Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“Feeling connection is the same whether I’m in front of an audience with a guitar, or behind a desk talking to someone about what they’ve done the last 40 years. As a corporate executive, you have to connect with people and then pick up that thread and pass it along to someone else.” - Tony Vlahos

As we have just celebrated the holidays and are beginning another chapter in a brand new year, once again I’ll be sharing my “Holiday Picks” selections, featuring some of the top Finding Brave episodes that have previously aired, to help you have even more bravery and motivation to pursue your most exciting goals in 2022.

Today we look back on a powerful episode from October 2019, where our guest revealed how your personal story and the difference that you can make with it is something that can set you apart from others. He also shared the way that storytelling your career can be your secret competitive advantage, and how stand-out brands and the compelling stories those brands communicate are deeply connected to each other. And he reveals the components of a riveting story that you can use to craft your story and growing your own brand today. 

Tony Vlahos is the Chief Storyteller and Head of Brand and Partnerships (aka CMO) of ExecuNet, one of the most trusted brands in senior-level executive job search and a premier destination for high performers who want to stay on top of their game in the world of work, as leaders, and as a matter of wellbeing.

Since Tony joined the company in 2007, membership has grown exponentially, through meaningful marketing stories that capture attention, entertain, enlighten, and persuade all in the course of just a few minutes. The past several years the ExecuNet brand has also come to be known as the Storytelling Capital for Individual Executives seeking compelling ways to set themselves apart in the corporate world and achieve greater results in their careers and in business.

The impactful strategies that Tony presents here will change how you talk about yourself, and allow you to more fully embrace and value all of who you are, which will be the quickest path to your ultimate success. 

To learn more about today's guest, visit: https://www.execunet.com/ 

Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“You just have to believe that there’s a higher version of you that you can tap into and that can access higher-level wisdom, insight, solutions, strategies, people, and connections. If you believe it, and if you believe it strongly, it’s amazing what happens in your life.” - Kathy Caprino 

As we approach the end of another year, once again I’ll be sharing my “Holiday Picks” selections, featuring some of the top Finding Brave episodes that have previously aired, to help you enter 2022 with even more bravery and motivation to pursue your goals. 

Today, I’m excited to bring you an episode from late 2018, where I shared a helpful year-end strategy of reflection -- the process of reflecting back on the past year in an in-depth, careful and probing way, exploring all that you’ve learned and experienced, created, and also “failed” at -- as an effective step to get clearer clear on what you really want in your life. 

This reflection process helps you connect in a powerful, juicy way with your ultimate dreams and desires, and it highlights where you’ve been living “off course” - far away from what your most authentic self really wants. 

In this episode, I explore what I've found to be six essential reflection questions that are perfect for this time of year, to help us take stock, expand our gratitude and appreciation for all that we are today, and set the wheels in motion for shifting our approach to how we operate, communicate, and engage with others and with our core challenges and power gaps. This reflection process hatches important new revelations, and sets the stage for a brand new future.

As always, be gentle and compassionate with yourself as you reflect, and remember that everything that’s happened can be used to bolster and uplift you, if you let it.

At the end of the show, I sing a little song to welcome in the New Year, from my heart to yours.

I’d love to hear how your answers to these six questions impact you. And  I welcome your suggestions for any future topics or interviewees that you’re interested in. Please reach out to me by email, or on social media via LinkedIn, or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and say hello and share your ideas!

I wish you and your family very Happy Holidays and I’m looking forward to serving you fresh, new episodes of Finding Brave in 2022 that will move you forward to create life and work as you dream it to be.

Happy New Year!

Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“Self-pity is when you exaggerate how bad your life is. When you start to get helpless, hopeless, and you think there’s no hope and life can never get better, you dig in your heels and stay stuck. So if you say you are going to work on not feeling sorry for yourself, instead say that you’re going to work on gratitude. That’s one really simple way to start changing your life and building mental muscle.” - Amy Morin

As we approach the end of another year, once again I’ll be sharing my “Holiday Picks” selections, featuring some of the top Finding Brave episodes that have previously aired, to help you enter 2022 with even more bravery and motivation to pursue your goals. 

In today’s episode, I bring you one of our most popular episodes, which featured a conversation on what you can start doing right now to change the way you think, train your brain to work for you (not against you), and to build the mental strength that you need to reach your greatest potential.

