Do What Matters: Career and Leadership on Purpose: Recent Episodes
Katherine Ann Byam
Do what matters. For you, your children, your community, and the planet. That's what business should do, and what we should too!
This podcast accompanies you on your journey to craft a successful purpose and impact driven career that adds value to you as a whole integrated person. It’s designed to help you explore a wide range of perspectives on your talents, ideas to hone in on your higher purpose, and to assume more control over your journey. Listen in! and connect with me Katherine Ann Byam on LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.
I don’t know anyone (they may exist, but I don’t know them) who endured the last 3 years, without some significant pain alongside it. That said, we can’t always live in the pain, and as I advocate to my clients, gratitude goes a long way to healing and pulling the threads together again. Those of you who know me, know that I juggle many things in my business life, at varying levels of success. 2022 has been a year that stretched me, and I intend for 2023 to be the year that I bring myself back together, consolidate, and grow the way I want to impact our planet. For the last few weeks, I’ve been running a gratitude campaign on LinkedIn and on Facebook, and this is the opportunity for you my listeners to join the party. Here’s a summary of my 12 days of gratitude for 2022.
It’s official. I’ve had the best recruitment experience of my life in a place I wasn’t expecting. I regret I cannot share the name of this company, as I want to promote them for their DEI commitment, the quality of their engagement, and the genuine way they connected with me and the work that I do, and the way I was able to contribute to their path forward with recommendations that they immediately took into consideration. Today on LinkedIn I’m connected and I dare say I’m friends with my prospective line manager for that role, and with his boss. There is deep mutual respect there no matter the outcome. He’s even connected me with others who he thinks I’d get on well with, and he was right! After this experience, I know something for certain, the best recruiters aren’t recruiting, they are networking.
Olivia has served as a HR leader for Stryker since June 2012 and during this time she has successfully supported several large sales organisations, facilitated cross functional synergies, implemented DE&I strategies, developed onboarding programs, facilitated integrations and assisted with the development of many commercial leaders. Before joining Stryker Olivia retired from the US Coast Guard in 2012. Most notably in 2009 Olivia made Coast Guard history as she became one of two first African American Engineer officers to serve on a “major” cutter. Olivia is also the cohost of the Embracing Only podcast and is working on a book titled Only; a corporate survival guide. Embracingonly.com
How do you pick a company? If you’re in your 30s or 40s this should be a lot clearer in theory right? You have the experience, and experience brings answers to questions like what values draw you in, and what attracts you to the particular role. Yet how do you know the company you are prospecting can really deliver on what you want? Answer? Your network. Your ex-colleagues from past jobs who have moved on and out into the wider world are a rich source of intel, particularly when you leverage the information shared on LinkedIn, assuming it’s up to date of course. Your ex-classmates are also a great source of networking insight. Other long time connections that were neither classmates nor work mates are also a tremendous source of insight; and that’s where my meeting with Silicon Valley arose. In Episode 16 of this podcast, I spoke at length about networking and how to do it, so if you want insights on that process be my guest and have a listen to episode 16, this episode is about me putting this into live practice. Tune in to this episode where I share how valuable networks can be in the job market and discover processes.
In this episode, we are going to be discussing future falent with an old friend of mine, Harry. It was such a pleasure to reconnect! Harry Vargas is a dynamic HR leader and change agent. He’s passionate about driving transformation for capacity building and growth, through commercially relevant and pragmatic organizational and talent strategies. He has 20 Years of multi-market & cultural experience, successfully leading and developing diverse teams at local, regional and global levels. Harry joined Microsoft in 2020, to lead HR and the culture & people transformational agenda, for the growing regional hub based in Costa Rica, serving LATAM and the US. Harry is Costa Rican and grew up in Colombia.
How early in the process should you start negotiating? I’m beginning to learn that the answer is as late in the process as possible. There are many things to negotiate in today’s job market, and the time to start doing that depends almost wholly on the relationship you build with your future line manager. Don’t negotiate with HR. The HR process is designed to find red flags and eliminate them, whereas the relationship with your line manager will always be more nuanced. Let’s discuss HR Screening calls, and I’ll share my worst performance in an interview process with you.
