Success Secrets Exposed - Futureproof You

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Welcome to Success Secrets Exposed with Sally A. Curtis, where we share stories of challenge, success, and inspiration, along with practical tips and strategies to move you forward to And now here's your host, Sally A. Curtis.

Good evening, good morning, and g'day to you all. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of Success Secrets Exposed. Firstly, I want to say a big thank you very much to our audience. for the support and acknowledgments that you've given us to date. Again, we've been voted in the top 50 female Australian female podcasters by feedspot.com. So thank you very much to the audience and thank you to Feedspot for that acknowledgement as well. Couldn't do it without you. So thank you very, very, very much. For those that are actually new to the show, I'm a content repurposing strategist for speakers, coaches, and consultants. And it's my role to help you amplify your voice, your message, and your impact. And I have a very, very impactful episode for you today. We're going to be talking about future-proofing you. And Kelly, my guest today, has had an award-winning corporate career in HR, leadership, and transformation. And she went on to found her own consultancy business during the GFC. She absolutely specializes in future-proofing leaders and organizations by partnering with those who want to lead, shape, and partner— pioneer new grounds. One of the things that make— that have commonalities with them, they are what-next-focused. So they're visionaries. They want to future-proof themselves and their organizations for limitless growth on multiple levels, whether that's the individuals, the teams, the leaders that lead those teams, the organizations, the communities, and of course their world. And many of the clients that Kelly works with want to be employers of choice. Now for Kelly, as you'll get to experience when we bring her onto the show, it isn't just a business or a career. For her, it's absolutely her calling. So without any further ado, please help me welcome Kelly Tomney to the show.

Thank you, Sally, and I'm so excited to be connecting with your listeners.

Thank you so much. It's been a long time getting you here. We've had a couple of different date changes, but I'm super excited to have you here today, especially since we're going to be talking about future-proofing, and we're sort of on the other side of your book and programs and all of the exciting things that you've been doing with organizations. So thank you.

Oh, my pleasure.

Now I'd love you to share a little bit of your backstory because I know there's quite a few different backstory journeys within there. So can I ask you to share a little bit of that backstory for the audience, please?

Backstory. Okay. I grew up in remote South Australia, about 8 hours from Adelaide, on a remote farm. And, and I, whilst I love the farm and that sort of stuff, I was like, you know, so what are you going to do with your career? Well, I couldn't really see anything there that really lit me up, for example. So I went to Uni of SA and I studied marketing there and I studied leadership and HR there. I actually wanted to be a physio, and I missed out by 0.000-something. And I was devastated because I'd studied so hard, and that's what I wanted. I liked the sports and stuff, but obviously not to be. Mm-hmm. And so even from that point, I was like interested in how you choose a career. Back in those days, it was like, oh, do I try and find a career counselor at uni? And they— it just was sort of this gap that I always saw in the market, even way back then. But I loved my studies there and my career. I started and was quite selective and purposeful about who I worked with. And I chose Lyon Nathan for their vision and their purpose and their values. And they were a leader in HR space at that time and brands. And so I loved my career from that early day, and they started accrediting me in coaching way back then. So if I look back at it, 25 years into my career— oh my goodness— um, I've been a career coach and a leadership coach of some kind for all of my professional career, really. Mm-hmm. I really enjoyed all of my corporate career, I must say. different marketing leadership transformation roles with big companies. But I got to the point where I got to an organization, and I'd chosen that organization to be working with this particular CEO. She was a leading, absolutely leading pioneer as CEO, female, of a great big financial institution, recognized worldwide as being a brilliant leader. I'd chosen to work with her And come to this organization. She got headhunted to go to another organization.

Oh no. Yeah, wow.

About 2 and a half years in, and I loved this team. It was brilliant. We were employer branding. We were bringing that to corporates, the first people in Australia. I was the first woman in Australia to do that. The team was brilliant. We just loved it. I was there going, oh, but then we had a merger. It was then about cost cutting, not transformation, not about that sort of stuff. So I had to check in with myself and just say, was that a bit at a crossroads?

Mm-hmm.

