Career Advancement, Leadership and Promotion: The Mid-Career GPS Podcast
You’re doing great work. So why are you still being overlooked for promotions, leadership opportunities, or your next career move?
The Mid-Career GPS Podcast helps mid-career professionals build the visibility, influence, and career strategy to move forward. If you’re a manager, senior manager, or director who feels stuck, undervalued, or uncertain about what’s next, you’re in the right place.
I’m John Neral, a leadership and career coach. Each week, I share practical strategies and candid conversations to help you communicate your value, strengthen your leadership presence, and make more confident career decisions.
You’ll learn how to position yourself for promotion, navigate difficult workplace conversations, build strategic relationships, and lead with greater impact.
We’ll also tackle job search strategy, interviewing, and career transitions when your next step means moving to a new organization.
At the heart of this podcast are my SHOW UP strategies, helping you take an active role in your career instead of waiting for someone else to recognize your potential.
With more than 360 episodes, you’ll find guidance for the challenges and opportunities that come with this stage of your career.
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What do you do when your job search isn’t producing the results you wanted? If you are frustrated with how your job search is going, I want to offer you that the answer is found in using the Belief Triad to find your next job.
The Belief Triad for finding your next job focuses on how strongly you believe in yourself, your skillset, and your organization. Each component must be equal to the others so you can present yourself as the strongest and most valuable candidate for a position.
Listen to this episode to learn the questions you can ask yourself about how strongly you believe in yourself, your skillset, and your current or future organization as you build Your Mid-Career GPS to whatever is next for you and your career.
All right , my friends , it's time we do a little check-in here . So , if you're looking for a new job or you're positioning yourself for a promotion , how are things going so far ? I mean , come on , we're almost at the end of February and , knowing you , you probably thought this should have been locked down already . See , everything you have heard or believed about finding a job in the new year may not have come true yet . So I've got something for you today , and it's called the Believe Triad for finding your next job , and this is absolutely going to change the way you are looking at applying for networking or interviewing for your next job . This Believe Triad has three components , and I'm going to tell you all about them in this episode so you can determine which one or maybe all three you need to be working on as you figure out whatever is next for you and your career . Let's get started .
Speaker 1
Hello , my friends , this is the Mid-Career GPS Podcast . I'm your host , john Narrell . I help Mid-Career professionals find a job they love , or love the job they have , using my proven four-step formula . Before I get into today's episode , I want to wish everyone who is celebrating a Happy Black History Month , as well as a Happy Lunar New Year to all of you who are celebrating . I've been working very diligently this year and it is one of my goals to plan and batch some podcast episodes in advance , and while I had batched the last round of episodes , I didn't want this month of February to go by without acknowledging these two important events . So hope you are enjoying the month and hope it's going well for you . Okay , let's talk about this Believe Triad . There are three components here .
Speaker 1
The Believe Triad for finding your next job includes your belief in yourself , your belief in your skill set and your belief in the organization . What I want to offer you to consider here is that all three of these beliefs need to be operating in harmony with each other . One cannot be bigger than the other . They all need to be operating at the same level or , in this case , at the same belief , and I'll explain why in a few moments . But I want you to think about why do you believe in yourself ? When you think about who you are as a person , what stands out for you ? What are the valid values or qualities that you demonstrate on a consistent basis , that you're proud of , that you believe are good and noteworthy ? In previous episodes , I've talked with you about building your unique professional value statement and obviously I want you to believe in that completely .
Speaker 1
But your value in yourself , your belief in yourself here are the things about who you are as a person . Who are you as a communicator , as a leader ? What are the core values you tend to demonstrate every single day ? Do you lead with empathy or strategy ? Are you results-based or are you more people-centric ? And when you think about your belief in yourself , I also want to offer you to consider what other people say about you . If it's your spouse or a significant other or a trusted colleague , what do they say about you ? And do you believe that ? When people ask you why you should be in their network , what do you say to them ? I want you to think about your belief here for a moment . If you need to pause the podcast for a moment , feel free to do that , but you might be thinking of things like how well you communicate or what values you demonstrate when you're leading , or how you get things done . Are you a fixer ? Are you a problem solver ? Are you more of a strategist ? And you might be thinking OK , john , I get that you're asking me about my belief in myself , but this all sounds like it ties into my skill set as well , and it doesn't . It doesn't , because your belief in yourself is your ability to deliver results or get things done . You demonstrate that by your skill set . So let's take this for an example . Whatever it is that you're doing for your current job , when you think about your results , what have you accomplished in the last 12 months ? What's noteworthy ? What stands out for you ? And then I want you to think about how will you communicate them .
Speaker 1
A lot of times , my clients will say to me that they have difficulty bragging about themselves and I'll ask them well , is it true ? And they'll be like , yeah , it's true . I could say how is that bragging All right ? For example , I have bowled over 30 , 300 games . Not a fact . A lot of people know about me , but that's something I am very proud of . Now I won't go into how many 299s or 298s I have , but I'm very proud of the fact I have over 3,300 games .
Speaker 1
When people say to me are you a good bowler ? And I will say yes , have you ever bowled 300 ? Yes , in fact , I've bowled over 30 of them . Oh , then I guess you must be pretty good . I'm good . I don't walk around saying I'm the best person to ever bowl on the planet , because I know I'm not . But that doesn't mean I'm not good , doesn't mean I'm not valued , and it doesn't mean that I am not confident in my ability to perform at the sport of bowling . How good are you at performing at your job ?