Having a Master's in Public Administration, science and public policy, Nadine Bender Branham, focused early on towards the new economy with her first job at EB. After that she launched the online sales channel of a camera specialist before kicking off her career at Amazon Germany, which at the time was very much an infant state. Over the years in Amazon retail, she worked in many roles, supported and launched various businesses before in late 2020, she took on an additional opportunity in AWS to run the demand generation business for DACH and beyond.
Social, credible and responsible. What have I got to offer the world, and how do I tie in my offer with all that I want to advocate for and to be, not just to do? Before the pandemic, and the massive mobilisation of finance around ESG topics, and George Floyd and the global focus on DEI that came from that, these 3 words, being social, credible and responsible, were not necessarily thought about in the same breath for small businesses, and for individuals. Career advice would centre around building a personal and or professional brand that stands out, based on what your recruiters are interested in. Today, Gen Z, and some of us in our 40s if I’m being honest are tearing up the rule book on tailoring our lives and CVs to be what companies want, and focusing more on what we want, then choosing the company that supports our interests most closely. Tune into this episode as we get into the personal and professional brand conversation, and how I’ve been experiencing this part of my career journey in the last few months.
Kysha Gibson is an experienced management consultant specialising in telecommunications, media and technology sectors. She has over 20 years of experience across both senior management, consultancy and line management roles. She has provided executive stewardship to the C suite for several global companies. Kysha graduated from the Wharton School and holds an MBA. Her success at delivering results for her clients is based on a combination of personal resilience, commitment to learning and her ability to bring others on a journey towards shared goals. Kysha takes pride in her extensive travel and believes that her cultural awareness and curiosity allows her to build successful teams with diversity and equity at the core. In her spare time, you can find her exploring lesser known countries or immersed in the work of contemporary authors.
Get out of your own way. There has been considerable research done on this idea of the ego; that sense of self esteem and self importance that our individualistic education has given us. I’ve found entrepreneurship to be the greatest challenge to an inflated ego I’ve ever encountered in my life; it has by force humbled me. I was only as good as my greatest weakness; until I started outsourcing my weaknesses. When you get out of your own way, you recognise that you have so much to learn, and so much value inside yourself that you can add to your transition journey and process, that makes the experience better for everyone connected with you, from your team, your clients, and other stakeholders! But I know more than most, that just saying get out of your own way doesn’t make magic happen. There’s a lot more work and tears involved in peeling back that onion. Tune into this episode where I share my journey.
Thriving in an international career whether you are a migrant worker or expat, requires a great deal of self awareness, personal and professional development. It's not simple but it is rewarding. In this session I talk to one of my longest friends, someone I consider a sister, based on our shared experiences travelling throughout Latin America together as part of an internal audit team.
Lupina Valdes de la Pena is a dual national of Mexico and the Netherlands, holding an accounting degree and an MBA and currently working in Internal audit and risk with an international operation.
Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. It’s a bit like giving birth, or falling in love for the first time. You absolutely cannot forget it, and the experience changes you, imprints on you, and you can never fully turn your back on it ever again. In this episode I discuss the pros and cons of returning to employment after 4 years as an entrepreneur.
Katherine Ann Byam is a best-selling author, sustainability activist, coach and consultant for business resilience and sustainable change, partnering with leaders committed to a shared future.”
In this episode we explore the use of mindfulness to tame your non- stop mind, experience relaxation and calm, manage stress and work pressures, deal with overwhelm, and achieve a greater sense of self! Marie-Claire Krayenhoff is the founder of Zentre. Zentre is an online platform offering mental well-being programmes for Modern Minds and Busy lifestyles. With over 9 years of experience in large corporations (L’ Oreal, Diageo, Beiersdorf), working in finance, marketing and sales roles, she has a deep understanding of the dynamics at play: the pressure on targets, tight deadlines, difficult conversations, and internal politics. She will take us along her journey learning about, and developing concrete, scientifically proven tools and techniques to actualise your greatest Calm and Fullest potential.
Why is the idea of getting back into employment so taboo for entrepreneurs? And why do friends and family have so much riding on binary outcomes of failure and success? If you want to see into the window of the souls of the people around you, become an entrepreneur. Let’s dig into this a bit, as I believe it affects everyone, and prevents people from not starting great ideas, and also not knowing when to stop an idea not worth developing further.
