Are you stuck in a career that no longer aligns with who you are, wondering if there's more to professional success than chasing the next job?
Many mid-career professionals feel trapped in roles that don’t reflect their evolving passions or values. In this episode, career coach Keith Anderson shares how to break free from outdated professional identities and start attracting opportunities by aligning your career with your true self.
- Discover why redefining your professional identity is the key to meaningful transitions.
- Learn how to shift from job-seeking to job-attracting using intuition, strategy, and personal branding.
- Understand the mindset and actions that lead to fulfilling, purpose-driven work in the age of AI.
Listen now to uncover the transformative steps that will help you align your inner purpose with your next professional move.
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KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:
01:51 - From $27K Teacher to Tech Leader: Meet Keith Anderson
03:52 - Intuition Over Evidence: The Underrated Career Compass
06:58 - Stop Searching, Start Attracting: The Mindset Shift
09:47 - The Identity Trap: Letting Go of Who You Were
13:01 - Reprogramming Beliefs: From Societal Expectations to Self
18:20 - The Common Thread of Successful Transitions
21:55 - Thriving in the Age of AI: Be More Human
25:15 - How to Learn More from Keith Anderson
27:26 - What Personal Development Really Means
28:54 - Advice to an 18-Year-Old Self
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MEMORABLE QUOTE:
"Don't get caught up in the small day to day stuff, what people think about you, and all of these things that are not in your control. You can only control what you do, what you think, what you say, where you go, what you do."
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VALUABLE RESOURCES:
Keith's website: https://keithand.co
˚
Click here to get in touch with Agi and discuss mentoring/coaching.
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Join our growing community at MasterySeekersTribe.com, where self-mastery seekers come together for connection and growth.
˚
🎙️ Want to be a guest?
Message Agi on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/personaldevelopmentmastery
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Personal development inspiration, self help insights, and actions to implement for self improvement and living with purpose.
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Personal development, self mastery and actionable wisdom for self improvement, self help and living with purpose and fulfilment.
Inspiring insights to help you cultivate emotional intelligence, build confidence, live authentically and embrace your purpose. Discover practical tools for personal growth, self mastery, mindset shifts, healthy habits, meditation, wellness, spirituality and self growth—empowering entrepreneurs, leaders and seekers to create meaningful success and lasting happiness.
Join our growing community at MasterySeekersTribe.com, where self-mastery seekers come together for connection and growth.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Agi Keramidas (00:00):
Are you stuck in a career that no longer aligns
(00:05):
with who you are? Would you liketo stop chasing jobs and instead
start attracting a career thataligns with who you truly are?
Welcome to personal developmentmastery, the podcast that helps
intelligent, busy professionalsdevelop self mastery and gain
(00:30):
clarity so you can thrive in afulfilling, purposeful life. I'm
your host, Agi Keramidas, andthis is episode 508 many mid
career professionals feeltrapped in roles that don't
reflect their evolving passionsor values. By listening to this
(00:51):
episode, you are going todiscover why redefining your
professional identity is the keyto meaningful transitions, and
you will learn how to shift fromjob seeking to Job attracting,
using strategy, intuition andpersonal branding. If you are
(01:12):
feeling stuck in your career,then this episode is for you
before we dive in. If youresonate with these
conversations and feel like youare at a crossroads in your
life, I offer one to onecoaching focused on personal
growth and mindset. My aim is tohelp you reconnect with your
(01:37):
inner compass, enabling you tomake confident, aligned
decisions whatever the nextchapter may bring, get in touch,
and let's have a conversationnow. Let's get started
Today. It is my real pleasure tospeak with Keith Anderson.
Keith, you went from earning$27,000 as an English teacher to
(02:01):
leading teams at Google andmeta, and now you help mid
career professionals do the samethrough your company. You teach
people how to stop chasing jobsand start attracting them using
a brand a blend of strategy,psychology and intuition. You
are passionate about helping midcareer professionals rediscover
(02:24):
their purpose, redefine theirprofessional identity and create
meaningful, aligned careers.
Keith, welcome to the show. It'sa pleasure to
Keith Anderson (02:35):
speak with you today. Thank you. I'm really
happy to be here. I'm
Agi Keramidas (02:39):
looking forward to this conversation, Keith, as
I was telling youenthusiastically before we
started recording, because Ihave the feeling that our
listeners today is very muchaligned to this, you know,
message of transition in acareer, whether it is something
(03:03):
that is happening or hashappened, or it is just a
thought which many It startslike that. So we will explore,
and I'm looking forward toexplore, you know, finding
purpose in a career which youtalk about. And before we go
there, there is one question Iwould like to ask you, to warm
(03:28):
up immediately. And yeah, youknow, there is so much career
advice out there, some of it isright, some of it is wrong. It
doesn't matter. My question toyou is, what's one piece of
career advice that youintuitively knew it was right
way before, you know, you hadthe evidence to back it up?
