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In this last episode of the Biz of You mini-series, we’re getting an inside look at Connie’s own career journey and the experiences that shaped her perspective on career success. Who is Connie Steele? What inspired her to write Building the Business of You? And what does she hope people ultimately take away from the book? Today, Connie answers these questions and more.

Transcript

Connie: So, what is my mash up? I am a strategist, a marketer, executive, a podcaster author, parent, martial artist athlete, mentor, entrepreneur, speaker, and I've been lately called a “momager”. And all of these have been the culmination of my own career journey, where I've spent much of it in tech or in the tech world as a marketing and strategy executive, before I decided to make a pivot because I was looking for more balance and control of my life. And so now I run my own management consultancy, helping businesses level up their organizations by bridging the gap between strategy and execution so they could each reach their growth potential. Cause at the end of the day, a strategy isn't a strategy without implementation.

So what led me to writing the book? I've always been intrigued with understanding the why behind what makes companies and the people behind them tick. What are their factors for success and what holds people back? You know, there isn't a course that trains anyone to know how to navigate working career dynamics to achieve their goals.

And with the world of work being fundamentally different than it was in years past, what I've seen and experienced myself is that what people want out of it and how to get there has also shifted. This has had a domino effect on the way companies or organizations need to operate.

My own career journey has been one where I've had to learn how to connect the dots. I've had to learn how to spot the trends myself to create that right momentum. Because when I started working, I really didn't know anything, in fact I would say I was pretty naive. I certainly didn't understand the breadth of dynamics that are always at play at any point in a business and how that influences the actions of others and how that can impact myself.

So throughout my career, there's been a lot of testing and learning. I didn't even realize it at the time, but in retrospect, I really liked to sample a lot of things. Cause I wasn't sure what fit for me. Like everyone, I've had my ups and downs. I've absolutely had fear. I've absolutely had failures. I probably have catastrophized things as well.

And it's only through these incredibly difficult times that I've grown the most and gain most insight. And I've learned that failure is actually a great thing. And sometimes when you are pushed against a wall, it feels horrible at the time. But when you can push past that, you learn a lot and you know how to handle it in the future.

So to break through those moments of professional inertia, I've had to learn how to navigate, anticipate, manage, and plan for all those challenges, opportunities. And so once I spotted the trends and I understood what was going on, I had learned how to create a compass. In fact, in my career being a strategist, creating strategic plans was a skill that I developed and now I do all the time and it's actually what I've been responsible for in my job.

But that wasn't something that was initially something I knew I could do. Or was expected of me or was part of the roadmap. It was happenstance. I was very fortunate enough to have a boss or really a, it was a situation in which I was tested. And didn't even know I had the ability. I've learned how to anticipate, navigate, manage, and plan for all those challenges and opportunities.

But a lot of that was not obvious. Actually, most of it was not obvious to me in the beginning and frequently I am constantly learning. So it really became my own goal to understand the business of work. The who, what, when, where, why around an organization, but really also myself and most importantly, understand how it all came together to create forward momentum, really this strategic momentum.

I think a lot of us go through our career wanting to do a lot. We have this checklist of everything that we want to accomplish. The question is whether or not all these activities that we're doing really help create any kind of traction that lead us towards the real thing that we want. But many times we might not even know what it is we truly want, because we haven't gone back, taking the time to understand who we are, what we do best, what our skill sets may be, what makes us, to identify really compelling opportunities that can leverage our skillsets, our talents, our right brain, our left brain, our whole selves. 

So really what has motivated me and what continually motivates me is helping people, this next generation of leaders like yourself, as well as the companies I work for break through the career challenges, cause I certainly have had them and the business challenges that everyone goes through in order to reach their full growth potential. All of us have potential, no matter what it is, it probably is untapped. You just don't know how to find it. And there hasn't been a way, unless you've had wonderful mentors or again, that village of support to see things that you can't, to know what to do next. 

Through my own journey of actually developing my own podcast and the intent of the podcast was originally to provide valuable thought leadership content for those also struggling to push past those barriers that would limit them, I in turn develop valuable skills in bring to life the compelling stories of those guests that I've interviewed so much so that I've realized that podcasting has been a mashup of every single job and experience that I've had that have made me certainly passionate about the medium, where it's about spotting the trends researching, what makes that guest tick to then having the right brain creative side as a marketer, and being able to showcase that in visual form, in the style that we presented in the music. But ultimately understanding how to help support a business and get them to move towards the next level.

So also that business side, but all of those skills that I've been able to acquire over the years and doing my own podcast has led me to opportunities to developing podcasts for companies of which we're doing and we love to do and want to continue doing further. Because we see the power of audio and being able to tell an authentic brand story while also being incredibly efficient and creating content that is consistent across all the different channels that convey the true value proposition of why these amazing companies exist and how they support their customers.

So I've wanted to share this valuable wisdom that I've gained. Through my own experience personally and professionally. And that's been through my interviews with these world-renowned business leaders, psychologists, entrepreneurs, but it's also been through my own observations and research throughout the years that I could share the collective how.

Because at the end of the day, we all may know the “what”, but it's really understanding the “how” so that all of you can take those actionable steps to finding work and career success. What I hope to be able to do is help others understand what could be holding them back and fundamentally offer a practical and actionable guide to help you break through those fears and limitations that we all face so that you can get traction.

You can create momentum and so you can reach your full growth potential.

Resources

• Connect with Connie on LinkedIn 

• Get Building the Business of You: A System to Align Passion and Potential Through Your Own Career Mashup

• Order the book on Amazon

Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast:

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• On Google Podcasts 

• On Stitcher Radio

• On Spotify