Andrew Montgomery is a Digital Product + UX Designer born and raised in Jamaica, but currently working in Toronto, though he considers himself a citizen of the world. He’s seen two sides to the story of technology. Coming from a place with limited access, to a hub of innovation, He always questioned how to bridge the gap. Then he discovered user experience design. He believes that access to technology is a right, not a privilege,and this guides his design decisions. He aims to help make the world more equitable through his work. As a creative thinker and problem solver, he enjoys straddling the line of marrying human needs with business goals. Creating great products comes from understanding the people using them. Humans willingly incorporate useful and enjoyable experiences into their daily life. When not designing, He’s teaching kids code, in the mountains skiing, playing soccer or travelling the world. Experiencing different cultures heavily influences the way I solve problems. 16 countries and counting.
My Career Journal, part 1. What do you do when things aren’t quite going to plan, and you’ve run down your buffers to the point that something needs to give? You make a change. And that change has to be one that works for you. Tune into this episode where I share about the big secret that I’ve been keeping, and how it’s going to impact my work. Before we dive in, I want you to know this, change is good. Even when it’s hard. Motivation to take the first action is usually all it takes before you can start to see clarity in new perspectives.
They are our present and our future, although it's not quite in their hands. This is the generation that’s already bringing change to pale, male and stale boardrooms around the world, but will they run out of time? We talk about careers, sustainability and the journey of these young women to create a future they want to be a part of. Serena Coccioli Serena is a Colombian-Italian who graduated in Ecological and Environmental Sciences from the University of Edinburgh building her sustainability career. Belinda Ng Belinda is a youth advocate for sustainable food systems who has just completed an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London. Kailin Jo Spencer Kailin is a senior at the University of Washington - Seattle focusing on sustainable curriculum advocacy within the Foster School of Business and researching small business sustainability
Everyone knows that their network is an absolute powerhouse of potential for any cause you are championing. Be it job search, short term opportunities, advice, mentorship, customers, peers, collaborators, and friendships. Yet for many, we only tap this resource when we need it; instead of nurturing that relationship to be meaningful over time. In this episode we talk about networking from the perspective of different social networking platforms, understanding the ingredients that enable it, clarifying your goals, and building the skills.
Dr. Ashley Dash inspires action through her lived experiences in person and online as Profitable Resume® Expert. She often shares her most significant life challenges, including how she went from being an unemployed college graduate to landing a $100k+ job in Human Resources with Mercedes-Benz. Or revealing how years later, she restarted her life after facing foreclosure and unemployment, shifting back to six figures with an international move to Japan. With a doctorate in Strategic Leadership and a passion for helping corporate business professionals increase their confidence, create a six figure career brand, and get unstuck at work, she knows when you change your resume, you can change your life. To sign up for the Step-by-step guide to Recession Proof your resume go to profitableresume.com/guide
A few weeks ago I travelled to Birmingham to take the stage at the British Orthopaedic Association Annual Congress 2022 as a guest speaker working on behalf of Stryker UK. We had a very meaningful conversation about Diversity Equity and Inclusion, and what we all bring to the table in this complex conversation of our times. Inclusion is the absence of barriers. This is the clearest definition I’ve heard of this word, and one that speaks to the feelings of everyone, including white men, women, people of colour, and people of varying abilities, neuro diversities, genders, ethnicities, faiths, sexualities and others. It does not however come without a context, as civilisation is also based on finding common ground, and having some level of fair treatment across the spectrum of concerns. This episode covers the key topics that came up, and how we addressed them.