And it was like I was getting offered these other roles with the new organization, but they didn't— they weren't lighting me up. I wouldn't grow. It would be a secure big title and a big team. And, you know, I'd absolutely have enough money for everything, but it wasn't on purpose for me and I wouldn't be learning. And I had to be honest with myself, that wasn't the right path forward for me. And so I chose, you know, I was to your point at the start, what's next? Okay. Right. I thought I was doing one path and I was very, very happy. Something changed in the organization, was out of my control. What was I to do? I had a relationship with a person in the US for 2 years. And it was really— I was wanting relationship, you know, really dearly at that time. And I was like, oh, I've given so much to my career. This is time for me to Prioritize relationship. So I decided to go to the US, and that was, you know, something that the team and everybody knew. And on my last day of work, I got a text in the middle of the night. This is the secrets exposed, Sally. Telling you a bit more about that. And I got the text and it said, we need to talk. And I called back and called back and called back and called back, and I never heard back. So it's— I just have to go through my last day of work. I've got the big team there. They're all saying, you must be so excited. I've packed up the house, got the car, got the flight booked, etc. I had been future-proofing the organization. We had won awards and done brilliant work on all of that. And the leaders— I hadn't been future-proofing myself.

Yourself.

I did not have a plan B at all. I went from— obviously I had great career prospects— to saying no to those, having none, having no income, having no house. I went to the US, I had no visa, I had no contacts, no business plan, and obviously my confidence and my self-esteem, everything had just plummeted. And my brand was not known over there.

Mm.

So you can start to hear, I suppose, the common themes of, you know, career was really important, brands have been so important, I'd been working on those. But, and future stuff, I love that, but I hadn't got a plan for myself, for my career. And that's why I'm really, I suppose, sharing that as part of the story is because so many millions are going through that right now. Correct. Yeah, I've going— actually, I had a career, I had a job, I had an industry that I loved. It's changed overnight. We've now had a long-term impact. And what do I do now? They're at a crossroads and they're feeling that it's not fulfilling their, their life anymore. So that's how I've got to, and I've spent 12 years now coaching in this space and doing the business stuff now. And I, I love it. So.

Yeah, that's beautiful. There's 2 things that have come out of that for me, because I remember for myself, uh, not being as career, as career-focused from a corporate perspective, uh, and going through school, didn't have the career counsellors. So for me, I just sort of fell into the creative space of where I was because something you don't know, I started my career as a hairdresser and then transformed into a makeup artist. And so, you know, my transitions have always been creative, but I've felt I fell into those. So there was no strategic plan. And I think that's probably the the polarizing scenario with people. They either default into safety or they are purposely creating a career. Um, but, and then they possibly ebb and flow between the two, if depending on what's going on with themselves, their team, and all those sorts of things. And then if you've sort of got that little bit of what I'll call wobble, depending on which way you're wobbling, uh, then to have the, you know, that rug just go. out from underneath you, like it's occurred for so many people now. It's, it's no wonder so many people are now asking the question, what is my purpose? And what is next for me? And they're really both big questions. But to have both of those big questions being asked at the same time, that creates quite a lot of, quite a lot of, I would imagine, reflection. And, you know, you have to really sort of stop and pause to be able to have that reflection. So what's your experience been with people as they've had that, you know, that rug pulled out from underneath them, so to speak, or the feeling of that?

Yeah. What's been the experience? I think a lot of people have known that there's been a problem for a long time. But we've been busy 24/7, so busy, and we're giving. So many people are just Giving, giving, giving to either their teams, their business, their families, their elder parents. It's giving everywhere. And so where they're coming to now is they're just drained. And then they were drained actually before COVID but now we've just been, you know, and we don't have the normal recharges that we have had in past, the holidays to just give us that quick fix of boost. And so we've been able to mask this stuff, Sally. And so, yeah, we've been able to mask it, and it's been sort of there, but we've, we've known it's there. And what's happened now is we're seeing it. Yeah, we have to face it. We have to take the mask off. And so what I do is, that's okay. It's better to do that, and better to do that now in a safe Mm-hmm. With people who have gone through it and are going through it, and there's millions of us going through it. The big thing is people feel alone. They feel that it's just them. And of course, now we're all at home, a lot of us around the world, in terms of containment in some way, shape, or form. And we're feeling like it's very isolating, and we've— we're disconnecting from the work that we've actually been doing for so long. And so what I do is I just say, that is okay. Connect back. It's actually great because so many people were running, but running on the wrong road. Yes. Like absolutely running exhausted, and the only road that they were going onto was burnout. And it was the wrong road when I actually asked them. And we can be having a really— this is either in a group or an individual, and they actually have that aha moment to say, it's not even the road that I want to be on.

