Steer Your Career Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

What if the very thing you're avoiding in your job search is exactly what you need to pursue? Jill Schulman reveals why running toward your fears—not away from them—is the secret to accelerating your career.

In this episode, Alan and Jill dive deep into the science of bravery and its practical applications for job seekers. You'll discover how to develop a "warrior mindset" by adding one simple word to your self-limiting beliefs, learn why you can actually generate positive emotions on demand to fuel your success, and master the networking question that doubles your chances of getting meaningful connections. 

Ready to steer your career with courage? Tune in to the full episode now!

🎙️ What if one decision could completely transform your career and your life?

When Alon Bochman found himself stuck, frustrated, and job hunting without results, he took a leap of faith on a different approach. In this episode, Alan reconnects with one of Kadima's earliest clients to share how Alon pivoted from stalled consultant to tech leader at companies like Microsoft and Google.

💡 In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why applying online isn't the path to landing top roles, and what to do instead

• How Alon overcame his fear of networking and built powerful industry connections

• The measurable and immeasurable returns of investing in career coaching

Tune in to hear how strategy, structure, and persistence helped reshape one career, and how it can do the same for yours.

In this episode, Alan sits down with Dexter Zhuang, founder of Money Abroad, to explore the fascinating journey from traditional corporate roles to building a portfolio career. Dexter shares his experience transitioning from tech giants like Dropbox to international ventures in Singapore, and finally to creating his own path.

They also dive deep into relationship building, cold outreach strategies that actually work, and how to make successful career transitions across countries.

Tune in to learn how to design your own path while maintaining the lifestyle you desire!

A strong work ethic and courage to take opportunities can pay off. Brandon Middleton has worked for multiple big tech companies like Cisco and Microsoft. He currently works for Amazon AWS and also is a co-founder of Trillicon Valley, a media and design collective for the benefit of youth and community inspiration. In today's episode, Brandon discusses how he landed his jobs and why he shifted to different companies. He also shares his experience of being a black man in big tech. Tune in to hear some great advice!

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [05:07] How Brandon landed his jobs
• [13:02] Many tech companies have programs to help employees get their MBAs
• [23:39] Brandon explains how his proactive approach comes from his natural entrepreneurial spirit
• [31:18] How being black impacted Brandon in his career
• [39:48] Why has Brandon transitioned to so many different companies
• [48:34] Brandon shares SYCK advice

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Look into the perks different tech companies have. Many offer assistance with MBAs or continuing education. 
• If the door is cracked open a bit, push through the door to take the opportunity.

• Be yourself and care about others. Your career involves relationships and focusing on people and allowing people to know you is an important aspect of networking.

RESOURCE LINKS

SYCK Podcast

Brandon Middleton Instagram

Trillicon Valley LinkedIn

Trillicon Valley Website

Stanford Community College Instagram

Trillicon Valley Twitter

BIO: 

Brandon Middleton is a proud graduate of UC Berkeley (MBA) and the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (ECE) and has a passion for education and creatively engaging students. In the last 17 years, he has been an engineer at Cisco, a Sales guy at Microsoft, a Director of BD at Slalom Consulting, and now a Web3 BDM at AWS. 

LinkedIn

brmiddle

Moving six times in seven years, Keith Powell was willing to do what it took to take advantage of opportunities to advance his career. Kieth has a passion for helping under-represented employees succeed and uses his 20-plus years of corporate experience to coach those individuals to achieve their potential. On today's episode, Keith talks with Alan about being a black executive in the tech world. He shares his career journey, gives advice on steps to take for career advancement, and offers valuable input on promotions and career changes.  You don't want to miss this episode!

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [05:02] Keith speaks about his career journey and how being black had an impact
• [18:57] Keith's role and how he is a DEI warrior
• [21:30] Advice to navigate an uneven playing field
• [25:05] How to help people understand their value
• [31:06] Changing the percentages of under-represented people in groups
• [39:06] Personal examples of effective negotiations

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Be excellent in your role but also get involved in other projects and show you are willing to work hard and excel in those too. Overperform. 
• Align your passions with your companies to gain visibility.

