Leigh-Margaret Stull’s Post

🕵🏻♀️Did you get free career coaching with your layoff that is just about as useful as your non paycheck? Samantha got the worst consolation prize with her layoff. Coaching that was not only not from her industry but that frankly had no overall value. So she called my hotline and we found a winning strategy! #creativecareercoach #jobsearch

Feedback like this always brightens our day! ☀️ There's nothing better than knowing our business has positively influenced someone's life and propelled their career forward. Jessica, we are so grateful for you and appreciative of this review!! For details on what we offer our team members, visit our CareerBuilder profile: https://cb.com/44rpAmy #nxdirectatlanta #nxdirectreviews #nxdirectcareerbuilder

Embrace your squiggly career. Last night, it was a pleasure to host the Insurance Institute of London YMC and Harrison Holgate at the offices of WTW. Kimberley Hallam, ACII moderated a fantastic panel discussing effective career development with an audience of very engaging YMC members. It was a pleasure to share perspectives alongside Matthew Waters and Buki Mosaku. There was a bit of banter, humour and of course, very practical actions that people can take to progress their career. The panel openly discussed the promotion process, timeline and how to stand out, internal politics, and how to respond to feedback. Kimberley Hallam, ACII beautifully captured some of the key takeaways: ⭐ It's not a career ladder...it's a journey! ⭐ Don't just leave somewhere...GO somewhere. ⭐ Insurance is a small world, don't burn bridges! ⭐ Listen to the good feedback as well as improvement areas. ⭐ Find a mentor, and ideally more than one. Look internally and externally. ⭐ Understand how your objectives fit those of the team and the company. ⭐ Be intentional in the conversations you're having and what your end goal is, whether that be short or long term. Be collaborative in working together to get there. Thank you to everyone who attended. Your questions were fantastic and I enjoyed chatting with you afterwards. Great to see so many of you on here. #wtwlife #mergersandacquisitions #MandA #mentors #careercoaching #growth

𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼 - 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗖𝗫𝗢 - 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱... 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. 𝘕𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. If you work for a company and the CEO messes up, you will lose your job. If you work for yourself, you can lose/graduate clients, and it only eliminates 5-20% of your income. (It still hurts, but with disciplined planning/saving, you can weather it.) It comes down to what control matters. For me, after 5 layoffs in 3 years, the latter has been a godsend. 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 Leaving the rat race and working for myself meant I could move to #TheNetherlands and adopt a pace of life that has improved my mental and physical health immeasurably. Do I miss friends and family? Yes. Am I happier? ...more than I knew I could be. 𝗦𝗢 𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦 This is the big one. I never imagined the different companies and challenges I'd be exposed to. Everything from staffing challenges, language barriers, market regulation changes, lack of funding, too much funding (and therfore unreasonable expectations)...but if I'd stayed focused on the IC-Manager-VP-CXO path I would have missed ALL OF THEM. I've successfully sold and built programs for a dozen industries, multiple governments, pre-seed & public companies - worked with every department and every personality type under the sun. 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁-𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁 and washed it so much it no longer fits...so it's in a box in storage because I won't throw it out. Some of those challenges I adore - and I'll keep chasing them because I know I can make a giant impact. Others weren't a great fit. But out of that came a confidence in what I AM good at that keeps me on track and focused when my instincts say to run and hide. 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨. 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 - then stay attentive to the opportunities around you, stay respectful and kind - it won't always happen the way you hope/want it to...but the universe has a tendency to get you there eventually. 👋 Hi! I'm Ashleigh, your go-to for 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰, 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀. 🚀 Over $𝟰𝗕 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 for B2B clients since 2021. 💼 Offering 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 for Growing Companies & bespoke Sales Coaching for sales pros. 🌟 Join over 𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 transforming their sales journey! 🔔 If that's interesting- connect with me and ring the bell so you don't miss any posts!

To the employees I’ve laid off, We shared a dream together: Nimbly, the small research agency with big ambitions. It’s hard not to think about how I promised better days ahead. My belief was you’d be here when we get “there”. You trusted me to lead, and I let you—and your family—down. Given how close we are, I always saw them as my stakeholders too and know intimately how this affects their lives. It sucks that when it ends, it’s often so abrupt. Legally & HR-wise, we’re told to be direct with details and to “keep it brief.” I wish I could’ve poured my heart out to each of you, sharing the genuine appreciation I have for the many laughs and creative ideas you’ve infused into our work and culture. I wish we could cry, reminisce on our time together, and hug from miles away. While you might not be in this chapter of Nimbly, you’ll forever be part of our story. The imprint you left will continue to shape who are we are. I hope that your experience at Nimbly has played a positive part in your life. Perhaps you learned about your superpowers, things you like to do, and even things you don’t. Wherever life takes you, know I’m rooting for you. — CONTEXT In the past year, many of our clients were laid off, and we’ve had to reduce our team size to adapt. While I know this is vulnerable (especially in Linkedin’s sea of positive posts), I figured I’d be transparent on what we’re experiencing. Despite delivering some of the best work we’ve ever produced, we’re seeing a slow rebound. I know some folks who have been laid off at other companies that lost a bit of their self-confidence, feeling like it was them who failed. My hope’s that they see this post and can understand it’s not worth taking it personally. If that’s you, know you are not your job. While the layoff process may have been straightforward, it doesn reflect the fight to prevent it, the heartbreaks, and how much you truly bring to the world. I also know there are other agency leaders struggling too. Perhaps too worried, like I’ve been, on how they’ll be perceived if people knew. To those folks, I feel you. I try to remind myself that there’s no powerful rallying story without a hard struggle. Hang in there. ❤️

