Work From The Inside Out

Do you remember your first job? Darcy Eikenberg wins the prize for having one of the most unusual first work experiences. During the holidays in her central Illinois hometown, she was a talking mailbox at her local shopping mall. Imagine how a job like that would have made her resume stand out in her early career pursuits!Darcy has roots that run deep when it comes to her relationship with work. She told me the story of her paternal grandfather who lost his father at age 14. He helped his Mom and eight siblings by going to work immediately at a local factory in Baltimore, Maryland, remaining there for over thirty years and retiring as the company’s chairman and CEO. Darcy’s father also worked for the company much of his career. The message was solid, “We had opportunities in front of us, and we needed to share with others and be able to contribute to helping others too and not just focus on ourselves.” Darcy stays true to those who came before her and yet, she has carved her own path in honoring the dignity of work and service.Today, Darcy is an executive coach and the author of Red Cape Rescue, Save Your Career Without Leaving Your Job, which shows how to get more of what you want, without changing careers, or finding a new job without sacrificing yourself. The red cape is a metaphor for the confidence you felt as a kid when you grabbed a towel or a sheet and threw it around your shoulders feeling in control, even if all you controlled was in the backyard. Darcy shared, “The red cape feeling is the key to helping us individually as well as across our world. What if you could feel that way every day at work? What would change for you and not only what would change for you, but what can change for your company, your community, and your world?”Darcy wears a lot of hats. She's been an executive coach to leaders at organizations such as The Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft, StateFarm, Deloitte consulting, and much more. She consults and speaks about career growth, employee engagement, and leadership development all over the world. She blogs regularly on leadership and career issues at redcaperevolution.com. Her ideas have been shared in the Harvard Business Review, Thrive Global, CNN.com, The Ladders, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Forbes, among others.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Darcy’s journey:Darcy is a former communication consulting business leader at Hewitt Associates.She graduated from Northwestern University, studying journalism, speech, and communications.Learn more and connect with Darcy here:FacebookLinkedInFacebookTwitterWebsiteStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out WebsiteSubscribe to  newsletter

Jens Heitland is an entrepreneur, connector, innovation culture expert, business adviser and the CEO of Heitland Innovation. In 2019, he stepped out of his role as Global Head of Innovation for IKEA Centres with the goal to find ways to empower people to innovate in large organizations. Jens founded Heitland Innovation on the basis that it would not be the usual consulting company. His mission is to build approaches to engagement that inspire people to innovate while delivering business results.Having worked in large corporations for over fifteen years, Jens experienced a wide range of ways (positive–negative) that innovation is utilized in organizations. He found that the key factors contributing to his most positive experiences were how people were empowered during change initiatives and the innovation mindset within the organization.You might wonder, where did Jens get his start? Born and raised in Germany, he began his career at sixteen as an electrician. In Germany, students complete high school in 10th grade and begin to focus their education and vocational goals. Jens worked in construction and facilities management for many years. He evolved into higher levels of responsibility, expanding his skills, and was recruited to IKEA where he spent twelve years advancing from managing one store to overseeing innovation strategies and initiatives on a global level for the whole company. Jens thrives on a good challenge that stretches his abilities and pushes him to develop new skills and gain additional knowledge. And over the years he has done this across Europe working in Sweden, Russia, Spain, and Germany.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Jens’ journey:At 21, Jens was obliged to serve his country, either in the military or take a social service assignment. He chose the latter and you will never be able to guess what he ended up doing but it became a significant turning point in his life.Jens hosts his own podcast where he interviews inspiring people to connect the dots between innovation and entrepreneurship. I was his guest for Episode #112.He is the co-founder of several businesses such as Ai- Fortuna, Heitland Clothing, and the reverse mentorship platform XYZ playground. Learn more and connect with Jens here:LinkedInTwitterFacebookInstagramStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out WebsiteSubscribe to  newsletter