• Networking is important and sponsorship is make or break.

RESOURCE LINKS

SYCK Podcast

C-CRETS Website

C-CRETS LinkedIn

C-CRETS Facebook

C-CRETS Instagram

Keith Powell LinkedIn

Email: Keith@C-crets.com

BIO:

Keith Powell is a Chief Operating Officer in private education with over 20 years of corporate experience in the U.S. and Canada. For most of his career, Keith led global Finance and Operations functions for Fortune 1000 companies in the automotive, chemical, consumer and commercial goods, e-commerce, and smart home industries. After getting a taste of the top of Corporate America, Keith joined a start-up private equity firm, took a shot at an e-commerce start-up, and began advising entrepreneurs on start-ups, including working with the family of Golden State Warriors legend, Al Attles, on various philanthropic and business ventures. Keith also has deep roots in philanthropy - sitting on numerous local, state, and national Boards over the past 20 years. Keith was the "first" or the "only" quite often climbing the corporate ladder. Having mentored and coached hundreds throughout his career, Keith continues to share practical, digestible advice to underrepresented employees as a co-host of C-CRETS, which is a career advice platform offering career coaching services, online courses, and topical content through blogs and a podcast. Keith also holds an MBA from the Kelley School of Business in Indiana.

The two hurdles to finding a job are getting your foot in the door and doing well in the interview to land the job. Today, Alan talks with Aline Lerner who is the founder and CEO of Interviewing.io. She works with software engineers and other professionals, helping them practice interviews (especially technical), giving feedback, and providing mentorship. In this episode, they discuss the main biases of hiring and how to fight those biases. Tune in to learn about more resources for interview preparation.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [01:41] Experiences of inefficiencies and unfairness in hiring
• [06:12] The power of referrals
• [20:52] Less spoken bias- technical interview practice gap
• [24:21] How an individual can try to fight biases
• [31:37] Resources for interview preparation
• [42:02] Aline offers advice

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• 2 issues that are unfair in hiring are that 1- resumes don't tell the story and aren't the best way to find a candidate and 2- it is incredibly difficult for a hiring manager and candidate to connect at the right time.
• Biases in hiring often come from an initial resume profile or an unfair advantage in technical interview practice.
• Interviewing.IO is a great resource to prepare for interviews, receive mentorship, and get feedback.

RESOURCE LINKS

SYCK Podcast

Aline Lerner Email

Leetcode

BIO:

Aline Lerner is the founder and CEO of interviewing.io, an anonymous mock interview & recruiting platform that has helped tens of thousands of engineers practice technical interviewing and land their dream jobs. Before interviewing.io, Aline worked as an engineer, ran hiring at Udacity, and wrote a lot of angry stuff about hiring on the internet. Her data-driven posts about how typos matter more than pedigree, how resumes are a low-signal filtering tool, and how technical interview performance is non-deterministic have been read by millions of people, and her work has been featured in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, NPR, and more.

With more than a decade working at Google, Viktoriya Massand is the perfect person to share her success with others about working at Google. Viktoriya is known for her willingness to roll up her sleeves and get work done with a great attitude. On today's episode, she recalls her time working with Alan. They discuss promotions, their mutual love for Google, and company reorganizations. Tune in to hear interview tips, ideal candidate qualities, and lessons Viktoriya has learned along the way.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [01:47] Viktoriya shares her background and recalls her time working with Alan 
• [16:47] Accepting the position and negotiations
• [28:54] Viktoriya explains why she was in her different roles
• [34:58] Alan and Viktoriya discuss promotions
• [47:14] Why Viktoriya has chosen to stay at Google for so long
• [57:47] The parts of her job she loves so much she would do for free

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Choose the company you want to work for and get your foot in the door. You can network and apply within to get to the position you want.
• Being self-motivated and having the ability to get things done is important at Google. They give you the responsibility.
• You don't always have control of the role you are in. You do have control of the work you do in the role, the attitude you have doing it, and the communication that you have with your supervisors.

