Strategic Momentum

Justin Lafazan and Dylan Gambardella are Co-Founders and CEOs of NextGen HQ, a mentorship platform dedicated to helping Next Generation Leaders succeed at work and life. And when I first heard about this platform, I knew I had to talk to the people who created it.

I had the benefit of wonderful mentors and friends who supported me along my own growth journey, and I really don’t think I would have gotten here without that support. So I feel compelled to pay it forward — and it has been really fulfilling talking to and working with Justin and Dylan so far.

For other leaders out there, I hope these two are inspiring for you as they were to me — and for the younger listeners, I hope you’re able to find the same kind of support I had in learning to “win” at work and life, as Dylan and Justin say.

Learn more and find the complete show notes at https://www.conniewsteele.com/podcast

Resources:

• www.nextgenhq.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextgenhq/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextgenhq/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nextgenhqofficial
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nextgenhq/

In the last episode, we talked a lot about The Great Reshuffle — about the record number of resignations, new hires, and new entrepreneurs.

We’re in the midst of this huge period of uncertainty, but people are choosing to take this big risk… even though data indicates that most small businesses fail. People are clearly seeing an opportunity here, or there is such a significant mindset shift in our culture that the risk calculus has fundamentally changed.

So we sat down with Elaine Pofeldt because we wanted to learn more about what differentiates the people who take that leap and make it to the other side happier and more fulfilled.

Elaine is an independent journalist and speaker who specializes in entrepreneurship and careers — and someone with an interesting hybrid career herself. She is author of the upcoming book “Tiny Business, Big Money,” which is available for preorder now and will be releasing on Feb 8, 2022, and "The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business."

Learn more and find the complete show notes at https://www.conniewsteele.com/podcast

Resources:

• elainepofeldt.com
• “Tiny Business, Big Money:” https://www.tinybusinessbigmoney.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainepofeldt/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milliondollaronepersonbusiness/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/elainepofeldt
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elaine.pofeldt

Flywheel Associates conducted the inaugural wave of the State of Work and Career Success Study in 2020 to understand the U.S. workforce’s attitudes, behaviors and perceptions with respect to their career journey, goals, and needs. Our goal was to identify strategies and opportunities to help move them forward in their careers.

When we got the results, it was clear that workers’ goals and needs have shifted over the last 20 years. We conducted this survey in the early summer of 2020, right after the pandemic was beginning. The Great Resignation is very much reflecting, and perhaps magnifying, the results that we saw: people want more flexibility, people want to do something that gives them a sense of purpose, and people don’t want to work in conditions where they don’t feel respected.

But the survey only made us want to know more. So we decided to conduct another wave of research to measure trends in perceptions and conduct additional analysis to develop a deeper understanding of the needs of American workers. We’re getting the survey results back in the next month and then we’ll be diving into that data. So, in addition to interviewing people about what it takes to make progress in this new world of work, we’ll be including some relevant data from the survey in upcoming episodes. I’ll also be sharing everything we find over on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Learn more and find the complete show notes at https://www.conniewsteele.com/podcast

Resources:

• Instagram: instagram.com/conniewangsteele
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/conniewsteele

We started this season with a thesis: Creating meaningful work-life fit in today’s ever-changing world requires redefining success as progress.

Both my team and myself — and just about everyone else — have been riding the waves of this very weird year, personally and professionally. So we wanted to sit down as a team to reflect on what it has meant for us to redefine success as progress and what we learned from our guests this season.

Our guest is Maggie Glenski, Founder of Wrinkle’s Media, who made a career pivot herself earlier this year before joining our team.

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at https://www.strategicmomentum.co/episodes/

Resources:

• Check out Wrinkle’s Media

Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast:

• On Apple Podcasts
• On the Google Play Store
• On Stitcher Radio
• On Spotify

Jennifer McDonald is Chief Client Officer of North America at VMLY&R, where she leads a 250-person client engagement team.

We had Jen on the show back in episodes 70 and 71 to talk office politics, but we had to have her back on the show to discuss the transformation that VMLY&R underwent through 2020 and 2021.

