Episodes
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The Job Market Is Frozen
That was the recent headline of an Atlantic article. It reflects the baffling frustration many job seekers are feeling right now.
âSix months. Five-hundred-seventy-six applications. Twenty-nine responses. Four interviews. And still, no job.â
Already in 2025, we are seeing a flurry of firings and layoffs happening across the corporate world and now in the U.S. federal government, too. This means that an estimated 200K displaced workers will enter the job market and compete for scarce jobs.
How scarce?
Well, the pace of hiring has slowed to levels last seen shortly after the Great Recession. Also, voluntary quitting to find a new job has fallen to its lowest level in a decade. People are worried, so theyâre staying put (if they can). Employers are concerned about the economy, so they arenât hiring. The job market is frozen.
And now, with the recent tariffs, the stock market tanked, consumer confidence is falling as threats of inflation rise, and some are whispering the word ârecession.â All of this is influencing my outlook for job searchers.
* The layoffs and firings will continue in the U.S. this year.
* More job seekers will enter the market to compete with you.
* Fewer jobs will be available in the U.S. because companies are freezing hiring.
* Even if you do land a U.S. job, you may get laid off soon after.
* The political and economic turmoil will continue to damage our economy.
My recommendation
If you need a new job and can work remotely (or with some travel), I highly encourage you to seek employment with a company based outside the U.S.
A few people misunderstood my recommendation when I suggested this recently in a Substack note. They assumed that employment with a non-U.S. company would always require moving to a new country.
Yes, that could be a requirement, and some people donât mind it at all (e.g., a few of my clients and friends have relocated to other countries over the past few years). However, I also have clients and colleagues who work for international companies and still live in the U.S.
Let me give you a few examples:
* Atlassian has its global HQ in Sydney, Australia. But, several friends of mine worked for them in their San Francisco office.
* IKEA was founded in Sweden and is incorporated and headquartered in the Netherlands. Theyâre always hiring in their U.S. locations.
* Rakuten is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, but it also has offices in San Mateo and San Francisco, California.
* 1Password is based in Toronto, Canada, but they hire for remote positions, too (U.S. or Canada).
* Located in Virginia Beach, VA, STIHL Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of the global STIHL Group, founded in Germany.
* Finally, here are some top German companies doing business in the U.S. You can search for similar companies from any country you find interesting.
Why international?
Why do I recommend these companies headquartered outside of the U.S.?
* They have diversified global teams that arenât trapped in our local political turmoil.
* They have global revenue sources that arenât tied 100% to the U.S. economy.
* They are not under the complete control of the U.S. federal government, and weâve seen what happens when American companies bend the knee.
* International companies are seeking and appreciate U.S. talent. The number of American workers hired by international companies grew 62% in 2023.
My hope is these companies will be more willing to hire new employees than U.S. companies seem to be right now. Also, working for an international company opens up opportunities that could be interesting for you later.
For example, a friend worked for an international company in one of their U.S. locations for many years. Then, they asked to be relocated to one of their offices in another country. Now, they live there permanently and have never been happier.
Here are some resources to help you find a job with an international company.
* 15 Best International Companies Hiring U.S. Remote Workers
* U.S. workers are getting scooped up by international companies hiring remote roles
* 30 International Companies Hiring
* InternationalJobs.com
* RemoteJob.io (look for non-U.S. employers)
* We Work Remotely
Of course, your income taxes get a little more complicated when you have income from non-U.S. sources. So, check out this overview of U.S. taxes on foreign income for individuals. I also recommend talking with your accountant to ensure you appropriately handle reporting and tax payments. Working for an international company set up to hire in the U.S. (e.g., it has an incorporated presence here) means they should be handling reporting for you, but itâs wise to verify.
Additional complexity is never fun. But being out of work for a long time is even worse. So, if you are struggling to land a new job with a U.S. company in this crazy job market, consider opportunities beyond our borders.
đ Get your free chapter from the book Iâve been writing for the last few years, Becoming Invincible in Life: A Guide to Reclaiming Your Power, Freedom, and Future. Iâm in the editing phase right now, so Iâll hopefully be able to publish it later this year!
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become invincible, and create new opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate!
đ Check out my new The Invincible Daily Journals!
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
We may feel powerless at times like these, but we are not.
Over 70M people in the U.S. didnât want the outcome we are dealing with now. Millions more are now regretting choices made that enabled what is happening.
However, if we unite, we become powerful. The coordinated focus of our time, energy, and money would have a massive impact on those who think we have no voice.
We are familiar with the idea of voting with our dollars. We change our spending habits to favor one business over another, to show that we reject a corporationâs policies, and to influence a companyâs actions. It happens all the time.
But we also live in an online world that isnât about the money we spend with a company. Instead, itâs about the time and attention we give to their platforms, services, and apps. We are the product. Our data, behavior, and clicks are harvested to feed their advertising platforms. We donât pay Meta to use Facebook, for example. But that corporation sure makes a significant profit from our time spent in the app.
So, we can vote with our time and attention, too, not just our dollars. By deactivating or deleting our accounts, we can starve specific platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X). We can also feed other platforms that represent the values we believe in (e.g., Bluesky).
Money talks. When a company loses enough advertising revenue, they take notice. They may decide to change their policies and actions before itâs too late, and they lose everything. We have the power to make that happen if we are willing to redistribute our time and attention.
We can decide how we spend our money, time, and attention. We get to choose the companies that we feel are aligned with our values. But there is another way to live your values and influence policy that we donât talk about as often:
Where you work.
You can also âvoteâ with your blood, sweat, and tears. Our jobs are where we spend a significant portion of our adult lives. Of course, we need to work to live. We must cover our bills, buy groceries, and pay for housing.
But work is already hard enough without being completely miserable while we are doing it. And working for an employer that doesnât align with your values adds another layer of pain to the misery.
Being selective about choosing an employer is undoubtedly a privilege that not everyone can enjoy. If you live in a small community with few employers and no options for remote work, you are stuck with few choices. I grew up in a tiny farm town like that. The online world hadnât been created yet, and few local employers existed. You took any job you could find.
However, those who do have more options for their career paths can use this opportunity to research, plan, and select employment that:
* Aligns with their values.
* Supports their belief system.
* Positions them for the future.
* Gives them flexibility and resilience.
This podcast episode discusses these points in more detail, so scroll up, hit play, and listen.
In summary, you have more power than you think to help change this world and right wrongs.
* You can vote with your dollars to help influence policy.
* You can vote with your time and attention to make change happen.
* You can vote with your blood, sweat, and tears to reward the right kind of employers with the precious remaining time in your career.
You deserve a career and a job that makes you feel good about waking up on Monday mornings!
đ Get your free chapter from the book Iâve been writing for the last few years, Becoming Invincible in Life: A Guide to Reclaiming Your Power, Freedom, and Future. Iâm in the editing phase right now, so Iâll hopefully be able to publish it later this year!
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â My wife and I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
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My guest for this episode is Sarah JanTausch, the Founder of SRJ Coaching and Consulting and creator of the Values-Based Career method. This method helps individuals unlock the hidden job market and ditch burnout while creating a career move rooted in their core values, ideal work style, and goals.
Before starting her own business, she worked in politics and government, serving Ohioâs Governor and lieutenant governor. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Master of Science in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University.
About Sarah
âIâm a speaker, trainer, and coach who works with individuals to create values-based careers. I also partner with organizations serving both students and job-seekers for the job market of the future. My specialties include career-pivots and generosity-based networking that makes creating genuine connections and growing your network feel almost completely effortless.
Previously, I crafted my dream career working in politics and government. While serving Ohioâs Governor and Lt. Governor in various leadership roles and advocating for effective public policy, I ran multimillion dollar programs and I led a team while overseeing statewide outreach. I earned my Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University where I majored in Politics & Government. As a mid-career professional, I went back to school to earn my Master of Science in Management and Leadership at Western Governors University. I am a member of the National and Ohio Career Development Associations (OCDA) and I currently chair the OCDAâs government relations committee.
Our total vocational impact includes more than just our day-to-day work. I love exploring and helping my clients define the impact they want to make on the world. For me, this includes a variety of volunteer roles Iâve held in my community, from volunteer board positions to spending approximately 15 years on political campaign work. Iâve worked on key issues including healthcare, substance abuse, education, and recreation. When Iâm not working or volunteering, you can find me hanging out with my husband and our two cats Peanut Butter and Blaze or hitting up a local coffee house.â
We talk about
* How and why she pivoted her career even though she thought she had landed her dream job.
* The surprising connection between a childhood passion and her solopreneur business.
* A common mistake that many job seekers make.
* How she works with her career coaching clients to uncover their values and find a job that is aligned with them.
Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.
Where to find Sarah
* Her website
* LinkedIn
30 for $20! âïž
Schedule a call and get 30 minutes of coaching for just $20 on any career topic you want to cover. Save $177 off the regular price! Note: This offer is only available for new clients who havenât worked with me before.
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
My guest for this episode is Isabel Sterne, a writer, designer, and brand strategist who helps entrepreneurs and professionals build aligned brands. She offers LinkedIn visual design, content writing, marketing clarity calls, and monthly and project-based marketing and branding support.
I always talk about treating your career like a business that sells a product called âyou.â As such, you should invest in your professional brand and leverage LinkedIn to attract new opportunities.
Before starting her own business, she worked for 12+ years in marketing and communications for global brands like Condé Nast and Effie Awards. She also has a B.Sc. in Communication from Cornell University.
When I encountered Isabel on LinkedIn, I first noticed how funny her posts are. Then, I noticed how much engagement she was getting on those posts. Sheâs humble about this, but I like to say that sheâs conquered LinkedIn. If youâre not following her there, you should be!
About Isabel
âIsabel Sterne helps founders and solopreneurs develop their reputations and attract more opportunities on LinkedIn and beyond.
She provides design, ghostwriting, and strategy support for those looking to level up their LinkedIn presence and be seen as the experts they are.
Late identified as neurodivergent, she's also passionate about neurodiversity advocacy and raising awareness about the challenges and advantages of thinking differently.
We talk about
* How she became more active on LinkedIn after being burned out by layoffs.
* Why she decided to start her consulting practice doing what she had always been doing for her employers (e.g., creating marketing content).
* How she would have told her younger self to put herself out there more.
* What she does to be so successful on LinkedIn by being more human and authentic.
* The role of AI in content creation and mistakes people make with it.
* How she helps her clients get more out of LinkedIn and social media.
* The challenges of being neurodivergent in the workplace.
Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.
Where to find Isabel
* LinkedIn
* Substack
* Her website
30 for $20! âïž
Schedule a call and get 30 minutes of coaching for just $20 on any career topic you want to cover. Save $177 off the regular price! Note: This offer is only available for new clients who havenât worked with me before.
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
My guest for this episode is Emily Schneider, a visual storyteller specializing in presentation design. She helps businesses and corporate leaders confidently transform their messages into beautiful, effective presentations that genuinely resonate with their intended audiences.
If you give talks and presentations, her advice is invaluable. Becoming comfortable with public speaking is one of the best investments I have made in my career. I was also lucky enough to receive advanced media training and present a lot during my last few years as a corporate executive. Learning how to tell a compelling story through your words and slides is essential if you want to persuade and inspire others.
About Emily
ââMy passion for simplifying complex content has become a bit of a magical knack â blending storytelling with a keen design eye. I'm not just a designer; I'm a strategic collaborator, dedicated to helping businesses confidently transform their messages into beautiful, effective presentations that truly resonate with their intended audiences.
âWhat started with pink pixelated swirls and a questionable font choice as the invitation for my sweet sixteen luncheon has morphed into a creative business venture. My nearly two decades spent in the marketing and branding space, combined with my passion to help simplify information for clients in a vibrant and compelling way, make me a perfect partner for your presentation needs.â
We talk about
* Her background as an art director, creative director, and director of brand strategy and marketing.
* Why she decided to start her consulting practice.
* How she helps companies with presentation design and storytelling consulting.
* What people struggle with the most with presentations.
* Where she focuses her business.
* How she finds new clients.
Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.
Where to find Emily
* Her consulting website
* Emilyâs LinkedIn
During our conversation, I mentioned the book Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter) (my Amazon affiliate link). Check it out!
30 for $20! âïž
Schedule a call and get 30 minutes of coaching for just $20 on any career topic you want to cover. Save $177 off the regular price! Note: This offer is only available for new clients who havenât worked with me before.
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
My guest for this episode is Maureen Wiley Clough. Maureen is the host of It Gets Late Early, a podcast and community of tech employees bringing awareness to the issues facing experienced workers and striving to create a better working world for all.
Iâve talked about the issue of ageism in the tech industry before. I faced it myself a few times, and I witnessed discriminatory behavior during my decades-long career (e.g., during job interviews). I wrote a post on LinkedIn about embracing aging, which is how I met Maureen and got invited to her podcast. So, now she has returned the favor and joined me for this episode to talk about her mission to shine a light on ageism and find a better way to move forward in the working world as we all grow older.
About Maureen
Maureen built a successful career in tech. But as she looked around the Zoom room at her last early-stage startup, she was struck by the fact that the number of people over 40 were slim to none.
When she realized she had observed a similar demographic makeup in her past roles at more mature organizations, she began to wonder about her ability to chart her own course in this sector for as long as she wanted - or needed - to be employed. She also recognized that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs had not focused on the issue of age, the one âismâ coming for all of us (and thatâs if weâre lucky).
So, she set out to start conversations with her peers and conduct research to understand reality and build towards a better, more inclusive future for all - no matter what your age.
We talk about
* When Maureen first encountered ageism in her career
* Why she started her podcast âIt Gets Late Earlyâ
* How ageism will affect all of us (if youâre lucky to live long enough)
* How age discrimination negatively impacts corporations
* The unexpected ways ageism creeps into recruiting, hiring, and promotion practices
* Why return-to-office hurts parents and older workers
* What you can do to be better prepared as you advance in your career
* How Maureen can help companies improve their recruiting practices, hiring policies, organizational policies, and more to help find and nurture great talent, regardless of age
Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.
Where to find Maureen
* It Gets Late Early (website, podcast episodes, and newsletter)
* LinkedIn
* Instagram
* Threads
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
Do you have an enemy at work?
Okay, maybe thatâs too strong of a word. đ
How about people who make your life harder than it needs to be, react to everything you do with some negativity, and generally make you wish they werenât in your life?
I often talk about using a pull to draw you toward better opportunities in your career.
* Growth opportunities
* Professional challenges
* New jobs that offer a promotion or significant raise
* A chance to work on something exciting
* An opportunity to work with talented people
* A role that will teach you something new
However, sometimes a push is helpful or even necessary. For example, when you:
* Are too comfortable with a job and no longer growing or learning
* Get stuck in a rut but donât know how to get out of it
* Are fearful of taking a risk and embracing change that will take you to the next level
* Have lost confidence in yourself and are settling for less
* Need someone to speak an uncomfortable truth youâve been avoiding
In this podcast episode, I explore the concept of having a yin-yang of positive and negative people in your personal and professional life. Iâll share a few times when I needed a hard push to get back on track, which made me accept and appreciate the role haters have played in my life.
Want to get some advice from me, but youâre nervous about spending money on a full coaching package? Well, youâre in luck! Check out my Introductory Coaching Call â 30 minutes for just $20! Note: This service is only available for a onetime initial call. Check it out!
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
Have you experienced one of those one-way video interviews during a job search? It can feel a little intimidating to talk into your laptop camera, knowing itâs recorded and youâre not speaking live with another human being.
I recently helped my son prepare for one of these interviews. We focused on three main strategies to ensure his readiness.
* Analyzing the job description
* Talking with current and past employees
* Preparing for this new type of interview
In this podcast episode (scroll up and hit play), I discuss each of these strategies in more detail.
By the way, I recently launched a new Introductory Coaching Call â 30 minutes of coaching for just $20! Note: this service is only available as a onetime initial call. Check it out!
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
âIâm putting in long hours and working harder than ever. Why am I not getting promoted?â
Do you know how many times Iâve heard that complaint?
Sure, working harder than your peers can get you promoted during the early years of your career. But you will soon find that what got you where you are today wonât get you where you want to be tomorrow.
Most people play checkers with their careers. They hop around the board, marching ahead, step by step, and donât think more than one step ahead.
The game board looks similar. In the early days of your career, you and the other pieces are making the same movesâtrying to get head, space by space. But you eventually find out that strategy wonât cut it.
Your career growth is limited when you behave like a checker piece on the corporate chess game board. Unfortunately, many people experience that. They think more of the same will continue to move them ahead.
* Working harder
* Working longer hours
* Taking on more work
Sadly, that is the path to stagnation and abuse. Yes, abuse. Iâve watched many people get used by their employers. Many managers love dumping work on the people who work hard, donât complain, and never ask for raises or promotions.
So, if you want to avoid being stuck in checker mode, there are five things you must do:
* Become a valuable chess piece
* Use strategic long-term planning
* Leverage pattern recognition
* Make sacrificial moves when necessary
* Play leadership chess, too
1. Become a valuable chess piece
If you want to play chess, you must qualitatively change how you work and transform the value you deliver. Leaders donât get promoted because they work harder than their peers. They get promoted because they think differently, add unique value, get results, and know how to make 1+1=3.
