Career Stewardship with Michael Melcher Michael Melcher

There are coaches all around the world.  In this episode, we examine executive coaching and career development from the point of view of someone who practices in a different hemisphere.  Michael speaks with Ana Pliopas, Ph.D, a coach in Brazil who trained at the Hudson Institute, where Michael also did his coach training.  They discuss how the pandemic affected the way people see their careers, the differences and similarities in how pandemic stress showed up in Brazil vs. the United States, and how coaching might show up differently in the two countries.  She also shares what she learned in the course of writing her dissertation on the relationships among clients, organizations and coaches.

Career progress isn't just about how competent or hard-working you are.  It can require the ability to attain and exert power within organizations.  This is a scary thing because power tends to have a bad rap.  You might think you can't attain it, or you might not want to attain it.  As our guest Michael Chang Wenderoth explains, power is simply the ability to get your way in the face of opposition, and it's something that you can understand, unlock and use for your own benefit.  Wenderoth is the author of the new book, Get Promoted: What You're Really Missing at Work That's Holding You Back, which is a practical, intelligent guide to mastering power at work.  We discuss how capable people can end up stalling in their careers, how leadership literature might be encouraging you to do the wrong things, and why figuring out the how-to of workplace power can be particularly useful for women and people of color.  And also why saying you need to deal with workplace power to get ahead in your career would be uncontroversial in many other countries.  

In this episode, we speak Lara Sullivan, the CEO of Pyxis Oncology, and a friend of Michael's of many years.  Lara has served as CEO since 2019 after roles at Pfizer, McKinsey & Co. and in private equity.  No slacker, she also has both MD and MBA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.  In this episode, we discuss the role of curiosity in career success, how mentoring works differently from the way people assume, and the role of relationships in "de-risking" career moves.  We also learn how studying Comp Lit in college can be a highly useful preparation for the world of business.  And we'll discuss how what looks like a straight-line progression on the outside can feel very different on the inside.  Lara has a uniquely amazing set of skills and experiences, but many of the lessons she's learned along the way are relevant to nearly anyone.   A great conversation with an inspirational CEO.  Not to be missed! 

And we're baaaaaaaaack.  Michael took a break to write a manuscript and manage some other life and career things, but here we are.  We're kicking off this new season with an exciting Coaching Realness episode.  Jennie Nash, America's favorite book coach and writing entrepreneur, last seen in Episode 31, returns to the pod, only this time as a client.  Jennie's business is doing great but she's facing a big issue:  namely, that to take things up to the next level she's going to have to let go of things, which is easier said than done.  Michael and Jennie get into what is really at the root of this conundrum, what metrics really matter when you're developing a business, and the role of ego in setting out a compelling vision.  Check out this juicy episode and hear what coaching can sound and feel like. 

What is really goes on inside a mentoring relationship?  How do these unique relationships start, evolve, manage bumps along the road, and be useful to both parties?  In this episode, Michael is joined by Lauren Laitin, the founder of Parachute Coaching who is -- spoiler alert -- Michael's mentee.  They review the random way that they met, what initially kicked off their connection, when it turned into a mentoring relationship, and what they've learned along the way. This episode has some mentoring realness a-ha's that you are unlikely to find elsewhere, such as:  mentors aren't motivated primarily by whether they like you.  And: you might have disagreements or conflicts with your mentor.  Best practices for creating your own healthy mentor relationships at the end of the episode. 

In 2018, Lauren Baer ran for Congress from Florida's 18th District.  She won the Democratic primary handily and came close to unseating her rival in a deep-red district.  While she had a stellar professional background, including stints working directly for two Secretaries of State and for the Ambassador to the United Nations, she was a first-time candidate and her district had never had an out, lesbian mom candidate running for the seat.  She now runs Arena.run, an organization that prepares new candidates for office and trains staff to be effective.  But years before all this, Lauren found herself in a career transition, wondering what she could or should do, and how she would accomplish that.  That's when she and our host met, and it's when she was confronted big time with the anxieties and satisfactions that come up in networking.  In this episode, Lauren talks with Coach Michael about her initial views on networking, how she made the process work with her, and how she took it to the next level when running for office. She also has great advice for people thinking of public office but who haven't quite taken the first step.  An extra-delightful and interesting episode!