Career Cohort

Have you ever felt like those who work with you don’t support you, even though you’re trying to achieve amazing results? Do they tell you you’re difficult to work with, or that you’re too much? Do you feel like they just don’t understand your intentions? 

My guest today, Parissa Behnia, coaches C-Suite and Senior leaders who are—what she calls—high-will, high-skill badasses. These leaders offer tremendous value to their company, but their edges may start to erode their relationships because their colleagues feel overwhelmed. 

Parissa says badasses are like well-meaning bulls in China shops. They don't mean to break as many dishes as they do, although let’s be honest, a lot of those dishes were ugly anyway.

Modern Badasses are often described as brilliant jerks (or worse). They’re told that they’re too brash, too much, or too colorful.

Live examples of Modern Badasses are Steve Jobs, Gloria Steinem, Thomas Edison, and Malala Yousafzai. You don’t have to like them personally to recognize the impact they’ve had on society. But Parissa is concerned about the ones we’ll never know because they’ve been sidelined, or they didn’t know how to get out of their own way. What technology or gifts to society do we not benefit from because we’ll never meet them?

How can we help Modern Badasses? What lenses have to be changed so they can be seen as important leaders instead of nuisances?

In our conversation, Parissa shares great advice—not only for badasses themselves—but for the people who interact with them every day. People who may be put off by the badass’s need for speed. Parissa knows that these badasses usually have a lot to offer, and if the rest of us can learn to harness that energy, we might find we’re in for an exciting ride.

Parissa is the author of "Modern Badass: Tales from the Leadership Front."

RESOURCES

www.sixensestrategy.com

Don't forget to connect with and follow her:

[email protected]

You can also sign up for my monthly newsletter if you go to my website, ⁠www.wordsofdistinction.net⁠.

Have a wonderful day!

So you've landed a new role. CONGRATULATIONS! 🎉

Now...have you refreshed your LinkedIn profile to reflect your new position?

If you prepared for your new job with a LinkedIn profile overhaul, you (or a professional writer) have already done the heavy lifting. So a quick refresh should be easy.

Just remember that your profile is a dynamic site. It’s meant to evolve just as you and your career are. So be careful not to set it and forget it.

In this episode, I share steps you can take NOW to refresh each LinkedIn profile section.

The best part? Unlike house spring cleaning, you should be able to do this in under an hour.

Connect with me on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/emilysfwong and let me know if you were able to complete your refresh in one hour.

I'm cheering for you!

Where are your feet right now?

Seriously. Are both planted firmly on the floor or is one wrapped around the other to make yourself small?

Grounding yourself is just one of the surprisingly simple tactics Catherine Johns shares for supporting a more assertive posture.

In business, showing up means being seen, being heard, and making an impact. Catherine Johns reveals how to step into the spotlight with confidence and a strong presence, no matter the situation.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

Catherine is a communication ninja with a wealth of experience in radio, stage, and other public speaking environments. Her expertise lies in helping professionals enhance their personal presence and transform the way they communicate.

I’ve been following Catherine for a while because I can always count on actionable tips, often wrapped in a humorous story from her own experience.

Catherine is a true treasure when it comes to knowledge, and I just felt compelled to share her with you. For a deeper dive, you can find her book, Show Up and Shine: Simple steps to boost your confidence and charisma, on Amazon.

Be sure to connect with Catherine on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/catherinejohns) and on her website, www.catherinejohns.com.

One of the challenges I see job seekers facing when they send me their resume is distinguishing between scope and achievements.

But there is a difference.

Scope is the context within which you do your job. Or, you might think of it as the setting for you to razzle dazzle your audience with your amazing achievements.

Scope captures the breadth of your job and/or leadership. Examples might include the number of people on your team, the value of a portfolio you inherited, or the territory for which you’re accountable.

Scope is important to include in your resume because it demonstrates your ability to lead and manage initiatives. But it’s those BIG, JUICY achievements that set you apart.

Let’s use territory management as an example.

You’re talking about scope if you say you managed markets that included North America, Europe, and Asia.

BUT You’re talking about an achievement if you say you expanded that market by 80% in under two years.

How about team leadership?

If you say you led a team of 150 high performers, you’re still talking about scope.

On the other hand, if you say you built a team of 150 high performers from scratch, that’s an achievement.

Here’s one more example:

Say you’re communicating what you do in sales.

If you simply say you managed a $60M portfolio, that’s scope.

However, if you say you grew your portfolio from $10M to $60M in one year…now that’s quite an achievement!

So, to clarify the difference…

SCOPE speaks to your role, while ACHIEVEMENT speaks to your results.

TIPS:

🌐 Include scope in the paragraph under each job title.

🏆 Reserve your bullets for those BOLD and BODACIOUS impact stories.

By the way, if you’d like to get tips like this more frequently, I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. Please do connect with me. You can find me at www.linkedin.com/in/emilysfwong. When you do connect, please let me know that you heard me on this podcast, and let me know if there’s a topic you’d like to cover. 

You can also sign up for my monthly newsletter if you go to my website, www.wordsofdistinction.net.

Have a wonderful day!

Gina Riley is an authority on career transition at the powerful convergence of career coaching, executive search, and interview skills training. She created the Career Velocity™ system to help leaders and executives effectively manage career transitions. An inspirational writer and speaker, Gina is a certified YouMap® coach and two-time Disrupt HR speaker, sought after for her thought leadership on career transition management, professional networking, branding, and leadership development.

Although Gina and I typically work with executives, I asked her to join me on my show to chat about a different demographic after I watched her powerful DisruptHR presentation, Are We Ready for a Latchkey Workforce? Gina and I share a concern for Gen Z on a personal level, as we both have young adults who are now launching their careers in a post-covid world.

