Jennifer McClure | Jennifer McClure`

Take Risks And Take Action To Grow With Ben Brooks

Everyone’s journey to becoming an impact maker is different and unique. Today, Jennifer talks with business coach Ben Brooks, the founder and CEO of Pilot, Inc about his path from a rental car company to founding his own digital coaching service, aimed at democratizing career coaching. Ben provides some insights into how he has forged great relationships, created innovative products and built up award-winning initiatives throughout his career.

Ben is an impact maker through and through. Jennifer asked Ben about where his journey started and the key moments of his life that led him to where he is today. Ben talks about his “life statement” and his early formative days after graduating from university working at Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Lockheed Martin. Ben delivers some takeaways from what he learned during these years and his mantra for approaching new problems.
Whether its fate, destiny or just plain chance, inspiration can arrive at the most unexpected times. Ben talks about how working job at Oliver Wyman as a management consultant all started from reading a quote in USA Today on a flight home. After sending off a meticulously written letter, an ambitious slide deck, and a Singapore Airlines A380 model airplane to the right person, followed by a series of interviews and flights to and fro, Ben received an offer to start the next leg of his journey.
Sometimes a bold and targeted approach to getting noticed can be incredibly successful. Ben tells Jennifer his thoughts on the merits of an aggressive approach to getting your dream job and why within the context of modern click-to-apply recruiting technologies, makings a memorable impact is more important than ever.
Even in a recession, Ben is a force to be reckoned with. During his time off from Oliver Wyman, Ben turned down a job driving a tractor in West Texas – found by his very endearing parents, and saw an opportunity for a rotation at Wyman’s parent company Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. Ben tells the story of how he ended up as there in talent management and some of his duties in his new role. For example, Ben created a succession risk index chart that had top-level executives sweating bullets.
Management consulting is an incredibly diverse field; you never know what project, industry, or region you’ll find yourself immersed in. Ben relays some of the greatest challenges and hurdles he’s had to overcome and focuses on some of the key concepts, tools and frameworks he uses to deliver results. He also tells the story of how he got his job at Marsh LLC (insurance).
While taking some time off, the entrepreneurial call found Ben Brooks in the form of a mislabeled nametag at a conference. Ben reached what he calls his fork in the road and decided to take entrepreneurship seriously. After getting some advice from some successful people in his life, Ben started building out a diverse coaching business using his problem-solving skills from his management consulting background.
With the ambitious idea of democratizing coaching, Ben founded Pilot, Inc. with his life savings. While at first, they focused on individual sales, Ben’s team now strives to help employers and companies cultivate and retain the best talent they have.
Democratized coaching? Sounds too good to be true! Jennifer asks Ben how exactly Pilot works and why it’s so effortless.
Satisfaction in your career – and your life – is unique to you. Jennifer and Ben talk about some of the central drives behind Pilot and the larger questions that Ben considers instrumental in finding your own definition of satisfaction.
We know all about the journey of Ben Brooks but what does satisfaction look like for him? Jennifer asks Ben to shine the light on himself and talk about what drives him as an impact maker. Ben shares some stories about how Pilot has changed people’s lives for the better.
In the workplace, LGBTQIA individuals face adversity in all sorts of different ways. Ben talks about his experience navigating his career path as a gay man and the beginning of his trailblazing diversity and HR efforts at Oliver Wyman that have won various industry awards. He also talks about his contributions towards repealing the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and the potential for creating change by taking a risk and leveraging your identity while in key positions.
Ben’s secret? Meditation. Ben gives Jennifer a peek into how he prioritizes self-awareness and being present so that when the wrong nametag comes along, he’s ready to step into the role that’s truly right for him.

Find Ben Brooks:

Pilot, Inc.

Ben Brooks LinkedIn

Ben Brooks Twitter

Great Read:

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2017: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers

Give us a hand getting the word out!

Do you want to spend your personal and professional time making a lasting impact on others? Do you want to be the kind of leader people love? Subscribe today and we will bring you new ways to change the world every single week.

Want to raise your game at work?

If you want to raise your game at work, you’ve got to raise your impact. Find out Jennifer’s 10 best strategies to make more of an impact at work.

Written by Jennifer McClure

Impact Makers Episode 12 — Recruiting in the Digital Age with Carmen Hudson

Sometimes making an impact comes down to finding the perfect person for the job. A self-described “recruiting geek” and a woman of many hats, Carmen Hudson is an impact-maker in every sense. She has enjoyed a prestigious career recruiting for Amazon, Starbucks, Yahoo! and Microsoft, and even founded her own social recruiting tech company. Carmen now shares her immense knowledge with her clients through her work at the Recruiting Toolbox^SM.