We wanted to share how an organization this large could respond to the unknowns of a global pandemic with unprecedented fluidity — and our favorite thing about it is that their strategy hinged on supporting and empowering their people.

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at https://www.strategicmomentum.co/episodes/101

Resources:

• Connect with Jen on LinkedIn

Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast:

• On Apple Podcasts
• On the Google Play Store
• On Stitcher Radio
• On Spotify

Alisa Cohn is an executive coach who’s been working with startup founders to grow into world-class CEOs for nearly 20 years. She’s been called the #1 Startup Coach in the world and she’s the author of the new book “From Start-Up to Grown-Up.”

Her breadth and depth of experiences working with companies like Esty, Foursquare, Invision and The Wirecutter — coupled with own personal journey — has given her valuable knowledge, insights, and perspectives on the struggles founders often face when working to lead, grow, and manage their business.

In this episode she shares valuable leadership advice from her book so that founders can start to create that traction and progress from the inside out. 

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at https://www.strategicmomentum.co/episodes/

Resources:

• Connect with Alisa: LinkedIn | Twitter
• Visit alisacohn.com
• Read: “From Start-Up to Grown-Up”

Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast:

• On Apple Podcasts
• On the Google Play Store
• On Stitcher Radio
• On Spotify

What does it look like to do something that you’ve never done before -- that no one has ever done before? What does it mean to be a pioneer in this new world of work? What does it look like when you take responsibility for crafting a new role for yourself, both internally and externally? Hear all about it from Larisa Bolivar, a long-time social justice advocate and a pioneer in the cannabis industry.

Nick Loper is an author, entrepreneur, and lifelong student in the game of business. He’s Chief Side Hustler at SideHustleNation.com, host of top-rated podcast The Side Hustle Show, and someone who is obsessed with progress.

Nick chose to pursue the side hustle life because he wanted freedom that the corporate life didn’t give him. While this is a path that many others are also interested in pursuing, others may choose to start a side hustle (or side hustles) on top of a day job to fulfill their long-term work-life goals.

So often, getting started can be the hardest part — but Nick shares how we can leverage side gigs and an experimenter’s mindset to make the first step easier on ourselves and move forward with confidence.

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at https://www.strategicmomentum.co/episodes/

Resources:

• Connect with Nick: LinkedIn | Twitter
• The Side Hustle Show: The Business Podcast You Can Actually Apply
• “$1,000 100 Ways”
• Join the Side Hustle Nation FB Group
• Check out Nick’s Quarterly Progress Reports
• “Side Hustle Ideas To Financial Freedom with Nick Loper of Side Hustle Nation”

Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast:

• On Apple Podcasts
• On the Google Play Store
• On Stitcher Radio

On Spotify

Dorie Clark shares valuable insights and perspectives from her new book, "The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World.” And along the way, we hear about Dorie’s career mashup journey and how becoming a long-term thinker helped her get to where she is today.

We can see that too many people are unhappy. We can see that businesses of all sizes are struggling to adapt in a way that drives both business success and employee satisfaction. So we think it's time to change how we as individuals — as well as the companies we work for — define success.

Creating meaningful work-life fit in today's ever-changing world requires redefining success as progress.

And in this season, we'll be diving into stories from those who have done so in this new fluid world of work to help you build the business of you or create that fluid organization. Today, we're going to focus on the individual. And specifically, how individuals who are both successful and fulfilled in today's world define success and their perspectives and approach to achieving it so they could ultimately find that work-life fit for themselves.

Resources:

• www.strategicmomentum.co
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Past guests featured in this episode:

• Jenny Blake
• Bryan de Lottinville
• Bryan Stolle
• David Knies
• Jordan Harbinger
• Kimberly Henning
• Jennifer “JT” Trzepacz
• Rick Lindquist
• Joe Saul-Sehy
• Chris Krimitsos
• Jim Brady

Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast:

• On Apple Podcasts
• On the Google Play Store
• On Stitcher Radio
• On Spotify