The Grit & Grace Leadership Podcast

Pivoting with Purpose: Carly Vivian’s Guide to Career Reinvention and Visionary Leadership

• Jen Kelly • Season 2 • Episode 8

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Ever feel like you're on the cusp of a career metamorphosis but unsure how to spread your wings? Join us as industry expert Carly Vivian and I take a deep dive into the world of career reinvention and leadership strategies, mapping out the path from a job switch to a full-blown career transformation. Together, we dissect the signs that whisper (or scream) it's time for a change and strategize on how to combat the dreaded imposter syndrome that often accompanies new beginnings. 

For leaders, we navigate the 'three E's' of nurturing innovation—example, empowerment, and experimentation—to foster teams that aren't just ready for change but are actively driving it.

Additionally, we delve into the fascinating concept of biomimicry in business, learning from nature to drive sustainability and efficiency.

This conversation is not just about changing jobs but transforming how you see your work and leadership in the context of today's dynamic business landscape. From overcoming fears to embracing change, we provide the tools, stories, and inspiration needed to make your career reinvention a resounding success.

For more insights from our guest expert, visit www.carlyvivian.com


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Jen:

Today I'm speaking with Carly Vivian, who has decades of experience guiding major clients through organizational transformations and steering careers into exciting new paths. Her knack for transformation was utilized at Coca Cola and then at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, where she was a vice president.

Carly:

Looking inside yourself and starting to understand what are some of your core values, what are your strengths and your passions and those things that you enjoy doing. It's not just about what you might be good at doing, but it's what brings you a certain sense of joy in fulfillment.

Jen:

In this episode, we'll discuss the process of leading yourself through a purposeful and fulfilling career reinvention. We'll provide insights on how to overcome imposter syndrome and offer leadership skills that are required to spark innovation and change within a team. Let's dive in, carly Vivian, you are a longtime friend and I am excited for today. You have a wealth of wisdom, knowledge and industry expertise. When you think career reinvention, and career reinvention done in such a way where someone is in a transition and they're doing it with purpose, what is the definition of that from your perspective?

Carly:

Doing it, I think, from a standpoint of purpose, is really making sure that it's connected to you as an individual, that it connects into what your why is, what drives you, what motivates you, what makes you feel like you can go to work and do your work and just sing.

Jen:

I guess the first question I'm having in the back of my mind is how would I know I'm there? So maybe it's not forced upon me, maybe it's out, maybe a year ahead, or maybe it's right now, but what are some common things that you see that people display when they're really ready for that career reinvention?

Carly:

A lot of my clients, for example, are individuals that have been doing something for quite a while and there's just a feeling. It doesn't necessarily have to be burnout, but it's just that they're at a point where they want to do something different. There's job transition and then there's career transition or reinvention, and they're not the same thing. What would be the difference, carly? The job transition is when you're aware of your skills and you're working somewhere in a certain environment and you want to do something different. So you want to work for a different company or in a different environment, but you want to do essentially the same thing.

Carly:

So career reinvention is where you're really looking at doing something totally different, where you want to do it from the standpoint of connecting to what's important to you, kind of like what I mentioned before, where you are interested in maybe leaving a bigger footprint than you had before. You're really looking to transform from what you were doing before, and oftentimes it requires new skills. It requires doing the skills that you have in a very different way. It requires Really making sure that your career going forward, you, the path that is in front of you, is something that is, that is connected to what you can do what you'd love to do and what you, what you want to leave behind when people come to you and you're doing coaching or consulting for them.

Jen:

What are some of the strategies that you give people to help them really know that they're in that spot, and can you share some of those tips with us?

Carly:

Yes, well, some of the strategies. I think a starting point is doing a deep personal assessment, so Really looking inside yourself and starting to understand what are some of your core values, what are your strengths and your passions and those things that you enjoy doing, and it's it's not just about what you might be good at doing, but it's what brings you a certain sense of joy and fulfillment.

Carly:

Yeah another is what with a market bear? So it's a certain sense of market alignment because, let's face it, it won't do you any good to to Try and reinvent into something where nobody's gonna pay you to do it. Another thing that's really important is is to do networking Connect with, talk, to engage with individuals that are doing something that you're interested in. You don't have to necessarily be locked into it and know that. Well, this is the final thing that I want to do, but start the process about having those conversations and Connecting with people so that you can get some insights and understand what the opportunities are that are there, and that also helps you to build your network of support.

Jen:

I'm thinking to the individual who is right there and perhaps they are in between their old world and their new world, on their career reinvention, and there's always that space in between. It takes a little courage and I think our confidence is really Put to the test in those moments because there can be headwinds, there can be a lot of unknowns. You know what's being talked a lot about is this concept of imposter syndrome, and so from your perspective, carly, what is imposter syndrome and how does it show up at this Juncture when people are making this change?

