of North Carolina Chapel-Hill.We met with Al as we share a common passion for helping individuals and organizations flourish in the changing world of work. We talk with Al about his own career journey, his transition out of corporations to becoming a full time solo entrepreneur, his advice to early career professionals, why he wrote The MBA Insider and what are the main ideas from his book, examples of inspiring guests from his podcast, what Al would like to see organizations doing better when managing talent and careers, what he would like to change about the world of work and his most exciting projects going forward. Links from the episode: Al’s Betterwork Labs homepageAl’s MBASchooled community and MBA Insider podcastAl’s book MBA InsiderAl’s LinkedIn profileThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

Avivah is a speaker, author, consultant and CEO of 20-first, one of the world’s leading gender balance consultancies. She is a global expert on 21st century leadership, gender and generational balance, longevity and the future of work and careers. Avivah is currently finishing up a year at Harvard as a 2022 Advanced Leadership Fellow researching longevity and gender differences in aging. She blogs at Harvard Business Review and has authored several best-selling books. She speaks widely at leadership conferences and events across the globe, is a certified coach and is the Founder and Honorary President of the European Professional Women’s Network.We talk with Avivah about her own career journey, the improvements she has seen in the long crusade towards building the 50/50 balance between genders in business, how she pivoted from the topic of gender to the topic of generations and aging, the challenges and opportunities around longevity and multi-generational workplaces, her advice in this respect both for organizations and individuals, the characteristics of leaders who are successfully creating balance in their organizations, her experience at Harvard researching longevity and gender differences in aging – and how to manage individuals and teams through the 3rd and 4th Quarters of 100-year lives – plus her many other exciting projects coming up. Links from the episode: 20-First homepageThriving to 100 homepageAvivah’s LinkedIn profileAvivah’s Elderberries blogThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

Mark is a coach, mentor, advisor, consultant, angel investor, and executive. He is the founder and CEO of CoreAxis Consulting, an award-winning learning & development and talent management firm, Katama, an agency specializing in sales strategy, marketing, and customer success, and Recipi, a digital marketing agency. His book "The #Pace Process for Early Career Success" is designed to help young adults prepare for the workforce and explain the challenges you will experience chasing your dreams.We talk with Mark about his own career journey, the nature and challenges of moving in and out of corporate employment, the lessons he learned along the way, his motivation to write The #Pace Process, the main ideas of the book, the importance for Millennials and Gen-Zers of seeking out ‘tough love’ from the people around them, what Mark would like to see organizations doing better when it comes to talent and career management and what he would like to see change in the world of work.Links from the episode: Mark’s  personal homepageMark’s book The #PACE Process for Early Career SuccessMark’s LinkedIn profileThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

Michael Wenderoth is an executive coach who helps leaders ethically leverage power and politics to ascend. He has written for Harvard Business Review, Forbes and is the author of Get Promoted: What You're Really Missing at Work That's Holding You Back. Prior to becoming an executive coach, Michael served for 20 years in senior roles on breakthrough businesses in the U.S., China and Europe. Michael holds an MBA from Stanford Business School and trained as an executive coach at Columbia University.We talk with Michael about his career journey and the lessons he learned along the way, his advice for early career professionals starting their careers, his motivation to write Get Promoted and the book’s mains ideas, his 3-Part Power framework with concrete examples and tips, how to network with powerful people, what he would like to see change in the world of work, organizations that are doing better when it comes to talent and career management, and his most exciting projects for 2022.Links from the episode: Michael’s  personal websiteMichael’s book Get PromotedMichael’s LinkedIn profileThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

Angela Lane and Sergey Gorbatov work and write about the complex science of human performance, while making it simple. Both are practicing senior executives in talent management, leveraging Fortune 500 experience gained across four continents. Angela and Sergey equip leaders with practical tools for success. They are researchers, adjunct professors at IE University, regular contributors to journals and the authors of “FairTalk: Three Steps to Powerful Feedback.”We talk with Angela and Sergey about their own career journeys, what led them to create The Edge website, the elements of their Career Edge model, behaviors that can get people’s careers into trouble, why the idea of ‘career sacrifice’ should be challenged, the notion of making trade-offs in one’s career and how to base career decisions on strategy rather than fear, steps to provide powerful feedback from their book ‘Fair Talk’, examples of good talent and career management practices from companies, what should change in the world of work, and what’s coming next for both of them.Links from the episode: Angela and Sergey’s Edge website     Angela and Sergey’s Fair Talk book Angela’s LinkedIn profileSergey’s LinkedIn profileThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