Dr. Ruth Gotian is one of the most interesting women I have ever gotten to know. I could tell you about her extraordinary academic and professional accomplishments, and you might agree with me, but I am not even referring to that. What really strikes me is how she describes her grandmother and the profound impact their relationship has had on her life. Even though they were two generations apart, Ruth shared that she and her grandmother were like sisters. Her grandmother was a pharmacist, having attended Columbia University's pharmacy school as one of 13 women in a class with 300 men. Ruth described her as “...this five foot tall with heels powerhouse. And she is the one who taught me how to stand up for what you believe in, while still looking like a lady.” Drawn to her values of achievement, family, and community, they talked every day. Ruth didn’t realize the extent to which her grandmother was a role model until she was in her 40s.  Today, Ruth is the Chief Learning Officer and Assistant Professor of Education in Anesthesiology and former Assistant Dean of Mentoring and Executive Director of the Mentoring Academy at Weill Cornell Medicine. In 2021, she was selected as one of 30 people worldwide to be named to the Thinkers50 Radar List, dubbed the Oscars of management thinking, and by August, was shortlisted as the top eight emerging management thinkers in the world. In addition to publishing in academic journals, Ruth is a regular contributor to Forbes and Psychology Today where she writes about ‘optimizing success’. Her research is about the mindset and skillset of peak performers, including Nobel laureates, astronauts, and Olympic champions. Her book, The Success Factor: Developing the Mindset and Skillset for Peak Business Performance just came out in January 2022.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Ruth’s journey:Ruth discovered through her research that all peak performers have four things in common, the first one being that they are intrinsically motivated; there's a fire from within why they do what they do, they're not doing it for external validation or promotion.She has been hailed by the journal Nature and Columbia University as an expert in mentorship and leadership development.Learn more and connect with Ruth here:InstagramLinkedInFacebookTwitterWebsiteStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out Website

Ron Carucci has spent his whole career holding up mirrors to leaders and organizations to ask them to be more honest with themselves, with the story that they're telling about who they are and what they're doing. He is the author of nine books, including Rising to Power, and the recently released, To Be Honest, Lead with the Power of Truth, Justice, and Purpose. This is Ron’s second visit to the Work from the Inside Out podcast. I am so compelled by his work with organizations and the depth of his investigation into the topic of honesty that I wanted to have him back. So while this conversation is not about our usual topic of career transitions, it makes the connection between honesty and its role in creating a healthy workplace. It is all intertwined as we know that many people make decisions to leave their jobs based on the conditions in their work environments. Ron offers us a summary of fifteen years of data that contributed to a ten-year study beginning with his work on power leading to his focus on honesty. As a result, he defined honesty as “truth, justice, and purpose, saying the right thing, doing the right thing, and saying doing the right thing for the right reasons.” He adds, “honesty is not just not lying.” looked at brain research, the neuroscience of how our brains are wired for behavior to find out that truth-telling of how we treat other people, fairness and justice. And our sense of well-being and purpose are all not committed in the same regions of our brain. In the data, the factors that loaded on saying the right thing, doing the right thing, and saying and doing the right thing for the right reason.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Ron’s journey:Ron is co-founder and managing partner at Navalent working with CEOs and executives pursuing transformational change for their organizations, leaders in industries.He is also a regular contributor to Forbes, and a two-time TEDx speaker. His works have been featured in Fortune CEO magazine, Inc, Business Insider, MSNBC, BusinessWeek, Inc, Fast Company, smart business, and thought leadersLearn more and connect with Ron here:TwitterWebsiteStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out WebsiteSubscribe to newsletter

Yesterday I did something BIG. I launched my first book! Ok, enough about me … let me tell you about the book. It's titled Work from the Inside Out: Break Through Nine Common Obstacles and Design a Career That Fulfills You. The book highlights twenty-two real-life stories of career transitions, many of which are from my podcast guests. The stories profile people who made meaningful professional transitions under circumstances that others might perceive as obstacles to moving into a more satisfying career. Concerns such as age, financial responsibilities, investment of years in a career path, or dealing with a tragic loss are presented in the context of how they impact people’s engagement in their work. I address how fear is the foundation of immobilization and offer strategies to help build self-awareness, manage expectations, and change one’s mindset, in order to be ready for positive reinvention. At the end of the book, I provide a comprehensive resources section that can help the reader take the steps they need to identify a more satisfying career path.This week, I am excited to be the interviewee on my own podcast. My friend and colleague, Darcy Eikenberg, has graciously offered to interview me on the occasion of my book launch.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about my journey as an author and what’s inside my book:Darcy and I discuss the meaning behind the book’s title, Work from the Inside OutShe asked me who the ideal audience is for the book and we explored how the book is relevant to what is going on now regarding the Great ResignationWe discuss how you can transform doubts and limiting beliefs in order to pursue ongoing fulfillment in your career. Stay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out WebsiteSubscribe to newsletterStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out WebsiteSubscribe to  newsletter