Carly:

what that really is is when people have a persistent feeling that either they feel like they're going to be found out to be a fraud or that they don't know how to do something. When there's actual evidence that they do know how to do it, it might be something that they've been doing for a long time, but you get this internal feeling sometimes of that fear, and so imposter syndrome can Can hit a lot of people, even some people that we would very rarely suspect that they have it. I'll even admit I had felt imposter syndrome myself before, and so some of the ways around that are to Number one, just to really stop and ask yourself is that the truth? Kind of think about what it is that you have done in the past. That is an evidence of success. So it's a way to to just really kind of push the pause button and Get that little inner voice to stop and then assess what is the truth, what is fact from that feeling that's going on.

Carly:

Another thing that I like to recommend is doing volunteer things. So if you're interested in something, try doing a project or see if you can help out or volunteer or something there on a very small basis. That can get your feet wet.

Jen:

It can be another way to kind of test the waters as it relates to Thinking about innovation and leadership and driving change from within. What are some ways that leaders can really think about this? So this is not necessarily the person who is in a career change for themselves, but they really have to foster a mindset of innovation and change within their teams. What are some effective ways that leaders can go about doing that and really foster a culture and an environment that is conducive to that?

Carly:

I'd like to think about it as the three E's Example empowerment and experimentation.

Carly:

So, by example, if you're a leader with a team and you are really wanting to grow that, to foster that within your team, it's important for you as a leader to demonstrate that, provide an example of it, show that you have a personal willingness yourself to explore new ideas, because obviously your team is going to either follow the example that you give in that or judge what you say that you're wanting if you're not walking the talk.

Carly:

So it's really important to lead by example. That second thing empower them. Give them an opportunity to be autonomous, to pursue creative solutions and to make some decisions and to have a sense of ownership and responsibility toward new things, toward new ideas. So give them an opportunity to demonstrate and don't expect perfection from them as if this is something that's new, that's really being introduced and everything has been done a certain way by the book or these are the old processes, the way that we've always done. That when you're trying to shift gears into a new culture or a new way of being, it's going to take some time. So recognize that. That's what leads into that third thing that I was mentioning about experimentation. So, when you think about experimentation, make sure you create a safe space for your folks. Make sure that the environment is one where a learning process is welcome and you're encouraging it without fear of repercussions or that things have to be perfect.

Jen:

I also think too, carly you're just saying that it's giving people time to process too has been a helpful strategy for me. If I know a change is coming, how can I deliver things in conceptually, giving them some sort of nugget within that to consume meaning here? Think about it. I'd love to get your thoughts in the next day or two about how we could, and then that gives them some time to process and then come back when you think about it.

Carly:

People have different processing styles and ways that they take in information, and to provide time for people to digest, to take it in, that's key to really make sure you're bringing the whole team along From the way that people process information. I like to think about it in one of the tools that I use. It's a, it's a, it's a quadrant method, and so, if you think of four different quadrants and how information occurs, some people take in information in a very qualitative manner, so they are. They think about answering questions like this is what we're going to do and the way that we do it is because it's going to deliver this specific process and it's so. It's a very logical kind of methodology.

Carly:

Another quadrant is where individuals take information in a way that is, how are we going to go out and do it? So what are the steps that we're going to take? How, how can I actually quantify that? What's the risk that's involved? It's operating from a standpoint that is much more based on taking things in a step-by-step manner.

Carly:

Another one of those quadrants is to how people think, process information and accept change has to do with looking at the big picture. So those individuals are are ones that are looking at things at maybe a 30,000 foot level or holistic level, and so they're asking questions that are like why are we doing this and what's the big picture and, at the end of the day, where will we be with it? So that's how they're taking in information. And then another one of those quadrants is all about people and relationships and individuals and who's going to be involved. So, like from a relationship standpoint, they want to make sure that there is that people aspect that's touched on. So when you, when you think about this with a team, I guarantee you you're going to have some of all of those people involved in your team and if you only communicate one way, you're going to leave some people where they're not going to understand. It can almost sound like what you're saying is foreign language, because it's just not connecting with them.

Jen:

And so, as you embark on this next chapter and journey for yourself, carly, what are you the most excited?

Carly:

about. One of the things that I'm excited about right now is is I just recently got certified as a certified reinvention practitioner. You know, I've been in this field for 30 years. And then there's there's change and there's change management, and that's that's at a scale of what you do to help organizations or teams or groups to really figure out how to get more clear, bring additional knowledge and ability and things of that nature with something on a small scale. Then there's organizational transformation, which is larger. It's often be done at a enterprise level, so it might be taking different projects and figuring out how are you going to transform, how that's that's done.