World-class chess players donât randomly flail away moving pieces on the board. They never think one step ahead and hope things work out.
So, stop behaving like an interchangeable checker piece. In the game of checkers, every individual piece has the same capabilities (i.e., hopping one space forward). You can easily be replaced if you are a commodity with the same skills as everyone else. Heck, maybe they can even find a cheaper piece to replace you! And if they can do that, they will.
I watched that happen many times over the decades of my career. A senior employee was often replaced with a more affordable junior employee who could do the same work.
I remember an executive saying, âWhy should we pay this much for a U.S. employee? I can hire three designers in country XYZ for that salary.â
A basic U.S. checker piece was often replaced with more affordable international pieces. Basic pieces were also frequently put on the inevitable layoff lists about every six months.
However, the employees who had leveled up to provide unique strategic value were never replaced. Their cost was never questioned. Instead, they were assigned the best and most challenging projects. They were the ones promoted when the review cycles rolled around every year.
I often ran into the unfortunately common belief that tenure will eventually lead to a promotion. Some employees thought they would keep moving up the career ladder if they stayed with the company long enough. Iâm sorry, but higher-level promotions simply donât work that way.
A pawn that has been with the company for 5 yearsâbut still acts and performs like a pawnâwonât be promoted to knight simply because of tenure. Level up and transform yourself, or be stuck where you are forever.
2. Use strategic long-term planning
Professionals who end up succeeding in their careers are thinking many, many steps ahead. They arenât simply focused on their next career move. They have a vision for where they want to be several years from nowâsometimes even decades. Every move they make is intentional and sets them up for the next move and the next.
They use strategic thinking instead of scattered and mindless hopping.
One of my old colleagues and friends had a clear vision for where they wanted to end their careerâas a C-level executive in a public company. Every move they made was deliberately planned to help them advance toward that goal.
* New projects
* New connection in their network
* New skills and experiences
* New domains
* New jobs with the right employers
* Seizing new opportunities when they appeared
Over the years, I watched them make smart moves until they finally did land that C-level role. It was definitely a clever game of corporate chess, not checkers.
đ Schedule a free strategy call with me if youâd like to work on your long-term career plan.
3. Leverage pattern recognition
My grad school advisor was really into chess, and I mean really. He was an excellent player, but he was also a psychologist who researched expert players.
Great chess players have a stronger conceptual knowledge of the game and are better at recognizing familiar patterns. Similarly, successful professionals master the rules of the âcorporate gameâ and start to recognize familiar patterns in company dynamics, organizational politics, and individual behavior.
Leveling up your corporate âchess gameâ beyond checkers requires deeply learning corporate rules, how organizations function, and individual motivations. The more experience you gain, the more you should start recognizing patterns and how to quickly and successfully navigate them.
4. Make sacrificial moves when necessary
With a long-term vision and strategy, you can focus on the big prize instead of being distracted by the short-term benefits. If you've ever hiked to a mountain top, you know it's never a straight and obvious shot to get there. The nearby moves may seem counterintuitive. You move sideways. You move downslope to transfer to other trails.
For example, one job might pay more immediately, but another might set you up for later promotions and better long-term earning potential. I often discuss how this is essential to searching for your next job. How do competing employers compare in terms of factors like:
* Better leadership
* More supportive management
* More challenging projects
* Learning a new technology
* Gaining more powerful skills
* Access to talented people
* Building relationships with movers and shakers
* Creating a stronger professional reputation
You can become a more powerful piece on the professional chessboard of life instead of being stuck in checker mode forever.
5. Play leadership chess, too
If and when you move into leadership roles, the chess vs. checkers strategy comes into play again. Itâs about recognizing that your team members are not simple checker pieces to be placed willy-nilly on the board. Each person has unique talents, experience, and goals. For example, you donât want to treat a queen like a pawn and give that person a project that doesnât leverage their strengths. You also donât want to overload a pawn with a complex project far beyond their capabilities.
Also, playing chess means understanding that people are not interchangeable checker pieces. You must learn who to invest in retaining and growing, who will benefit from mentoring and coaching, and who isnât playing well with the other pieces on the board. You canât simply swap in a new person and expect them to behave and perform like everyone else.
Finally, successful leadership does require strategic vision and planning several moves ahead. You must start recognizing behavior patterns in other leaders to anticipate their next moves, plan your move, and survive the inevitable politics of playing at that level. Leaders who play the corporate game like checkers (e.g., only focused on executing the next move) donât tend to last long.
Start playing chess
If youâre happy with your job, donât care about promotions, and focus more on work-life balance, thereâs nothing wrong with playing checkers at work. Do good work, get paid, and go home to your friends and family to enjoy your personal life.
Believe me, I get that! Thatâs why I left the corporate world behind in 2010 to build a lifestyle business.
However, if you are ambitious and you really want to get ahead at work, move up the career ladder, and reach your biggest goals, then learn the rules of the corporate chess game. Become more powerful and more valuable. Play strategically and be prepared for how hard your colleagues/competitors will play.
Those top leadership positions become increasingly rare as you advance in the organization. Playing checkers wonât put you in those seats, but playing a clever game of corporate chess just might.
By the way, I recently refreshed my Invincible Career community and have started rebuilding it from scratch on my Discord server (instead of Slack). If youâre interested in joining a friendly, supportive community of ambitious peers, upgrade your newsletter subscription so I can send you an invitation!
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
In this episode, I share an overview of my upcoming course. Play the audio to hear my description of each of the steps below.
10 Steps to Prepare for a Successful Job Interview
* Research your target employer
* Identify their biggest problems
* Map your expertise
* Tune your resume, LinkedIn, etc.
* Find your inside champions and connections
* Prepare and rehearse
* Setting the stage
* How to crush your interview
* Follow up
* Maintain relationships
By the way, if you need some 1-on-1 coaching to help prepare for an interview, you can schedule time with me here.
As I mentioned, this article's actual content is in the podcast audio. So, scroll up and hit play to hear it.
Do you know someone who will soon interview for a new job? They might find this episode helpful! Hit the button below to share it with them.
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
No one ever said the job market was fair. Thatâs even more true in the current economy which has been plagued with layoff after layoff.
Now, in this race for a new job, some candidates are clearly driving race cars, while others are struggling to make it around the job search track with an underpowered engine or even a flat tire.
Why is that?
Let me play with this metaphor for a bit, starting with the diagram below. Note: I go into a lot more detail in the podcast recording. So, scroll up, hit play, and listen.
You can think of âCapabilityâ as the engine of the race car. It includes:
* Talent
* Skills
* Knowledge
* Experience
âDriveâ is one of the tires. It includes:
* Grit
* Determination
* Persistence
* Confidence
* Consistency
âReputationâ is the second tire. It includes:
* Your professional brand
* What people say about you
* What youâre known for
* Your proof
âInterviewâ is the third tire. It includes:
* Your job interview process
* Your interviewing skills
* Communication skills
* Presentation skills
* Questions asked
* Follow up
Finally, âChampionâ is the last tire. It includes:
* Your inside champion
* Inside connections
* Inside influencers
Lighting it all up to get hired
Three of my clients and community members recently landed new jobs:
* One leveraged networking, finding an inside champion, and my 1-on-1 coaching to create a new role that hadnât existed before. They also negotiated a higher level and a lot more compensation!
* Another used networking, my coaching, and my Career Accelerator to land a job with a former colleague that was in the âhidden job market.â
* Finally, the last person used my Career Accelerator, some of my coaching, and an inside champion to land a great new job in Silicon Valley.
Weak engine of Capability
Sometimes, your engine is underpowered for the role youâre seeking. I always encourage people to stretch themselves, but do so within reason.
Flat tire of Reputation
You may have everything else going for you, but people know youâre a pain to manage and worth with. The industry is always smaller than you think, and people talk. However, you can repair your reputation and get back in the game.
Flat tire of Drive
Grit and determination will often carry the day. But, if you lack confidence, donât consistently put in the work, and give up too soon, youâll find it hard to land jobs that others do.
Flat tire of the Champion
I frequently talk about the power of having an inside champion. Champions, influencers, and insiders can tip the balance of a job interview in your favor. Just ask my clients who leveraged them to land great jobs quickly! But, if your Champion tire is flat, be prepared for a long, slow crawl in the job search race.
Flat tire of the Interview
You could have everything else set up, but still bomb the interview. No champion can save you if you donât prepare well enough. Your capabilities and reputation wonât matter if you canât demonstrate your knowledge, experience, and wisdom while speaking with the interviewers. I donât care how much drive you have. It wonât help if you canât communicate well, present well, and generally interview strongly.