The moment I met Judy Schoenberg and Linda Lautenberg, the co-founders of EvolveMe something clicked within me. It actually gave me goosebumps. I was inspired by the synchronicity of how they met, and the way they blended their strengths to create EvolveMe. The impact they are having on the careers and lives of mid-career women is tremendous. EvolveMe is a multi-faceted program for mid-career women who are re-entering the workforce in the social impact sector. Linda and Judy developed EvolveMe’s proprietary DARE© Method of Career Reinvention to help cohorts of high achieving women attain clarity, gain confidence, and launch the best chapter of their professional lives. The organization’s values of collaboration, growth, change, optimism, and authenticity are threaded through all they do.Combining their distinct backgrounds has been part of the secret sauce behind the success of EvolveMe. Judy is a former national executive for the Girl Scouts of the USA and Linda is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Prior to her own professional reinvention, she led a highly successful career in real estate finance and securitization. Linda had stepped away from her career to raise her family and after several years wanted to focus on herself again. She knew that she needed structure to figure it out and found a program for women re-entering the workforce. There, she met Judy who had joined the program a few months earlier upon her own decision to return to the workforce. Eventually, the agency overseeing the program asked Judy and Linda if they would take over the program to reinvent it. They worked so well together and determined that the need to support women in mid-life career transitions was so great, they created EvolveMe.In February 2022, EvolveMe is offering the Reinvention Collective, a live 12-week, interactive virtual program with a group of women in midlife career transition, who are returning to work or pivoting careers. A few spots remain open. You can schedule a free 1:1 Breakthrough Session to see if it's a fit for you.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Linda and Judy’s journey:The women they work with describe the EvolveMe experience as “the best professional decision they’ve ever made.”They have been featured in Forbes.com, CNN.com, Reuter’s World at Work, The Washington Post, at White House events, and in Fairygodboss.com and the Ellevate Network.  Learn more and connect with EvolveMe Linda and Judy here:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitterInstagramStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out WebsiteSubscribe to  newsletter

As far back as she can recall, Melody Wilding remembers feeling different. She was always very observant and tuned into her environment, feeling affected by all the stimuli around her while other kids seemed unfazed by most of it. Melody was an excellent student all the way through to college where she was valedictorian of her class, yet she still felt disconnected most of the time. As a corporate working professional, she pushed herself so hard that in her late 20s she experienced a serious period of burnout. As Melody took the time to recover, she began writing, discovering more about herself and how she could help others who had similar struggles. Today, she is an author, speaker, and coach who helps her clients to deal with their inner critics, overthinking, and impostor syndrome so that they can enjoy life more. Personally and professionally, I am a big fan of her book, Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work. Melody was recently named one of Business Insider’s Most Innovative Coaches for her groundbreaking work on “Sensitive Strivers”. Melody is a licensed social worker with a Masters’s from Columbia University and a professor of Human Behavior at Hunter College.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Melody’s journey:Melody has been featured in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and is a contributor to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Psychology Today, and Forbes. Her clients include CEOs, C-level executives, and managers at top Fortune 500 companies such as Google, Amazon, and JP Morgan, among others.Learn more and connect with Melody here: FacebookLinkedInFacebookTwitterWebsiteBookStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out Website

Dr. Carol Parker Walsh’s early life was split between two narratives. Her parents divorced when she was twelve, then Carol and her mother moved from Menlo Park, California to the south side of Chicago. Carol described her father, with whom she remained in close contact, as “a feminist before his time”. He encouraged her to seek a vocation she loved and not let anyone else make choices for her. Her mother painted a different picture for her future, urging her to find a husband to take care of her. Carol always leaned more toward her father’s sense of independence and ambition. What followed was a journey with a few bad bosses, lots of curiosity, and a deep love of learning.During her college years, Carol worked in a variety of jobs and as a matter of course, she had some “really bad bosses who were unfair, unethical, and too harsh.” She decided she wanted to do something that really helps people protect themselves from those types of situations. She was considering law school so she went to work as a legal assistant in a law firm to learn more about the profession. She was fascinated by the work and decided to go to law school. Later, she focused on labor law, becoming the chief counsel for the Oregon Nurses Association. She was so highly regarded for her work on behalf of the nurses that she was invited to provide organizational consulting and join the faculty at the affiliated hospital and university system, the Oregon Health and Science University. She decided to go for a Master's Degree in organizational consulting as it matched her nature and values more so than law. Once she was in the master’s program, she was recruited to progress to the Ph.D. program.Today, Carol works with highly driven female professionals and entrepreneurs to amplify their visibility and do the meaningful work they want to do in the world. She’s a certified career and personal brand strategist, life and executive coach, a TEDx presenter, author, international keynote speaker, Forbes Coaches Council member, Newsweek’s Expert Forum contributor, and a local career expert on the AM Northwest Morning Show.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Carol’s journey:Carol studied opera at the Chicago Conservatory of Music in Chicago.She was in a near-fatal car accident just before her fiftieth birthday. It opened her up to what's important and how she was making choices in her career. It took six years, multiple surgeries, and a lot of therapy before she was able to say, “I’m ok”.Learn more and connect with Carol here: LinkedInInstagramTwitterWebsiteCareer Rebel AcademyStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out WebsiteSubscribe to  newsletter

