The Career Couch with Dr. Carole & Friends had a diverse and amazing  group of subject matters experts this season from various locations around the world.  The listeners were privileged to hear from many who were authors and  had completed a lot of research to support their discussion. The topics were rich and engaging. The listeners commented and sent feedback to me from every continent. I want thank my listeners for being interested and finding value in these topics and guests. I also want to thank my guests in season four: Mark Bobbitt and Chris Edmonds, consultants and co-authors of “Good Comes First: How Today’s Leaders Create an Uncompromising Company Culture that Doesn’t Suck” Dr. Barbara Dallay Pezee, international leadership coach and consultantJamie Flinchbaugh, advisor and author of "People Solve Problems: The Power of Every Person, Every Day, Every Problem"Michael Timms, author of “How Leaders Can Inspire Accountability"Steve White, president and special counsel to the CEO of Comcast and author of "Uncompromising" Michael Chang Wenderoth, executive coach and author of “Get promoted: What You are Really Missing at Work that’s Holding You Back” and, Sonya Barnes, brand expert of Sonya Barnes InternationalI appreciate each and everyone of you for your commitment to helping others reach their full potential. Thank you, Dr. Carole Isom-Barnes, podcast host and business consultantXperience Leadership, LLCwww.XperienceLeadership.com

Are you thinking about quitting your job and pursuing that great idea that has been on your mind for years? Numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau found that a whopping 5.4 million new business applications were filed in 2021, surpassing the record set in 2020 of 4.4 million. Your podcast host, Dr. Carole Isom-Barnes, also took the leap and left her traditional job over a decade ago to pursue her entrepreneurial dream. As the now business owner of Xperience Leadership, LLC , for twelve years, she takes the mic solo to offer sound advice in the midst of the Great Resignation for those considering the plunge. If you are thinking about it, you will definitely want to listen to this episode.

Brand expert, Sonya Barnes of Sonya Barnes International, places great emphasis on the need to develop your personal brand and not be satisfied with your default brand.  In this episode, she stresses the need to be consistent with your personal brand standards and the importance of never falling beneath  those standards regardless of the environment.  Sonya also walks us through the model of personal branding: A = AppearanceB = BehaviorC = Communication (verbal and non-verbal)D = Digital footprintFor those working from home or in hybrid environments, she provides advice on how to  remain professionally visible, show value, and advance one's career.Sonya is an entrepreneur and consultant, with two decades as an international style and brand expert. She has traveled throughout the United States and globally to destinations, such as Southeast Asia and Europe, providing keynote presentations and leading engaged training and workshops to Fortune 500 companies. She has  appeared in national and international media outlets, such as the Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Today, Good Day Vietnam, The Moulin Gazetteer (France), and the Chicago Tribune.   For more information you can visit her website at:  SonyaBarnesInternational.com.

Author and business consultant, Michael (Chang) Wenderoth, discusses a topic that we have all experienced – office politics.  If you haven’t experienced it, you are likely to at some point in your career. He posits that we should not ignore office politics, but rather engage in it for the benefit of our careers. He refers to the management of office politics as a “legitimate skill” that must be learned in the same manner as any other soft skill. His book, Get Promoted: What You’re REALLY Missing at Work That’s Holding You Back , is available April 6th and offers a three-part framework to support listeners and readers in developing these skills. Additionally, he addresses how the pandemic has altered office politics: Previous political structures in some organizations have ossified.Informal organizational networks have been freed up in other organizations.For more information on Michael, visit his website at ChangWenderoth.com.

Comcast President and Special Counsel to the CEO, Steve White, continues with part two of  "Navigating a Promotion and Organizational Success." In episode 2, Steve, discusses employee growth from an organizational and employee perspective. Organizationally, he shares how leaders can and should ensure their teams are experiencing growth, fair promotions,  and healthy cultures.  He candidly discusses the need for termination of those leaders who disrespect employees or are not living the organization's values.  He also lays out a process to build systems that break down walls of communication for the overall organizational  good.At the employee level, he offers honest thoughts about work-life balance, referring to it as "work-life integration." He suggests focusing on the long-game and self-reflecting, especially if you failed to receive a deserved promotion. And, for those of you who aspire to be the next President or CEO of a company,  he provides realistic feedback - "You won't become president working 100% remotely or 9-5; growth requires an adjustment." As President of Comcast’s West Division for eleven years, launching his career in 1996 as Regional Vice President, Steve's insight is rich in wisdom. He was responsible for all of Comcast Cable operations in the Western U.S., leading nearly thirty thousand employees, serving almost ten million customers, and driving annual revenue of nearly $18 billion. His new book Uncompromising: How an Unwavering Commitment to Your Why Leads to an Impactful Life and a Lasting Legacy , is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and SteveWhiteSpeaks.com.