Winning the job search race
Light up your engine, and all four tires, and youâll be well on your way to speeding around the track and landing your next great job!
As I said earlier, most of the content of this article is in the podcast audio. So, scroll up and hit play if you want to hear it.
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
In this podcast episode, I share a sneak peek at my recent Invincible Career Job Search workshop I hosted on April 1st.
In the previous podcast episode, when I shared a preview of the workshop, I talked quite a bit about the Connecting strategy.
In this episode, I discuss positioning (e.g., LinkedIn, resume, cover letter) a little more and then dive into the Broadcasting strategy. If you want opportunities to come your way, the professional world has to know you exist.
Enjoy!
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
In this episode, I share an overview of the presentation materials to give you a sense of the 2-hour workshop Iâll be hosting on April 1st. So, make sure to play the audio since Iâm not including 2 hours of text material in this newsletter article.
âĄïž âFind a Better Job Using 3 Essential Job Search Strategiesâ
The price for the workshop goes up again next week. So, if you're interested in joining us, grab a ticket now. Or, use the advice I share in this episode for free!
ââ° This is the last time I will host my Invincible Career Job Search workshop this year. I won't offer it again until 2025! So, join us now or wait until then.
âNote: I record video of myself and the presentation, which I share with all the attendees after the workshop. So, if the time doesnât work for you to join us live, you will have the homework document and the video material to use later, just like a course.
The Workshop Agenda
* Who is this Larry Cornett person?
* Whatâs going wrong â with your job or job search?
* Breakout discussion đŹ
* My 3 essential invincible job search strategies
* All about you (so you can sell yourself for your ideal job)
* Defining your ideal job
* Defining your ideal employer
* Defining your ideal boss
* Breakout discussion đŹ
* The Connecting strategy
* The Broadcasting strategy
* Breakout discussion đŹ
* The Targeting strategy
* Q & A for the last 20 minutes
Play the audio for this newsletter and podcast episode to hear my description of each part of the agenda.
Win a Free Coaching Session!
ââRefer your friends to join you in this workshop, and you could win a FREE coaching session. Share the link to the workshop with your friends and ask them to provide your name when they register.
ââWinners will be determined by the total number of referrals.
* ââFirst place wins a free 1-hour coaching call worth over $300!
* ââSecond place wins a free 45-min coaching call worth over $240
* ââThird place wins a free 30-min coaching call worth over $150
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
This is one of the worst job markets Iâve experienced in quite some time. It seems like new layoffs are being announced every day.
In this podcast episode, I talk more about whatâs going on, how to tell if a layoff might be coming, what to do about it, and how to get back into the game after one happens.
Iâve linked some of my past articles you might find useful if youâre concerned about a layoff or recently went through one.
Have you ever considered starting a business to escape the stress of worrying about layoffs?
I know that sounds strange, but thatâs exactly why I launched my first solopreneur business. I had just lost my job, needed to support my young family, and wanted more stability. So, I put my trust in myself instead of leaving it in the hands of a fickle employer.
If that sounds interesting to you, I'm hosting my next live workshop on how to build a lifestyle business on Feb 26th!
"Build a Lifestyle Business to Escape Your 9-5 Job"
I'll record the workshop and share the video with you later. So, if the time doesn't work for you, you'll have the workbook exercises and video to use just like a course.
Grab your ticket now, because the price goes up next week.
Would love to see you there!
Hi, Iâm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
The most successful people in your industry and profession may not be better than you. They also may not be more intelligent, talented, or hardworking than you.
However, I bet they are great at something most of us usually are not:
Promoting themselves.
Of course, self-promotion isnât enough. You do need a baseline of competence in your job.
However, I think weâve all noticed that management will promote someone who is good enough at their job â and great at getting noticed â more often than someone who might be even better at their job, but no one is aware of them or what they do.
How did things turn out for you last year with your performance review?
* Did your boss notice and appreciate your hard work?
* Did they promote you?
* Did you receive a significant raise?
* Are you happy with the recognition youâve received?
Or did you get passed over for a promotion this cycle? Are you frustrated with working hard and doing all the right things but donât seem to get ahead at work?
Well, thatâs why I write this newsletter and share my career advice. If you work hard and are good at what you do, you deserve to be treated well at work. That should be recognized and reflected in your compensation. I want you to be successful and happy, so I will share some advice to help you get ahead this year.
Here are five things successful people tend to do better than most. Note that 3-5 tap into the self-promotion skill.
* Focusing
* They focus passionately on being great at something.
* Helping
* They help others and generate a lot of goodwill, which encourages reciprocity.
* Networking
* They network intelligently and consistently.
* Marketing
* Theyâre good at capturing attention and converting it into opportunity.
* Selling
* They understand that selling is all about building relationships and solving peopleâs problems.
Letâs dive into each one of these in a little more detail.
Focusing
If youâre a jack-of-all-trades, becoming an expert at anything is challenging. Yes, our jobs require a wide range of knowledge, skills, and tasks, but there should always be a primary focus.
The folks who rise to the top know how to focus their time and energy on what matters the most for their job. They do everything they can to improve at that one thing (e.g., sales, writing clean code, elegant design, strategic thinking, relationship building, persuasion, writing, playing guitar, statistical analysis, research, etc.).
What is the one thing that represents excellence in your profession?
Note: this will change as you climb the career ladder. What got you to your current level will not take you to the next level.
For example, I started my tech career as a designer. Doing great design work efficiently and effectively got me promoted to more senior levels as an individual contributor.
However, as I moved into design management, my design skills were no longer what made me stand out. Effective leadership was much more important than my ability to design interfaces.
Now, this doesnât mean you can drop the ball on the many requirements of your job beyond the âone thing.â But donât ever prioritize those over your most important focus area. Iâve seen people do that (e.g., an engineering manager writing great code but doing a poor job of managing the team), and then they wonder why theyâre no longer getting promoted.
Helping
The most successful people help other people succeed. It creates a virtuous cycle.
Rising to the top of your career ladder by climbing over the bodies of your fallen colleagues isnât a smart strategy. I think we all know some people who have done that. But, eventually, those chickens come home to roost, and these people fail.
Industries are small, and people talk. The selfish folks soon find that no one wants to hire or work with them.
Be generous with your time and advice. Obviously, donât overdo this to the point where your work or personal life suffers. But help when and where you can.
For example, I spent about ten years helping people with their career issues and connecting them with potential employers for free. Friends, old colleagues, and connections in my network would reach out, and weâd meet over coffee or lunch to discuss their career goals.
Fast forward ten years, and I started a career coaching business to help even more people and make it my primary focus. Many of my first clients were the same people Iâd helped in the past. Many of those people referred more potential clients to me.
People like to help people! And the most successful people make it part of their lives.
Networking
Intelligent networking creates opportunities. You shouldnât only do it when you need a new job. Thanks to my network:
* I landed every single one of my tech jobs.
* Iâve been invited to speak at events (some were paid engagements).
* Iâve been invited to participate in panels and speak on podcasts.
* People reached out to hire me for consulting engagements.
* I found talented people to hire for my teams.
* Founders and CEOs asked me to sit on their boards.
* People hired me to be their career or business coach.
* Iâve made some amazing and ambitious friends who help me grow my business.
Your network is one of your most valuable resources if you build it wisely, protect it, and nurture it. Nurturing your network means keeping it fresh with consistent contact.
* Send people interesting articles.
* Pull folks into the right conversations.
* Support each other on social media (e.g., like, comment, share).
* Send job opportunities to your acquaintances.
* Refer business to your solopreneur friends.
* Reach out to catch up over Zoom, coffee, or lunch.
* Check-in to see what folks have been up to.
The most successful people treat their network well. They balance giving and taking. They introduce good people to good people. They build communities and engage with other communities.
Marketing
Marketing did not come naturally to me, and I still struggle with it as an introvert. Most modern marketing means spending time on social media, creating videos, and writing content.
Lots and lots of content.
However, writing is the one thing I do enjoy (hence this newsletter). And it has helped me grow my business and find new clients.
The most successful people are great at marketing. They know how to capture attention and convert it into a useful opportunity. They pay attention to psychology and learn what people like. What gets clicks. What turns attention into conversion.
People in the broader industry should know who you are, what you do, and how amazing you are â beyond the walls of your employer. I always talk about how important that is. If you want to become an opportunity magnet for the best things in life, people need to be aware of your existence!
But marketing also applies inside the corporate walls. People inside your company need to know who you are, too. I know itâs hard to talk about yourself and promote yourself. It feels icky for many of us. So, donât! Instead, talk about the work, the team, and the mission of what youâre doing.
