In today’s Career Transformation Story, we're diving deep into one woman's incredible career transition from elite design consultant to launching her own business helping impact-driven organizations tackle their biggest challenges.

My guest today is Kat Thackray, founder of a cutting-edge consultancy, People Equals Purpose, focused on transforming team dynamics and organizational culture. 

Kat Thackray’s Sparketypes: Primary Sparketype® is Maven, Shadow is Scientist, and ANTI Sparketype® is Nurturer.

For Kat, hitting the director level at a top design consultancy should have been a dream. But something was missing. As the relentless climb drained her passion and even began manifesting physical symptoms of stress, Kat realized a deeper transformation was required.

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And if you’d like to share your career transformation story on the Sparked podcast, to inspire others who may be feeling stuck or unsure about their own career paths, we encourage you to apply to be a guest and check out the form in the show notes. Because we believe that everyone deserves to find fulfillment and purpose in their work.

To apply, please check out this form. We can't wait to hear from you!

Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,

More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Presented by LinkedIn.

Coaches & Leaders: Tap a Game-Changing Credential - The Certified Sparketype® Advisor Training. 

Differentiate yourself as a certified professional with a powerful command of the Sparketype® body of knowledge, professional-level tools, processes, engagement formats, and strategies, while equipping yourself to guide individuals, groups and teams through change with confidence and clarity. Learn more & apply to the Certified Sparketype ® Advisor Training and Certification today.

Turns out strategy isn’t just for business, it’s for life. And that’s what we’re diving into with an old friend today, Seth Godin. Seth is an author, entrepreneur, and teacher who has spent decades helping people find clarity and take purposeful action. In his latest book This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans, Seth challenges us to abandon outdated systems and instant gratification in favor of smart, purposeful choices that shape a better tomorrow.

Seth Godin is renowned for his pioneering work in marketing, leadership, and changing the status quo. He has written 21 bestsellers, including classics like “The Dip,” “Linchpin,” and “Tribes.” Seth has also founded several groundbreaking companies and inspired millions through his teachings on everything from effective promotion to the spread of world-changing ideas.

Photo credit: Darius Bashar and Archangel

Guest: Seth Godin, author of This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans

Website | Instagram | Akimbo: A Podcast from Seth Godin

Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,

More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Coaches & Leaders: Tap a Game-Changing Credential - The Certified Sparketype® Advisor Training. 

Differentiate yourself as a certified professional with a powerful command of the Sparketype® body of knowledge, professional-level tools, processes, engagement formats, and strategies, while equipping yourself to guide individuals, groups and teams through change with confidence and clarity. Learn more & apply to the Certified Sparketype ® Advisor Training and Certification today.

Presented by LinkedIn.

Can social conditioning, past experiences, and external pressure affect the way we explore figuring out our Sparketype? Or, for that matter, any metric we might look to, as a way to help figure out what drives us? And how do we turn down the volume on social conditioning and perceived expectations, determine what our “truest truths” really are, and express ourselves in a more aligned way? Today’s listener, Sarah, asks these interesting questions, after re-taking the Sparketypes Assessment a year later and getting a result she felt was much closer to who she really was. 

In today’s episode we’re in conversation with:

SPARKED BRAINTRUST ADVISOR: Jadah Sellner | Website

Jadah is a multi-time founder and CEO of Jadah Sellner Media, the co-creator of the Simple Green Smoothies social and business phenom, sought-after advisor to entrepreneurs, and bestselling author, including her new book, ‘She Builds: The Anti-Hustle Guide to Grow Your Business and Nourish Your Life’, now available here.

LISTENER: Sarah - Sparketype: Sage (Primary), Scientist (Shadow), Advocate (Anti)

QUESTION: Today’s listener, Sarah, shares her experience of supporting multi-billion dollar retail businesses, as the head of change management and helping people and businesses work through transformations. She has been the right hand to many high level execs and spearheaded big results and impact but like so many of us, done so at her own expense and with a lot of burnout. It brings her to her main question - can your past experiences, especially challenging or traumatic ones, distort your view of yourself and therefore affect your Sparketype results? Can social conditioning and external feedback interfere with finding work and expression that is more aligned for us - and if so, how do we reduce its impact or even eliminate it altogether?

Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,

More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Presented by LinkedIn.