Wow time has flown I’ve been at Exalto Consulting for a year! I genuinely hadn’t realised this until it popped up on my feed yesterday and I started getting well-wishing messages from my network – thank you everyone 🙏   A few take aways from the last year:   Working in a startup is hard, it’s not for the faint hearted. There are lots of long hours and it can be tough mentally to keep pushing yourself into new situations. Whilst this is challenging, it is also really rewarding when you get wins (even if they are really small at the start). Patience is undervalued. Having worked in an established business for nearly 20 years previously, I forgot how long it takes to build something from scratch. Initially, I got frustrated with how slowly things seemed to be moving. Being an owner is vastly different from running someone else’s business. Personally, I love being able to make decisions really quickly and the lack of bureaucracy. You learn new skills all the time, there’s always something you have never done before. Working through these problems builds confidence and resourcefulness. One of the downsides can be that you try and do everything yourself, to save money, rather than delegating it to someone else and focusing your energy on bigger returns (I’m working on this!). The freedom is very liberating, especially having worked for other people for so long. It’s great to be able to choose to take the business in any direction we want – we’ve done this by incorporating coaching and other services into our proposition. A few years ago, I would not have considered this. Reflecting back, I wouldn’t change anything for the world and joining Exalto is definitely one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. We’ve come so far in the last year and this is only the start! Massive thank you to everyone who has supported us on our journey so far, either as a customer, candidate or coachee - we couldn’t do any of this without you.   Finally thank you to the amazing team here at Exalto Consulting, who share a similar work ethic and values, making things a lot easier and a hell of a lot more fun! Seth Parkin, Liam Scott, Mohammed Imran, Adrian Prodger   Here’s to many more years to come 🚀

Career self-reliance. A term we use a lot in our executive career transition programs. I caught up with Stuart this morning. After a long and stable career to date, he made a move, and it didn’t work out. He finished within his probation period. A shift in the market and lack of values alignment are most probably the culprits. What’s Stuart been doing since? He’s structured his days as though he is still working. And his full-time job is to find a job. Leveraging his networks, social media, as well as grinding through job board applications is keeping Stuart busy for 40+ hours per week. He isn’t expecting the perfect role to come to him, he is chasing it. Granted, it’s not easy to manage the emotional impact of such a change in circumstances but I have a feeling Stuart is going to be fine. #Executiverecruitment #CEOcareer #Careerchallenges

A couple weeks ago I tasked our management team with the following: email me one example where a fellow team member went above and beyond to live our 5 core values. Below are some comments by our team of Dave Flores, our Director of HR and Recruiting. Commitment: Dave is always on time and stays late to make sure that all employees are taken care of. He is always willing to jump into any situation when he is needed and not needed. He stops what he is doing usually to make sure SSS is first. Gratitude: Dave is always thankful that he has a place to work and call home Profitable: Dave is always there to jump in when a decision is made that affects the profitability of the company; he offers to help and spend his own time to make sure that the project gets completed for the company and customer. Generous: Dave has helped so many people in the company when he did not have to. He does not complain and never asks what he gets out of helping. He is a stand-up guy. Family Focused: He will drop whatever he is doing to make sure his Mom and his family are taken care of no matter what the situation is. Dave has help me personally in more ways than anyone will even know. Thank you Dave for living our SSS values every day.

Unlock the gold at the end of your career rainbow with us this St. Patrick's Day. Let's navigate the path to your dream job together because everyone deserves a touch of luck and a lot of expertise in their professional journey. 🍀 #StPatricksDay #CareerLuck #DreamJobJourney #SGSConsulting

Like so many on here, I recently had to say goodbye to my team and find myself a new home. A few weeks into my search I got a call from a connection about an opportunity with his company. He was someone I thoroughly respected and a phenomenal leader in his domain, so I wasn’t about to turn down an opportunity to work with him. My first meeting with the founders of the company was designed for me to pitch my background and skills based on their current engagement needs. We discussed the work, my experience, and my skills, and had a great conversation. I landed the contract and started working with the team. Over the last few months, I have been in the trenches with the team, pouring over thousands of lines of data, piecing together workflows, structures, and many other details, conducting countless meetings with team members from every level of the organization, and developing solution recommendations. I am incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work alongside this team, all of whom bring deep skills and experience in their domains and who embody a collaboration-first mentality. As our project was coming to an end, I found myself at the tail end of interviews with a couple of companies. But then I got the call – the founders didn’t want to just extend my contract, they wanted me to come on full-time. Based on the work we delivered and the blast I had doing so, it was a fast yes for me. I love building, change, and strategy, all of which fit squarely in my new role. I am truly lucky to be part of building a practice alongside founders and a team who are at the top of their game. I am looking forward to helping bring our founders' vision to life. There is a lot of work to do in the coming weeks and months and I can't wait to share our journey and learnings. I want to say thank you to everyone who reached out to me during this time with connections, opportunities, and support. A huge thanks to Gretchen Benes who was always there for me emotionally and professionally. I certainly had my fair share of letdowns during this process. Rejections are never easy and I can’t say I am immune to taking them personally. The hardest part has been knowing I can truly kill it at the work a company has ahead of them and still get the thank you but...message. Thank you Fortellar – let’s go kick ass and enjoy the ride while we do it.