Beyond.

Beyond. So it's best that we now— we've had some space to actually say, actually, that's okay. We want to know that now because most people have 10 to 15 to 20 years plus of working. And when I ask that question, I say, well, how many more years will you have to work? And a lot of the people that I work with, they're either the business owner, the senior executive, the director, that sort of stuff, the professional that is a major income earner. Mm-hmm. So they need to be earning for the household, for the, for the lifestyle, for others that depend on them. But they don't want to be doing what they're doing.

Correct.

So what we do together is go, actually, you don't have to do the 25 years that I've done of learning, studying courses, mentoring, research, all of this. We've got the future-proofing framework. We step you through it and give you support along the way and connect with others. A lot of people as well, they haven't networked. They don't like branding themselves. They haven't networked externally. They don't even know what their brand and who they are anymore, and they don't have things that actually reflect them. Yeah. They say, oh, don't go to my LinkedIn, or my CV is terrible, this sort of stuff. Because so it's— it's— that's okay. We just step by step build this up, and as we build them up, they rise up in who they are, what their life that they want to create, their confidence, their clarity, their conviction, and Everything then starts amplifying that positive impact, their purposeful value. It just starts flowing. And that's when life and career goes really well.

And with that, with people, when the individuals in organizations— this is just a curious question that's just popped up for me— are going through that process and you're working with the teams, um, how do the organization— I'm going to use the word cope, but it's not quite— how do the— how does the organization assist, support with those people that perhaps are no longer wanting to stay with that organization? And/or are they, or do they stay with the organization and find a better role for themselves or the right spot for themselves? What's happening in— because we're talking corporate Australia here predominantly and a little bit in the US for you. So what are you finding from the other side of the fence as it relates to the actual organization when these people are creating these changes for themselves.

Yeah. So what organizations have known for some time is that their structures haven't been working either. Business is working so quickly. We go and set up a structure and people are saying, oh, we'd have another restructure 6 months later and we have more redundancies and things are moving so fast. So they— there's been a gap for the organizations in career planning, career development, performance appraisals. As people get to the end of the thing and say, okay, well, what career development do I do? We go around and try and find a course, but we're on the wrong road, as I was saying. Yes. So we're doing a Band-Aid, and it's not working for the organization

either.

So the organizations now are starting to get more strategic as well. to say, actually, this wasn't working. We were paying out redundancies every second. We're making these changes. It takes 2 or 3 years to actually get a new structure to actually give you the benefits. And so it's just— they're running too, but not getting the benefits either. Yeah. So what now I do is we do a leadership or career program. It is future-proofing. And it's future-proofing their team, their business, and their people's careers. We give them multiple career options so that we can look externally and say, what are the likely scenarios? Where people say, oh, you can't future-plan. That is absolute BS. Yeah. There were pandemics before this. There were industry disruptions before this. There were so many signs that something— the scale of this has, and the length of this has of course been prolonged, but most of this had actually already been predicted in some way, shape, or form. You should be preparing for something different in your career and life. Yeah. And so what we do is we give them multiple options. So for the company, then they can go, wow, OK, we've got multiple options that this person, this talent, this leader wants to do. It gives us this flexibility now. We're not as fixed. Mm-hmm. And so what is happening is I either come in as a speaker, coach, executive coach in for those leaders and those teams to help them through future-proofing their business, their leaders, and their careers. Also, when people— when there's not a fit, where we think, okay, the future isn't really aligning for this person, what we can do— the old world would have been an outplacement service.

Yes.