Amy Morin is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and psychology lecturer at Northeastern University. She’s also an international bestselling author of four books, including 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do (translated into more than 40 languages), 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do, and 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do and her latest, 13 Things Strong Kids Do. The Guardian dubbed her “the self-help guru of the moment” and Forbes calls her a “thought leadership star.”

Her TEDx talk, The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong, is one of the most popular talks of all time with close to 20 million views. She is editor-in-chief of Very Well Mind and a regular contributor to Forbes, Business Insider, and Psychology Today, with articles  on mental strength reaching more than 2 million readers every month.

Her advice for building mental strength has been featured by major media outlets, including Fox News, CNN, Oprah.com, Today, Good Morning America, Success, Business Insider, Time, and the Hallmark Channel.

In this episode Amy shares her framework for learning to control your emotions and take positive actions, which will result in you taking back your power. Amy is someone who is not only inspirational as a wonderful therapist, but as a writer and influencer in the way that she crafts her messages, which is why I’m so excited to bring you this conversation with her today.  

Interestingly, we recorded this well before the global pandemic hit, but each insight that Amy shares can be used today, to help us cope and even thrive through these very trying times.

To learn more about today's guest, visit: https://amymorinlcsw.com/ 

Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“It’s about balance, isn’t it? We’ve got to be able to spend money on ourselves without feeling guilt, shame, or judgment, but we also have to understand that we need to be able to save for our future self too. It’s about getting the balance between the two.” - Catherine Morgan

Today’s Finding Brave features the second of our two-part series on building financial wellbeing into your life and work, and in this episode, our expert guest shares more on how our beliefs around money are formed, the differences in how men and women view money, where people in relationships often go wrong when talking about this subject, and so much more.

Catherine Morgan is a multi-award winning qualified Financial Planner and award-winning Certified Financial Coach, on a mission to reduce financial anxiety and increase financial empowerment and resilience for 1 million women around the world. Featured in Business Leader as one of the top 32 female entrepreneurs to look out for, she is host of the top 1% global podcast -‘In Her Financial Shoes’ - and founder of The Money Panel ®. After almost losing her son at 5 weeks old to meningitis and spending years in “debt shame” cycles, she became determined to help women to release the guilt and shame they attach to money and change the financial services profession from one that is focused on products to a focus on behavioral change, which is transformational.

Catherine is the author of the Amazon best-selling book, The Woman I’m Becoming: Reflections to Empower the Females of Our Future and her latest book, It's Not About the Money: 3 Steps to Become a Wealthy Woman, which was released in December 2021.

As Catherine reveals, like life, our relationship with money is an internal job first. If you fail to recognize (or ignore) the need to do the internal work -- including serious introspection and evaluation -- around your money situation, you won’t be able to generate the results that you truly desire.

We would love to hear your questions and feedback on both this episode and last week’s show, and we hope this information helps you move forward in leading a richer, more fulfilling and rewarding life. To learn more about today's guest, visit: https://catherinemorgan.com/

Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“How much money we have doesn’t make us a better or worse person, but the beliefs that we carry and the meaning that we attach to money is then what we attach to our sense of self.” - Catherine Morgan

Experiencing deep stress, anxiety and confusion around our financial situation is something so many millions of people are struggling with today, or have experienced in the past. With the holidays approaching, I believe it’s a perfect time to explore this topic further, to gain greater awareness of what we can do to expand our financial wellbeing now and in the months to come. Today’s Finding Brave guest shares why we are all deserving of wealth, and shares key mindset shifts and action steps to take to begin building more wealth and achieving true financial wellbeing.

Catherine Morgan is a multi-award winning qualified Financial Planner and award-winning Certified Financial Coach, on a mission to reduce financial anxiety and increase financial empowerment and resilience for 1 million women around the world. Featured in Business Leader as one of the top 32 female entrepreneurs to look out for, she is host of the top 1% global podcast -‘In Her Financial Shoes’ - and founder of The Money Panel ®. After almost losing her son at 5 weeks old to meningitis and spending years in “debt shame” cycles, she became determined to help women to release the guilt and shame they attach to money and change the financial services profession from one that is focused on products to a focus on behavioral change, which is transformational.

