In episode #4 of the CryRoom, Ella Irwin and guest Alex Ruiz discuss what is Strategy and what does it mean to be strategic. Alex Ruiz is an entrepreneur and experienced executive in the technology industry who has helped large and small companies develop strategies and has helped many people develop strategic thinking skills. At some point in your career, you will be asked to form a strategy or you may get feedback that you need to be more strategic, which sounds hard and complex.

In this episode Ella and Alex cover:

1. A simple definition for Strategy, which is a plan or set of actions which helps an organization accomplish its goals.
2. How to apply strategy to your career and your personal life.
3. How to become more strategic, particularly when you don’t have mentors in your life to learn from.
4. What are the mistakes people make when first starting out with creating a strategy.

Books and References:

• The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
• Lost my Virginity - How I’ve Survived, Had Fun and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way. by Richard Branson.
• Know What Matters by Ron Shaich.
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.
• Make Profits by Stealing Underpants - South Park.

Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

In episode #3 of the CryRoom, Ella Irwin and guest Ethan Evans discuss the practice of managing up and how it impacts your career. Regardless of where you are in your career, you may suddenly be reporting for someone new, who has a different style than you are used to and you will need to quickly figure out how best to work with this person. You need to create a great partnership with your manager and this episode will give you actionable guidance on how to do this. This episode covers all of the following:

1. What is managing up and why is it important?
2. Ways to determine your manager’s style.
3. What questions to ask your manager to better understand their needs.
4. Managing up vs setting boundaries.
5. How to manage up when you make a big mistake and impact your manager/ team/ company and rebuild trust.
6. What happens if your manager leaves? Was it all for nothing?

Ethan Evans is a former VP at Amazon with over 12 years of startup leadership experience. While at Amazon he helped start Prime Video, built the Appstore for Kindle tablets and Alexa, started Prime Gaming. He is now coaching managers and executives and has developed valuable training content to help people succeed in their careers. To see more content from Ethan, please visit: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com

Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

In this episode, Ella Irwin and guest Anna Martin provide guidance on navigating a job search and interviewing. Anna and Ella have interviewed thousands of people over the course of their careers and share some of the things they have seen work really well and some of the things candidates should avoid. In this episode we discuss:

1. Networking 2. The power of direct contact/ referrals 3. Personalizing resumes 4. The impact of impostor syndrome on your job search 5. Behavioral vs Hypothetical interview prep 6. Mock interviews 7. How to handle a bad candidate experience 8. Compensation questions

Visit cryroom.com for helpful links/ show notes. To purchase Dark Tide, please visit: https://darktidebook.com/

In this first episode of season 2 of the CryRoom, Ella Irwin and guest Annasara Purcell discuss changing course in your career and offer actionable guidance on how to navigate these changes successfully. Regardless of where you are in your career, you may suddenly realize you are not happy with the career you have chosen and want to pivot into a new career. In this episode we discuss:

1. The factors that lead people to making changes in their career.
2. The mistakes to avoid when making a change.
3. Understanding the why behind the change you want to make.
4. Limiting beliefs that stop people from pursuing the career they really want.

Annasara Purcell is a former litigator and senior attorney at Amazon who made a career pivot herself and is now a therapist and consultant for high achieving individuals and professionals. To get in contact with Annasara, please visit: https://www.annasarapurcell.com/

Book References:

1. Pivot: The Art and Science of Reinventing Your Career and Your Life from Adam Markel - https://amzn.to/4cgbgkA

Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

In the season finale of Season 1 of the CryRoom, we wrap up our focus on the foundational skills needed as you build your career by breaking down the bad habits that can derail your career. If you find yourself demonstrating any of these bad habits at any time in your career, it is critical that you break them and turn them into good habits as quickly as possible.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. Successful careers are a product of many good habits developed over time and avoiding the most common bad habits that derail many people’s careers.
2. The 7 most damaging bad habits are:
   1. Procrastination
   2. Negative attitude
   3. Avoiding Challenges
   4. Not using your time wisely
   5. Failure to Network
   6. Avoiding Difficult Conversations
   7. Resistance to Change
3. The sooner you develop good habits the more likely you will start earning “compounding interest” on the work you are doing.

Book References:

1. The Obstacle is the Way
2. Crucial Conversations
3. Difficult Conversations
4. Atomic Habits

We would like to thank everyone who has joined us on our Season 1 journey of the CryRoom! We are looking forward to bringing you an exciting and helpful Season 2 in a few weeks where we will be going deeper on exploring the additional skills you need to tackle challenges throughout your career, including how to handle a layoff, how to develop strategies when you are in the market for your next position, how to nail an interview, and much more!

Of course, we would love to hear from you! What questions can we answer for you or what topics might you be interested in learning more about in Season 2? Your comments could lead to a future episode!

Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

In episode 11, we dive into the concept of Imposter Syndrome and what it takes to build confidence.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. What is Imposter Syndrome, how it what are the symptoms of Imposter Syndrome and that it is far more common that most people think.
2. How to overcome Imposter Syndrome by Building Confidence.
3. The steps needed to Build Confidence including mindset shifts and changing your relationship with fear.

Resources:

HBR: How to Build Confidence at Work

Book References:

1. The Mountain Is You - Brianna Wiest
2. The Confidence Gap - Overcoming Fear and Self Doubt - Russ Harris

As we are coming to a close on Season 1 of the CryRoom, we would love to hear from you! What questions can we answer for you or what topics might you be interested in learning more about in Season 2? Your comments could lead to a future episode! Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

In episode 10, we are joined by a guest, Adrian Malatesta, Director of Global People Operations at Remlity to discuss how to cultivate, celebrate and work successfully on teams that are diverse.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. There is a learning curve when you first start working on diverse teams.
2. It’s important to learn the skills needed to adapt to differences in the individuals on the team and how their communication or workstyle might be different than your own.
3. Diverse teams are not only more interesting, they make organizations better by increasing productivity and profitability.
4. With companies that operate globally or have global customers, there is a strong need to build cultural intelligence.

Resources:

Implicit bias test - Harvard

Book References:

1. The Loudest Duck - Laura Liswood
2. Culture Map by Erin Meyer
3. Four Little Dragons by Ezra Vogel

As always, we would love to hear from you! What questions can we answer for you or what topics might you be interested in learning more about? Your comments could lead to a future episode! Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

In episode 9, we expand part of the discussion we started in episode 8, how to give and receive coaching in our careers.

In this episode, we breakdown:

1. When you know you are ready for a coach.
2. When you may not be ready for a coach.
3. Good managers should have a leader-as-coach mindset.
4. Not all coaches are managers or even a part of your organization.

Resources:

Udemy Courses for Coaching:

How to be a Great Coach

https://www.udemy.com/course/culture-how-to-be-a-great-coach/?ranMID=39197&ranEAID=wv4sBum%2Fp38&ranSiteID=wv4sBum_p38-A_jOdLUzanS31LOx0CyyZg&utm_source=aff-campaign&LSNPUBID=wv4sBum%2Fp38&utm_medium=udemyads

Book References:

1. Harvard Business Review - Most Manager’s Don’t Know How to Coach People, but they can learn.
2. The Lombardi Rules
3. Trillion Dollar Coach
4. Coaching for Performance

As always, we would love to hear from you! What additional questions can we answer for you or what topics might you be interested in learning more about? Your comments could lead to a future episode! Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!