Everyone has an origin story. Before diving into the details of her life today, Carmen talks about her history and early career dreams. She describes how she landed in Seattle at Amazon and why her unique skills enabled her to carve out her role as a sourcer at the company.
What does expert recruiting look like in the digital age? Carmen gives some insight into her methods of finding top-level talent and how she can find anyone anywhere!
Every opportunity can be a stepping stone to something greater. Carmen talks about her journey from Amazon to Starbucks to Yahoo! and some of the highlights of the Silicon Valley leg of her journey.
Carmen was one of the first to recognize the potential of Twitter for recruitment. In 2009, she bravely stepped out on her own and founded Tweet-a-Job, a technology company that connects job-seekers with employers. But a recession is a forced to be reckoned with; after a tough three years, Carmen sunsetted the company and moved forward.
But how does someone accomplish so much when they haven’t got two pennies to rub together? Carmen describes what founding a tech company with no technology background was like, interacting with investors and technology types as a black woman, and the invaluable lessons she learned from the experience.
After Tweet-a-job, what was next for Carmen? Carmen talks about how she ended up as a Principal Consultant and Trainer at Recruiting Toolbox^SM and describes the diversity of clients and projects that she has worked on. From educational and financial institutions to thinktanks and startups to big commercial brands, Carmen has helped her clients develop their recruiting tools and practices to secure the best talent around.
Gender and pay equity are issues close to Carmen’s heart. Jennifer and Carmen talk about the glaring gender disparities of our contemporary society and discuss the importance of transparency. New regulations, technologies and individual negotiating efforts – undertaken by both women and men in the workplace, are of key importance to Carmen.
Telling your story openly and proudly can inspire others to step into the spotlight. Despite the flak that social media platforms get these days, Carmen reminds us of the power they hold to sharing one’s successes and failures in order to inform and inspire others.
As a woman of color working in recruiting, Carmen has seen her fair share of lackluster diversity initiatives. She offers her thoughts on the contemporary state of diversity hiring regimes, why they so often yield meager results, and what kind of approach is needed for a serious commitment towards true diversity in the workplace. She also talks about how both a sour hiring experience early in her career and the encouragement of a mentor has informed this perspective.
A woman of many hats indeed! Jennifer asks Carmen about her work with Seattle’s homeless youth initiative called YouthCare and where you can find her on the internet. Check out some of the links below.

Give us a hand getting the word out!

Want to raise your game at work?

If you want to raise your game at work, you’ve got to raise your impact. Find out Jennifer’s 10 best strategies to make more of an impact at work.

Written by Jennifer McClure

Impact Makers Episode 11 — Building Intentional Connections with Jennifer McClure

In this episode, our host Jennifer McClure talks about the importance of developing key relationships when trying to maximize your impact in our world. Digital communication has made it easier to connect with people across the globe but nothing replaces intentional connections and a deep commitment to reciprocity. Jennifer shares her strategy for building relationships and relays some stories about a few amazing people that she has connected with.

Jennifer identifies 3 types of people that you should focus on building relationships with. Whether they are in your community, industry or desired area of impact, these intentional relationships will be above and beyond the most enriching, compared to quick-and-easy connections found online.
Focus on the long-term! Jennifer stresses the intentional and strategic elements of relationship building and what they mean for your network and business down the road.
Keep an eye out for potential mentors, skip the coffee date, and be prepared to make an investment! Many of these people are farther along in their journey and are working to deliver value to hundreds, if not thousands (or even millions) of people. Take advantage of services such as coaching and courses to get right to the heart of what they are offering. Jennifer relays her experience with leadership mentor Michael Hyatt and how joining his community enabled her to connect with well-known high achievers. She also talks about her relationships with online marketing expert Amy Porterfield and professional speaker Ryan Estis as other examples.
Who do you know already? Stepping back and taking stock of your existing networks, communities and even competitors, can uncover new opportunities for building more intentional and valuable relationships. Jennifer talks about a few people in her network like Laurie Ruettimann, Steve Browne, Kris Dunn, and Cy Wakeman.
Who can you grow, refer, and champion? Jennifer stresses the importance of staying on the lookout for people to bring up, particularly those from diverse backgrounds who don’t have access to the same resources or opportunities as yourself. She also offers some examples of people she has encouraged and learned from such as Mary Faulkner and Michael Sipple Jr.
Who is above you, who do you know, and who can you grow? Jennifer summarizes the 3 types of people to build relationships with in order to maximize impact between everyone involved.

Books (Affiliate Links)

Platform: Get Noticed In A Noisy World by Michael Hyatt

Living Forward: A Proven Plan To Stop Drifting And Get The Life You Want by Michael Hyatt

Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan For Achieving Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt

HR On Purpose: Developing Deliberate People Passion by Steve Browne

Give us a hand getting the word out!

Want to raise your game at work?

If you want to raise your game at work, you’ve got to raise your impact. Find out Jennifer’s 10 best strategies to make more of an impact at work at JenniferMcClure.net/10ways.

Written by Jennifer McClure

Impact Makers Episode 10 — Power, Influence, and Politics with Colin Gautrey

For Colin Gautrey, curiosity is key. After a long and storied career in the corporate world with specializations in mergers and acquisitions, international strategy, IT, sales and leadership development, Colin has never stopped being curious about the cutting edge. Through his research, writing, and coaching, he has been working to equip his clients with practical knowledge about how to achieve results with greater influence.

