Ep. 21: The Perils of Unintentionally Career Design

Career Design Podcast

Episode 21 The Perils of Unintentionally Career Design

SPEAKERS

Jason, Lindsay

Lindsay 00:00

I'm Lindsay Mustaine and this is the career design podcast made for driven ambitious square pegs and round holes type professionals who see things differently and challenge the status quo. We obliterate obstacles and unlock hidden pathways to overcome and succeed where others have not stagnation feels like death. And we are unwilling to compromise our integrity and settle for being average in any way. We are the backbone of any successful business and those who overlook our potential are doomed to a slow demise. We do work that truly matters aligns with our purpose, and in turn, we make our lasting mark on the world. We are the dreamers, doers, legends, and visionaries who are called to make our most meaningful contribution and love what we do.

Lindsay 0:43

Welcome to the career design podcast, I am so excited about our guest today, who is Jason Casebolt. Now, Jay said he has the most interesting background I think I've ever seen of this combination of skills. And I want to talk today about the difference between intentionally designing your career and the default, unintentional career design, where we create a reality for ourselves. It's not exactly what we really envisioned behind it. So Jason, tell us a little bit about your story.

Jason 01:10

Certainly, and thanks for having me, Lindsay. And so when you talk about unintentional career design, it is the complete contrast to most of what you talked about here about doing it intentionally. And so I may be an extreme case of that we'll see. But as I've gone through my career, I've tried to take really difficult assignments just that needed to get done, and for some amazing leaders. And so in the process of leading contract negotiations at a Fortune 50 company, I became an attorney in the evenings with contracts focus to lead teams, the better results there and go into law schools kind of a crazy pursuit anyway, later on, when there were technical problems that needed to be addressed and things that involved engineering and technology, I went ahead and went to MIT, to get a master's in systems design to be better with technical management, also an extreme route. Later on, I was working a turnaround in a factory overseas, and I became a Lean Six Sigma master black belt to be better at leading and coaching change. And so through all of these building blocks of really getting some elite notches in my belt, I got to a point where I couldn't eventually answer the question, What are you? I kept evolving, to become better at the jobs that I was doing. But I really lost sight of what made me happy, what brought me joy and really were what you call the zone of genius for myself was that that brings me all the way to intentional career design, which is not starting with these challenges and how you can evolve yourself, but really starting with yourself, and how you can evolve those opportunities to match where your zone of genius is.

Lindsay 02:55

Oh, I love that. So because I think it's important to paint a picture of who you are today. Let's because you're not just the list of qualifications that became kind of almost it's hard to understand even what species of candidate you would be if you talk about the qualifications. So who are you today?

Jason 03:12

Who I am today is what I call a radical improvement leader. And so I take all of these backgrounds, and the thing that brings me the most energy and joy is really solving difficult technology or workplace problems. Sometimes people would call them Kai's ends and improvements, I do it at a larger systemic level of getting out there working with the teams and really helping teams develop their problem solving to scale the improvements wider, but also do it at a level that everybody can intersect and whether they've had a lot of training, whether they've had technical training, or whether they're fresh to the workforce, or even English as a second language. And so I bring the common denominator, leverage that for World Class results.

Lindsay 03:57

Oh my gosh, that is amazing. And what a powerful positioning versus I went to MIT I went, I became an attorney. And I became a six sigma leader. Because those things are just notched in your belt. I love that description here. So talk to me about because I the two things here, what brings me joy, what brings me energy, and I'm probably gonna borrow that from you now because those are exactly what we're looking for inside of intention, career design, because it's not about the company or the external focus, right?

Jason 04:24

Absolutely. It's about your internal focus. And through your podcast, and even working with you I've really been able to shift that focus from external hoping that someone chooses me to internal. What can I do to align myself and even a lot of your efforts are really start with getting yourself centered, and then making everything else come to you. And the way that I think about that is you don't have to wait for others to discover you. If you discover yourself and then everyone comes to you then.