Keith Anderson (03:52):
Yeah, that's a that's a great question. So for
me personally, before I became acareer coach, and you know,
early on in my career, I'vefocused really much on doing
things that bring me joy. Andkind of, I tend to follow that
(04:13):
path of where my heart is drawntowards, right? And you know,
the best piece of advice thatyou don't really hear that much
of is trust that as yourintuition to be that guiding
light towards opportunities andthings that you should naturally
gravitate towards or that youshould not right. And a lot of
(04:35):
times in people's careers, forexample, you know, a lot of
times you start out that way,and you you have, you want to
take inspired action. Then aftertime that wanes, things change.
And then you know, your energyand your ties go somewhere else.
So before I became a coach, thatwas one thing that I noticed I
(04:57):
was doing in my own life. Andnow, since then. Of realised
that this is actually somethingthat is scientifically backed
and, you know, shows that, likeyou are following this right
path, because it's, you know,it's, it's kind of a never
ending journey, right, where younever get to the end
destination, because thatdoesn't actually exist, to be
(05:18):
honest, it's just like, youknow, going through different
different phases of your lifeand figuring things out that
way.
Agi Keramidas (05:27):
It's a great way of looking at it as phases in
our life, and it is the way itis really but many don't see it
like that. You have to take itlike an outside perspective of
life. There is something that Iread that you've said, and I
would like to start us with withthat, because I find it
(05:50):
interesting. And before I do, Iwill just give this as you know,
let's say preface to thisconversation, assuming that our
listening right now, and that'swhy I said that there is
probably a lot of alignment. SoI'm assuming that who's
listening now is in the brink ofa transition, or would like a
(06:15):
transition, or in the middle ofa transition. And when I say
transition, I meanprofessionally mainly, but, you
know, personal, professionalhave found that sometimes they
intertwine very much. So I'mgiving this, as you know, a base
(06:36):
for the conversation, but myquestion to you was something
you said that job seekers shouldstop searching and start
attracting. And I like very muchthis approach, approach, I
suppose that would require somekind of a mindset shift to be so
tell us about this. Let's startwith this.
Keith Anderson (06:59):
Yeah, for sure.
So essentially, the idea behindjob attraction and career
attraction is basically seeingyour life as a mirror, right?
All the things that you arethinking, feeling about
yourself, about your career,they're showing up in the
physical world, right? So ifyou're unhappy with yourself,
(07:20):
then that's what's appearingright in front of you, right? So
it's about changing the scriptfirst inside, and then that is
the impetus and the driver formaking the shifts happening on
the outside. And once you startdoing that, your energy changes,
right? People start, peoplestart noticing your energy. And
(07:43):
you know, when working with mein particular, like I show you
the techniques to really createmore of, like a magnetic
perspective that you have onlineand in other in other elements,
so that you have the language,the neuro, the neuroscience
backed and linguistic back,scientific approaches within,
(08:05):
embedded within your profile andyour your visual brand, to
actually, like, draw people in.
So it's a mix of, like, thiskind of inner working right,
that you're doing, but it'salso, like, really focused on,
like, what are particularcompetence markers and warmth
(08:27):
markers that are used thatactually incite people to your
tribe, essentially, to come findyou and want to work with you,
or have you worked with them?
So, yeah, that's, that'sessentially what it is. And, you
know, there's a lot more to talkabout there, but at a high
level, that's, that's what itis, sure.
Agi Keramidas (08:47):
And I liked what you said about changing the
script inside, which is a veryit's a great represent the
description. Actually, when Ihear that the script inside,
there is something that comes tomy mind that is a strong, let's
(09:10):
say, factor that people who arein transition have trouble with,
and that is identity. So youknow the internal script, the
script inside, as you weresaying identity, can I would
like to hear whether they arelinked, and then I would like to
ask you a bit more aboutidentity. And when I say
(09:32):
identity, I mean professionalidentity that you know someone
might have been working for 20years in work that becomes a
very internal, integral part ofwho they are as a personality,
Keith Anderson (09:48):
yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, I
think like these pieces that areinside of us and who we are over
time, they can feel almostpermanent. It right, like this
is me, which I experienced too.