Focus on the future, but not at the expense of the present.Colin talks about why mastering the day-to-day is part of an essential foundation in building long-term influence and achieving your goals.
While delivering top-notch results is absolutely necessary, it’s only part of the equation; you have to be able to stand out from the crowd in more ways than one. Jennifer and Colin talk about the importance of building trust and goodwill relationships within your field that will ensure that everyone knows who you are and what you can do for them.
But what is influence? What does it mean to be influential? And what is the difference between influence, politics and manipulation? Colin sets the record straight about the differences and the importance of intent in this equation.
Influencing a person’s behavior isn’t just about applying pressure; it’s also about connecting your agenda with theirs. Building a trusting relationship can enable you to understand others and get them to understand your goals as a part of their own.
Do you hate the politics of the corporate world? Are there moments where you feel like navigating this sphere is harder than it should be? Colin offers some insights into why this is such a common complaint and reiterates the importance of knowing the rules of the game.
When entering a highly political organization, it’s all about the long game. At the outset, it’s easy to misstep by being overeager and trying to align yourself with the key players. Colin talks about why neutrality, patient observation, and relationship building are paramount when getting your finger on the decision-making pulse of an organization.
Power can sometimes be a dirty word and often comes with a slew of emotions attached. Colin explains how taking a step back and breaking down what constitutes power in any given situation or group can inform where – and with whom – you should be developing influence.
When assessing where you want to be, what you’ve got so far, what you’ll need, and where you can get it from, high-level influencing is all about investing time in people. Colin talks about what this looks like in large organizations and why it is so important.
Power doesn’t exist in a vacuum. When thinking about developing individual influence, what about individuals or groups who start on the back foot, those that didn’t enter the world with the same privileges enjoyed by others? Jennifer asks Colin about his thoughts on how to approach the challenge of developing influence as a minority in an organization.
Do you have the tools you need to become a successful leader for tomorrow? Colin provides a sneak-peak of some of his research around the importance of influence and risk-taking and talks about what these skills can do to keep traditionally static industries competitive.
Always have a plan B! Just because you’re in a position to exercise your influence to achieve your goals or the goals of your organization, it might not always go your way. Jennifer asks Colin about what you can do to prepare yourself for a diversity of organizational situations.

Impact Makers Episode 9 — Prison to Plan to Payoff: Becoming an Entrepreneur with Kary Oberbrunner

Does your day job feel like the first part of Shawshank Redemption? It did for Kary Oberbrunner. His day job was a prison, and it took some planning to get out, and the payoff for his patience and effort is a very successful publishing company. If that weren’t enough, part of Kary’s latest book was written in main character Andy Dufresne’s actual cell from the movie. What Kary has to say about life and entrepreneurship will inspire you, and hopefully, ignite your soul.

Your pain is your platform. Kary had an early life filled with pain, and rather than honoring his voice, he used self-harm to deal with the pain and anger. But it was his heartbreaking childhood that has become his medium for making an impact on others and, as he calls it, igniting the souls of those he comes in contact with.
Self-injury isn’t just physical. Kary believes that another way people do it is by having self-limiting beliefs. It’s an emotional, and sometimes spiritual wound that many people don’t realize they have. He shares the story of his daughter’s teacher and how she reacted to it.
Do you know the definition of entrepreneur? Kary learned it when he realized that’s exactly what he is: the bearer of risk. He shares the story of how he decided to leave a stable income and benefits and became an entrepreneur. But Kary did it the smart way.
One of the things Kary teaches is to use the Shawshank Redemption method for leaving your job to become an entrepreneur full time. Andy, the main character, didn’t break out of jail in a year. It took him 19 years. Similarly, Kary suggests you spend time developing the character and discipline you need by keeping your entrepreneurship as a side hustle until you can do it right. You don’t have to wait 19 years, though.
So what did Kary move to from ministry? He wrote his first book while still a pastor, but a call with one of his colleagues was a terribly RUDE awakening that he was taking too long. Kary shares the story of being called out, called a hypocrite, and how it changed his future.
For a long time, Kary couldn’t get clients. He realized it’s because his thoughts were centered on himself. So he began to ‘show up filled up.’ People noticed the difference immediately, and he shares exactly what he did to get his first coaching client.
Do you want to know what selling and marketing are at the core? Serving and storytelling, respectively. Kary explains what this means and how he uses it in his everyday business life. He also shares his tactics for getting people to REMEMBER his stories.
If you’re fuzzy on what your VPS is, your Value Proposition Statement, then you need to hear Kary’s explanation. It begins with the thing that people will pay you money for. There’s a simple sentence you can fill out that will get you laser-focused on yours: I am _______ who helps _______ do or understand _______ so that _______. Before you fill it out, you need to hear how to make it work like a true VPS.
Kary has made a practice of writing a book and generating multiple revenue streams around it. When people starting noticing the trend, they came to him asking how he did it. He couldn’t find anything for them so he decided to teach them himself. He tells the story of how he sold out a course before it was built and focused his efforts on a publishing company to help others.
If you’re interested in writing a book and having help building a business around it, that’s what Kary does. What’s better, you keep the royalties and intellectual properties. He uses the method he used for his own 7 plus books, so it works.