As a keynote speaker, career consultant, podcast host, webinar host, and certified coach, Joseph Liu leverages 10 years of experience relaunching consumer brands combined with professional coaching to help people relaunch their personal brands. As host of the Career Relaunch® podcast and an international keynote speaker, he has crossed paths with thousands of professionals during their career turning points, sharing and learning about what it takes to successfully change career directions. He shares these insights with his clients and as a contributing writer to Forbes, Fast Company, and Glassdoor.We talk with Joseph about his own career journey and the key lessons he has learned along the way, how his identity shifted from the corporate world to independent consulting, his advice to early career professionals, the origins, audience and a few guest stories of his Career Relaunch podcast, his philosophy of letting go to make room for something else more meaningful, his 7-step Career Change Roadmap to clarify how to relaunch your own career, which organizations he sees as good examples of talent and career management and other exciting prospects on his horizon for the rest of the year.Links from the episode: Joseph’s personal websiteJoseph’s Career Relaunch podcastJoseph’s LinkedIn profileThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

Karen Loon is a Non-Executive Director and a former Big 4 senior partner. A recognized thought leader and speaker on workplace diversity and inclusion, she is the author of the book Fostering Culturally Diverse Leadership in Organisations: Lessons from Those Who Smashed the Bamboo Ceiling. Karen has qualifications in system psychodynamics and governance from INSEAD, and research interests in identity work and organisational change.We talk with Karen about her own career journey, the lessons she learned as she transitioned out of PwC, how to prepare for corporate board director roles, what motivated her to write Fostering Culturally Diverse Leadership in Organisations, the notion of bamboo ceiling and the lessons she learned from those who smashed it, what progress companies are making in bringing diversity and inclusion, the characteristics of leaders who create culturally diverse workplaces, and Karen’s biggest wishes to make the world of work better. Links from the episode: Karen’s personal websiteKaren’s book Fostering Culturally Diverse Leadership in OrganisationsKaren’s LinkedIn profileThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

Elina is a career strategy and talent management expert. She is the founder of Careergenic, helping clients all over Europe find their next career placement in top companies without applying online. A former Human Resources manager with international experience in talent acquisition, development and training, she held senior positions at IE Business School with responsibility for MBA Employability, Career Strategy, and Employer Relations and Partnerships. Elina holds an MBA degree from IE Business School. She worked and lived in Spain, Ukraine, Poland, Belgium and France.We talk with Elina about her own career journey, her advice to students who are looking to start or develop their early careers, the typical traps or mistakes they should be avoiding as they go into their next stage of career, her view about how employers are evolving in their ways of attracting, retaining and developing the right talent and the new ideas and projects she has focused on more recently. Links from the episode: Elina’s LinkedIn profileIE Business school’s Talent & Careers websiteThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

Sharath is a leading expert on intrinsic motivation, direction and potential. He is the Executive Chairman of Intrinsic Labs and the author of Intrinsic: A Manifesto to Reignite Our Inner Drive. Sharath was awarded an OBE in the 2022 Queen's New Year's Honours for founding and leading STiR Education, an initiative which re-ignited the motivation of 200,000 teachers, 35,000 schools and 7 million children in emerging countries. He holds degrees from Cambridge University, Oxford University and INSEAD. We talk with Sharath about his own career journey, his STiR Education initiative, the notion of intrinsic motivation, why he wrote Intrinsic and what are the main ideas of this book, how he thinks organizations and leaders should respond to this shift of thinking, his message to those who are getting ready to enter the workplace, and the new ideas and project he is exploring in 2022. Links from the episode: Sharath’s Intrinsic Labs websiteSharath’s book IntrinsicSharath’s LinkedIn profileThe STiR Education websiteThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

Marc Miller’s career journey included 22 years at IBM, several tech startups, a stint as a high school teacher, a gig raising funds for a community association and a near-fatal bicycle accident that changed his perspective forever. After thirty years of multiple career pivots, Marc realized he’d found his vocation and would use his extensive experience to help others—especially Baby Boomers—find careers that they could grow into. Marc is passionate about his work and the clients he serves. He’s taught in more than 35 countries and helped clients from many industries.We talk with Marc about his own career story and what he learned along the way, how he sees careers evolving especially for those in their second half of life, the importance of experimenting and networking, how companies may better support individuals in managing their career, and how he enjoys seeing people grow and helping one another through his podcast and online community.Links from the episode: Marc’s Career Pivot WebsiteMarc’s book Repurpose Your CareerMarc’s Career Pivot Membership CommunityMarc’s LinkedIn profileThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast