What's Your Work Fit?

Pandemic affected Aruba seeks aid for its impacted workforce. About the episode: "You cannot create a diverse economy and just put it on every island. What you need to make sure is that you understand the USPs—the Unique Selling Points—of an island, not only for tourism, but also for what is going on in nature, the availability of technology, and the self sustaining options on the island." - Bianc...

As America makes the future of work. About this episode: "Never before, in the history of manufacturing, can you impact a supply chain with a piece of equipment in your garage or your home office. ... You have the opportunity to build something special and make that a career." -Andrew Resnick, America Makes In the fight against the COVID-19 Coronavirus , some people are sewing face masks and brewi...

Tribal lessons for work from the e-tribe's founder: working from home can be successful and rewarding. About this episode:  "In my core, I'm a teacher. If there was a great way to make a living as a teacher, I'd be a teacher. I thrive when I teach." - Isar Meitis, Founder of the e-tribe As of this episode, we are in Week 4 of sharing time, broadband, and square footage with loved ones and other ho...

Virtual Professionalism: The Future of Work's Key Learning Component About this episode: "Not only are we at an inflection point, what [it feels like to me] is an acceleration of catch-up, because the world is moving in this direction, anyway." - Adrienne Shoch, Workforce Engagement Expert In this episode, we build on the key learning provided by Carla Fleming of Pivoting Strategies, LLC.  Carla u...

Working remotely and future work: How the COVID-19 Coronavirus is pivoting people and careers. About this episode: "An inflection point is something that can have a seismic effect on what we call a 10x impact on the business model as you know it today. When we sit back and look at what we are doing with COVID-19, I would say we are at an inflection point right now." - Carla A. Fleming, CEO and Fou...

The Pizza Man Delivers: Providing Chicagoans Food and Comfort During the Pandemic About this episode: "You have to do your best to be optimistic, because we are going to get through this. And, we have to find fun, we have to do our best to make each other feel good at this very difficult and unprecedented time." - Billy Jacobs, Owner of Piece Pizzeria and Brewery in Chicago The pizza man delivers:...

It is a monumental task to feed needy kids during pandemic lockdowns and disruptions. About this episode: Adelle Settle is the founder of Settle the Debt , a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Through Settle the Debt, Adelle does meaningful work in ensuring that kids in-need get healthy meals at their public schools. She updates us on the success her organization has enjoyed in paying off thousands...

A career coach guides sidelined people to meaningful work. "In 2009, I really believe that's when work changed. I remember I had to find the self-motivation to be productive and to move myself forward and find some type of purpose." - Natalie Pryce, Career Coach About this episode: A self-described introvert and computer geek, Natalie Pryce struggled in grade school and knows first-hand what it is...

Will there be clean energy jobs in 2020? About this episode: It may come as quite a surprise to some that, in 2020, one of the fastest growing sectors in the American workforce happens to be the clean energy space: think solar, wind, geothermal, energy storage (batteries), hybrid and electric vehicles,  and, energy efficiency as some of the big drivers in the scale-up. Currently, 3.3 million Ameri...

Does smart transportation of the future include autonomous vehicles in urban areas? About this Episode: Dr. Richard Ezike is leading the charge for American Transportation Equity, to make the full range of mobility options—and, in particular, Autonomous Vehicles or AVs—as readily available for inner-city residents as they are for people in our more affluent suburbs. He believes that AVs will provi...

The future of work doing meaningful work includes pursuing truly epic experiences. About this episode: Pew Research  finds that the American Dream many in the workforce experienced as upward mobility is long gone; it was replaced by a soberer pursuit of economic stability. As a result, we now fill our homes and storage bins with less stuff. More of us, and especially Millennials, instead pursue le...

Two headhunters on executive recruiting, and the rewarding experience of helping people connect with work and career. About this episode with two headhunters on executive recruiting: Listeners of The Tightrope Podcast know that Dan Smolen successfully managed a 20-year run in executive recruiting —a career act that happened because of our guest, Victoria James . She is the founder and president of...

With Nicole Rousseau, we discuss how to instill nurturing workforce culture. About this episode: Nicole Rousseau has made it her mission to help people in the workplace thrive. During a Fall 2019 appearance on The Tightrope Podcast, Nicole described how she helps people and hiring managers work effectively and happily to scale revenues, but also to make the work that they do more meaningful. She h...