Coaches & Leaders: Tap a Game-Changing Credential - The Certified Sparketype® Advisor Training. 

Differentiate yourself as a certified professional with a powerful command of the Sparketype® body of knowledge, professional-level tools, processes, engagement formats, and strategies, while equipping yourself to guide individuals, groups and teams through change with confidence and clarity. Learn more & apply to the Certified Sparketype ® Advisor Training and Certification today.

Presented by LinkedIn.

In today’s Career Transformation Story, we meet Lea Holzfurtner, a clinical sexologist, author, and reality TV host based in Berlin. Lea spent seven years ascending the ranks in financial services and martech companies, earning an MBA along the way. Yet, a lifelong fascination with the intricacies of human sexuality refused to be ignored. Through years of evening study, she steadily built expertise in psychology and sexology, letting this curiosity slowly bloom. Then, mustering profound courage, Lea took the ultimate leap - resigning from corporate life to launch her own private practice in Berlin.

Which aligns perfectly with her Primary Sparketype® as Advisor, Shadow as Scientist, and ANTI Sparketype® as Performer.

Learn more about Lea here: Instagram

***

And if you’d like to share your career transformation story on the Sparked podcast, to inspire others who may be feeling stuck or unsure about their own career paths, we encourage you to apply to be a guest and check out the form in the show notes. Because we believe that everyone deserves to find fulfillment and purpose in their work.

To apply, please check out this form. We can't wait to hear from you!

Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,

More on Sparketypes: Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Presented by LinkedIn.

Ambition is such a loaded word. It’s often associated with a relentless drive to succeed, trampling over others as you scrap your way to the top, ignoring your wellbeing, relationships, and any sense of groundedness, meaning, peace or joy along the way. It’s what helps you achieve success, we’re told. But, what it that was not only wrong, but it also kept you from the work, the relationships, the health, the life–a different kind of success–you didn’t just want, but that was actually worth wanting?

Today’s guest, Jenn Romolini, shares her deeply personal journey, rising to the top of the New York media world, then untangling from that toxic drive and letting go of an ambition that didn’t align with her core values and aspirations. Jenn is the author of the raw and emotional memoir Ambition Monster about her reckoning with the workaholism and obsession with work that stemmed from her childhood experiences.

First a rising star in the New York publishing world, Jenn appeared to have it all – the coveted career, money, status. But beneath that picture-perfect exterior, the relentless ambition was disconnecting her from her truest self and what truly mattered most. It took a health crisis to forcibly hit pause and have Jenn reassess everything.

In this intimate conversation, Jenn shares how losing her voice, literally, became the wake-up call that allowed her to find it again. From realizing her workaholism was a trauma response, to grappling with external measures of success, to finally breaking free and realigning with her core creative calling as a writer.

Guest: Jenn Romolini, author of Ambition Monster 

Learn more:  Substack | Instagram 

Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,

More on Sparketypes: Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Coaches & Leaders: Tap a Game-Changing Credential - The Certified Sparketype® Advisor Training. 

Differentiate yourself as a certified professional with a powerful command of the Sparketype® body of knowledge, professional-level tools, processes, engagement formats, and strategies, while equipping yourself to guide individuals, groups and teams through change with confidence and clarity. Learn more & apply to the Certified Sparketype ® Advisor Training and Certification today.

Presented by LinkedIn.

Coaches & Leaders: Tap a Game-Changing Credential - The Certified Sparketype® Advisor Training. 

Differentiate yourself as a certified professional with a powerful command of the Sparketype® body of knowledge, professional-level tools, processes, engagement formats, and strategies, while equipping yourself to guide individuals, groups and teams through change with confidence and clarity. Learn more & apply to the Certified Sparketype ® Advisor Training and Certification today.

In today’s episode we’re in conversation with:

SPARKED BRAINTRUST ADVISOR: Karen Wright | Website

Karen is the founder of Parachute Executive Coaching, acclaimed executive coach, advisor to senior leaders for more than two-decades, and the author of two great books, The Accidental Alpha Woman and The Complete Executive.

LISTENER: Trisha - Sparketype: Maven/Sage, Anti: Scientist

QUESTION: Listener Trisha shares a moment of transition after taking a much needed break from the workforce, which so many of us have done in our lives. Especially after discovering more about yourself, this becomes a hugely relevant question - in this instance, discovering her Sparketype profile, and wanting to find work that aligns more closely with your primary impulse and is less likely to end in burnout. Trisha is curious to know if there are specific professions that are particularly suited to her Sparketype?

Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,

More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Coaches & Leaders: Tap a Game-Changing Credential - The Certified Sparketype® Advisor Training. 

Presented by LinkedIn.

In today’s Career Transformation Story, we uncover a profound journey of reclaiming one's creative spark and finding fulfillment through empowering others. It's a tale that takes us from the technical realms of aerospace engineering to the "social engineering" of company culture.

My guest today is Adam Kolozetti, co-founder of Enta Solutions - a consultancy fusing team building, process improvement, and video storytelling. But Adam's path was far from linear.

Listen in to hear the experience that unveiled Adam's true purpose - helping companies maintain an entrepreneurial spirit as they scale. Which aligns perfectly with his Primary Sparketype® as Maker, Shadow as Maven, and ANTI Sparketype® as Advocate.

***

And if you’d like to share your career transformation story on the Sparked podcast, to inspire others who may be feeling stuck or unsure about their own career paths, we encourage you to apply to be a guest and check out the form in the show notes. Because we believe that everyone deserves to find fulfillment and purpose in their work.

To apply, please check out this form. We can't wait to hear from you!

Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,

More on Sparketypes: Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Presented by LinkedIn.

Ever feel like the rise of virtual communication has turned your workdays into a jumble of endless emails, frantic messages, and back-to-back video calls? One minute you're on a Zoom wrangling meeting attendees, the next you're desperately trying to craft the perfect Slack message before your manager thinks you've gone AWOL?

If so, you’re not alone. The chaotic world of remote and hybrid work can leave our heads spinning. But what if I told you there are secrets to virtual communication mastery that can bring clarity to the disorder?

My guest today has spent years studying the science of how we can all become better virtual communicators. 

Andrew Brodsky is an award-winning professor at the University of Texas at Austin and CEO of Ping Group. He's an expert on workplace technology, communication, and productivity. Andrew's new book, PING: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication, provides a roadmap for navigating our digitally-infused lives.

Guest: Andrew Brodsky, author of PING: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication

Learn more: Book

Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,

More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Presented by LinkedIn.

Ever set an exciting goal that seemed life-changing, only to watch it fade away weeks later? In this episode, I share my proven ‘Success Scaffolding’ framework—a system I developed after diving deep into research on goal achievement and social psychology. This approach has helped me succeed in writing multiple books, launching companies, transforming my health, and achieving numerous other goals over decades.

Built around seven key principles (down from eight last year), Success Scaffolding provides the structure and support needed to accomplish meaningful goals.

Today we’ll focus on choosing and achieving one transformative goal for 2025. I’ll guide you through creating your personalized scaffolding, showing you how to align your goal with one of the three good life buckets: vitality, connection, or contribution.

Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,

More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Presented by LinkedIn.

My guest today is Monica Parker, a former lawyer, leader and people developer in big companies who's now a professional organizer. Despite early success and prestige in her business career, Monica felt a persistent yearning for more meaningful, transformative work.

Through profound life experiences like a near-death encounter, Monica summoned the courage to start listening to her heart's callings. This led her on an uncharted journey of self-discovery - one that revealed her Primary Sparketype® as Advisor, Shadow as Maven, and Anti as Advocate.

You'll hear the crucial role these revelations played in Monica's radical pivot from leading people and developing people in a corporate setting to combining her natural mentoring gifts with the KonMari organizing philosophy. In her current path, she's able to directly witness profound growth as clients purge possessions that no longer "spark joy."

~ And if you’d like to share your career transformation story on the Sparked podcast, to inspire others who may be feeling stuck or unsure about their own career paths, we encourage you to apply to be a guest and check out the form in the show notes. Because we believe that everyone deserves to find fulfillment and purpose in their work.

To apply, please check out this form. We can't wait to hear from you!

ABOUT YOUR HOST: Jonathan Fields

Jonathan is a dad, husband, award-winning author, multi-time founder, executive producer and host of the Good Life Project podcast, and co-host of SPARKED, too! He’s also the creator of an unusual tool that’s helped more than 950,000 people discover what kind of work makes them come alive - the Sparketype® Assessment, and author of the bestselling book, SPARKED.

More on Sparketypes at: Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website

Presented by LinkedIn.