Lindsay 04:56

Yeah, I think there's a lot of things around inherent worthiness where we try to We see a box that somebody has available. And I think you can look at the intentional career design both internally and externally, for inside of your company or outside of your company. So this is all about how do you become the best version of you, really, how do we not look at ourselves as we are a list of our job descriptions on the box that we put us in, and we become this really dynamic individual that's multifaceted.

Jason 05:23

And working with you totally changes that mindset of the box and fitting into a box. Most of us, especially when we practice, unintentional career design, try to fit ourselves into the boxes that we see on resume sites, deep calm, and all these places, trying to adjust things and squish into the framework that others have for us. When we practice intentional career design, we are the box and other opportunities have to fit and mold to ourselves. And that is such an incredibly powerful and empowering position to be at.

Lindsay 05:59

Where you get to be authentically you. It brings you joy, it brings you energy, you get to do work that's purposeful, and you actually love what you do every day.

Jason 06:06

Absolutely. And just the feeling of the energy of self-worth and confidence that comes with that is measurable.

Lindsay 06:14

Absolutely. And I think a lot of times, I'll just say some of the anxiety and depression around I see in the workplace is when people are doing work that doesn't fulfill any kind of other things than their paycheck. And it's a really great way to erode what we feel like our worthiness the in the world and making a contribution is around.

Jason 06:30

It is and, you know, with a lot of people that I mentor, we call those jobs, even if they're in what would otherwise be called a career. If they're at a, you know, a large company, they're in positions that people really envy their career that they're in. But if they have that mindset, that it really deflates them, it steals their energy, they really don't like it, then that's a job. And so hopefully, those people then can take the intentional steps to move from a job to a career that they really resonate with.

Lindsay 07:00

Well, I want to talk about something that you mentioned to me, which is that intentional career design is not about always going and leaving. It's also about how do you decide what's next for your career, whether it's about what you want to do in your existing company, or if you're thinking about a change?

Jason 07:13

Absolutely, I mentor a lot of people and about all of them. I discussed this podcast in particular, because it's such a great entry point to thinking about your career, intentionally. And with a lot of the people that I work with, they have the starting thoughts that intentional career design is about leaving your company about jumping ship, as they say, or going somewhere else. And that's one of the first misconceptions that I correct that some of that can happen. It can be about finding a better place at a different company if you are not in a good place where you're at. But if you are really valuing and cherishing the company, the vision, the products that you work with, it could be just about finding the right position, the right fit the right use of your skillset to bring you into your zone of genius and bring you more energy where you're currently at.

Lindsay 08:03

I love that. Well, Jason, is there anything else you want to tell us today that would be important for our audience?

Jason 08:09

I think it just really starts with taking that first step forward. That's what intention is. unintentional career design is passive. You're sitting there, you're waiting for something to happen. Intentional career design can start with a small step or a huge one. But it's really just about taking that first step forward. So for people that I mentor, I recommend that they subscribe to this podcast as a starting point. It's quick and easy. And your episodes are short, so it probably couldn't be easier.

Lindsay 08:38

Fantastic. Well, you can find Jason on LinkedIn. In fact, you can find him under hashtag radical excellence. And what is your LinkedIn profile link?

Jason 08:47

Just Jason Casebolt. So LinkedIn

Lindsay 08:53

Is it just Casebolt at the end?

Jason 08:55

Is it just Casebolt.

Lindsay 08:56

Yeah, linkedin.com backs are slash in slash Casebolt you can find Jason and he loves to connect with people. He has been so thoughtful about what he's wanting to do next in his career and really amplifying his energy and helping mentor people inside of his existing role. It's been an incredible you know, thing to watch as, as a coach.

Jason 09:18

Well, thank you. And if anyone connects with me, if you have questions on Six Sigma projects, improvement, projects, leadership, send them to me, I'll do my best to get back to you quickly, but I'll get back to everybody. But I'll certainly provide even some mentorship at a distance if you're working on improvements and making things around your excellent.

Lindsay 09:36

I love it. Thank you so much, Jason, for your time today. Thank you.