Steve White, President of Comcast’s West Division for eleven years, and now serving as President and special counsel to the Comcast CEO, allows us to experience his personal journey of professional successes and failures, as he climbed the corporate ladder. In part 1 of the podcast, he provides the listeners with tried and proven wisdom on getting promoted and understanding your "whys." He states, "If you are doing something that is not consistent with your "why" and purpose, it's a problem."He also addresses: what he looks for when selecting leaders for a role,the need for leaders with diverse skillsets,why high-potential leaders sometimes fail to get promoted, and, how to eliminate the "no's."Steve's new book, Uncompromising: How an Unwavering Commitment to Your Why Leads to an Impactful Life and a Lasting Legacy , can be found on Amazon and his website, SteveWhiteSpeaks.

Most leaders believe they are accountable because they are successful. Not so, says this week's guest, Michael Timms, author of "How Leaders Can Inspire Accountability: Three Habits That Make or Break Leaders and Elevate Organizational Performance."In this episode, Michael addresses three behaviors or habits of personal accountability:not blaming,looking in the mirror, andengineering the solutionHe also discusses the organizational impact of a culture of blame and what he means when he states, "We are not asking leaders to risk their lives, only their egos." Michael is a leadership development consultant and principal of Avail Leadership.  Prior to forming his own consultancy, Michael was a consultant with Deloitte and an HR leader in the construction and manufacturing industries.His new book can be found here.

Jamie Flinchbaugh is  an author and advisor who has worked with over 300 companies around the world, including Harley-Davidson, Intel, Mars, Amazon, Crayola, Fidelity, and Whirlpool.  For three decades, he has coached at every level - from entry-level employees to experienced CEOs of multi-billion-dollar corporations. He joins the Career Couch with a perspective on successful project management, with less emphasis on tools, such as Lean and Kaizen methodologies, and more focus on shaping behaviors for organizational problem-solving.  He addresses how leaders should: normalize and interpret behaviors,measure behaviors and observations,focus on the "how" of the work (and not just the outcomes).Jaime's  new book, People Solve Problems: The Power of Every Person, Every Day, Every Problem  can be found on his website at www.jflinch.com.

Joining us all the way from Italy this week, is Dr. Barbara Dallay Pezze. She is an international leadership coach and speaker with 18 years of global experience inspiring  leaders and entrepreneurs to discover and reach their purpose via self-evolution. In this episode, Dr. Dallay Pezze explains the power we each possess and the importance of being aware of our options to have choices - especially when our circumstances may appear as if we do not have power.  She addressees what it really means to be empowered and waking up to the story we tell ourselves about who we are and what we are capable of. She also addresses: moments that interrupt our perfect story,awareness of the (negative and positive) contributions  of the people in our lives (and how they impact our identity),recovery of lost power.Information on Dr. Dallay Pezze and  her book, "The Unexpected Gift" can be found here.

Season 4 kicks off with Mark Bobbitt and Chris Edmonds, co-authors of "Good Comes First: How Today's Leaders Create an Uncompromising  Company Culture that Doesn't Suck." In this episode, they address how putting "good first" can impact every organizational metric and create sustainable organizational change.  They begin with a great discussion on the value of respecting employees and transition to making respect a quantifiable goal, that is tactical and not vague, and results in guaranteed outcomes. And, if you really want to move the needle in your organization, check out their book, found here.

Welcome to Season 4 of the Career Couch with Dr. Carole & Friends.  Be prepared to enjoy subject matter expert advice and opinions from authors, consultants, leaders and researchers from all around the world this season on workplace and organizational issues. As always, we have new topics and new guests - please enjoy!I look forward to you joining us every other Monday for a new episode!Dr. Carole Isom-Barnes can be reached at Carole@XperienceLeadership.com or visit www.XperienceLeadership.com for further information.

This third season was all about you and your well-being as we had amazing episodes with dynamic guests and topics. I want to thank you, listeners, for tuning in each week. I also want to thank my guests and friends who took the time to serve as co-leads and share their diverse expertise and knowledge: Dr. Joe Grasso, clinical psychologistMs. Chris Bush, Homeland Security expert and private investigatorDr. Rob Fazio, clinical psychologist, author, and business ownerDr. Edward Brodkin, psychiatry professor and author Ms. Ashley Pallathra, researcher and authorMs. Wanda Pierce, consultant and business ownerDr. Karen Geiger, consultant and business ownerDr. Randy Cook, surgeon and podcast hostMs. Carson Tate, consultant, author, and business ownerMs. Tracy Litt, consultant, author, and business ownerThe Career Couch with Dr. Carole & Friends will return with Season 4 in January 2022, with new guests and friends. Dr. Carole Isom-Barnes can be reached at Carole@XperienceLeadership.com or visit www.XperienceLeadership.com for further information.

Tracy Litt is a proven powerhouse of transformation. As a certified leadership expert, mindset coach, and spiritual advisor (and licensed hypnotherapist) , she helps people across the globe to break the patterns that bind them so they can become the highest versions of themselves. As founder of The Litt Factor, a personal growth and coaching company, she reaches people through private coaching, group programs, immersive workshops & seminars, speaking and online courses. Tracy is also the celebrated author of Worthy Human, a featured Amazon best-seller.  She has been praised for her outstanding TEDx talk. In this episode she walks us through her powerful and practical process, The Choice Method, which elevates prosperity, fulfillment, and happiness to new and incredible heights. She also offers guidance to leaders in respecting their self-worth, becoming empowered and striving for wild success.