And okay, we put people into the outplacement service. And really, most of that— and I have been on that, okay? I have been, you know, I've experienced that. But what people are telling me is it's not working. It's old world. It's not for the new career.

Yeah.

And people are put in a box and, and they just feel like, I'm not a box, I'm not a number, I'm not a job title. What we've learned right now is that we are much more. What is your career purpose? What is your future-proofing plan? What is the life that you want to lay These are the questions people want to answer and get support on.

Yeah.

So what I do is I help businesses with that. It's a future-proofing. So if there's people are outplaced, we don't do the old world stuff now. We help them create the new world fresh career for them and give them the new world, uh, tools for them. So that's working far more effectively.

Beautiful. So a couple of things I've heard there, and I'm surprised, but now that you've actually explained it, that the individuals— and the word that keeps coming to my head is the running woman syndrome. So we've got the running woman syndrome as an individual, but the organization is also that person as well. So that's actually really interesting. And I think for the listeners hearing that, that To me, my hope is that that reduces some fear that both themselves and the organization are experiencing that, and that commonality enables them to create a common solution. Because when you think about, oh my God, this isn't working for me as an individual, you get into that place of fear and, what will the organization say if they think I'm thinking I'm going to leave? Will they tick and flick me quicker? And will I end up in that outplacement spot, which really feels terrible with no support. But now knowing that themselves and the organization are having that common problem, but also starting to look at that common problem in a similar manner, that they can actually support each other through that process. So you're actually moving from that sort of scarcity mentality into that more abundant, supportive, nurturing, purposeful mindset. So that's great for people to really grasp onto that there's opportunities within the organization that you're already in for yourself and for the organization when you come with that, you know, what's next for us collectively and individually.

And to add to that, Sally, I've had so many people come in and then go, OK, well, one of the career options that I would love is this and this. And it's a role in their organization where they've seen a gap and they're just going, nobody is doing this. This is what's happening. You know, our customers are asking for this. Our people are asking for this. So I help them pull that together as a business case and we go, OK, put that there. How many times has that role been created? Almost every time. They go, oh my goodness, that is just— you're the perfect person for it. Right. You've been doing it. That's going to give us a return on investment. Go for it. Yes. But when we're in this fixed mindset, we can't see these opportunities. We get out into a future-proof for the business, the organization ever growing, what's going to add value. When we get in that mindset, we have more opportunities and multiple options that work for everybody.

And I think too, what you said there, and I see this, um, and you would see this in in your working with individuals. Uh, we don't see our inner— we don't actually see our own inner genius, but, and we can see a problem, but then when you express that problem to somebody else, they've already recognized your inner genius. But now because you've actually rec— you've created or suggested there's a problem there and they can actually have that, that aha moment where they go, oh my God, you are absolutely the right person for it. Um, but they don't see it until you actually identify the problem, but they've already seen your own inner genius. And now it just becomes a perfect transition and the right, the right step. So that's again, um, the work that you're doing is helping the organizations and the individuals create those or solve those problems and create some, some extraordinary opportunities for individuals and bottom lines.

Totally. It's awesome. And it's getting that value proposition. And look, you do need often someone else to see that.

Yeah.

Most people are in it and I get my own coaching and mentoring. We need someone else to help us through these things.

Yeah. Yeah, very much so. So what's the best way forward for an organization? Sorry, I'm going to say it differently. What's the best way forward? And what symptoms would the person in the organization be currently experiencing as it relates to their team? What questions are keeping them awake at night that they would— that would help them identify and go, oh my God, we need to speak to Kelly?

Right. The big one is what's, what's next? Thinking, yeah, if there's one, it's going, okay, I can't keep doing this. This isn't sustainable. It isn't working. It isn't enjoyable. It's not fulfilling. I'm exhausted. So it's really the what's next question, if I could say one. Uh, if you're feeling frustrated, if you're feeling drained, if you're feeling disconnected, and if you're feeling the what's my purpose question, I am the best one for that. I fully believe that. I've honestly— that is the question I've been, you know, working on all of my life, I would say, in different ways, shapes, or form. Right. Yeah. And if people are feeling like, no, this is time, I want to create my working life that works for me and for my life, Then, and there's so many models. If you're starting to see, oh, is it a board role? Is it an MBA? Is it my own business? Is it— should I do this? Should I do that? If you're starting to get those questions come to mind, it's brilliant. It's like, wow, there's so many options now. But there's a paradox in that there's so many choices.

