Moving Forward is also available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
May Busch is an executive coach, advisor, speaker and author of the book, ‘Accelerate: 9 Capabilities to Achieve Success at Any Career Stage.’ A former investment banker and COO w/ Morgan Stanley Europe, May will teach you how to build your career brand so you can pivot and move forward.
Successes at a glance:
Former investment banker and Chief Operating Officer for Morgan Stanley, Europe.
Author, Accelerate: 9 Capabilities to Achieve Success at Any Career Stage (Kindle | Paperback).
Founder, May Busch & Associates:
Leadership Development.
Consulting.
Coaching.
Speaking.
Workshops.
How May get inspired to conquer the day:
Speaking with May, one of the things you will immediately notice is her humility and gratitude. May is not only appreciates the many successes she has had in her career and personal life but that despite the many mistakes she may have made in her career, everything has turned out for the best. In that regard, May starts her morning with intentionality, thinking thru the three things she is most grateful for. It also helps that May is a morning person; someone who loves to see the whole day ahead of her as filled with promise and the opportunity to achieve great things. Moving Forward listeners do you begin your day w/ gratitude? Try it. Think about three things you’re grateful for in your life. May’s version of the gratitude exercise is to think of those three things right as she is waking up, then journaling them as she begins her morning. You may find that writing down those gratitude thoughts will hard code them in your mind to set the right tone for the day. On the flipside, May emphatically recommends that the one thing you *not* do first thing in the morning is to check your emails. Checking your email first thing in the morning means you’re putting your energy and priorities into someone else’s agenda rather than your own. This is something I need to work on and is a great, great share for keeping you on track and moving forward!
Setback or failure that led to pivot and shift:
During her corporate days, May recalls a time when she was passed over twice for a big promotion. On top of that, she saw others from her cohort getting promoted over her. While this may have been a pivot point for many, May saw this as an opportunity to stick with it and see if this was a valid goal to continue pursuing. The pivot came when she learned that she needed to be more savvy when it came to her brand. That was a big “aha” moment for May as she discovered that she was neither communicating who she was nor communicating the value that she brings. While branding is obvious in the entrepreneurial world, May’s story illustrates that it isn’t just limited to running your own business. Moving Forward listeners, are doing enough to convey the value you bring to others? Many of you focus on doubling your work product but do you also devote time and energy to building a brand that effectively conveys your value to the right people? Having a brand isn’t just for building your own business but cuts across all career journeys. As May says, “stop being the best kept secret!” Start focusing on building your brand so you can pivot and move forward.
Knowledge Bursts:
Resource or cultural experience that inspired May to move forward:
Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles from the album Abbey Road. This is the song that May listens to when she wants a fresh start and to reset. In particular, May is fond of the guitar riff at the beginning, which she lovingly recreates on this episode of Moving Forward!
Purchase May’s book, Accelerate: 9 Capabilities to Achieve Success at Any Career Stage (Kindle | Paperback).
How May stays organized and manages her time:
As a self-proclaimed “shiny object chaser,” May now makes it a practice to ask herself two questions to stay on track: 1) why am I doing this? 2) how does that align with my mission or purpose?
Stay focused by never doing more than three important things in a day (a fourth is a bonus).
This is a practice May learned from Strategic Coach (Dan Sullivan), a group for entrepreneurs and coaches.
Favorite app / website / resource or productivity hack:
BestSelf The Self Journal System: 1) set big goals, 2) establish milestones, 3) break it down to actions and tasks. Includes a calendar plus a journal to document your gratitudes, wins and lessons learned.
Support the Podcast:
The Corporate Cliches Adult Coloring Book: makes the perfect stocking stuffer or white elephant gift.
Try out Audible (affiliate link).
Try out Amazon Prime (affiliate link).
May’s Advice for you to Move Forward:
May recommends that you set time to work on “experiments.” The beauty of test driving new ideas as experiments is that you don’t have to “bet the whole farm” on it. So let’s say you’re in a comfort zone but not truly happy or passionate about what you’re doing. If there are 2 or 3 things that you might want to do or are curious about, pick the smallest possible step in each of those areas that would move closer to exploring that goal. If you start with the smallest step, you’re not committing a huge amount of time, energy or money and yet, you are being intentional about exploring it and making it a priority. This will get you out of your comfort zone while allowing you to maintain the stability of your current life or career position. Finally, if you’re stuck in a rut, you can move forward with May Busch herself to accelerate your career (learn more here). As you learned on today’s episode, this is a subject that May is not only passionate about but has lived thru with her experiences working in corporate America and becoming an entrepreneur. Learn from May and start moving forward today!
Connect with May:
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