Carly:

Well, we're living in a very chaotic period of time, you know. There literally is there's, there's chaos, there's change, there's the dynamics of how quickly things are speeding and moving along, and so I'm not really interested in this field of reinvention. What's different about it from those other aspects of change and reinvention is really it's about learning how to protect the life within a system, both for today and tomorrow. It's really looking at and helping to continuously innovate and be on the lookout for how can you grow as an organization or as an entrepreneur or as a team, the services that you do or the products that you do or who your client base is, and to be able to change from a personal growth standpoint and leadership style standpoint, and what are some ways to be able to do that? And so that's kind of a long way around.

Carly:

Why I'm really excited about all of this is because there are a set of principles that you can really use inside of Reinvention, a set of tools that really help to make things easier, for example, biomimicry.

Carly:

Biomimicry is a great tool that is used in Reinvention, where we look at nature to learn the lessons that nature provides. So in biomimicry, one of the things that we can do there is how do we embrace the variation in diversity? From a business standpoint, applying that sense of diversity would be in teams and thoughts and solutions and approaches. It could be a way that we're looking at and utilizing that. Another is how do we create symbiotic relationships? From a business standpoint, having cooperative relationships is something that we can do and how can we work together and support from a broad network, also by being efficient with our resources. How can we really adopt multifunctional ways of doing things so that it reduces the amount of time and effort that we apply and we do things. All of these are things that we can look at the examples provided by nature and really apply them in a business setting, and it really can help us to be more forward thinking.

Jen:

I don't think we've thought about how do you apply nature in business, but, as I think about what's going to be required in the next 10 years, it's not more information and it's not more knowledge, but it is definitely a new infrastructure for how we operate within the speed of change that we're going to be in. What is your thought on where we are with all of that?

Carly:

As business people, regardless of what environment we're in, whether we're an entrepreneur, whether we're a leader in an organization, you can't live in a bubble. You have to be looking to stay ahead and ensure that you're able to change and willing to change. There's an example I'd like to share with you. That caused the titanic to sink.

Jen:

Oh no, I'm remembering different images from the Titanic not necessarily the sinking.

Carly:

Well, one of the things a lot of people first think about is the Titanic hit an iceberg and it sunk after hitting that iceberg, but one of the things that is so interesting in in the history behind it. It makes a wonderful parallel. The crew ignored warnings. They were warned, actually six different times by ships that passed by, that there were icebergs ahead, but they ignored them. And so, yeah, now you stop and think about, well, why would they ignore the those warnings? It was because they were busy doing other things. They were doing things that they thought were more important, like they were setting up the schedule for some of their important guests that were there. They hadn't practiced, they hadn't run a lot of test runs. Another thing that they did was they they relied too much on past success. But in the time between when the crew of the Titanic actually saw the iceberg and when it collided with it, there were 37 seconds, and that officer relied on his past success to make decisions. He made executive decisions in the moment and unfortunately, history tells us that those decisions that he made, that he relied on, were the wrong decisions. But then, one of the other things that I love about this, this lesson from the Titanic is that they didn't have binoculars. So it was a clear night, the water was still, and yet they didn't see the the iceberg. And so you know you're thinking why in the world didn't they have binoculars? A person on the lookout should have binoculars. There's a story behind it and the story is because I'm actually one of the persons that was on Lookout, survived and told the story. So there were some last minute leadership decisions that were made and a person who had the keys to a cabinet where the binoculars were kept. At the last minute it was decided that he wasn't going to go on this, on this journey, and so he left and, disappointed and leaving at the last minute, he forgot to turn the keys to the cabinet over to his replacement. And so how do we relate all that to business?

Carly:

Number one as a business, make sure that you you avail yourself of warnings. Talk to people, engage with other thought leaders, interact with them, be on platforms like you know LinkedIn and Twitter and industry specific specific forums, so that you can can be aware of what's going on in your field, in, in in your area of expertise. Attend industry events so that you can participate in practice and engage in webinars and things that help you to stay informed. Another thing that's important is not being overconfident of past successes. A lot of leaders or organizations can be cocky and feel like, well, that's not going to happen to me or we're too big to fail. But then one of the most important things is learn to look data and leverage data and analyze it. Those are your binoculars. That's your way to see and identify patterns and behaviors and trends. All of that is critical to really being able to to survive in a turbulent time like we're in right now in business.

Jen:

Well, Carly, we've traveled many different threads and roads within this topic and you've just provided a bounty of wisdom for everyone, and I can't thank you enough for being on and sharing your journey, your history and also all of the tips and strategies and maps that you've just given everyone that we can take away with us through this rich conversation. If people want to learn more about finding you, where can they go?

Carly:

They can go to my website. It's wwwcarlyvibioncom. It doesn't get more simple.

Jen:

We'll link everything to in the show notes for people so that they can quickly look you up and connect if they feel so. Thank you so much, Carly. This has been a wonderful conversation.

Carly:

Thank you for being on oh Jen, thank you so much for inviting me.

Jen:

Thank you for joining us. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn, where we transform the wisdom from our podcast into practical tips, tools and takeaways for your leadership journey. Find us at gritgracepodcast. See you next week. Thank you.