"Own it. Love it. Make it Work."  This is the title of the new book from productivity expert/consultant and best-selling author, Carson Tate. Carson takes  the listeners on a transformational journey in owning  one's career and making any job work. She walks us through four doors: door #1- escaping, door #2 - remaining in misery, door #3 - leaving the 9-5 and becoming an entrepreneur,  or door #4 - owning it, loving it and making it work. She offers actionable tools and approaches, such as The Five Essentials to support the listeners in pursuit of door #4. "Own it. Love it. Make it Work" can be found at all major bookstores.

Dr.  Randy Cook, a well-respected clinician with four decades as a surgeon, educator and organizational leader, gifts the listeners with his wisdom and insight in many areas. Dr. Cook also serves as a professional coach with MD Coaches, a company dedicated to coaching and empowering physicians to achieve their best version of themselves.  In this episode, he addresses: his late-in-career professional failure as a practitionerhis career recovery/transformation via self-reflection and identification of transferable skills.He also offers advice to those interested in attending medical school or are currently in medical school; he shares his opinion on topical healthcare issues, such as the demand placed upon physicians who are employees of medical providers, healthcare workers leaving the industry, and the impact of prosperity on the human connection. You can also listen to Dr. Cook on his podcast, "RX for Success" found on Apple and other podcast sites.  Contact the host at Carole@XperienceLeadership.com.Learn more at www.XperienceLeadership.comAre you enjoying the the Career Couch with Dr. Carole & Friends? Please subscribe and share!

Dr. Karen Geiger of Karen Geiger & Associates, consults with organizations and individuals to create awareness on the issue of white privilege, implement change and alter the race narrative.  In this episode she addresses: her personal journey  with race and how she became comfortable with her own white privilegesocial identity and racethe need to reframe white identitythe significance of changing white people's level of awareness for the benefit of all societyhow to fight the system and  policies which have disparate impact.Dr. Geiger can be reached at www.KarenGeiger.com.Contact the host at Carole@XperienceLeadership.com.Learn more at www.XperienceLeadership.comAre you enjoying the the Career Couch with Dr. Carole & Friends? Please subscribe and share!

Transitioning to Your Dream Job continues with part 2 and an inspiring and realistic conversation with Ms. Wanda Pierce. Wanda leveraged her successful corporate America experiences with Mobil, Johnson & Johnson and Merck, to transition to her dream roles in the area of philanthropy. She is the business owner of Pierce Consulting Works, LLC, which provides interim CEO services for non-profits in the midst of change and the producer and host of "Philanthropy Matters" on WERA 96.7 in Virginia. Wanda is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Business School. ________________________________________________________________________________________                                Contact the host at Carole @XperienceLeadership.com.                                       Learn more at www.XperienceLeadership.com.  Are you enjoying the Career Couch with Dr. Carole & Friends? Please subscribe and share!

Chief inspiration officer and coach, Tony Martignetti joins the Career Couch in Part 1 of a series on "Transitioning to Your Dream Job." He discusses how he transitioned from a career in finance and strategy and a passion for art,  to one where he guides leaders who are ready to transition to their fullest potential.  He also provides advice and  strategies to maneuver  you closer to you dream job.Tony leaves us with some thought-provoking questions, such as, "What's your why?" and “What patterns do you want to break?" Tony is also the author of, " Climbing the Right Mountain: Navigating the Journey to An Inspired Life" and host of the podcast, "The Virtual Campfire."

Dr. Edward Brodkin and therapist Ashley Pallathra are the leading experts on human connection. In this episode, they discuss their co-authored new book, Missing Each Other: How to Cultivate Meaningful Connections, which is based upon years of research and identifies "attunement" as a practice to create deeper levels of connection.  They address: the importance of "attunement" and how this practice can improve personal well-being and work teams. four components of human connection: relaxed awareness, listening, understanding, and mutual responsivenessthe balance between person-to-person interactions and machines/technology the difficulty in accomplishing "attunement" via virtual engagementTheir book can be located here.

Dr. Rob Fazio, a licensed psychologist, crisis consultant and executive advisor, speaks on the topic of Coping and Growing During a Crisis. He shares his personal  story (of coping through the pandemic and losing his father in the 9/11 tragedy) to support listeners in understanding that crisis is a part of life that requires preparation and growth. He also addresses:how to prepare for a crisis and mental toughnesshow to take control of your experience and transition to a place of growthleading during a crisisthe significance of self-care and care of othersthe impact of loss on one's identityDr. Fazio is the managing partner at OnPoint Advising  which specializes in global leadership and the founder and president  of a 9/11 inspired nonprofit organization, Hold the Door for Others.