I was a teacher for eight years,and I felt like Keith equals
teacher, right? Whether I, youknow, partially I consciously
(10:11):
knew that, but subconsciously itwas kind of another deep level
of identity that I didn'trealise. And I mean, I think
like with that and understandingwho you are, we all have
different identities, right? Weall have different sides of
ourselves. So for me, when Itransitioned from teaching into
(10:33):
landing my first role at Google,you know, yeah, I had to do a
lot of, I guess you could saysoul searching or re
identifying, all of thesedifferent pieces of me, not just
teaching as my professionalidentity, but these other great
aspects that I bring to aprofessional workplace. And I
just bring to people that I workwith, naturally, up to the up to
(10:59):
the up to surface. But you know,besides that, I think, like the
big thing with all of us is thatwe're not one dimensional. We're
not a career path. We are not ajob, right? We're so much bigger
than that. And you know this,for example, for me, I, you
(11:19):
know, as, as you said earlier, Iwent from teaching all the way
up to leadership roles at meta,door, dash, calibrate, and then
worked at Uber, Google, allthese places, right? And I have,
obviously, I've always beenmyself through this, right? But
I change, and people change andadapt and embrace that right
(11:44):
Change is the only constant inlife. So, you know, get don't
feel that the identity that youhave now, as a teacher, for
example, from me, is the onlyidentity that you have in the
future. You're way, way, waybigger than that in many
different ways. You just mightnot have explored it so much in
(12:06):
a professional setting, but eventhings from your childhood, your
teenage years that you naturallygravitated towards, who knows,
maybe there are things thosethose natural tendencies or
gifts you have from those agesmight now appear in your
professional world, or mightappear relevant. It's things
aren't as linear as we like tothink sometimes, or how society
(12:31):
tells us right, and we need tokind of embrace that approach.
Agi Keramidas (12:39):
What would you say to someone listening right
now that they're having troubleshading that previous identity.
It is really strong they clingon to the end. In the end, it
prevents them from, you know,embracing the change that you
were talking about,
Keith Anderson (13:01):
yeah, for for sure. And I think, you know,
just to double down on thatwith, you know, our programming,
like societal programming, evenparental programming from when
we were really young, they'relike, very big gravity pieces
that draw us to a certainreality, right? So first
(13:23):
acknowledging that there is thatyou are an identity in something
like more of a larger programmeunit or a larger societal push.
That's not necessarily who youare, right? So first, it's
acknowledge that, right? And,you know, be open with yourself
(13:45):
and be okay with, you know,having these feelings of maybe
money and prestige and all thesethings in your current path,
right? How you don't want toleave them behind it just to
start with just acknowledge thatthose are there, and don't try
to put them down and say, Oh,well, you know, money is greedy.
(14:07):
I shouldn't think like that, orsay any should, should, should,
don't should on yourself, right?
And then, you know, from there,once you once you have started
to get really clear withyourself on where you're at and
and those those pieces, thenit's about really exploring more
about, like, you know, whatreally are you at that next
(14:30):
layer, right? Putting aside allof the corporate Bs and the
corporate values and all ofthat, who really are you? And
you know to do that, it reallygoes back to basics of like,
what do you like to do? Who arethe people that you like to hang
around or be around? What do youlike to do with them? How do you
like to help them right? Andwhat is that feeling that you
(14:55):
have from helping them right?
And it might be. Or somethingthat you don't even think is
possible. For example, I have aclient from last year who she
was a litigator, and she hatedher job, right? She did not like
(15:15):
it, but she had such pressure tobecome a lawyer, right? From her
parents, mostly, right? I mean,it was also seen as prestigious
and high pain, and they're allthese positive connotations with
that. You know, believe it ornot, through the work that we
were doing together, she wasable to go back to kind of the
(15:36):
base of who she is, and sherealised like she's more about
helping people become better inwhat they're doing, right? And,
you know, from there, sheactually became the Director of
Education for a nonprofitstartup, you know, working in
working with Palestinianchildren, right? Like, kind of
(15:59):
random, right? Because she was,she was a corporate executive
working as a litigator for alarge tech company here in the
United States. And doing that islike completely 180 so, you
know, it's first identifying whoyou are now, then it's
identifying who you areunderneath all of the societal
(16:22):
pressure, and then it's aboutplanning a path on what your
North Star is, and understandingwhat you represent in your life.
Not like, I am a doctor, I am ateacher, but like, Who do you
help? What do you help themwith? And why are you doing it
like and seed all of thedifferent seeds that you have.
(16:44):
Plant those, and some of themwill ripe. Some of them won't.
