Sustainable Ambition

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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Joining me on this episode of the podcast is Leslie Forde, founder of Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs, which researches and illuminates stress, self-care and growth for Moms, and founder of Allies @ Work, which helps employers use data to retain working parents and create inclusive workplaces where caregivers can thrive. Leslie is shedding the light on just how broken our current system is in supporting caregivers, both women and men, and offers great insights and tips for both companies and individuals to find a more sustainable way to achieve successful outcomes in both work and life.

I could have talked with Leslie for a long time! And in this conversation she shares a lot of great advice for individuals, leaders, and companies to consider to help us all have a more sustainable work-life. Leslie shares how the solution doesn’t lie in working harder or just being ruthless about prioritization; we also need to be ruthless about carving out space for those things that feed us and regenerate us so our energy and spirit can be intact. 

I was thrilled to hear that Leslie is hearing progress from companies and an openness to changing corporate cultures to support “self care” and caregivers.

Thank you for your important work, Leslie, and helping individuals, managers, and companies find the way towards more sustainable work-life happiness. And thank you for sharing your advice and insights with us in this episode!

Thanks for Listening!

If you liked this episode, please rate, review, and share the episode. Thank you so much!

Get show notes for this episode at https://sustainableambition.com/podcast

I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Sustainable Ambition Listener Survey: http://bit.ly/sapodcast-survey

Submit a question or comment for future episodes at [email protected]

Get my curated bi-weekly Sustainable Ambition Forum newsletter. Sign up https://sustainableambition.com/subscribe

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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In this episode, I’m joined by Laila Tarraf, a senior human resource executive who is currently the Chief People Officer of Allbirds, a sustainable footwear and apparel brand, and the author of the recently released book, “Strong Like Water: How I found the Courage to Lead with Love in Business and in Life.” In this beautifully written book, Laila is generous with her own vulnerability in sharing her personal story so that we all can learn through her experiences of both loss and growth.

Together we talk about becoming a heart-based leader, what being “soft but strong” and “firm yet kind” looks like, and the power of leaning into discomfort. Laila shares what she learned at Peet’s Coffee about what it takes to create an environment where employees feel like they can bring their full selves to work and offers tips on both how to strengthen one’s heart as a leader and how to build Sustainable Ambition for oneself. We close by talking about the power of taking pauses, and Laila shares a favorite quote by Brother David Steindl-Rast (which I loved, too!): “You know the antidote to stress is not necessarily rest.... The antidote to stress is wholehearted living.” Amen!

I encourage you to pick up Laila’s beautiful book. Not only is it a wonderful read, it will leave you feeling inspired to lean into your own growth journey.

Thank you so much for being in conversation with me, Laila!

Thanks for Listening!

If you liked this episode, please rate, review, and share the episode. Thank you so much!

Get show notes for this episode at https://sustainableambition.com/podcast

I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Sustainable Ambition Listener Survey: http://bit.ly/sapodcast-survey

Submit a question or comment for future episodes at [email protected]

Get my curated bi-weekly Sustainable Ambition Forum newsletter. Sign up https://sustainableambition.com/subscribe

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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For those of us who are ambitious, it can be easy get to a point of burnout. So to live in a Sustainable Ambition way, we need to find tools to help us recognize when we’re moving towards it and to direct our energy so our work doesn’t unintentionally take over our life, as I say around Right Effort, the third pillar of Sustainable Ambition.

So, I was thrilled to speak with Talia Rosenblum who specializes in working with people who have experienced burnout and with those who want to find better work-life integration. We share a lot of philosophies and perspectives, as you’ll hear in this episode where we explore what burnout is, signals that you’re on a slippery slope to burnout, how to start to get control of your time and life, and Talia’s rallying cry to put just as much attention on building success and happiness in your personal life as in your professional life and moving from “I should” to “this is what I want to do.”

Wonderful to be in conversation with you, Talia! Appreciate all of your so helpful insights.

Thanks for Listening!

If you liked this episode, please rate, review, and share the episode. Thank you so much!

Get show notes for this episode at https://sustainableambition.com/podcast

I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Sustainable Ambition Listener Survey: http://bit.ly/sapodcast-survey

Submit a question or comment for future episodes at [email protected]

Get my curated bi-weekly Sustainable Ambition Forum newsletter. Sign up https://sustainableambition.com/subscribe

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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I was so excited to speak with Christine Bader and Eva Dienel about their important work at “The Life I Want.” Christine and Eva are both idealists and writers in their own right, and with this storytelling project they are telling rich stories to reframe the discussion about work in our lives.

