Jazzed About Work

For 30 years, retired Air Force Colonel Carla Bass worked with officers, ambassadors, and congressional delegations, drafting executive letters, talking points, personnel appraisals and nominations. Along the way she perfected her writing methodologies, composed a handbook, and taught thousands of Air Force personnel how to write powerfully. In this episode, Carla shares tips from the second editi...

For busy professionals, the workload can feel overwhelming, pushing us into a defensive mode. And it’s tough to sort out what matters when we’re constantly being distracted by messages that feel urgent, but maybe aren’t all that important. In this episode, leading productivity expert Maura Thomas offers tips for sorting out your priorities, from her latest book, "Attention Matters". She says that...

In today’s episode, New Jersey teacher, coach and marketing consultant Connie Whitman explains how sales and customer service skills can empower your career, no matter where you work or what you do. We discuss how – whether you are making a sale or pitching an idea – being persuasive starts with building a relationship and focusing on the other person’s needs and interests. And Connie shares her p...

Social entrepreneur and celebrated teacher Steve Mariotti has written numerous guides for starting your own business. And he is well known for launching the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, which has provided 60 hours of business training for more than a million disadvantaged young people around the world. In today’s episode, Steve gets personal as he talks about his wonderful new book, Good...

In this episode, we revisit the popular topic of networking. Tom Hodson has a big, diverse network, but is cynical about the verb “to network.” Bev Jones notes research suggesting that creating a broad network of relationships is vital not just to your career, but to your health and happiness, as well. Tom ask questions about Bev’s recent articles on network-building for the leading career platfor...

Journalist, editor and master story-teller Peter Copeland is still passionate about the career that took him around the world. In this episode, he talks about his latest book, Finding the News: Adventures of a Young Reporter. Peter describes how as a cub reporter -- through trial and error, and sometimes in war zones -- he struggled to be fast, accurate and fair. He shares the story of his happy m...

“The Voice of Job Seekers,” is the platform of compassionate career and jobs expert Mark Anthony Dyson. He’s a prolific writer, speaker and podcaster, and his website is a rich source of information for anyone exploring the job market. In this episode Mark offers practical advice, like how to write a modern resume, expand your networking and develop a LinkedIn profile. He shares more insights on h...

In 2008, stay-at-home Mom Rachel Stewart reentered the job market as the unqualified bookkeeper and office manager for a tiny company, Titan Restoration. She helped to grow the company, and now she’s the EVP, and Titan is an innovative industry leader. Rachel describes how she did it in her book, “Unqualified Success – Bridging the Gap Between Where You Are Now and Where You Want To Be To Achieve...

In his new book, “What Happened to Moderation?” Dr. Stephen Brewer says that Americans are drawn to extreme health care choices, just as they gravitate toward political extremes and non-stop work patterns. In today’s episode, Dr. Brewer, medical director at the Canyon Ranch Wellness Resorts, advises us to back away from trendy, over-the-top diet and exercise routines. It’s time, he says, to look a...

If you’re thinking about starting a business -- either now or off in a distant future – listen here. Dynamic career and personal finance expert Kerry Hannon is talking her most recent book, “Never Too Old To Get Rich – The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life.” Kerry talks about how creating a business is not just a young person’s game, and how a huge wave of successful ventures ar...

When Bob Shaff walks through a room of strangers, you can observe that he’s a master networker. Bob interacts with person after person, asking gentle questions and helping each to relax and engage with the crowd. It’s clear that he knows how to connect. But in today’s show Bob says that he didn’t start out that way. As a young engineer he was shy and isolated. Today Bob shares tips about how you c...

Some advocates for equal career opportunity assumed that, if a diverse mix of people is hired, eventually everyone would work well together. Consultant and executive coach Rob Jones says it’s not been that simple. Today’s organizations include people from a broad variety of cultural backgrounds, but not everyone is heard. Jones shares ideas about how to move past limited ideas about diversity and...

