Second Calling: Life Purpose for Professionals at an Inflection Point

What do you do when your job keeps changing in ways that pull you away from the work you love? Sometimes keeping what matters means changing the job around it.

Steve Wilson knew by thirteen that he wanted to study companies for a living, a fascination that began with farm shows on early-morning TV. At twenty-five, he was running the investment department of a 9,000-employee insurance company. Within a year, he walked away, because the job left him no time for the investing he loved.

It wasn’t the last time he made that choice. Steve and I talk about why the next rung on the ladder isn’t always a step toward what you want, and what it takes to protect your core work when the organization around you changes. As Steve puts it, “I’m trying to preserve one thing.”

We also explore what happens when the part of your work you loved most disappears through no choice of your own, and how a casual conversation led Steve into a classroom he never planned to enter. Along the way, he offers a simple Sunday-night test for whether your work still energizes you.

If you’ve climbed into a role that no longer includes the work you came for, and you’re wondering how to get back to it, this conversation is for you.

Guest Bio: In 2023, Steve Wilson joined the faculty of UConn's Business School as the Director of the Investment Management Initiative. He took on this role after 43 years of managing institutional equities for leading organizations in the US and Europe. His is the founder and director of the UConn Opportunity Fund Project.  His latest venture is as the Managing Director of the University Female Investors International Network, an organization dedicated to creating a supportive community for women just beginning their careers in finance.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-wilson-19817329a/?isSelfProfile=false

https://opportunityfund.business.uconn.edu/

https://www.instagram.com/uconnopportunityfundproject/

https://ufiinsin.com/

https://www.instagram.com/UFIINSIN/

CONNECT WITH BRADLEY WRIGHT / SECOND CALLING

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Website:  https://bradleywrightphd.com/ 

Email: [email protected]

How do you know when it’s time to leave a career you once loved? And what do you make of the quiet desire that keeps returning, no matter how long you put it off?

Hannah Kissel built a successful sales career at LinkedIn, but after severe burnout, returning felt like “a betrayal of self.” She now runs an executive coaching business and is writing her first novel, following a desire that had stayed with her since adolescence.

We explore what it means to listen to that persistent inner voice while facing the uncertainty of a different working life. Hannah also questions the assumption that following a calling means doing it full time: writing matters deeply to her, but so does helping people in groups.

Those groups have also shaped her own transitions. From getting sober to becoming an entrepreneur, Hannah has sought out people who make a different way of living feel possible. Her approach begins with a simple question: Who is already living the change I want to make?

If you’re questioning a career that has served you well, or wondering how long you can keep postponing something important to you, this conversation is for you.

LEARN MORE ABOUT HANNAH KISSEL
Website: http://www.hannahkissel.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahkissel/
Free Career Confidence Course: https://www.hannahkissel.com/careerconfidence
Hannah Hotline Podcast: https://www.hannahkissel.com/podcast

CONNECT WITH BRADLEY WRIGHT 
Newsletter: https://bradleywrightphd.com/essays
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleywrightphd/
Website: https://bradleywrightphd.com/

What happens when something completely outside the life you’ve built starts pulling at your attention? Is it just a passing curiosity—or could it be the beginning of your next calling?

David Dachinger’s career has taken some remarkable turns. He began in the music world, eventually composing for major television sports and earning a Grammy nomination. Then, after moving next door to a firehouse and simply accepting an invitation to attend a drill, he discovered an entirely different kind of purpose. He became a career firefighter and lieutenant, and later moved into work supporting the mental health and resilience of first responders.

David’s story is about what can happen when we “go through the open door.” We talk about recognizing opportunities we didn’t plan for, how experiences from one chapter can quietly plant seeds for the next, and why the things that matter most may require us to tolerate a period of uncertainty and discomfort.

If you’re curious about a direction that doesn’t quite fit the professional identity you’ve already built, this conversation offers a useful way to think about whether that curiosity deserves a closer look.

About Second Calling

Second Calling is a podcast for professionals figuring out their next chapter. Host Bradley Wright, a sociologist who studies purpose and change, talks with people who have navigated meaningful professional transitions and with experts who help us understand what those moments require.

Learn More About David Dachinger
Helping the Helpers Book: https://a.co/d/04SSmMFd

Website: https://www.respondertv.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ResponderResilience

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/responderTV

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/82141685/

Connect with Bradley:
Newsletter: bradleywrightphd.com/essays
Website: bradleywrightphd.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bradleywrightphd/

Eileen Crossin had built the kind of career many people aspire to—leadership roles in advertising, a stint at TikTok, and eventually a seat in the C-suite. But during an industry conference in Las Vegas, she found herself thinking, I can’t have these conversations anymore. Days later, she resigned.

In this conversation, Eileen and Bradley talk about what happens when a successful career no longer feels like your own. They explore nonlinear careers, the tension between effort and surrender, why major changes can affect the people closest to us, and Eileen’s belief that finding purpose may be less about becoming someone new than remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.

Eileen also shares how meditation, mindset, spirituality, and entrepreneurship have shaped the life she is building now—and what she has learned about trusting yourself when the next step isn’t obvious.

Eileen is the CEO and founder of Quantum Potential, a mind-training and L&D company that helps B2B sales teams think differently to accelerate performance. Drawing on 20+ years of C-suite revenue and growth leadership at companies including TikTok, she blends executive rigor with contemplative practice through her proprietary Momentum Method™. She is also a founder at Meet the Possible You, a purpose and transition program for women. Outside of work, she's a vintage fashion lover and a certified mindfulness meditation teacher currently writing her first book, Unrealized—a memoir about breaking the rules to become who you were all along.  She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son.