Shortly before Kabul fell to the Taliban in August2021, I reached out to my friend Kirsten to find out how she was doing and she insisted she was fine. It didn't seem like she was planning on leaving Afghanistan any time soon. What happened next no doubt surprised her. Kirsten Forbes is the Supply Chain Manager at the International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC, officially based in Kabul Afghanistan, though recently relocated to Dushanbe Tajikistan. Kirsten has worked at the red cross for a little over 2 years, prior to that she worked for 3 years at a FTSE top 10 FMCG. Kirsten will be speaking with me live on LinkedIn about her career journey. She will also be speaking about what she personally experienced being based in Afghanistan at the time that it fell only days ago. This is going to be a session that faces head-on what it’s like to manage a career with impact, and how to lead with compassion amidst adversity and challenge. to find out more about my work to support positive impact career transitions, you can connect with me as follows: My links https://linktr.ee/katherineannbyam
Introducing Do What Matters - The Book - Here's a few words from a reviewer: This book is a revelation in so many ways that I cannot enumerate. Each chapter had me go to places I hadn’t considered going; to my experiences, my biases, my joys, and my gifts foremost among them! This book doesn’t just recommend what I should consider in my journey to building a net – positive life, it puts the steering wheel in my hand, with a road map and tangible actions to plot out what’s meaningful to me! I have lengthy notes. I highly recommend it! Number 1 Best Sellers # 1 Career Guide UK
Chris Pirie is the CEO of the Learning Futures Group. He's an experienced talent leader obsessed with making the future workplace better. Formerly a global VP of Online Learning at Oracle and chief learning officer at Microsoft Chris's entire career has been spent working at the intersection between workplace, learning, and technology. He now provides advisory services to enterprise organisations and ad tech vendors, including the judge person Academy and the future workplace Academy. In 2019, Chris launched The Learning Futures group to help organisations rethink their learning and development strategy. In the face of historic workplace disruption and change. He launched Learning is The New Working, my favourite podcast about the future of workplace learning. And the people helping us get there as part of his research activities. The podcast has had over 30,000 downloads. He's also founding director of Humentum.
My name is Katherine Ann Byam and welcome to weekly tips. This is our bite sized segment of useful information that you can take away and implement almost immediately, for just a few minutes of your time. Today's session is about optimising LinkedIn for your job search. There's a lot to talk about for LinkedIn, but six things that I think you should focus on to make your profile ready for review and viewing by those who will be interested in hiring you. Connect with resources and inspiration from Katherine: Katherine Ann Byam | Linktree Instagram Kath | Career & LinkedIn Coach (@katherineannbyam) • Instagram photos and videos LinkedIn 🎙️ Katherine Ann Byam, MBA | LinkedIn Website Katherine Ann Byam Website
If you like a good debate, you're going to enjoy this conversation. Today I had a chat with Juan Luis Betancourt, from Human Intelligence. And we had a super debate about the metaverse, and about how to use psychometrics to help grow your business. We didn't always see eye to eye. Here's a clip from our discussion now. “Everything is about connection. There's no more powerful way of connecting than understanding someone's psychology. We always say human intelligence, every resume should have a human intelligence, a personality test on the back that leads to engagement, performance and happiness. And so one day, and one day, the metaverse will understand humanity. I think there is no platform that understands humanity today. But when you go towards the metaverse, and tools like psychometrics that become ubiquitous, where everyone has one by the time they're in sixth grade, it really is the beginning of understanding humanity. And believe me” Juan is recognized as a thought-leader, speaker, and business executive in the human capital management, HR software, recruiting, and culture space. After several successful corporate roles, he’s now the CEO of Humantelligence, The Culture Software, which enables The Power of People Made Simple® and of Gonza Executive Search, a leading executive search firm that works with leading PE firms to find the top executive talent for their portfolio companies. Connect with Juan LinkedIn Juan Luis Betancourt | LinkedIn Website: Humantelligence HR Technology | Improve Performance & Collaboration
Introduction My Name is Katherine Ann Byam and welcome to weekly tips. This is our bite sized segment of useful information, you can take away and implement almost immediately, for just a few minutes of your time. Today, I'm going to talk about productivity in roughly four to five minutes. I know you've read and implemented systems around productivity your entire life, yet frustratingly, you are still struggling to maintain your game consistently. What am I doing wrong, you ask? As when you look around your social feed, you see many people starting side gigs, growing their incomes. While you barely have time to breathe. Connect with resources and inspiration from Katherine: Katherine Ann Byam | Linktree Instagram Kath | Career & LinkedIn Coach (@katherineannbyam) • Instagram photos and videos LinkedIn 🎙️ Katherine Ann Byam, MBA | LinkedIn Website Katherine Ann Byam Website
Growth requires breakage. This episode is a brilliant discussion with leadership coach Melissa Rider Carson. We talk about leading from the messy. Here's a brief clip of what she had to share with us. All of us as individuals bring our set of experiences, our ways of working, our ways of thinking to which is great. It's that diversity of thought and experiences that drive innovation. That's awesome. However, as a leader, you need to find a way to harness what I call the messy, which is all of that stuff. And all of those people are also motivated differently, and they have baggage of things that are going on in their life and how they show up every day. And so I think, as that leader who's trying to get everybody around, that job of that leader is to harness the messiness, the imperfections. Connect with Melissa To connect with Melissa, you can reach out to her here: LinkedIn: Melissa (Rider) Carson | LinkedIn Crimdell Consulting Website Crim Dell Consulting
I’m Katherine Ann Byam, and welcome to weekly tips. This is our bite-sized segment of useful information that you can take away and implement almost immediately, for just a few minutes of your time, tune into this episode now. Today's tip is about journaling. Journaling is one of the most underestimated success secrets. And often people don't know exactly how to incorporate it into their lives and how to make a habit of doing the thing that actually can release so much of stress, and keep you focused on the mission at hand.