Choices.

But it makes it really more confusing. So we just want to help you come from clarity, build the confidence, conviction, and get that career plan that's got that flexibility, but is in completely in your core, in your sweet spot, in your genius, using your words, Sally, in your superpowers, using mine. And something that absolutely is so fulfilling. And it changes the career combination, which is what I work with clients on. It's different at different stages of your life. I've worked with clients where pre-wanting to have babies, say for example, and they're in, and they're in big corporate roles, and it's like, well, how do I do this? So we work in that. And they've had their own businesses, their own side businesses, and then board roles. And oh, how do I build out industry networks? And how do I do my consulting business? Mm-hmm. And there's just so many combinations. So it's working through which one is the right one for you now, and what's going to add the most value now, and what do you want to build to for the next— say, I work really on a 5 to 10 year aspect. So people that really want to be proactive rather than reactive.

Reactive. Yeah. Yeah. And as, as you've expressed, when you've got that level of clarity, the Normally it's website cringe, but in this case it's LinkedIn cringe when people go, don't look at my LinkedIn or don't look at my CV. When you've got clarity of what your purpose is, everything, that it makes it easy to then express that because you can epinvest very naturally because it's coming from the right places, etc. They're doing their— Peter's just asked a question. Are people in organizations Organizations asking, what do you enjoy doing, or what would you enjoy doing?

Ah, right. What do you enjoy? What are you enjoying?

So that's sort of the element is, um, you know, um, Peter talks a lot about, uh, enjoyment. He's one of our local South Australians. So it's, um, so I can sort of clarify that a little bit. It's, he talks about finding the thing that you enjoy most. It works a lot of transitioners. So are organizations and individuals going back to, hey, I really like doing this, that, you know, that superpowers is probably the spot?

Yeah, yeah. I think some are just in survival mode now. So what are they asking now? It's how do we get out of, out of this? How do we recover? How do we get this roadmap out for our business? Only the very best, the leaders, the pioneers are asking organizations. I wish more organizations were asking these questions. I think it's great, Peter. But in reality, they're not asking them yet. They— I think the start of next year, they will be going, okay, what do we— we've got the business model now out of this. people and who wants to really do what. And what— yeah, so like us as individuals—

yeah, sorry, Kelly. So like the individuals that are in that sort of survival mode and working out, you know, what are the immediate next steps just to survive, the organizations are in that sort of mindset a little bit at the moment. But when they move through that, they'll get more into that planning. Okay, how do we make this the best? We've got the business model, as you said, and how do we make this the best for everybody? And then that's when that enjoyment factor, all that superpower leverage will end up coming into play.

And a lot are coming now with doing their next level leadership. And they're saying, okay, we've got the talent here, we need to keep them engaged and happy. This has been an absolutely disastrous time for people, we need to reengage them. So that's where that's coming in now as either leadership speaking, engagement, talent engagement, So that's definitely happening, Peter.

Yeah. And that'll tie into that, into the staff retention, which becomes such a big problem within corporate world, is retaining, as you said, the good quality staff because they need to be engaged differently and they are more purpose-driven, etc., as well.

Cool. Getting lots of women in leadership requests and talent leadership requests Coming in now.

Yeah. Cool. So can I just jump now to your book, Future Proof You? And you talk in the book about the 3 keys to unlock unique value and superpowers to leverage that career. Can you just sort of tell us a little bit about those elements as it relates to the book so people have got a starting point of experiencing you?