Dr. Kim Cantergiani has been called Unstoppable Kim for her consistent ability to turn tragedy into triumph. An expert in human behavior and transformation, she “walks the walk” of overcoming obstacles, putting strategic and massive plans into action. Born to teenaged parents, Kim ran away from her chaotic home life at 15. By 18 she was a divorced mother of two children. What followed were fearful years of struggle, always trying to make ends meet. Kim had four more children whom she parented alone. At 40, Kim returned to school and proceeded to earn five degrees, including a Ph.D., and multiple certifications, including her credentials with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) as a Certified Professional Coach.Kim has leveraged her personal experiences and education to learn everything she could about the art and science of positive psychology, personal development, and peak performance to become a much sought-after expert in human behavior and the potential to change their circumstances. She is committed to helping people live their highest vision and accelerate their path to success in business and life. Kim has a passion for helping budding entrepreneurs create thriving businesses by following a proven and evidence-based blueprint she has used with hundreds of clients.In February 2022, Kim will be starting a 16-week women’s entrepreneurship course. The group will offer accountability, support, motivation, and the energy of the collective process to help participants advance their vision by creating goals and plans to move their businesses forward. Kim offers the combination of synergy and accountability which helps participants to advance their business goals in a much faster period of time. For more info, check the show notes on my website for links.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Kim’s journey:Even though she dropped out of high school, Kim passed an equivalency exam at 14 years old, earning her high school diploma.Kim won the prestigious Body-for-Life Challenge after losing more than 70 lbs. and was featured in People magazine and other national publicationsLearn more and connect with Kim here: WebsiteVisit: Unstoppable KimLinkedInStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out WebsiteSubscribe to  newsletter

When Dr. Bob Nelson was in sixth grade, he was living in France, where on January 6 they celebrate Three Kings’ Day by eating a cake that has a special trinket hidden in one piece. That year, Dr. Bob got the piece with the trinket, making him king for the day. He remembers feeling important and that everything he did that day seemed extra special. Reflecting on that experience he says reminds him to make the most of every opportunity to have a positive impact. He was raised in a family with strong work ethics and people who have worked with Dr. Bob have commented on his solid determination and expansive resourcefulness.Dr. Bob knew from a young age that he wanted to express himself in writing and as a speaker even though he is a self-described introvert. He had a teacher in high school who encouraged him to write and he participated on his high school debate team even though it made him very anxious. Later he became active in Toastmasters to get more comfortable with speaking. Today, Dr. Bob helps organizations, executives, and managers better recognize, engage and retain their employees. He is considered a leading advocate for employee recognition and engagement worldwide. Dr. Bob has worked with 80 percent of the Fortune 500 and presented on six continents. He has written over 30 books, including 1501 Ways to Reward Employees, The 1001 Rewards & Recognition Fieldbook, 1001 Ways to Energize Employees, The Management Bible, 1001 Ways to Engage Employees, and his latest book: Work Made Fun Gets Done!: Easy Ways to Boost Energy, Morale, and Results.Dr. Bob has been featured in the national and international media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, CBS 60 Minutes, MSNBC, ABC, PBS, and NPR about how best to motivate today’s employees. He is passionate about employee engagement.In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Dr. Bob’s journey:Dr. Bob has sold over 5 million books.He worked as a shipping clerk in a bookstore because he wanted to learn more about writing and the publishing business even though he already had his MBALearn more and connect with Dr. Nelson here: FacebookTwitterLinkedInWebsiteRead: Work Made Fun Gets DoneStay Connected:Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn@TammyGoolerLoeb on InstagramWork From The Inside Out WebsiteSubscribe to  newsletter