What, what kind of led you on that pathway?

So in terms of entrepreneurship, because I, you know, when I was in college, I started doing the work that I do now on a much smaller scale.

So I was doing it for free for friends, family, classmates.

And so it was just kind of a hobby, even when I started my career in the Fortune 500, because I was in financial services as well as energy.

Those were the two areas.

sectors I worked in mainly and so it wasn't until I started my second career in energy where one of my clients which was a friend of mine was like hey you should probably start charging for this I mean it's cool to get free help I'm grateful but you have a knack for this and so you may want to consider starting your own thing and actually charging people for the services you provide I I had never really thought about it at all.

I'm just like, you know, I just want to help people.

Um, what's, what's the big audacious Harry plan for, uh, where you take everything?

Can you talk a little bit more about that?

Yeah.

I mean, you have to think if you're leading and there's no one behind you, you aren't leading anyone, right? You're just taking a walk, right? And so the idea is that leadership in terms of being able to lead someone to any sort of destination is, There has to be a connection and a relationship with that person behind you or walking alongside you.

And often leaders find themselves, they think that they're above the people that they're leading, right? That I'm, you know, I've got the nice car in the corner office and you all just have to do what I say minions, right? Versus thinking about these are living, breathing human beings who are trying to get to the same objective that I am.

And they deserve respect.

They deserve my support.

They deserve this connection.

Because I feel like this is really a core concept in your book.

kind of walk us through what were the wins throughout that 12 year arc that we don't see when we're looking at your LinkedIn profile?

Yeah.

So what I would say, one of the biggest wins was the self-advocacy element of it, because when it comes to, you know, when it comes to navigating an organization of that size, I think that when I was at the company was 60 or 70,000 people.

when you're navigating an organization of that size you have to be willing to speak up for yourself to get what you want so when people look at my linkedin profile they'll see that i moved up in the company but what they don't know is that one of my promotions were being held and i and i was just like what is going on i'm seeing everyone else moving forward and then you have people who are just like oh well you know it's gonna come just continue to work and give it your best, someone's going to notice, right? And I was like, yeah, bump that.

So having mentors, which was another win, was having mentors and folks who were in my corner that I could go and have that conversation with and say, hey, I'm noticing that all these other people who started with me have started to move forward.

What am I missing here? and putting it on their radar so that they could make the calls that they had to.

And the next promotion cycle, after I spoke up for myself, I got promoted, right? So that self-advocacy was one of the big wins, as well as having mentors.

How did you build the courage and the capacity to know what questions to ask? Because that skill is underrated.

And so you're still seeing a desire from people to engage in content that helps them understand, what does work look like for me? And you know, I'd love to hear your perspective based on your own background as, like, as a career, a navigation expert, right? Like, what is it that you're seeing? What are you noticing? What's shifted? What's changed? I would just love to hear your perspective on the landscape.

Man, this, this environment is, is, is interesting to, to, to put it mildly.

But what I have seen that has really been beneficial has really been around relationships, right? Because a lot of the just traditional apply and, and, and hope for the best kinda thing, that just doesn't work, especially when you're in, in an environment when there is a, an intentional effort to, um, to kind of, uh, reimagine the, the, the, the workforce and in terms of who gets to be a part of it and who doesn't, right? When there's that kind of intentional, deliberate effort, um, and to also kinda tamp down the contributions and the expertise of, of, of minorities, and especially Black people, uh, what I have found is that relationships are really the currency right now, relationships and, and building those connections and leveraging connections that you already have because people who are in the rooms that you have a relationship with can speak up on your behalf.

The other thing that I'm also seeing is, um, is the ability to kinda showcase true knowledge and, and expertise, right? I think there is a time when charisma and all of these things could, could get you by, but I think in an age now where there's so many people who are, who are in the landscape looking for a job, looking for an opportunity, you, you h- being able to set yourself apart with exactly, like, how much you know, the expertise, the experience that you have, that makes a huge, huge difference.

And I think that there was a season where people felt like, "Man, everybody else getting on but me, and I have all this experience.

What's happening?" I do think that we're look-- more people are looking for that because it builds trust.

This is a, a climate where people are looking for trust.

What are you seeing with Black women and how they're navigating the work, uh, the market right now? And what advice or conversation do you catch, find yourself continuing to have?