Yeah, sure. Sure. So over this lifelong study, if you like, and professional study, the 3 keys, and they are a multiplier. So the first one is authenticity. Everybody wants authenticity. It's been proven, it's researched, we all want it. But it's harder to do. It's harder to do. It's easy to say, oh, be authentic, but it's harder to do. Mm-hmm. Particularly when we've got these career and business models that haven't been working for anybody. They— these work models do not work. They are not working. So that's been really hard. So authenticity— we've got to find out what is authentic to you. Who are you? What's your purpose? Some of these things that we've been talking about. What are your superpowers? Okay. The next one is alignment. It's alignment to the future. So not only are you aligned in terms of what do you want to do next year, but is it in alignment with where the world is going? We know it's ever-changing. What industries are going to be booming, busting? These types of questions. Clients find this particularly hard because we're all just in do, do, do and firefighting mode of getting through the day.

Yes.

So I get it. So this is what I do. I can stretch them and be— I'm across industries, so I can be saying, actually, of everything that you're doing, this value is going to be key right now. You love it because it's authentic. The businesses and the organizations and the industries are valuing this for the next 3 to 5 years. Let's go here. It's a real match for you. So we've got authenticity. We've then got alignment. future alignment. And then we've got activation. Activation, as we've talked about, so many of us are just 24/7. And I've had clients come to me, they might be a CFO or something like this. And I say to them, how much of your potential are you actually using in your day-to-day?

Yes, great question. Oh, I'm going like this already.

Everybody cringes. Everybody cringes. And it's like, okay. And she was honest and she said 5%.

Wow.

She's a CFO. She's in a massive, big, leading global company. And I said, 5%. And I said, how many hours are you doing a day? She's like, I'm on call. I've got— we're global. I'm constant teleconferences. I'm on Zooms night and day. So the hours are 150%. She was burning out, but her potential that she was using was absolutely minuscule. Yeah. So that's what I see happening so many times, unfortunately. So what we can see there is activation, running, that busy woman, busy man syndrome, but it's not on the right things. It's not on the highest value and the highest impact things. But because we've worked on those other 2 keys— activation is the last one. Authenticity is first. We have then alignment. Then, only then, do we do activation. So we can see only these things make the top of the list every day. These every week. Every— your team, you, your business These are the things that matter. When we get that combination right, in the middle is the amplification. Yeah. That's where things just come together. That's when the energy, the ripples, the positive impact just amplifies. It just grows and grows because it's authentic to you. You love it. It's aligned to the value of the future, and you're just doing the things that matter. And that's when it's easier to say than to do. But if people can just, you know, listeners can have a think through, out of those 3 keys, out of 10, how are they feeling on each of those right now in their career? Out of 10, how are we feeling in authenticity? Is it authentic to you? Is it in alignment? Do you have a career purpose? Is it in alignment with your life purpose? purpose? What are your superpowers? What is your brand? Do you have a personal brand? Is it valued in the future? I know these are a lot of questions, but the book, just every chapter has just some key action points just to take people through. And it's a perfect time now because we're less commuting, we've got some possibly some holiday time people are just so excited for. some way, shape, or form. So it's like some time out to just take a reset and to say, actually, I've got 10 to 20 years now, or whatever it is, 5 years more of my career. I want to max it. I want to live it and enjoy it and create something that I love. So each of the— each chapter has— the authenticity chapter has 2 or 3 questions that people can work through. And that's— and it also has stories. People have said about the book, what I'm loving so much is the stories of people like themselves that are going through this, that they can read and think, oh man, it's not just me. Mm-hmm. You're talking to me. This person has worked through it. They feel like me, and this is what they did, so that people can do that for themselves. And if they want more help, I am here, you know, absolutely here. But those are the 3 keys. They're an amplifier. They're easier said than done, but there's some really practical talks and tasks at each of, each of those points in the book.

Yeah.

And there's resources on my website too.

Yeah, beautiful. And as Peter said, it's sort of, it's opening up the enjoyment, opens up the path to potential, which is the purpose and potential you've talked about. So that's brilliant.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, it just flows, the fulfillment when people are on that. I've had a call yesterday of people just going, oh, I went for roles and I wasn't getting anywhere and stuff like this. We've done— I've worked with this person over 6 sessions or 5 sessions now. She's getting headhunted for the roles that she couldn't even get in for. And I'm like, well, can you see the change here? It's been— I'm like, what has changed? It's been her clarity. She's clearer. It's impossible to be confident if you're not clear. And so she's like, I've got clarity, got clarity on what I'm doing and what my superpowers and my plan and what my— I had a gap. You've helped me achieve that, which was a leadership sort of skills type of gap. She's done that, and now she's getting headhunted, and they're asking her, what role do you want?