One thought-leader is guiding entrepreneurs to conscious leadership. In this episode: Jake Mitchell, the founder of consultancy Serenity Labs , says that impact entrepreneurs tend to give all of their energy towards making a positive difference in the world, among people, and their communities. But, he also asks: how can those same impact entrepreneurs change the world for the better when they are...

We explore a Londoner's work in recruiting and radio. About this episode: We go across-the-pond to chat with Russell White , a London-based executive recruiter who doubles as a radio host representing 1970s-era Disco music. Russ recounts his considerable success placing professional talent in executive roles in United Kingdom and European Union companies, and, offers his surprisingly positive post...

Adrienne Schoch discusses how to apply science and empathy for work. About this episode: If you are committed to finding meaningful work in the new year, then we urge you to consider an internship. We discuss why they are not just for career-focused college students; internships help mid-career professionals to seek meaningful work. Also in this "between the seasons" episode, we meet Adrienne Shoc...

A discussion of how we went about designing the user experience for DanSmolen.com with Gresham Harkless, Jr. About this episode: In the first of our "between the seasons" episodes, we ring in 2020 with New Year's resolutions—particularly the ones in which people set out to find a new job. According to an Inc. Magazine survey , 16 percent or nearly 53 million of us will seek a new job this year. It...

Settle the debt: school lunch debt relief non-profit provides attorney meaningful ork About this episode: "In 2017, I was just driving down the street and I heard this interview on NPR and it was about this child in New Mexico who had gone to get a school lunch. And he walked up to the cash register with his meal in his hands, and it turned out that he didn't have enough money in his account to pa...

Bravery Part 2, an episode about the superpower that people need. About this episode: “When you heard the process that they went through to get there, it was painful and it was my process, too. It’s like putting aside everything you’ve ever been taught and saying: I’m really good at this. And, it all came down really to the biggest problem people have which is self-doubt.” - Public relations execu...

Bravery Part 1: the superpower people need to do meaningful work. About this episode: “When you are 26-years-old and being thrown into boardrooms to interview the CEO of Pepsi and General Foods and places like that, you really have to learn how to talk to people and to be a little differential, but still to be yourself. Otherwise, [they] won’t tell you anything.” - Public relations executive Aimee...

Courtroom to Screening Room: A Lawyer Finds Purpose as a Filmmaker About this episode: "Let me say it, again. Matt Weiss, a traffic lawyer from New York with no experience whatsoever, got to direct an Oscar winning actress. I mean, how cool is that?" - Attorney and Filmmaker Matthew Weiss Matthew Weiss is a successful attorney and a restless dreamer. He built a formidable New York City-based priva...

As Coach MD, Charles Glassman is a doctor on a meaningful work mission About this episode: I told my [high school] advisor that I was thinking of going into medicine. Well, he kind of paused as he said: ‘Look, medicine is a really tough field. Maybe you ought to think of something different?’ And when he said that, that made me decide—no matter what—I WAS GOING TO DO IT.” – Charles Glassman, MD Wi...

Bridgeport: City Strives for Meaningful Work. About this episode: "We are in a global race for innovation, and, if we do not prepare—and we can't wait for kids to graduate high school and college—we need that work now." - Career coach and entrepreneur Natalie Pryce The city of Bridgeport—the second largest in the state of Connecticut—was once an industrial powerhouse. Fueled by New Deal-era federa...

Queen of the Millennials: One Leadership Coach's Passion for Gen Y Empowers America's Intergenerational Workforce About this episode: "At the end of the first group that I had, we were wrapping up and we're saying goodbye. One of them said, 'you're the only one who likes us, no one in the company likes us ... you are like the Queen of the Millennials!' And I was like—DING!!!—and I went on GoDaddy...

Stand Up: Comedy Connects Veterans to Beautiful Dreams and Meaningful Work About this episode:  "It was very interesting to come into a fully formed class that has a clear way of getting you from 'you think that you are funny?' to 'how does that translate on stage for five minutes?'" - US Army veteran and ASAP comedian Monica Daly Typical hard-working Americans often do work that becomes devoid of...