Speaker 1
I get my clients' results . I help my clients find a job they love or love the job they have . I help my clients build a mid-career GPS to get them there . I know my system works because I have seen those results time and time again . So when somebody reaches out and they inquire about working with me , I can confidently talk about my skillset as a coach . I don't have to brag about it because I know I get results .
Speaker 1
When you're interviewing for a new job or you're networking for that new job , understand that things have shifted from the way you approached interviewing or networking for a job when you first started . For example , companies don't care about your past experiences . They don't care about the first job you ever had . Companies don't care about where you worked the last time . Yes , they want to know you're gainfully employed or you're employable , but what they want to know is what are you going to do for them Now and in the future . The belief in your skillset to deliver those results is why they are going to invest in you . So I'll share with you another quick story .
Speaker 1
So , shortly after college , I needed to find a part-time job to make some extra money because , as we know , school teachers don't make a ton of money and I had a background in church music and so I had interviewed for a job as a choir director at a church that was about 45 minutes away from where I was living . So there was going to be some commuting and stuff going on . But I remember sitting in the interview . It was the beginning of December and the Monsignor asked me if I could . He said would you be able to put on a Christmas program in less than four weeks ? He said do you think you can do it ? And I looked at him because the last thing you want to do is lie to a Catholic priest . And I looked at him and I said , monsignor , no , I don't think I can do that . And he went okay and I said I know I can do it . I said I will get you something up and running . That will be a good Christmas program , without question , and next year's will be 10 times better .
Speaker 1
I got that job because I was confident in my skill set to deliver that . That's the kind of confidence I want to offer you when you're thinking about how you're networking and interviewing for these jobs . But that confidence cannot overpower the belief in yourself or the belief in the organization . So when you're thinking about jobs you're applying to , or even where you're working , I want you to examine what that fit is . Why is that organization a great fit for you ? Why are they the company you want to work for ? Trust me , it is about the paycheck . It is definitely not all about the paycheck . You fit and align for a particular reason . What is about that organization's values you strongly believe in and want to go work there because you demonstrate those values time and time again .
Speaker 1
We're a little over a week after the Super Bowl . You saw some amazing commercials that were memorable and some that were not okay . But are those companies you want to work for ? Are those companies you want to be a part of fulfilling their mission day in and day out ? How will you communicate why you are the best person for the job ? Because you believe in what the organization does when you're networking or interviewing and you're doing your preparation .
Speaker 1
I want you to think about how much you believe in yourself , how much you believe in your skill set and how much you believe in that organization . However you look at that measure , they all need to be equal , because what happens is , if you believe in yourself more than you believe in your skill set or the organization , you are going to come across as being convincing or a little desperate . You shouldn't have to convince or overly convince anyone in an interview . Your track record should speak for itself . Oh gosh , you really need to hire me because I'm so good at what I do and I'm a great communicator . I work really , really hard and you just need to give me a chance . I know I'm not going to let you down .
Speaker 1
When your belief in yourself is so much bigger than the other two , how do you show up ? You show up as desperate . When the value or the belief that you have in your skill set is so much bigger than the belief in yourself and the organization , you come across as cocky or arrogant . That probably doesn't sit well with 90% of the companies that are out there that are looking for talent , and when you believe in the organization so much .
Speaker 1
I was talking to somebody one time and they wanted to go work for an athletic company and when I asked them why they wanted to go work for them , they said , oh my gosh , I just love your brand . I love your apparel and your brand and it's so comfortable and I love how you stand for recycled products . And I was like , yeah , great . So all you're doing is telling the company how great they are . What are you going to do for them ? It cannot be all about the company , because the company knows they're great . You have to tie it back into your skills and your belief in yourself that equal out these measures so you show up as best as possible to present yourself as the fantastic candidate you are . So when you're thinking about preparing for your next networking or interview conversation , I really want you to dig into these three things what is your belief in yourself , what is your belief in your skill set and what is your belief in the organization ? And if you cannot equally talk about all three confidently , confidently and clearly , it is time for you , my friend , to go back and do a little bit more preparation and work on whichever part of that triad you believe needs the more or most attention .
Speaker 1
All right , I hope you enjoyed this episode . Don't forget , on my website I have a free resource . It is called the Mid-Career Jobseekers Checklist . If you're a little overwhelmed about everything you feel like you need to be doing to find that next job , go to my website at johnnarrowcom , download that checklist and let me help you start organizing your thoughts , bit by bit , step by step , putting it together for all my musical friends that are out there . I'm going to help you start building your GPS by with this checklist . All right , you can get it on my website at johnnarrowcom . You can certainly check the show notes or my LinkedIn for links to my website and that resource
All right , we've got some work to do , but in the meantime , my friends , remember this you will build your mid-career GPS one mile or one step at a time , and how you show up matters . Make it a great rest of your day . Thank you for listening to the Mid-Career GPS podcast . Make sure to follow on your favorite listening platform and , if you have a moment , I'd love to hear your comments on Apple podcasts . Visit johnnarrowcom for more information about how I can help you build your mid-career GPS or how I can help you in your organization with your next workshop or public speaking event . Don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on social at johnnarrowcoaching . I look forward to being back with you next week . Until then , take care and remember how we show up matters .
