Breaking Work

#440: Should you ever go backwards in your career? If you're a long term listener of the podcast, you know I think the answer is absolutely yes. Sometimes the quickest way to get out of a problem and get oriented on a solution is to go back up.  But it's not for the faint of heart. You have to have some faith and confidence in yourself and the path you choose.  Here to help us understand all of th...

#439: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Adam C. Bandelli. Founder & Managing Director of Bandelli & Associates, Dr. Adam C. Bandelli is an organizational psychologist and seasoned leadership advisor with over twenty years of corporate consulting experience. Adam's calling and purpose in life is to help the leaders identify, embrace, and unleash their true authentic selves. In his latest book...

#438: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Sara McElroy. Sara McElroy is an ex-chief marketing officer and former hustle culture devotee who reinvented her career and reimagined the way she works after unexpectedly becoming The Wall Street Journal's poster girl for pandemic burnout.  Tune in to leanr how to quit a job that's taking more than it's giving! 

#437: I have a tough time with expertise, I'm betting you do too. Last week I did an overview of the Advantage Mapping Strategy . I view this exercise as fundamental to choosing what you do and how you spend your time for the greatest chance of success. In short, Advantage Mapping is integral to designing your work-life. Deeply understanding where your advantages lie, set you up for success and fo...

#436: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Rebekah Bastian. Rebekah is a creator. She's created a startup, a tech movement, a book, multiple written, visual and aerial art pieces, and two humans. She is the CEO & co-founder of OwnTrail and was previously vice president of product and vice president of community and culture at Zillow. Rebekah is the author of the award-winning book Blaze Your Ow...

#435: One of the biggest lessons I learned as a trader is that great traders, gamblers and investors only play - or only bet big - when they have an advantage. Sometimes they win, and sometimes they lose, but over the long term, if they adequately understand their advantage, they will win. Taken to personal development, the key to investing in yourself is understanding where your competitive advan...

#434: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Joel Bein. Joel Bein is passionate about self-driven learning, creativity, personal growth, and human consciousness. Joel is the CEO at Career Hackers and Founder of New Orleans Chamber Players .  

#433: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Alex Oliveira. In this episode we track Alex's career. We discuss how he found his superpower, and how he leveraged that power to make leaps into completely different industries. We also dissect how he transitioned his business to fit into his life instead of sucking the life out of him.  Finally, we discuss what skills he is trying to teach his 4 kids...

#432: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Tareka Wheeler. Tereka Career & Mindset Strategist that helps ambitious Women of Color and Working Parents advance in their careers, and learn how to discover their defined natural abilities to level up professionally while achieving work life harmony.

#431: Theres a natural progression in how we frame choices or "options" as I tend to call them (it's the finance guy in me). Welcome to decision overload, or what I call option overload. In the context of any change, option overload is a killer zapping your mental energy, motivation and limited willpower. The ones who make it through option overload, and successfully navigate a BREAK from traditio...

#430: Why do most people (including me) fail to stick with a change or even start something new? I try to make changes every single day of my life. It's a constant fight. I mostly fail. But I sometimes succeed. Tune in to this episode to learn how to make a change and stick to it. 

#429: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Matt Doan. Matt Doan is the Founder and CEO of Transcendent Media . He's passionate about helping people live "Uncaged," which means taking control of your work situation to unlock your dream lifestyle. He does this as a coach, course instructor, and content creator. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he spent over 15 years consulting with executives at...

#428: You don't need to make a major change today. You just need to be open. Start thinking of your income source as revenue, and a world of possibilities will open up.

#427: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Barry Shore. Known as the "Ambassador of JOY," Barry Shore is a mental wellness activist, philanthropist, multi-patent holding entrepreneur, speaker, author, podcaster, and former quadriplegic who is now swimming around the world! After a rare disease paralyzed Barry from the neck down, he created the JOY of LIVING Community™, The Keep Smiling movement...

#426: Success is a tricky subject. Life, health wealth, family. I'm not going to define it here, other than to say, for me, all of it matters. That's why I've rejected the corporate ladder and 9-5 rat race. But no matter how you define success, there's really only a handful of things that ever make up the lions share of progress. I've found there's only 3 levers that determine your ability to succ...

#425: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Manoj Jonna. Manoj Jonna is the Co-Founder & CEO of Ramped , a skills-based hiring platform that is revolutionizing the job search. Prior to Ramped, Manoj served as Chief Strategy Officer of Reservations.com and as Vice President and Founding Team member at YayPay. Before YayPay, he worked as an investment banker at Deloitte Corporate Finance where he...

#424: I'm in constant re-evaluation mode. Stuck floating between seeing the field and playing on the field. At least every 6 months I hit a "reset" moment where I question everything I'm doing. Here are the 5 questions that you need to ask to take ownership of the changes that you want to make.

#423: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Susan Hamilton Meier. Susan is a personal branding expert who helps women untangle the zigzags of their careers to find a clear, shiny thread of their story and design the next steps for the professional journey. For more than 20 years, Susan has helped Fortune 500 companies define brand strategy and create distinctive messaging. She uses these tools,...

#422: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Grant Baldwin. Grant made a career change when his wife was 5 months pregnant with their first child. It was scary, but he set himself on an unmistakable path toward a meaningful and rewarding career. As founder and CEO of The Speaker Lab , Grant Baldwin has helped thousands of people build successful and sustainable speaking businesses.  Over the last...

#421: Investment in loss simply means that we often need to take a step back in order to make a giant leap forward, and that step backward is an investment.  Keep listening to learn more!

#420: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Tom Brunskill. Tom Brunskill is the co-founder and CEO of Forage , a job simulation platform that helps students bridge the gap between education and work opportunities. On a mission to make education-to-workforce pathway more equitable, Tom co-founded Forage in 2017 to provide the ability to preskill through virtual job simulations produced by the wor...

#419: Right now we're experiencing the highest inflation in 40 years which is impacting our wallets, our companies' profit margins and our jobs. Technology changes fast rendering entire industries obsolete. The stock market is in the tank. But we can still succeed - and that's not coming from a natural optimist. How? By adapting and methodically setting up our lives to weather the storm. Keep list...

#418: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with Mike Podesto. Mike Podesto is the CEO & Founder of Find My Profession, Inc. After years in sales and recruiting roles, Mike knew that it was time to begin his journey with Find My Profession. On October 3rd, 2015 Find My Profession was born. The inspiration came from a lack of satisfaction in the recruiting industry and the huge need for help on the jo...

#417: Learn how to network with the people you admire! Your network determines your level of success - your ability to find a better job, pivot careers or find clients. Tune in to learn how to network with anyone on the internet! 

#416: In this episode, Mike Gardon chats with David Kline. Dave is a former Chief Operating Officer of several different divisions at Bridgewater Associates , the worlds largest hedge fund with over $200M of assets under management headed by Ray Dalio, whose book Principles is a must read. I met Dave on Twitter (@dklineii) and was fascinated by his career pivot. He successfully transitioned out of...