RESOURCE LINKS

SYCK Podcast

Viktoriya Masand LinkedIn

BIO:

Viktoriya Masand grew up in Kiev, Ukraine, and came to the US after high school with her family. Viktoriya's family settled in Indianapolis, IN, where she attended Purdue University and Indiana University Kelley School of Business and worked at Sallie Mae, a financial services company. 

Viktoriya moved to California in 2011 to work at Google where she works with top ChromeOS partners to optimize their applications for Chromebooks. Before moving to ChromeOS, Viktoriya launched and led a global co-sell program for ~200+ technology companies that build their businesses on Google Cloud Platform. Viktoriya loves spending time with her two sons who are the loves of her life. Together, they love to read, color, play and learn!

Your career doesn't have to follow a traditional path. In today's episode, Alan is joined by Nirupa Umapathy who was very successful in corporate life for 14 years. Now, she subscribes to a different work model but continues to invest. She is her own boss and is working for equitable social change by founding Salons For Life. Nirupa recalls her journey, enforces the value of networking, and explains what recruiters are looking for. Tune in as she shares financial and career advice to increase your career happiness.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [03:43] Nirupa shares her experience of being a woman on the predominantly male trading floor
• [13:32] "Your network is your asset" Nirupa dives into networking: her definition, examples, and stories of networking
• [21:01] What is SEO? 
• [32:40] Nirupa explains recruiting and offers some tips
• [48:09] The importance of investing in yourself
• [01:00:04] Nirupa shares financial and career advice

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Networking is really relationship-building. It should be authentic. You should reach out and update. Those relationships are the most important.
• You need to know when to cut your losses and move on. That self-awareness will help you be more content.
• It is okay to move beyond the mold of tradition. You can have more than one career path in life. Your path does not have to look like others' paths

RESOURCE LINKS

SYCK Podcast

Nirupa Umapathy LinkedIn

Salons For Life Website

Radical Everything Website

The 10 Rules of Happiness Amazon 

The Forty Rules of Love Amazon

The Forty Rules of Love Bookshop

The Power of Habit Amazon

The Power of Habit Bookshop

On Being Podcast

Designing Your Life Amazon

Designing Your Life Bookshop

The Tim Ferriss Podcast

Influence Amazon

Influence Bookshop

BIO:

Nirupa Umapathy is a writer, investor, and social entrepreneur, who pivoted from a traditional corporate career in financial services to pursue a life-work framework, motivated by mission and equitable social change. Nirupa is a co-founder of a creative learning community called Salons for Life, which designs creative playdates for adults with competing claims on time and headspace. Nirupa writes non-fiction with a focus on exploring trauma, burnout, and post-traumatic growth, especially corporate burnout. Nirupa deploys her financial services background in her private investments, where she is actively leaning into an ESG-based framework. Nirupa was last a Managing Director at Whitebox Advisors and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she covered institutional investors for fixed income and structured products. As a first-hand witness to the 2008 financial crisis, Nirupa believes that a life-work framework informed by governance and values-driven decision-making is critical and that outcomes must be designed for multiple stakeholders. A forever free spirit, Nirupa funds her joy through travel, community building, and the creative and healing arts.