Yeah, beautiful.

The very same person that she already was, but she had some blocks. And that's when I talk about connect and rise up. I'm talking about connect and rise up in yourself, in your confidence, in your clarity, in your conviction in what you're doing, in your enjoyment, in your fulfillment. When you do that, everything around you rises up too. She'll now get a salary increase. One of the other ladies was like, oh, I spoke to my organization and they wouldn't give me on par for what others were getting paid, even though she was the highest performer. She's a female. And she's like, well, I'm going to, going to go. And she took another job that she'd been— she absolutely loves. 40% salary increase with a job that she absolutely— and an organization and a firm that she loves. Yeah. So it's— people can feel right now that there's not necessarily that much opportunity because there's so much fear And what we're seeing in the news and everything is just so much fear. What you'll read in my book, and I suppose what I'm hoping you're getting from chatting to me, is that there's so much opportunity. Old structures are being dismantled.

Yeah.

We had the career pyramid, it was called. If you've seen it on the internet, it's sort of like, okay, the biggest pyramid scheme in, in, in Entirety, right, in life, which is we've got the CEO at the top and we've got the workers down the bottom. And most people have been working in this career structure for all of our lives, whether it be in business or whether it be into corporates or organizations. And it hasn't been working, hasn't been working for anybody. And so that structure, I say it is dismantling, it's old world. It was old world before the pandemic. It's definitely old world now.

Yeah.

We're creating. We've got a blank canvas. Put only on your career and life plan what you want, what fulfills you, what you enjoy, what's purposeful for you. Once we do that, opportunities come. Opportunities come. They come to you.

And that's just— I wanted to carry on, continue on with that because I've just had one of my own little penny-drop moments where I was reading an e-news that came in from one of my connections within the US. And she was talking about the greatest trend there at the moment is the resignation trend. Everyone's bailing. So I think that's where I wanted to sort of ask you to articulate both the individual as well as the organization. Because if you're an organization that's experiencing that great resignation, hey, there might be an opportunity for you here. Or if you're somebody that's sort of wondering about their resignation but don't have somewhere to go, because it sounds so lots of people are actually just bailing or just jumping sort of ship regularly, that in itself can be fearful and then not— and then later not the fulfilling form that you wanted. So there's a real opportunity to sort of, I'm going to use the word stabilize or prepare and then build and rise up in a, in a, in a grander manner, um, without the, you know, the, the, the different version of running or a woman where you're running like this to the next thing and then running to the next thing and then running to the next thing. Let's just stop and let's just create the racetrack forward to the right purpose at the, in the first point.

Absolutely. Fear can bring up people feeling really frantic, and people can feel really frantic and fearful at the moment and frustrated in their careers. They know that they haven't been making the impact that they were born to make, right? And absolutely, the resignations are going to come. Mm-hmm. And also, we've got presenteeism. We've got people turning up to the Zoom calls and will turn up to the office, but their real engagement is not there.

Absolutely.

And we see this already, but it's going to be amplified when people actually go back to the office in some way, shape, or form and go, actually, it's not working. I'm a square peg in a round hole, and it's been for a long time. And they will try, they will resign or wait Now, the thing is, what people are realizing, back to your point where they didn't necessarily have a career plan, people have just been headhunted from role to role, or they've just been like, oh, you know, this opportunity comes up. So it is the opportunity now to reset. We do have more time. And I see people that go, oh, actually, you know, I didn't have time to do that. time to do this in COVID. I mean, really? Okay, so just take the time. It doesn't take that long to actually reset, and your life and career will make a huge impact. Mm-hmm. It'll be just incredible. Those years will be your best years because you have skills, you've got all of this sort of experience, and then you use it for your most purposeful Options. Options. So when you've got options, that gives you power. You are in your power. You don't have to take that next role that is offered to you if it's not really in alignment with your future and what you want to create.

Mm-hmm.