Everybody encounters bad days at work. And sometimes a career stumble can feel like the end of the world. In this episode, guest host Tom Hodson talks with our own Bev Jones, author of the career success book, “Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO.” They explore strategies for moving on after a catastrophe, like finding ways to discuss it, looking at the big picture, and learning from succes...

Right after Harvard Business School, DJ DiDonna launched a startup. And then for 7 busy years he traveled the world, supporting small businesses in emerging markets. DJ’s company was successful, but he felt burned out. So he took a break from work, doing things unrelated to his job, like taking a walking pilgrimage in Japan. DJ’s time off was life changing, and he became intrigued by the transform...

Jaime-Alexis Fowler began her career as an academic, hoping that a university career would allow her to create change in our society. Finding that path to be too slow, she moved on to a series of organizations where she could grow as a social innovator. Today she’s the Founder and Executive Director of Empower Work, a ground-breaking nonprofit that allows workers to connect with a coach when they’...

As a child, Jessi Roberts lived in a troubled home. But, with the help of friends along the way, she forged her own path to success. And today she’s the CEO of Cheekys, the big fashion and jewelry brand “that loves the country girl.” In this show, Jessi talks about her new book, “Backroads Boss Lady: Happiness Ain’t a Side Hustle… Straight Talk on Creating the Life You Deserve.” It’s an intriguing...

If you’re looking for a job, it helps to understand how the hiring process really works. In this show you’ll get an insider view from search firm executive Jackie Ducci, author of “Almost Hired – What’s Really Standing between You and the Job You Want.” She will talk about how recruiters operate and what employers often want. She says that searching for a job is a learned skill, and one you can de...

Miami PR expert John P. David wrote an important book for professionals and businesses -- “How to Protect … (Or Destroy) … Your Reputation Online.” In this show, he says that some people learn the hard way that every person has an on-line presence, whether they realize it or not. And he illustrates the importance of actively managing your own profile with recent examples of serious social media ch...

Hannah Morgan is a nationally recognized author, speaker and teacher on all things job search. She started early, learning from her father, who owned a high-level executive search firm. Today her website CareerSherpa.net is an amazing resource for anyone thinking about a career move. In this show, she talks with host Bev Jones about how technology, strategy and even resume deliverables are evolvin...

Your career success is influenced by your “brand.” And, as a professional, you do have a personal brand, even if the concept of branding makes you feel uncomfortable. In this episode, Tom Hodson interviews our own Bev Jones, author of the popular guide to career success, “Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO.” They discuss how you can shift your mindset, develop more confidence and better ma...

To attract job opportunities, you have to make sure that you’re searchable. That’s the expert advice of Conrad Woody, who leads the U.S. Corporate and Government Affairs Practice at global talent and leadership firm Odgers Berndtson. In this episode, Conrad says that to be seen as a top candidate, you must show that you always keep learning and working at your full capacity. Even if you’re already...

Do you feel constantly behind and endlessly oppressed by a nagging sense that your “to-do” list is growing by the minute? Bestselling author Laura Vanderkam says you’re not alone. But you don’t have to live this way. Laura has studied the calendars of hundreds of professionals, and found that even extremely busy people have more free time than they recognize. In this episode she explains how to fe...

Award-winning journalist Chris Farrell writes and talks about financial management and the economy, for places like Marketplace Money, Bloomberg, the Minneapolis StarTribune and Minnesota Public Radio. In this episode, he focuses particularly on his book, “Unretirement: How Baby Boomers are Changing the Way We Think About Work, Community and the Good Life.” The book has been hailed as a breath of...

Paleontologist Nancy Stevens is a scientist but most of all, she says, she’s an explorer. Leading teams in Africa and other places, Nancy has discovered new fossil species from mammals to frogs. Some of her finds are groundbreaking, like the oldest fossil evidence of the split between Old World monkeys and apes. When on a field trips Nancy looks at how animals interact with their environment, over...