It all starts with “The Life I Want,” not work.

And in this episode, we hear what brought each of them to reorient their own work to support their lives vs. living to work, taking them to Bali and Australia, respectively, for a period of time, as well as homesteads in Oregon.

For them, the future of work requires that we change our relationship with work, as individuals and as a society, so more people can live happier, more fulfilled lives. There are four pillars that frame their working model: 1) individual, 2) employers, 3) community, and 4) government, and we speak of each of these in this episode. While we talk about how in today’s model you need a super power to pull yourself towards working to live as opposed to living to work, finding more fulfillment for all can’t be only on the individual. They advocate that we also need safety nets to make it possible, such as employers stepping up and realizing that the work they provide employees is a product in itself, leaning on our communities, and government programs and legislation.

In this conversation, we also touch on the idea of creating your own measurements of success, the importance of valuing care in our society, and that the answers lie in fixing work for the most marginalized, as those solutions will likely work for us all.

If you want to be inspired to create a life you want and want to hear how to start to rethink what it would mean to take an alternate path, listen in and check out Christine and Eva's work at The Life I Want: https://www.thelifeiwant.co/ to read their beautiful stories of others who are showing us the way towards a brighter future of work that will work for all.

Thanks for Listening!

If you liked this episode, please rate, review, and share the episode. Thank you so much!

Get show notes for this episode at https://sustainableambition.com/podcast

I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Sustainable Ambition Listener Survey: http://bit.ly/sapodcast-survey

Submit a question or comment for future episodes at [email protected]

Get my curated bi-weekly Sustainable Ambition Forum newsletter. Sign up https://sustainableambition.com/subscribe

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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Mala Singh is the Chief People Officer (CPO) of Electronic Arts. I had the pleasure of working with Mala when she was Chief People Officer at Minted, and I couldn't wait to speak with her in this episode, because she's is one of the wisest people I know. Not only did I want to learn more about Mala's own career journey from British Guyana to the U.S. to a global career in HR, I also knew Mala would have great insight to share from her own experiences and from her role as a CPO on the executive team of a world class, creative organization that has had to manage through this pandemic with 25 offices around the world.

We cover a lot of ground in this conversation starting with Mala's own career, which I would say she guided by defining success for herself and making decisions that didn't necessarily always propel her upward but resonated with her desire to have certain experiences, like a global career, and to grow. Such decisions took her to places like Paris, so I myself don't think that was a bad trade-off! She offers tips on what to think about managing your career at each decade, shares how EA has cared for its employees during the pandemic, offers her forecast on whether or not we'll be going back to offices, encourages us all to be allies, and gives us tips on how to manage a full, ambitious personal and professional life.

I love what Mala had to say on all these topics. Listen in to hear her wisdom!

Thanks for Listening!

If you liked this episode, please rate, review, and share the episode. Thank you so much!

Get show notes for this episode at https://sustainableambition.com/podcast

I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Sustainable Ambition Listener Survey: http://bit.ly/sapodcast-survey

Submit a question or comment for future episodes at [email protected]

Get my curated bi-weekly Sustainable Ambition Forum newsletter. Sign up https://sustainableambition.com/subscribe

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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On this episode, I’m in conversation with Bridget Jones, a finance coach and founder of Smart Sister Finance. Prior to Smart Sister, Bridget worked in finance and was an executive leader at several leading food companies where she held finance and operations leadership roles at companies like Clif Bar and Whole Foods Market.

I wanted to chat with Bridget, because finances is directly tied to work-life integration and managing our careers from decade to decade. While salary is not an intrinsic motivator, meaning the core thing that gets most of us excited about our work, the reality is our jobs pay the bills! They support our lives. And so, being wise about one's finances is important to facilitating Sustainable Ambition.

And impressively, Bridget was so good with her own finances, she met and exceeded her goal of being able to retire by the age of 50. Now, that's someone I want to talk to!

I love all the insights in this conversation about how work and finances are intertwined in creating a sustainable life. We talk about Bridget’s own career journey, why she had a goal of retiring by 50, and what surprised her most after she had downtime and recharged. We explore the importance of setting financial goals and tying those to your overall life goals - what are you working and saving for? We advocate embracing planning for what you want in your life, focusing on the big rocks and accepting that it is iterative. And, we close by covering just how important it is to talk about money. From Bridget's perspective, it’s powerful to set an intention, because it will then likely manifest.

Thanks for being on Bridget! Such an important topic and appreciate you sharing your own story and tips for people to find freedom by getting smart about their finances!