When you promote the great work you and your colleagues are doing, the spotlight also shines on you. Smart leadership will recognize that youâre behind the work, and youâll get a chance to show people how you think.
Promotions happen when youâre great at what you do, and the right leaders know about you. Donât be shy!
Selling
âOh, but I donât work in Sales.â
Yeah, I used to think that, too. I was a designer and wanted to be left alone to do my job. I didnât need to learn anything about sales, right?
Besides, the idea of âsellingâ made me feel dirty. When I was younger, I briefly held telemarketing jobs and did door-to-door sales.
I hated it.
So, for most of my early career, I deliberately avoided anything that felt like sales or marketing. What I learned later â and wished I had fully understood earlier â is that many things in life require being good at sales.
* Interviewing for a new job.
* Negotiating your job offer.
* Asking for a raise.
* Asking for a promotion.
* Selling your cool idea to management.
* Persuading coworkers that youâre right about something.
* Convincing others about a mutually beneficial opportunity.
* Launching a new business and finding your ideal customers.
The most successful people in life are pretty damn good at sales. They know what they want, they know that persuading other people is a necessary part of life and getting what they want, and they know how to do it well so everyone feels good about it.
Sales doesnât have to be a dirty word.
What are you going to do?
If any of this sounds like something you need to work on, the question is:
What are you going to do about it?
What will you change this year to get better at these five things so you can be more successful in your career and life? Itâs time to set a goal and make a plan to make it happen.
On that note, my goals workshop Achieve Success with the Invincible Goals System is coming up in less than 2 weeks! The first 25 people who use this coupon code get 25% off: N468OA
Hope to see you there!
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
This year, I spent hundreds of hours researching and writing newsletter articles â and recording podcast episodes â to share with you. I listed the top 10 below.
If you found my advice and articles helpful this year and would like to support my continued writing and podcasting next year, please consider upgrading to a premium membership that also grants you access to:
* My private Invincible Career community of ambitious professionals (from entry-level to executives). Note: I now offer a lifetime community membership option for folks who arenât crazy about subscriptions. Pay once, and Iâll invite you into my private Slack community, where you can stay for as long as you want!
* Live 1-hour workshops throughout the year. This is a value of more than $500!
* Weekly exercises delivered to your inbox to support the new monthly workshops.
* Exclusive office hours every Monday with the other premium subscribers and me.
đČ Take advantage of my Holiday Special and save 50% when you join us before the year ends! âïž
Your support means a lot to me. Thank you! đ
Welcome to my December wrap-up that summarizes everything I published this calendar year.
When people ask for my advice on a career, work, leadership, or entrepreneurial topic, I can usually point them to a specific article that Iâve written on that very issue over the last four years. You may already be a loyal subscriber, but I know that itâs easy to miss something over a year.
So, enjoy this recap, and feel free to share it with friends who might find some of the advice helpful!
My Top 10 Articles
I reviewed the stats for my articles, newsletters, and podcast episodes. These ten rose to the top for the year.
* How to Create an Intentional Career Path Instead of Letting Others Determine Your Future
* How to Stop Competing and Truly Start Collaborating
* How to Get Ahead in Any Job
* Succeeding as an Introvert - Tim Yeo, Founder of The Quiet Achiever
* Find a Job by Hunting, Trapping, and Planting
* Do People Forget About You?
* Career Questions (and My Answers) that We Discussed in My Last Fireside Chat
* Are You Underpaid?
* Invincible Tip - No Unpaid Work
* Invincible Tip - How to Regain Your Confidence
You can always access my full archive of 500+ articles online and use the search feature to find topics of specific interest.
By the way, this year I shared my book chapters on my other newsletter and podcast, Invincible Life. Also, for the folks who are interested in entrepreneurship, I publish a newsletter and podcast called Invincible Solopreneurs.
Your support helps!
Iâm looking forward to writing more articles, interviewing new guests, and recording new podcast episodes for you next year. If you have suggestions for topics that youâd like me to cover, please leave a comment below or send me a message.
BTW, I have no employees, interns, or even an assistant. The newsletters and podcasts are a one-person labor of love. This is my passion and how I earn a living as a solopreneur to support my family.
If youâve found my advice helpful, and youâd like to help support my efforts to produce it, please consider subscribing to the premium weekly newsletter. Take advantage of my Holiday Special and save 50% when you join us before the year ends!
Again, this gives you access to:
* My private Invincible Career community for ongoing advice, feedback, and support. As an option, I also offer a lifetime community membership if you donât want the monthly subscription free.
* Live 1-hour workshops throughout the year (a value of more than $500).
* Weekly exercises delivered to your inbox to prepare for the new monthly workshops.
* Exclusive office hours every Monday with the other premium subscribers and me.
Thank you for being a loyal reader this year. I appreciate your support. Enjoy your holidays!
Iâm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
Why do some people hear about opportunities before you do?
* Are they that much smarter than you?
* Are they liked more than you?
* Are they better than you?
Before you get angry with me, let me say itâs probably none of the above. When this happens, itâs usually because:
* More people know who they are.
* More people see their work.
* People think about them.
But why are more people thinking of them more often? Well, the answer lies in a lesson about how memory works. The big âneural networkâ of your personal connections behaves much like the smaller neural network in our brains.
Two things are at work:
* Long-term potentiation
* The Priming Effect
People who are receiving more consideration and opportunities are lighting up and frequently strengthening connections between nodes in their network. Let me be nerdy for a minute and remind you of the neuroscience you probably learned in high school.
Long-term potentiation
Long-term potentiation boosts neural pathways to facilitate the transmission of signals and the creation of long-term memories. This occurs when more activity between neurons boosts neurotransmitter production, increases receptor formation, and builds stronger synaptic connections. Yes, that is a simplified explanation, so donât come at me if youâre a neuroscientist. đ€Ł
A low-frequency event triggers a weak response (e.g., posting something once in a while that someone rarely sees in their feed). This may create a short-term memory for someone, but it wonât result in a long-term memory. For example, theyâll briefly wonder what youâve been up to but get on with the rest of their day and forget what you posted by tomorrow.
However, when high-frequency events trigger a stronger response, it changes how the memory is formed. This can happen when you consistently post content or reconnect with someone over Zoom, coffee, or lunch. In other words, someone will remember you, what you do, and what youâre seeking for a longer period of time. Several months later, they will think of you when a relevant opportunity presents itself.
So, at the individual level, interacting more frequently and deeply with the people in your network can lead to stronger memories of you. You are triggering changes in their brains.
Whatâs kind of cool and excitingâif youâre a nerd like meâis what then happens at a higher level across the broader network of people. You can think of each person as a neuron within a human web of connections that behaves like a neural network.
You are more strongly connected to some people than others. The intensity of that connection matters, of course. You have a deeper bond with your close friends and family than with your coworkers (I hope!). The frequency of interaction affects the connections, too. You will forge a stronger relationship with people you work with every day vs. an old college roommate you havenât talked with in over 20 years.
Stimulating activity in one person (e.g., mentioning that youâre looking for a new job during a coffee chat with a friend) can pass that information through their network to more nodes (i.e., people). The more frequently people are thinking and talking about you, the more often your name will come up when exciting opportunities arise.
For example, Susan tells Bob that sheâs struggling to find a great design manager for her team. Bob says, âOh really? I know a talented manager who might be looking for a role like that. Let me send you their LinkedIn profile and tell me what you think. I can make an introduction later if you like.â
The more you interact with people, the more powerful your network becomes. Relationships grow stronger and more valuable. More people light up in that web of connections, and those people have their own networks that now link to yours.
Conversely, when you let your network connections go stale, people forget about you. I know this can happen when youâre busy with work and life. But it has an undesirable impact on your career and future potential.
You will not be in the consideration set when someone is looking for:
* Someone to hire into their organization.
* A person to recommend for a friendâs new role.
* A speaker for an event or panel.
* A partner to help them with a workshop.
* A service provider for a potential client.
This might be upsetting, but you canât really blame anyone. We are all busy with hectic lives at work and at home. If you havenât been doing anything to stay fresh and relevant in someoneâs mind, itâs no wonder they remember someone else who has been keeping more active.
If you want people to think about you, periodically strengthen connections with folks in your existing network. Make a list of folks to reach out to every week and month. Schedule a bit of time to make sure it happens.
Be authentic and make a genuine effort to reconnect. Donât be that person who only reaches out when you need a favor. Donât lead with, âHey good buddy, how ya doing? Iâm looking for a new job. Do you know anyone who is hiring?â
One great way to strengthen your relationships with people is to express gratitude (Happy Thanksgiving, by the way!). I know Iâve talked about this before, but how often do you do it? For example:
* Let a past colleague know you were thinking about them and remember how much you enjoyed working together at company ABC.