After listening to this episode, Gina and I hope you will:

Connect with Gina Riley:

You can find Gina on LinkedIn. Be sure to include a personal note when you reach out to her at ⁠www.linkedin.com/in/ginariley

Gina also offers a free career transition guide on her website. Just click on the green button at the top of her homepage, at www.GinaRileyConsulting.com.

Connect with Emily Wong:

⭐Loved this episode? Please leave us a review and rating on your favorite podcast platform⭐

📢 Note: This episode wraps up season 6. I'll kick off Season 7 on April 10th. Until then, please enjoy this and other episodes from season 6 and beyond! 

👇👇👇

"If you have a lot of training and you have a culture within yourself of training and development, you're going to be more successful, I think, in life and in your career, and you're going to have more job security."—Adam Corn

Adam Corn has been designing, developing, and implementing innovative training programs for government agencies and tech companies around the globe for 25 years.

After serving as an Intelligence Officer, Adam completed his federal service as a professor at National Defense University at Fort McNair, where he designed and taught Master's Degree-level courses focused on counterinsurgency and critical infrastructure protection. In 2015, Adam transitioned to the private sector, where he has spent the past 7 years building cutting-edge global physical security and L&D programs for Google, Fitbit, Facebook/Meta, and GoFundMe. 

Early on, Adam saw an opportunity to improve learning and development programs—which were typically canned, generic, and not focused on the company's or their employees' specific needs. 

He knew this was a gap he could fill, and he now works to create engaging and effective learning & development programs using principles from TV commercials to keep them interesting and memorable. He believes everyone should have access to training that is fun, joyful, and effective.

A fierce employee advocate, Adam understands that investing in training and development is a surefire way to success in life and career. 

In this episode, Adam talks about:

💡 How to influence learning & development programs—even if they're outside of your assigned business unit.

💡 How to create engaging and effective training experiences for your teams.

💡 How to use humor and psychological tricks to engage learners in training experiences.

Resources:

Connect with Adam Corn at www.linkedin.com/in/adamcorn1/

Connect with me, too!

If you need help articulating your career experience in a resume, LinkedIn, or interviews, connect with me at [email protected] and I'll send you a link to schedule a free discovery call to assess your needs. Or visit my website, www.wordsofdistinction.net

⭐Loved this episode? Please leave us a review and rating on your favorite podcast platform⭐

Anne Janzer is an author, nonfiction book coach and blogger who explores the science and mystery of writing as a means of communication. She is the author of "The Workplace Writer's Process" and "33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business Emails," among other excellent books on the art of writing.

Anne conceived the term “Servant Authorship,” which is the idea of writing with the reader's needs in mind. She outlines the importance of this approach as the foundation of effective communication—to get out of our own heads and connect with our readers. 

She shares power tips to rewrite and tune our content with the reader in mind, prompting us to think from the perspective of the recipient. Anne also encourages us to use ChatGPT as a tool for brainstorming ideas—but NOT to rely on AI for our final written work. 

In this episode, we discuss the following:

1. How to write with a servant leadership approach to engage readers—especially those who are reading our resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles.

2. Tips to make emails more concise, effective, and respectful.

3. Advice re: how to use Chat GPT and other AI tools without sacrificing authenticity.

Find Anne at AnneJanzer.com and sign up for her newsletter. You’ll get consistently excellent tips to improve your writing.

For resume writing services and career advice, visit my website, wordsofdistinction.net, and sign up for my newsletter.

"Be willing to put yourself out there and be willing to take some criticism. Take risks and make your own luck by being strategic, explicating your goals, asking questions, and pushing yourself beyond your scope of work." - Zach Wong

If you can get people to set aside their agenda to help you, you're pretty darned amazing—and you're a leader.

BY THE WAY...

5 Steps to Get Moving and Land a Fabulous Job

If you’re struggling to get started or gain traction on your job search,  I offer a free, downloadable guide that can help!  

The guide is for you if you’re struggling to get started or gain traction on your job search, and I have to tell you, I’ve already gotten a great response from a number of job seekers.

The guide is called: 5 steps to get moving and land a fabulous job, and it’s definitely for you if you’re struggling to actually get started on your job search and then manage your time around your search.

When you download the guide, you'll also get 4-5 emails with follow-up tips, tricks, and challenges to help you move forward in your search. And you'll even get access to my resume samples.

So if you need a little extra fuel to help you get moving toward that fabulous job, head on over to launchyourjobsearch.com and download the 5 steps.

Connect with me:

For more tips and advice for your job search, I post regularly on LinkedIn (emilysfwong), Instagram (@yourresumecoach), Facebook (@careersemily), and Twitter (@careersemily)

You can also follow my blog, sign up for my monthly job search tips, and schedule a free discovery call at www.wordsofdistinction.net.

Thanks so much for listening!

It's time. You can break through the glass ceiling and reach the C-Suite.

In Pooja Dang's decades of experience coaching women leaders, she's seen patterns of self-doubt, fear of failure, imposter syndrome, and the disease to please emerge over and over. Mindsets that get in the way of women reaching their full potential.

She also saw a gap in practical, strategic advice specific to women and the challenges they face in the professional space.

Her book, SHE Rises, was born from a need to fill that gap and share her proven strategies with a broader audience of women.

In this episode, you will learn:

Pooja is a women’s executive and leadership coach working with ambitious women looking to break through the glass ceiling and into the C-suite—or move up a few rungs on the career ladder.

She's the coaching powerhouse behind the rise of over 500 female leaders into more money, more recognition, and more influence at startups and companies such as IDEO, Meta, and GoPro. With proven scientific strategies, transformative behavior tools, and a no-BS approach, her mission is to see more women living confidently at the top of their game.

To read more, connect with Pooja, and find more advice like this, visit www.wordsofdistinction.net