Catherine is the author of the Amazon best-selling book, The Woman I’m Becoming: Reflections to Empower the Females of Our Future and her latest book, It's Not About the Money: 3 Steps to Become a Wealthy Woman, which was released in December 2021.

This is such an important topic, and the conversation with Catherine touches on such critical aspects around money, that we decided to air the entirety of the episode in two parts. Please make sure to tune in next week to hear more on how you can strengthen your financial wellbeing as we head into a brand new year!

To learn more about today's guest, visit: https://catherinemorgan.com/ 

Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“When we don’t take action, we become complicit with the status quo, meaning we are ok with how things are, how things are unfolding, and how our culture is. That’s why it’s important to realize that we all have a role to play to stand up, to move from being a bystander of something to an upstander for what we believe is right.” - Karen Catlin

Being an ally and building a more inclusive work culture is a job for everyone in the workplace, not just for people who work in Diversity and Inclusion roles. Today’s Finding Brave guest shares how being an ally is a journey that starts with a single step, and in this episode, she reveals what we all can do to ensure equality in the workplace, and in all parts of society.

After spending 25 years building software products and serving as a vice president of engineering at Adobe, Karen Catlin witnessed a sharp decline in the number of women working in tech. Frustrated but galvanized, she knew it was time to switch gears. Today, Karen is a leadership coach and a highly acclaimed author and speaker on inclusive workplaces. She is the author of three books, including Better Allies: Everyday Actions to Create Inclusive, Engaging Workplaces, which we will discuss today.

There is so much that we’re not aware of that gives us benefits and privileges, but as an ally, the more that we can become aware of and explore these seemingly small things, while not judging or avoiding these issues, the better we all will be.

I encourage you to review Karen’s list, “50 Potential Privileges in the Workplace” that is linked in the show notes for this episode, and explore the emotions that come up for you with each one. The work won’t be easy to do, but it is necessary for us to see real change in the world. And check out our recent interview in my Forbes column on 5 Errors Managers Make When Providing Feedback To Employees.

To learn more about today's guest, visit: https://karencatlin.com/  or https://betterallies.com/ 

Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“When you’re getting together with family, friends, your parents, and with your siblings, don’t keep using the stories from the past as an excuse to feel what you feel today.” – Kathy Caprino

I’m excited to bring you this “Special Holiday Pick” episode, perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States, and for the upcoming holiday season

You may think that pain and conflict with family and friends during the busy holiday season is unavoidable, but on today’s episode of Finding Brave I’m offering 5 practical and doable strategies that will help.

These strategies aren’t just what I’ve learned as a therapist and career coach supporting others, but what I talk about today touches on real-life challenges and struggles I’ve personally experienced throughout my life.

Using these strategies will allow you to find ways to be more loving, compassionate, joyful, and grateful all at the same time. Given all the challenges we’ve experienced these past months and years together, it’s time to dig deep in our hearts and spirits this holiday season and embrace more joy, empathy and kindness – in ourselves and others. 

Make a commitment today to see more good in others and the world and to emphasize and build on what you have in common, what you love and cherish together. This will help your holidays with family and friends go very differently, I guarantee it.

Since this episode originally aired, I’ve recorded more amazing interviews with guests that offer transformative strategies that are helpful in reducing conflict not only during the holidays, but throughout the year. Check out the show notes below to find these resources. And please let me know how these ideas and suggestions help you navigate conflict in new, more productive ways. I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“Cash loves clarity, and the clearer that you can be on who you serve, what you provide, and how you help, the more referable you will become, the easier it becomes for people to talk about you, and the easier it becomes for business to come to you. That’s how we transform businesses.” - Laura Khalil

There are key pitfalls that coaches, consultants, and creatives make when growing their businesses, but today’s Finding Brave expert guest shows how it is possible to accelerate growth with just a few small, key shifts. In this episode, she reveals three simple questions that business owners can ask that will provide predictable revenue, and consistent growth.

Laura Khalil is the founder of Brave by Design and her key focus is on rebalancing the scales of financial justice for women. Laura helps consultants and creatives move from burned out to building thriving businesses filled with ideal clients, in only 30 minutes a day - even if they hate sales and marketing. As a business owner, you will find it requires bravery to ask and answer these questions and implement the changes necessary, but the strategies and perspectives that Laura discusses today will help you move down the path to getting what you want, and what you deserve through offering your great work in service of others.