Dennis Shultz has played a role at multiple big tech giants for more than 25 years. From Rackspace, Samsung, and Dell to his current role at Microsoft, he has taken many career opportunities that have come his way. Another significant role that Dennis plays is the Executive Director for Blacks in Technology. Today, Alan and Dennis discuss career changes, lessons learned, and how being black impacted Dennis in these big-tech roles. Tune in as Dennis shares advice from his experiences.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [04:42] Dennis talks about factors of success and failure he experienced in his roles
• [09:05] Decisions that drove Dennis to change careers
• [17:58] How Dennis got involved in the Blacks in Technology Foundation
• [21:32] Dennis shares about challenges of being a black man in technology
• [27:36] Details about Bitcon 2022
• [32:02] Advice from Dennis on what to do and what not to do in a career

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• It is okay to move jobs and have multiple careers. It can be hard to disappoint people, but you have to consider yourself first when considering moving careers.
• Know yourself and be confident in what you can do. Be intentional about your decisions.
• You need other people. Mentors can help you and it is better to lean on others than try to do it alone.

RESOURCE LINKS

SYCK Podcast

Dennis Shultz LinkedIn

Blacks in Technology Website

Bitcon Information

When They Win, You Win book mentioned on Amazon

BIO:

Dennis Schultz is the Executive Director of the Blacks In Technology Foundation, an organization that boasts the largest network for Black technology professionals with over 65 chapters in 17 countries. Dennis has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry serving in a variety of roles including, enterprise sales, business development, customer success, and consulting. Dennis' experience includes time at tech's most respected brands such as Dropbox, Gartner, Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, Rackspace Technology, VERITAS Software, APC, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise to name a few. Currently Dennis works at Microsoft helping major corporations with digital transformation.

Today, Alan is joined by a corporate champion who has worn many hats, but each hat was focused on bettering people and company culture. LaToya Jordan has used her passion for developing others in roles such as Global Mentoring and Employment Development at Pfizer as well as Director of Talent Management and Diversity at JetBlue Airways. As founder of Lead By Design Lab, she continues to work with huge names. In this episode, she shares the importance of having mentors, how being a black woman impacted her in her role, and insight into corporate performance-rating systems. Listen in as LaToya gives advice on how to accelerate career advancement.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [06:47] LaToya shares how she got her fellowship with Pfizer
• [16:32] Advice on how to approach someone you want to mentor you, outside of the mentoring program
• [26:01] LaToya's goals at Jet Blue in her role as head of talent and diversity
• [32:22] LaToya speaks about how being a black woman impacted her role as head of diversity 
• [47:26] Advice for workers to influence their performance rating
• [51:23] LaToya offers advice for those looking to accelerate their careers

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• It is important to have diversity in mentors and to have more than one. They should have different things to offer you.
• In order to be seen as a valuable employee and receive good performance ratings, make sure that other people see your work, not only your direct boss.
• To accelerate your career, it's important to take opportunities that come your way and build up your experience.

RESOURCE LINKS

SYCK Podcast

Lead By Design Lab Website

LaToya Jordan LinkedIn

Lead By Design Lab Instagram

Lead By Design Lab Facebook

BIO:

Named one of Black Enterprise's 2018 Corporate Diversity Executives, LaToya Jordan has spent over 15 years as a human capital strategist providing business and professional development counsel, executive coaching, training, and workshops to business leaders, employees, students, and community-based organizations. She has worked with leaders and teams in corporate, nonprofit, and university settings including Peloton, Uber, Cigna, TMobile, Mitsubishi, Swiss Re, Michigan State University, Grand Valley State University, NJ LEEP, The Columbus Foundation, United States Postal Service, and the NAACP Brooklyn Branch. Supporting executives in unique, human-centric ways through leadership coaching, team development, and organizational effectiveness is a foundational aspect of LaToya's work.

Prior to launching her boutique consulting practice in 2019, Lead By Design Lab, she was the Director of Talent Management and Diversity at JetBlue Airways where she developed strategies to support the employee lifecycle including performance management, succession planning, emerging talent programs, and diversity initiatives. Before joining JetBlue, LaToya led global mentoring and employee development at Pfizer, Inc. LaToya is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University teaching team development and Stanford University teaching design thinking. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Social-Organizational Psychology.