Connect with resources and inspiration from Katherine: Katherine Ann Byam | Linktree Instagram Kath | Career & LinkedIn Coach (@katherineannbyam) • Instagram photos and videos LinkedIn 🎙️ Katherine Ann Byam, MBA | LinkedIn Website Katherine Ann Byam Website
With Kysha, we discuss the importance of lived experiences and inclusive leadership. We also get some valuable insights into how to break through to leadership roles, and some of the barriers we face that come from our environment. And from within, tune in to this dei episode. Here's a clip now. “The three things that I think have been most important to my success. And I think these things tend to change across the point of time that you are in your career, at least it has for me, but currently, perseverance has been quite important. Network has been incredibly important. And I don't just mean that in a professional sense. I also mean it in a personal sense, as well. And then the third thing for me has been authenticity. And that's something that probably has become a stronger part of what I've needed as I've gotten more senior.” Kysha Gibson is an experienced management consultant specialising in telecommunications, media and technology sectors. She has over 20 years of experience across both senior management, consultancy and line management roles. She has provided executive stewardship to the C suite for several global companies. Kysha graduated from the Wharton School and holds an MBA. Her success at delivering results for her clients is based on a combination of personal resilience, commitment to learning and her ability to bring others on a journey towards shared goals. Kysha takes pride in her extensive travel and believes that her cultural awareness and curiosity allows her to build successful teams with diversity and equity at the core. In her spare time, you can find her exploring lesser known countries or immersed in the work of contemporary authors. Connect with Kysha Kysha keeps a pretty open profile on instagram, connect with her here Kysha Gibson (@kyshagibson) • Instagram photos and videos For more professional engagement, you can also connect with her on LinkedIn Kysha Gibson | LinkedIn
Have you ever heard a voice that just haunts you so much that you have to know who's behind it? This is how it was when I met Sherika Sherard. here's a small clip from the song she's gonna play for us at the end of this episode while busking in London today. “No, no, no, no, no, no. Sometimes I feel this life is never enough. So much love around me but, I'm stuck in a rut. No fame, no fortune, just a house in my name, guess I never liked that bitter taste of champagne. Does it get easier?” Through songwriting, Sherika vows to encourage the conversations that make us vulnerable. From charming one-liners to heart-felt confessions Sherika celebrates the complexity of self-discovery by continuously warming the hearts of her listeners. Sherika has previously opened for Seal and had her music personally picked up by Spike Lee himself to feature on both series of “She’s Gotta Have it”. Recently in the uncertain year of 2020, Sherika played her first lead film role in ‘PHEA’ a modern take on the classic Orpheus Greek myth. Funded by the BFI the feature film is currently in post-production after a five-week shoot in August. All songs featured in the film were written and performed by Sherika. Connect with Sherika Sherard Sherika documents her life in full colour for us on Instagram Sherika Sherard (@sherikasherard) • Instagram photos and videos She also has a website, where she accepts your contributions Sherika Sherard Finally you can connect with her music on Youtube Sherika Sherard - Topic - YouTube And on Spotify Spotify – Sherika Sherard
Today with Tessa Clarke, we discussed the journey to build a globally relevant green first, digital first business as a female founder. We talk also about the rules Tessa and her co-founder are breaking, and also advise on sustainable and practical things you can do for the planet without giving anything up. “Honestly, one of the easiest ways to massively reduce your carbon and your waste footprint is to stop throwing away food. Now to most people, it's really hard to get your head around how environmentally damaging food waste is, because food seems natural, organic, and it comes from the ground and returns to the ground, sort of how bad can that be. But the reality is, it is absolutely devastating. So if it were to be a country, food waste would be the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after the USA and China. And that's because