For more information about today's guest, visit: https://www.bravebydesign.net/ 

Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“I realized I was playing a role, and in fact, many different roles depending on the room I was in. These are stories, and I can change the stories. I can choose a different story, or I can choose another adventure at any moment or time.” - Heather Hubbard

So much of what we experience in our lives is a result of the stories that we tell ourselves and others, and today’s Finding Brave guest shares how it is possible to rewrite these stories so that they empower you in ways that you never could have imagined.

Heather Hubbard is the Founder of Simple Courage – a media company, movement, and community focused on cultivating the courage needed for individual and collective change. Prior to starting her own company, Heather was a prominent, award-winning entertainment and intellectual property attorney and manager at one of the largest law firms in the U.S., as well as a go-to business advisor and strategist. She's been featured in Forbes, NBC, Business Insider, Grammy Magazine and more.

The personal stories and insights that Heather reveals in this conversation are so deeply honest and authentic, and what she shares is the epitome of courage. This is why I’m so pleased to introduce her to you.

To learn more about Heather and her mission at Simple Courage, visit https://simplecourage.com/ , where you can sign up for the newsletter list to be notified of her free upcoming challenge.

Thank you for listening to our Finding Brave show, ranked in the Top 100 Apple Career Podcasts!

“Know that you’re amazing. Every individual on the planet is, and the world needs your talents and your abilities desperately. Can you trust and accept the fact that you are special and you are unique, and that now is the time to recognize that clearly?” - Kathy Caprino 

We’re thrilled to share today’s 200th episode of Finding Brave with you! 

Before we begin, I would like to thank each and every one of you, our listeners, for helping us reach this big milestone of our 200th episode. We’re so grateful for your amazing support, feedback and listening ears helping the show thrive over these three years. We’re so very grateful to you. Creating this podcast has been one of the most joyful and rewarding professional endeavors I’ve ever worked on, and I pinch myself every day for the blessing of learning from so many or our amazing guests, and hearing from our listeners who share their riveting feedback.

I also want to send a huge thank you to my team at Kathy Caprino LLC and PodAssist.com, whose magic helps make this show possible. Together, we look forward to continuing to bring new content to you each week. 

To celebrate this milestone, we are offering something special that we hope will move you forward fast on your “finding brave” path to building your career, life and business as you truly want it. 

As we’ve had so many amazing guests who’ve inspired us with their messages, books, talks and more, and we have compiled a selection of brief highlights from 16 episodes over the past three years that reflect the following characteristics. They:

1) Are among the most downloaded and listened-to episodes of the show

2) Impacted me personally in a very powerful way and created an immediate and potent shift for me, in mindset, behavior or perspective

3) Received the most number of shares and comments, either to me directly or on social media where listeners accessed these episodes.

I’ve included several solo episodes that were the most popular as well. 

I do hope that these excerpts will make a positive difference in your life. And I hope you’ll go back and listen to the full episodes that have been excerpted, to benefit from the rich conversations with each of these inspiring guests.

A Word About My New Course The Most Powerful You

Before we begin the episode, I would like to ask a favor regarding my new course, The Most Powerful You. This course is the digital companion to my new book The Most Powerful You: 7 Bravery-Boosting Paths to Career Bliss. The training course is designed to help professionals of all levels and careers -- and their organizations and leaders - receive the training they need to close what my research has found are the 7 most damaging power gaps that impact 98% of women and 90% of men today.  These gaps block professionals from reaching their highest potential at work, and their most rewarding and thrilling goals and visions for their careers and professional roles. When we face these gaps, we struggle and fail to thrive in our work, careers and businesses. 

If you are a manager, leader, or serve in HR or DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) capacities or know friends and colleagues who do, I sincerely hope you will point them to The Most Powerful You course at https://mostpowerfulyou.com --  or feel free to reach out directly for more info. This course is truly transformational in helping professionals contribute as they long to, making a positive and powerful impact.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy this special episode! As always, We’d love to hear your feedback on this show, and for those who haven’t rated or reviewed Finding Brave on Apple Podcasts, please consider doing so as it truly helps expand the reach of the show.