* Tell a coworker that you remember how much they helped you with Project XYZ and that you still appreciate that.
* Reconnect with an old boss who looked out for you (e.g., âHey, I donât think I ever thanked you for being such a great boss. You really took care of us, and I learned a lot from you. Just wanted to say thanks!â).
* Reach out to someone you met at a conference who made an impression on you with their talk.
Build new connections so thoughts of you transmit more readily throughout the broader network. Your close friends and colleagues probably have a lot of overlap with your network. So, if you want to expand and meet new people, you have to seek out folks you donât see all the time.
However, there is another factor at work when people think of someoneâs name when an opportunity comes up. Itâs almost as if theyâve been primed to remember themâŠ
Priming Effect
I want you to visualize chopped carrots, fresh peas, diced potatoes, and cubed chicken. Now, fill in the blank letter in this word:
S O _ P
What word did you complete? You most likely came up with SOUP instead of SOAP unless you use a very strange kind of soap for your showers.
Scientists have described priming effects as âa sort of rational bias, where the mind interprets ambiguous new perceptual information in a way that is consistent with information it has recently perceived.â
You can use this psychological bias to your advantage. When you frequently prime others with your name, who you are, and what you know and do well, it can stimulate faster recall of you later when appropriate opportunities arise.
* Who is the best mobile app designer you know?
* Who knows sales better than anyone else?
* Who should I talk to about the future of AI?
* Our marketing is not going so well. Who could help us?
* I need help to find a new job. Do you know someone who can coach me?
For example, Iâve worked hard for the past seven years to write hundreds of articles and thousands of posts on social media to build awareness of my coaching. So, Iâve had people tell me they think of my name when someone says they need âcareer coaching.â And now people are thinking of me when they hear the term âlifestyle business.â
Great! That is intentional.
I didnât accidentally create this priming effect between my name and coaching. I deliberately built it with a consistent habit of writing about careers, leadership, job searching, and solopreneurship. Every week, I add more content to the internet to strengthen the word associations I want.
The more specific your niche is, the better your chances are for dominating it. For example, I donât even try to be known for general coaching, leadership, or entrepreneurship. There are way too many players already in those spaces and people with bigger names than mine. Instead, Iâve focused on making a name around helping tech professionals create invincible careers. Iâm also building a name for helping mid-to-late career folks design sustainable lifestyle businesses when theyâre frustrated with their jobs and ready to escape the 9-5.
SoâŠ
* What do you want to be known for?
* What do you actively do to strengthen that association with your name?
* How do you reinforce that priming effect every day?
* How many people think of you that way?
* How many people talk about you when those words come up in a conversation?
You canâand shouldâintentionally invest time and energy in linking your identity to the roles you desire, skills youâve mastered, and outcomes you want to be known for producing. Itâs great if your inner circle of peers, coworkers, and managers knows all about you. But, one day, youâll be in the job market, and you will want people to seek you out because you are known for what they need.
Leverage that priming effect so your name comes up in those conversations.
By the way, do you want to expand your professional network? Check out my career community!
Iâm Larry Cornett, a success coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
âStaying employed at the same company for over two years on average is going to make you earn less over your lifetime by about 50% or more.â â Cameron Keng
You may be underpaid if youâve stayed with your current employer for longer than two years. Consider the following chart. On average, people who change jobs see bigger increases in their income.
Havenât you noticed this in your career? When you took a new job, you probably enjoyed a nice bump in title and compensation (you negotiated, right?). But, the longer you stayed with an employer, you noticed the annual raises werenât nearly as impressive.
Luckily, I experienced this early in my career, and it influenced how I thought about changing jobs for the next ~15 years. I was working for a pretty amazing company that was, unfortunately, going through some hard times. So, even though I was told I was performing well, I received a tiny raise during the review cycle.
A couple of weeks later, I was approached by a startup, thanks to my network. I decided it never hurts to talk and interview to see what they had to say. They gave me a sweet offer that was more than a 50% bump to my compensation. I accepted and put my lifetime earning potential on a new trajectory. It was a valuable lesson that I never forgot, and now I share it with all of my clients.
Your biggest bumps in level and compensation will most likely happen when you start a new job.
I was a manager and leader inside some of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley. Many of my friends became leaders, as well. We talked about this issue. Once an employee is âinside the machine,â itâs hard to compensate them more than HR policies will allow. Thereâs only so much you can do, and exceptions are extremely hard to get approved. We often ended up in a terrible situation where we would make a job offer to a candidate with much better compensation than an equivalent internal employee was currently being paid.
Itâs pretty messed up!
So, I know that intelligent job hopping can increase your lifetime earning potential. But let me be clear about something. You should not change jobs just to change jobs. By all means, if youâre in a good situation, stay!
* If youâre receiving promotions every year or so, stay and climb the ladder as long as you can.
* If youâre receiving big raises every year or so (way above the cost of living increases), stay.
* If your compensation is much better than youâd receive from a prospective employer, stay. How do you find out about this? Always be interviewing!
* If you love your job, boss, and coworkers and you donât care about making more money or getting promoted, stay in your comfort zone. Some people prefer that.
However, a big problem with not making more money is inflation is still pretty high in the U.S. That means youâre essentially taking a pay cut if your compensation doesnât stay ahead of inflation. Your dollar is weaker than it was before.
The current annual inflation rate for the 12 months ending this September is 3.7%. Itâs lower than 2022, which is kind of surprising given how much the cost of goods has exploded. Have you been grocery shopping lately?
So, if your income isnât increasing to keep pace with inflation and the growing cost of living, youâre falling behind. Todayâs dollar is worth less than it was a year ago.
If you arenât receiving a sizable raise that exceeds inflation, youâre actually making less money every year because the dollar isnât as valuable. Itâs as if your annual salary was reduced by thousands. And, due to the rising costs of almost everything, it is getting harder to make ends meet.
You should ask for a promotion or raise
Of course, you should always have a household budget and strive to reduce your expenses. You know Iâm an advocate for living more simply and curbing extravagant spending. Thatâs one reason I left the Bay Area of California.
However, that doesnât mean you shouldnât maximize your earning potential at the same time. If you want to get ahead and live a better life, you must ask your employer for the compensation you deserve.
Some people are comfortable requesting raises and promotions every year (Note: You shouldnât expect a promotion every single year). I had a few employees like that. But most folks donât like to push or pitch themselves. Instead, they hope their hard work will speak for itself and their manager will do the right thing.
But Iâm here to tell you that waiting and hoping is a risky strategy. Not every employer looks out for their employees. Not every boss is going to fight for you.
Many employers try to keep their expenses down, and, for most businesses, salaries are the most significant expense. If an employer has many employees, reducing raises by a few percentage points can translate to millions in savings.
I want you to get comfortable with having a conversation with your manager about your performance every year before the employee review process begins. For many companies, this happens in late Q4 and early Q1. If you wait until the decisions have been made, it is too late.
I also want you to feel good about asking for a promotion (and the associated raise) when you know you are performing at the next level and deserve it. I want you to feel confident asking for the raise you should receive every year to keep pace with inflation and cost of living increases.
* Be professional.
* Be prepared.
* Donât feel shy.
* Donât be nervous.
* Donât feel âgreedy.â
When you are providing value to your employer, you deserve commensurate compensation in return. And, if your employer doesnât understand that, itâs time to find a new job with an employer who will pay you fairly.
Caveat
The current job market isnât that great. So, be respectful about this process, and donât risk losing your job. You should always be looking for your next opportunity. Itâs easier to push for a raise or promotion when you know you could easily land a new job quickly. But if you have doubts about that, tread carefully.
Prepare for the conversation
Here we are in Q4, and the Fall weather reminds us that winter is coming. It is also a reminder that something else will be happening soon.
Your annual performance review.
Now, not every company has its annual performance reviews at the end of the year or the beginning of the next one. However, I know many do.
I also know most people put off writing their personal performance reviews until the last minute. Then, they scramble to gather information, ask people for input, and remember everything they did during the year.
Donât be that person.
Start capturing information and notes for your review now. Doing this gives you plenty of time to prepare by spending a few minutes on the task each day.
Go back through your calendar for the year. Review the meetings that you attended. Doing this will jog your memory for a few activities and accomplishments that you may have forgotten.
Similarly, review your email inbox and other messages. Quickly scroll through starting at the beginning of the year, or search for key phrases. Most of the messages wonât be that useful or will look familiar. However, a few will jump out at you and remind you of projects, achievements, and other work you did during the year.
As you start writing your review, gaps will appear and help you create a to-do list of information you need to gather and conversations with people you may need to have. Thatâs normal. It sure is better to start this process now vs. waiting until it is too late.