a landmass larger than China is used every single year to grow food that has never been eaten.” Tessa Clarke is co-founder and CEO of Olio. A free app tackling the problem of waste by connecting neighbours with each other, and volunteers with local businesses so that surplus food and other household items can be given away, not thrown away. Olio, it has grown to 6 million users in just over five years, and its impact has been widely recognised, most notably by the United Nations who highlighted OLIO as a beacon for the world and by Viva tech who awarded Olio the next European unicorn. Prior to Olio,Tessa had a 15 year corporate career as a digital managing director in the media retail and financial services sector. And she met her co-founder Sasha whilst they were studying for the MBAs at Stanford University. Tess is passionate about the sharing economy as a solution for a sustainable world and about profit with purpose as the next business paradigm. Connect with Tessa: To connect with Tessa and Olio, check out the links below: Website: OLIO – The #1 Free Sharing App (olioex.com) Linkedin for Tessa: Tessa (Cook) Clarke | LinkedIn LinkedIn for Olio: OLIO • Share More, Waste Less: Overview | LinkedIn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olio.app/ Tiktok:OLIO.app (@olio.app) TikTok | Watch OLIO.app's Newest TikTok Videos
Don't ask what gives you purpose, ask what gives you energy. Listen to this clip from this fantastic recording I had with Shane Ward, agroecologist and founder of Action Ecology. My wife introduced me to this idea. She's an organisational psychologist by training, and has been working in leadership development and all these other things, so she came home one day was talking about an exercise that she was involved with where people were asked to try and find one word that described what energised them and for some reason, this captured my thinking in a way that nothing quite like it ever had. It's been a long time, in fact I had spent the whole of my adult life up to this point, thinking about what I was passionate about, which was films and telling stories and working with actors and crafting all these things I was passionate about. I was passionate about, you know, other things I loved music. I thought about what I loved, I thought about what I was passionate about. I thought about all these other things, but I never actually asked the question what energises me, what gives me energy instead of taking it away. Shane Ward is a regenerative land use advisor, communicator and the founder of Action Ecology. Shane brings an international perspective, scientific rigour and pragmatic approach to connecting people with the right knowledge, drawn from both innovative ‘on-the-ground’ practitioners and the latest research. Passionate about sustainable food systems, ecosystem restoration, as well as plant, soil & microbial ecology, Shane also works more broadly to engage people with visioning a better way forwards for humanity’s approach to energy, economy and agriculture – re-partnering with natural systems – so we might provide a chance for future generations to thrive on this planet.
In today's episode, Hannah talks to me about building a career on purpose, and how to master your career with the skills of self leadership. We dive into strategies for being focused, present, and intentional on things that really matter. This is an eye opener, tune in and let us know what you think. Here's a clip from the episode now; in 2015, when I did my MBA, I read a book called Frugal Innovation written by Navi Radjou about how Indians create low cost solutions, like baby incubators and fridges using the most limited means. So all of these types of solutions were coming from a place of need, they were solving real problems in the world. And I started to look at what sort of my organisations were doing in terms of innovation. And it felt like they were trying to solve problems for the brand, but not problems for the world. And I thought, This is not what we need to be doing here. Like there needs to be a real change in how we approach solving problems.
I'm Katherine, Author, Sustainability Activist, Coach and Consultant, And I'm the host of this podcast do what matters, and another Where Ideas Launch. Both of these podcasts speak to different aspects of my values. Do What Matters is about the purposeful pivot, and Where Ideas Launch is about sustainable Innovation. Tune into to this pilot, and if you like it, why not check out a few more episodes, and give us a rating! Rooting for you to have amazing takeways, xoxo Kath.