Website: getquantumpotential.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eileen-crossin-3327043/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eileenlcrossin/

After four years away, Bradley Wright returns to podcasting with a new name, a sharper focus, and a new format. *School of Purpose* is becoming *Second Calling*, a podcast for professionals at an inflection point—people who have built successful careers but find that the work no longer fits who they are.

In this bridge episode, Bradley explains what he learned from 50 workshops and more than 1,000 participants, why mid-career transitions have become the new focus, and what listeners can expect: long-form conversations with professionals who have moved through the uncertain middle and found their way toward greater meaning and purpose. The first full episode features former marketing executive Eileen Crossen.

New episodes every other week, in both audio and video. For a monthly essay on purpose, work, and what comes next, subscribe at bradleywrightphd.com.

About Second Calling

Second Calling is a podcast for professionals figuring out their next chapter. Host Bradley Wright, a sociologist who studies purpose and change, talks with people who have navigated meaningful professional transitions and with experts who help us understand what those moments require.

Connect with Bradley:

•  Newsletter: bradleywrightphd.com/essays
•  Website: bradleywrightphd.com
•  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bradleywrightphd/

How we understand purpose in life affects what we do to obtain it. How can we gain a more robust understanding of what purpose is?
Todd Kashdan is a professor of psychology at George Mason University where he studies purpose and other facets of well-being. He's currently working on an article that reconceptualizes the concept of purpose. In this episode, he shares how we can think about purpose more accurately. 
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• Purpose as articulated understanding vs. behavior
• Recognizing other people's purpose
• How we spend our time, money, and energy point to what's purposeful to us
• Does acting purposefully require making other people's lives better?
• Excavating our strengths

Todd's links

• Website
• Books
• Instagram

***
Want to connect? Email me at [email protected] or connect on my LinkedIn page. 
Want to start your own podcast? This podcast is edited and produced (and music too) by Josh Gilbert. Contact him at   [email protected]. He specializes in working with early podcasters.

What would your life look like if you devoted everything to following your dreams?
The Giffords did just that. In 2002, they realized they wanted something different than the typical American life of house and job. They created a six-year plan to live sailing about the world with their three children. Since 2008, they have done just that. As a family, they go where their sails take them.
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• Converting "someday" plans to "now" plans
• Making long-term plans for purpose
• Creating a map of dreams
• How friends and family can negatively react to our dreams
• Learning how to adapt to change

Gifford's Links:
Sailing Totem Website
Instagram
Voyaging with Kids Book

***
Want to connect? Email me at [email protected] or connect on my LinkedIn page. 
Want to start your own podcast? This podcast is edited and produced (and music too) by Josh Gilbert. Contact him at   [email protected]. He specializes in working with early podcasters.

Purpose is idiosyncratic. Everyone has their own view on what matters most in their life. However, is it possible to create a single system that many people can use to find purpose?
Kristin Sherry has spent years helping people find purpose. In that time, she's asked countless questions about what people find fulfilling in work. From her investigation, she has identified four essential aspects of career fit. If you have these four, you'll have a deep, rich, and meaningful career. In this episode of the School of Purpose podcast, Kristin shares her insight on finding purpose.
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The power of self-awareness for finding purpose
• How others' concern for us can hinder us
• Developing skill stacks for purpose
• How we can think of our strengths as weaknesses
• How to uncover our values

Kristin's Links
Website
LinkedIn
Books
***
Want to connect? Email me at [email protected] or connect on my LinkedIn page. 
Want to start your own podcast? This podcast is edited and produced (and music too) by Josh Gilbert. Contact him at   [email protected]. He specializes in working with early podcasters.

Colleges have extraordinary responsibilities in the lives of their students. Sometimes overlooked is guiding students into purposeful careers.
Tim Clydesdale is the author of The Purposeful Graduate. It's an evaluation of a large-scale program funded by the Lilly Foundation that paid for 88 colleges to create purpose programs for their students. In this episode, you'll learn the lessons from these programs, including  what worked and what didn't. 
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• Research on fostering purpose among college students
• The power of narrative in exploring purpose
• The longterm effect of college students finding purpose
• The value of hands-on experience related to purpose
• The best year in college for exploring matters of purpose

Tim's Links
Website
Books
The Purposeful Graduate
The Twentysomething Soul
The First Year Out
***
Want to connect? Email me at [email protected] or connect on my LinkedIn page. 
Want to start your own podcast? This podcast is edited and produced (and music too) by Josh Gilbert. Contact him at   [email protected]. He specializes in working with early podcasters.

Severe childhood trauma changes one's life--often for the worse. Sometimes, however, it has a redemptive effect as it leads one into purpose.
Michael Unbroken experienced a level of trauma in childhood that's difficult to fathom. Yet, today he feels fully alive and health, and he works with people around the world to help them overcome their own trauma. He's used the pain in the past as a prompt for purpose. In this episode he tells his story.
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• How to find clarity in life
• How to tap into what's next in your life
• Agency and purpose
• The need to start with values in finding purpose
• The importance of specificity in purpose

Michael's links
LinkedIn
Instagram
Podcast
Website

***
Want to connect? Email me at [email protected] or connect on my LinkedIn page. 
Want to start your own podcast? This podcast is edited and produced (and music too) by Josh Gilbert. Contact him at   [email protected]. He specializes in working with early podcasters.