A performance review is your opportunity to ask for that raise or promotion. So, capture as much quantitative data as possible to support your case (e.g., that project you worked on increased sales by 23%).
* Know your internal value (e.g., prepare several quantitative examples of how youâre helping the company succeed).
* Know your market value (i.e., what your compensation could be with a new employer).
You also need to understand what the expectations are for the level above you. Please tell me that your department has a levels and expectations document (e.g., a senior individual contributor is expected to demonstrate ABC and do XYZ).
Hopefully, youâve been focused on clearly performing at that level this year. Itâs also essential to demonstrate proof that you are operating at that level.
Itâs hard to justify a significant raise if no one is aware of what you are doing. Donât expect your manager to take your word for it either. Have proof.
However, I stand by my belief that you still deserve a raise that keeps pace with inflation if your performance is meeting expectations. Donât settle for less.
Of course, some of your accomplishments will have to be qualitative. Thatâs OK, too. It helps to gather feedback from your coworkers. A few positive quotes always improve your review (e.g., âSusan saved our project from disaster. We couldnât have finished on time without her help!â).
As Iâve mentioned in the past, bosses often forget all of the details of what you have accomplished. They donât remember all of the work you did during the year. Writing your detailed review may make all the difference between a small raise and a much more significant raise or promotion.
I often talk with my clients about maximizing their earning potential during their long-term careers. To successfully negotiate raises and promotions â and you should be prepared to negotiate â you have to demonstrate that your value to the organization is continuously increasing.
In other words, if you continue to do the work youâve always done at the level of contribution expected for your current level, that is not enough. That is called âmeeting expectations.â You may get a minimal raise as a cost-of-living increase (e.g., 2â3%), or you may receive nothing (which means your compensation is actually decreasing).
The business of your career
I wish I had known earlier in my career how important it is to treat your career like a business. This is what I recommend to all of my clients.
You canât just put your head down and work hard within the walls of your company, hoping that a good boss will always recognize your contribution and value and commensurately reward you. You have to market yourself, just as a business markets its products.
The world needs to know that you exist!
I work with so many talented people who have virtually no presence online or at real-world events either. They are so busy working hard â and living their lives â that they havenât bothered to put themselves out there. They havenât spent much time networking, public speaking, or writing.
Like any business that wants to succeed, you need to market the âbusiness of you.â Find ways to demonstrate your expertise and talent outside of the office. Show the world what you know and how you think.
This boosts your perceived value, generates inbound interest from potential employers (or clients), and shows your current employer that they have competition for your talent.
Be visible
Being more visible is hard for many people, especially those of us who are a bit introverted. It requires that you find a way to share your knowledge and insights publicly.
You can create blog posts, write on sites like Medium, get interviewed on podcasts (or create your own), share your thoughts on social media, create videos (e.g., on Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo), etc.
Creating this content generates inbound interest in you. Being in demand is one way to always know your value and have negotiating power.
Some of my most talented employees, who were also good at marketing themselves, received unsolicited job offers every week. They didnât have to hunt for work.
Jobs came to them, and they always knew their value. They werenât shy about asking for raises and promotions because they knew they had options.
Note, I am not saying they used job offers as leverage to threaten me. I highly recommend that you never use that approach with your manager.
Instead, we would honestly discuss and evaluate job offers they had received. Weâd talk about the pros and cons of taking the offer vs. staying. Sometimes, I had insight into that company and who their potential boss and colleagues would be.
If it genuinely seemed like a fantastic opportunity with no hidden gotchas, who was I to stand between them and a great chance to advance their career much more quickly than they could with me?
Be in demand
Asking for a raise or promotion is so much easier when you know that you are clearly delivering value above and beyond your current level.
Youâre not asking for special treatment with a chance to prove yourself later. You have already proven that you are worth that investment.
When you are known and in demand, you are constantly receiving data that confirms your value. Putting yourself out there allows the right people to be aware of you and find you.
Sooner or later, someone will want to talk with you about an opportunity. There is nothing wrong with having conversations with people who are interested in hiring you.
Itâs good practice to interview with the few that are of particular interest. If your current job, compensation, and career path all still seem great in comparison to something new, then, by all means, stick with your current job!
However, if your current manager and company donât recognize and compensate you appropriately for your value â and a new company will â then itâs time to seriously consider an offer from that company. My most significant jumps in earning potential always happened when I took a new job.
But donât be hasty
The grass isnât always greener, so take the time to evaluate any new opportunity deeply. You donât want to be hasty and jump ship only to regret it later. Itâs also more challenging to find a new job in this market. The layoffs are continuing.
I have always used a spreadsheet to compare different opportunities on dozens of factors quantitatively (comment to let me know if youâre interested in this spreadsheet). It helps me remain a bit more objective, although emotion canât help but play a role too. Sometimes, you are really excited about a new opportunity or really upset about something going on in your current job.
Regardless of whether you decide to stay in your current job or pursue something new, you should be compensated appropriately for the value you bring to an organization.
When you know that you are delivering above and beyond your current job level, have an honest conversation about your expectations and ambitions with your manager. If you never ask for something, you may never receive it!
My Invincible Career community can help
Members of my community have used our advice and support to find better jobs and receive promotions. For example, one person received a 10x return on his investment when he landed a new job with a much higher salary.
We all want to be compensated as much as possible for our time and effort. We all want to find work that we enjoy.
However, we sometimes get stuck and find ourselves blocked without a clear path ahead. When this happens, itâs easy to get tunnel vision and feel like thereâs no way to escape a bad job or get paid what we are worth.
Thatâs why it helps to join a friendly and supportive community of people who have been there and done that. We can help you explore options, prepare for your job search, practice job interviews, and hold you accountable for making progress.
âAfter a year of receiving poor advice from recruiters and design professionals, it wasn't until I joined Larry's group where my career started to head in the right direction. The advice I received from Larry and other professionals in his community was instrumental in improving my resume, portfolio, increased my results in interviews, and even got me into writing. I have been very fortunate to have Larry as a mentor, and I can't recommend joining his Invincible Career community enough.â
â Christopher Schutt
The weekly check-ins and the accountability to the group have helped many people overcome obstacles. More importantly, it encourages you to invest in yourself and your happiness and fulfillment.
If you are feeling stuck and nothing is working, lean on us and let the community help you break free.
âĄïž Learn more about my communityâŠ
âŹïž Scroll to the top if you want to listen to my more detailed reading of this articleđ§
Iâm Larry Cornett, a success coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
Let me start by saying Iâm using a metaphor here. I havenât hunted since I was a teenager in the Midwest. I love animals, so please donât take my talk of âhuntingâ literally and miss the advice Iâm trying to share in this article.
Human beings have been acquiring food to survive for millions of years. Weâve used a combination of active/direct and passive/indirect methods to find the animals and plants we eat.
* Actively hunting, scavenging, and gathering food in the moment.
* Building traps, nets, etc,. to capture animals and recover them later.
* Planting crops to harvest much later.
Many modern-day humans have transitioned to a very different model of acquiring the meals we need. We work in jobs, get paid, and use that money to purchase food in grocery stores.
However, oddly enough, we can still leverage the three methods of hunting, trapping, and planting to gain what we now need to survive: a job. We even use the phrase âjob huntâ to describe this process, which is rather telling.
Many job seekers focus almost exclusively on the hunt. They do everything necessary to hunt for a job actively (e.g., applying online and sending resumes). But they ignore the other two powerful methods of capturing and harvesting opportunities for the future.
This is a mistake you donât want to make.
Only hunting for a job when you desperately need one is a risky move. People often make hasty decisions when the clock is ticking. Youâll be more empowered, less stressed, and more successful if you also trap potential opportunities and plant seeds that will yield an evergreen harvest of interest in you. You should always be looking for new and better opportunities, and methods 2 and 3 are much better suited for that.
When I work with clients who need a new job immediately, I recommend combining all three strategies with an emphasis on 1 and 2. But when a client is still employed and seeking a better job, I prefer emphasizing 2 and 3 with a careful use of 1.
1. Hunting
Humans fed themselves and their tribes by hunting and gathering, dating as far back as 2 million years ago. They actively searched for whatever they could find to survive. They couldnât passively wait around and hope food would land in their laps. Instead, they sought an immediate fulfillment of their needs.
Hunting is a valuable strategy when you need a quick solution to an urgent problem. You need a job ASAP!
However, I recommend a targeted approach vs. the clumsy âspray and prayâ I see many job seekers using now. Iâve read more than one account of people applying for hundreds of jobs online and blasting their resumes to everyone they can find. Big surprise, it doesnât work. One person lamented, âI applied to a hundred jobs and didnât get a single request for an interview.â
Instead, I ask my clients to be laser-focused on the job they want and the employers they find most interesting.