So it just gives you that real power. So you're not jumping and bunny hopping, as you were talking, Sally, from one to the next. And realizing I'm exactly— might be a different company name or maybe a different team, but I've got exactly the same problems.

Yeah. And how often does that happen when you do get stuck into that, in that bunny hopping scenario? You think it's going to be better and it is better for the next month or whatever, but then, you know, it suddenly starts to feel all the same again. Yeah.

So without that career purpose, so we want to go from the problems We want to go to purposeful. That purpose unlocks that. So really, if there's another tip for people, it's really getting those 3 A's that amplify for them— authenticity, it's alignment, it's the activation for the amplification— and their career purpose. And look, believe you me, I've, you know, I've searched for this my whole life. And so I have pulled together the best way to actually get your career purpose. When you've got that, we can be much more strategic and have a strategic plan for your future.

Yeah. And how's the best way for people to connect with you, Kelly?

Okay, my website has almost, you know, everything on that. So kellytomney.com. And on that, I have a few things. You can get my book. There's resources there that will help you. Particularly, another thing is people are finding their values have changed over this time. Mm-hmm. So I've got a values resource on my website as well under resources. I've got Connect and Rise Up, which is a group program that I'm running at the moment, which is where people have been really feeling isolated and doing this on their own. So we're connecting people and we're going through this process of working through what's their purpose, what's their plan, and building their network and their brand authentically so that they're not, uh, doing it all alone.

Right.

Some people want to work with me one-on-one, but I've got the group program to make the most of this extra time now, and so that we don't get to the start of next year going Oh my goodness, I've got a whole, a whole new— I haven't done anything to prepare and position myself. So kellytomney.com. I've got an IE, so Kelly with an IE and then Tomney, T-O-M-N-E-Y. So yeah, that's great. And look, I'm really happy to offer your, your listeners and the people on this, on this show a free consult if any of this They're thinking, I want to know more, or I want to get some more clarity on something that Kelly mentioned. I'm really happy to do that, Sally. So that is— Yeah, please. They just do a contact us on the website and just mention the show, and I will give them a free clarity call. It's so important right now that people do get some clarity, and we don't want to be going running on the wrong road.

Road. Yeah. And running and then running out of, uh, out of steam and energy, et cetera. So no, that's great. So just to clarify, um, for everyone, it's Kelly, K-E-L-L-I-E, Tomney, T-O-M-N-E-Y.com. So very, very easy to see if you're watching us. Um, but if you're listening to us, as we said, it's Kelly with an I-E. Um, and we'll have that, uh, out on our collateral to make it easy for everyone as well. It's been an absolute pleasure and incredibly insightful to be able to share so much of your wisdom and your superpower with the audience today. I thank you very, very much for being so open and forthright with, with your sharing and your experiences. Thank you very, very much, Kelly.

Oh, my pleasure. And I know this is so wonderful and what you're doing too, Sally. Thank you so much for sharing this because people do This is what people need. They need it right now. And thanks for, thanks for sharing this with everybody.

You're most very, very welcome. And I'm just going to close the show off with a comment that I've pulled up off of something I found on your website, I think, on one of the programs. And I just wanted to read this out, if I may. Just as Kelly Tomney is able to find the uniqueness in others, there is something special and unique in the way in which She works. She is not satisfied until she finds that sweet spot and creates the space for it to be discovered. Rather than feeling confronted by it, Kelly creates a sense of excitement and possibility. We've made more positive momentum than I could have ever imagined. If we tried to do it ourselves, we would have gone nowhere fast, and we wouldn't be where we are today. So that's a fantastic comment from a head of an organization in which Kelly has helped. So I thought that was a fabulous way to just signify and celebrate you, Kelly. And again, thank you very, very much. And I hope people can take the opportunity and connect with you and find their clarity and their confidence to future-proof themselves and their careers. Thank you very, very much.

Thank you, Sally. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you, everyone. We'll look forward to seeing you next week for another episode of Success Secrets Exposed. Till then, have fun. Take care.

Bye. That's it for this week's episode. Thank you so much for joining us. I trust you got some inspirational tips to move you forward. See you next Thursday at 7 PM Eastern for more Success Secrets Exposed.