Thanks for Listening!

If you liked this episode, please rate, review, and share the episode. Thank you so much!

Get show notes for this episode at https://sustainableambition.com/podcast 

I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Sustainable Ambition Listener Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VWB2SGW 

Submit a question or comment for future episodes at [email protected] 

Get my curated bi-weekly Sustainable Ambition Forum newsletter. Sign up https://sustainableambition.com/subscribe

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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On another solo episode, I share some thoughts on a topic that has come up a lot over the last year during the pandemic… And that is the concept of living in not knowing. What does “living in not knowing” even mean?  It means living in uncertainty. Not being clear on a path, say, or having the answer. It’s a weird liminal state. The challenge is that we are wired to want to know. We want certainty. And, when we don’t have that, it causes consternation and stress.

Why is this important to the concept of Sustainable Ambition? Because I talk about the idea of crafting a career to support your life from decade to decade, which implies we will go through many transitions over the course of our adulthood. And it’s in transitions, that we live in moments of uncertainty and not knowing. During such times, we can often feel unmoored and unclear.

In this episode, I share 15 lessons on what I’ve learned through my own experiences to survive and thrive during uncertainty and growth stages. I hope my sharing of these insights and tools that have provided me with guidance and relief can help you in finding some peace, as well as enrichment and joy, as we all wade through this time of uncertainty. Because in the end, while periods of not knowing have been some of the toughest for me, they’ve also been some of the most enriching of my life. I wish the same for you.

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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I loved being in conversation with Stephanie Carter, founder of The Verse, a media platform designed and delivered by grown-ups, for grown-ups, built on real talk; action-ready, beyond-the-masses tips; and original ideas. In founding The Verse, Stephanie realized she was one in an army of grown-ups seeking reinvention, and she hopes that by sharing her setbacks and wins, she can help people to view their second half with optimism and excitement.

And this is what we delve into in this conversation. If you're wondering what's next for your second act, listen in. We cover everything from the importance of paying attention to the voice telling you that something new is on the horizon, getting started on figuring out what's next sooner than you think, getting help working with a coach, and leaning into a beginner's mindset. Stephanie knows what it's like to step away from being a master in one's discipline and she encourages us to embrace growth no matter your age and get comfortable with not being good as we learn new things.

And if you're earlier in your career, take Stephanie's advice to take more risk (this is becoming a theme on the podcast!) and if you're in your 30's and 40's look and plan ahead.

So much wisdom packed into this interview! Thank you for being on, Stephanie!

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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In this conversation, I welcome Lisa Lewis Miller, career change expert, author, and founder of Career Clarity, a company helping individuals step into the careers they've been dreaming of. If you are someone who exclaims, "I don’t know what I want to do with my life!," then this is the episode for you! Lisa offers a foolproof way to uncover your internal wisdom, because as she shares, you are the only one who knows. The answer isn’t “out there” or with anyone else. And a key theme of our conversation is permission—to explore what’s possible, to go for what you want, and to embrace our desire to learn and grow throughout our career.

And if you are feeling unhappy with your job during the pandemic and not listening to that voice in your head, or as Lisa would advise listening to what your body is telling you, because you feel like you should just be grateful to have a job, listen to Lisa to find encouragement and hope that there are still opportunities out there for you to find your career fulfillment.

I had so many more questions I could have asked Lisa, so I encourage you to explore her book and podcast. Find more in the detailed show notes!

Thanks for being on with me, Lisa, and sharing such deep, empowering perspectives!

Discover your state of ambition. Take the quiz at: https://sustainableambition.com/quiz

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This is my first solo episode! I thought I’d share with you just what I mean by Sustainable Ambition and why I think it’s an important concept for us to consider when managing our careers, especially in today’s world. I’ve been working on this concept for the last 5 years and likely have been living it all my adult life without realizing it until a few years ago.

So, for grounding, at a high level, Sustainable Ambition is about crafting a fulfilling career to support your life from decade to decade… with the end goal being to experience more fulfillment in your professional and personal life with more ease, while still being ambitious.

In the episode, I talk about what inspired the model, some high-level thoughts on Sustainable Ambition, and then go deeper into the model. The Sustainable Ambition Method has 3 pillars: Right Success, Right Aspiration, and Right Effort. I discuss each pillar and share how they are about: defining Personal Reward, creating a Regenerative Career, and building Work-Life Resilience, respectively.

Thanks for being with me for my first solo episode, everyone! I hope you find it helpful to learn a bit more about Sustainable Ambition. Cheers!