* What is your ideal next role?
* Who is your ideal next employer?
* Who is your ideal next boss?
You should have only 1-3 roles in mind for your next job. For example, you may ideally want a job as a Lead Designer, but youâd also accept a Senior Designer role if you were really excited about the opportunity.
Be clear about the job you want and focus your sales pitch on selling yourself as the ideal candidate. If you have a dozen roles in mind, your resume and LinkedIn will be all over the place and wonât appeal to hiring managers and recruiters.
Focus!
Similarly, you should have perhaps 3-10 employers in mind for your next job. Be picky with the hunting strategy. Create a list of ideal employers, start tracking down the potential hiring managers, and find a way to get a warm introduction.
The market isnât great for job seekers right now. Employers have their pick of thousands and thousands of candidates. Stack the deck in your favor and get introduced to hiring managers and recruiters. Find your inside champion, who will help shepherd you through the interview process. This makes all the difference in the world! It certainly helped me land all the jobs I had during my tech career.
Now, itâs time to move on to one of my favorite ways of lighting up your network to help find you a job.
2. Trapping
About 9,000 years ago, humans began building traps to capture prey. Instead of actively hunting, we used these more sophisticated traps and nets to serve as an extension of our capabilities.
Think of it as an early creation of systems to automate food procurement. Now, instead of being limited to what you and your tribe could actively hunt during waking hours, you could deploy traps to work for you 24x7 in a more scalable way.
Similarly, you can deploy ânetsâ to attract and secure interest in you and your capabilities 24x7 in a more scalable way than panicking and scrambling to find a job at the last minute. When you activate key helpers in your network, each expands your reach and ability to trap new opportunities.
Theyâll help you capture things you never could on your own. But the activity is still targeted. Your friends know who you are and what you are seeking. Contrast this with people who indiscriminately toss their net to the four corners of the earth. Their net gets stretched thin and tangled up in everything that comes by while a prime catch slips past.
I ask my clients to reengage and reactivate their networks, which Iâll recommend to you, too. Itâs essential to do this from a place of honestly wanting to reconnect, since you shouldnât only reach out to people when you need them for something. You canât just contact people when you want to use them for an introduction or a job. No one likes that.
Resist the urge to add, âOh, by the way. Can you also do me a favor and introduce me to Susan, the hiring manager for an open position at the company?â
Of course, during the conversation, your friend may naturally ask you, âSo, what are you up to these days?â
If they do, you can mention what youâre doing now and what your plans are (e.g., âIâm working at company ABC. But, Iâm actually considering my next move. Itâs time for a change.â)
When you light up your network, you now have dozens of people recognizing opportunities for you, bringing your name up when someone is hiring, and keeping their eyes open for a job that seems like a good fit for what you are seeking. These ânetsâ are capturing and sending you jobs to pursue. Sometimes, theyâll be able to make the warm introduction you need.
This brings us to one of the most powerful methods, which is a gift that keeps on giving for years and years and years.
3. Planting
Besides hunting and trapping, humans also discovered the power and scale of agriculture. But farming requires more patience. Planning, investment, and work upfront to plant crops will only yield a bountiful harvest later (i.e., not tomorrow or even next week).
When you plant an apple tree, for example, it can take around five years to mature. But it will then provide you with fruit for several years, thanks to that initial investment.
Content creation and marketing is the last strategy I recommend for my career coaching clients and even job seekers. Planting the seeds from your excellent mind wonât land you a job immediately, but it will provide examples of your knowledge, expertise, way of thinking, and point of view on things relevant to your profession.
More importantly, as you create and publish hundreds of articles over the years, your harvest will yield evergreen inbound interest in you.
* Iâve written 493 newsletters for Invincible Career.
* Iâve published 92 episodes of my podcast.
* Iâve written 228 articles on Medium.
* Iâve tweeted over 18,000 times.
* Iâve created over 170 videos.
Itâs pretty amazing when a potential new client reaches out to me after reading an article I wrote seven years ago. I spent a couple of hours planting that âlittle seedâ seven years ago, and it continues to bear fruit and attract people even today.
When you consistently put yourself out there day after day, month after month, and year after year, your harvest may come long after youâve forgotten that you planted the seeds. But this is how you create an invincible career.
You want everyone to know who you are and how great you are. You want to become an opportunity magnet through trapping andâespeciallyâplanting, so you donât feel forced to scramble and hunt for your next job.
Hi, Iâm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe -
Have you ever worked for a showboat?
Thatâs the kind of leader who wants all the attention. They lead from the top down and expect everyone to get in line behind their vision of the future. Theyâre not usually open to hearing new ideas from the organization below them.
Showboat leaders are incredibly charismatic figures. So, itâs not surprising that they rise to the top.
* They have a grand vision.
* They speak well.
* They are great on stage.
But itâs all about them.
They tend to use the company as a stepping stone to a higher platform. Over the decades of my experience in the corporate world, Iâve watched more than a few showboat leaders move up and on into politics.
Even becoming a CEO does not satisfy their ambition. They want a larger stage, more power, and more people hanging on their every word.
As long as your showboat leader has the right vision and strategy, your organization can succeedâif you and your team execute well. We can all think of a few companies with visionary genius CEOs who are more than happy to take all the credit for the companyâs success. However, we also know it wouldnât have been possible without the thousands of employees making that vision a reality.
There is an enormous risk with this type of leader. They leave a hollow organization behind when they walk away. They build nothing that lasts without their presence because theyâve never allowed their team to flex their own âvision muscles.â
Of course, there is a time and a place for visionary leadership. Startups and small companies need a strong leader at the top to chart the course and focus everything around a singular vision.
But, as companies mature and grow, they need a different type of leadership. You want a robust, diverse organization full of leaders who enable their teams to grow, thrive, and reach their full potential. You need managers who lift the entire team, not just themselves.
Why would you ever want to encourage a fragile organizational system that collapses when the showboat leader vanishes?
I once received feedback that I think was intended to be criticism. The person essentially said:
âYou focus too much on getting the best out of your people. You seem really good at identifying and nurturing talent, but I want more vision from you.â
Oh boy, that sounds terrible. How dare I focus on the incredible intelligence and talent within my team so that over 100 people were operating at 100% of their potential? Yes, I should have focused on myself and tried to become the next Steve Jobs. đ
Iâve heard variations of this type of comment before.
* âWe need a Steve Jobs type.â
* âWe need a visionary leader.â
* âFocus on the strategy. Let the team take care of itself.â
For the record, I do enjoy vision work. I did it for my startup, and I do it for my companies now. But I have to be passionate about the company and the product. If Iâm not (which is often the case when you work for some employer), Iâm happy to step aside and let my creative, innovative people come up with spectacular visions of the future for the product and company.
Why not nurture that?
Why not support people who have that passion?
My point of view on leadership and vision has changed a bit over the years. Being a grand visionary and a great people leader and manager is impossible. Each of these roles is a full-time job.
* Creating, selling, and nurturing a big vision and strategic plan is a full-time job.
* It is a full-time job to lead your team, knock down barriers, shield them, enable them, coach them, and nurture their careers.
People who say they can successfully do it all are full of crap. I know some of these people. Most of them altogether drop the ball on taking care of their teams. They are too busy being visionary, speaking, standing in the spotlight, and driving their own ambitious careers.
One of my friends told me they had only one 1-on-1 meeting with their manager each year. One damn meeting in 365 days! Their boss didnât give a crap about my friendâs career.
If youâre in a position to decide what kind of leaders you want to promote and hire, think hard about the culture you want to build. Think hard about the type of leader you want to be, too.
The best leaders have:
* Self-awareness and a desire to learn and grow (professionally and personally)
* Control over their emotions and an ability to mediate the conflict of others
* Compassion and a constructive drive to help others grow and succeed
* A desire to create healthy cultures and treat all with respect
* Dependability, reliability, and open and honest communication
* The courage to champion others and the conviction to champion a mission
* The ability to see the big picture, prioritize goals, and enable success for all
* The skill to keep âthe plates spinningâ to deliver on time (without burnout)
Hereâs my unpopular opinion:
My recommendation to avoid the risk of showboat leaders?
* Guide your most visionary, innovative, and creative people up the IC ladder to greatness. Donât harness them to a âmanagement plow.â
* Guide your most compassionate, operational, and reliable champions up the management ladder to greatness. Donât punish them for lack of vision.
Thank you for reading Invincible CareerÂź. This post is public so feel free to share it.
Hi, Iâm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more âInvincible You.â I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe - Show more
