Ep. 62 - 2019 Lessons Learned in Breaking Through Business and Career Challenges to Propel You Forward - with Connie Steele and Alexis Anthony
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In the past 61 episodes, we’ve heard from a range of guests across a variety of industries—all of whom shared many different perspectives on how to break through the common challenges in business and career development today.
Every interview has come with its set of valuable lessons and key takeaways that help us to understand the business of work— from how to be effective in sales and implementing AI to learning how to be an active upstander as well as identifying how to best motivate and engage your workforce.
In this episode, Connie flips the script to reflect on this year’s episodes to highlight some key themes and important lessons our guests have shared. She is joined by Alexis Anthony, Strategic Momentum’s marketing manager, who has been with the show from the very beginning. They discuss their favorite moments on the podcast in 2019 and share their own tips and advice for breaking through business and career inertia to reach your full growth potential.
Season Highlights
Top Takeaways
There were nearly too many valuable insights to count from the range of guests this year, but Connie and Alexis pointed out a few key tips and lessons that stuck out.
They both noted Erin Gargan King’s (Ep. 40) “personal, useful, and brief” (PUB) approach to business communications and the general rule to remove the “me” focus from the conversation, gearing your language to focus on the wants and needs of your audience.
Connie brought up Michael Wilkinson’s (Ep. 45 and Ep. 46) episode, in which he explained how foundational it is to be able to manage business and personal dynamics through masterful facilitation.
Alexis added Yao Huang’s (Ep. 54) episode, not just for the valuable insight into the world of virtual reality, but for Yao’s stance on finding your purpose and putting happiness above all when carving out your career path.
Favorite Stories
Next, Connie and Alexis discussed their favorite and most memorable stories of triumph and tribulation from this year. Many of these guest stories reflect the themes of perseverance, self-reliance, determination and the confidence to defy limitations — all of which translated into business and career momentum and are even more necessary in today’s ever changing work environment
Connie revisited Michael Wilkinson’s story from poverty to career enlightenment and then recounts Megan French Dunbar’s (Ep. 55) mission to start the first conscious business magazine. Alexis cited the difficult but ultimately rewarding career journey of Ines Lebow (Ep. 39), and the lessons learned by the Crate Media team (Ep. 44) on their evolution from creatives to entrepreneurs.
Industry Insights
Episodes on conscious business and corporate wellness introduced valuable industry perspectives and insights that the Strategic Momentum team weren’t even aware of. Megan French Dunbar and Bryan de Lottinville (Ep. 61) both gave us a look into the growing movement towards corporate consciousness and social responsibility as well as the holistic approach it entails. And Michael Heinrich (Ep. 56) helped us understand the process of creating a culture of wellness which involves testing and learning on both the personal and corporate levels.
Creating Strategic Momentum in Your Business
According to Connie, the keys to success come down to flexibility, agility, adaptability, and collaboration across all levels and functions. And that can only happen when it’s ingrained in the company culture.
What we learned this year is that so much of a business’s prosperity, regardless of the size of the business, depends on fostering the right work environment. And creating the ideal culture depends on putting people first based on their needs, and communicating effectively. Businesses and business leaders must shift from a transactional, top-down mindset to a relational and interactive focus to cultivate the right environment where strategic momentum can happen.
And as Bhavna Dave (Ep. 52) and Cara Silletto (Ep. 53) pointed out, emphasis on Millennials is critical. With Millennials continuing to move into leadership positions, investment in their professional development and alignment to their personal and professional goals is necessary in order to help them reach their full potential.
Creating Strategic Momentum in Your Career
To close, the Strategic Momentum team offered their own words of wisdom and advice for future leaders.
Connie: Never stop learning and acquiring new skills.
“Don't ever stop learning new skills and acquiring knowledge across a variety of industries because all these will converge at some point. It doesn't seem like they will, but they do. And you'll have the ability to connect the dots and see opportunities that others won't.”
Alexis: Get a mentor, and start searching for your purpose early on.
“Millennials—if we have the chance to think about finding our purpose now, we should be, because we could be launching ourselves into a career that's much more meaningful early on.”
Both: Invest in relationships.