But that brings you towards thedirection of where you're going,
right? Because I also firmlybelieve in my own life, and what
I've seen from everyone I workwith you know, is that the
purpose of life is to be happy,and to do that like you just
need to go within First,understand where things are and
trust that by following yourintuition and your guidance,
(17:08):
that you are moving down theright path, Even though it might
not be anything that you thoughtit was earlier, you Know. So,
yeah,
Agi Keramidas (17:21):
thank you for your answer. And I like very
much that you ended with this,the trusting that the path that
you're on, that you are guidedon, it is it is so important to
have this. I will call itconnection. You know, you use
the word Trust, which is abeautiful word for this. There
(17:47):
is a I like very much themessage that comes through what
you're saying. Keith and Iwanted to ask you one more
thing, because you werementioning your, you know, the
people you've worked with. Soout of the many people that you
help them to make major youknow, career transitions, what
(18:10):
would you say is one commonalityamongst those that have the
biggest success?
Keith Anderson (18:21):
Yeah, for sure.
So I tend to work with folks whoare, either are who are drawn to
move into tech, tech industry,or who are looking to move out
of the tech industry, right? Sothat tends to be the folks that
I work with, and from there, theone kind of underlying piece
that I see most of them have iskind of the first stage that we
(18:45):
were just talking about, youknow, realising that, like these
things of money, prestige andother people's impression of
them, that that's fleeting, andIt's not making them feel good,
like you know, sure, it's greatto be acknowledged as being a
high performer, what have you,but at the end of the day,
(19:06):
they're not feeling fulfilled inwhat they're doing. So, you
know, it's interesting, becauseI haven't thought about it in
this exact way, but a lot of itis like coming to a practitioner
to kind of help them, like, findtheir light, find a new path for
them and with not for them, withthem. And you know, starting
(19:28):
when we work together, it startsto be it starts out very
exploratory, right, like, whatif, right? And what are
different things out there,because we don't know what we
don't know. So it's, it'slooking at all these different
paths and seeing just what onesmight sound interesting. And
then from there, then we startdoing career experiments and
(19:51):
understanding what actually doesit mean to to do whatever these,
these other paths. Are that seeminteresting, right? And then
from there, it's identifying theNorth Star and then building
out, what does that mean, right?
What are the actionable stepsthat you need to take to get to
(20:13):
these milestones? Right? Becauseat the end of the day, it's yes.
Mindset is kind of thefoundation of everything. Your
inner work is the foundation.
But nothing will happen if youdon't take action. So like
action is the most you know isthe most important thing after
you get clear with yourself,otherwise you're just thinking
(20:33):
you know
Agi Keramidas (20:37):
for sure. And you mentioned, you said the word
inspired action there ordirected action. Also say
because taking just takingaction without a clear
direction, where you're going isnot necessarily good
Keith Anderson (20:54):
exactly
Agi Keramidas (20:59):
there is, I will ask, bringing again, back to,
you know, the transition, orpeople that are thinking of
transition, and there is in ourespecially in our time, it's
very much prevalent more andMore. And that is AI, it has
been suddenly changed. So manythings and changing, and I think
(21:25):
we have only seen the tip of theiceberg, but in terms of the,
you know, job finding or careertransition in sectors, what do
you think is the human skillthat we really must cultivate
(21:46):
much, much more to stay relevantwith in an AI dominating
environment. That's
Keith Anderson (21:56):
a great question, and I'm smiling and
laughing a little bit to myself,because really ironically, what
I think is like, I think thesolution for this, for all of us
is to be more human, like, to bemore authentic to ourselves and
(22:17):
being clear with who we are andexpressing that out to the
world, than following like whathas been the traditional
approach in the job sector,which is where, you know, a
company posts a position and youtry to fit into their box and be
kind of this, this thing foreveryone you know, and not
(22:39):
really be yourself. And rightnow AI is going to be doing
that. AI is going to be isfilling in those boxes already.
So what you need to do to standout into land new roles, to get
new opportunities, is to reallybe yourself. And don't think
that you need to just fit a box,but once you start getting
(23:01):
comfortable with being who youare and expressing that and
under and knowing your worth,then things start to come to
you, right? I and I also do wantto say that you're very right
when you say, AI, has reallychanged the game, right? In the
job market, a lot of people arefearful of this, right? You
(23:24):
know, it's interesting. Iactually am not fearful of it at
all. And I actually think thatthere's a lot of great things
that are coming from it, right?
A lot of these more manuallabour type of roles, even in
like white collar jobs are nowbeing able to be done by AI.
This allows a lot morecreativity and innovation for
(23:47):
us, right where we as humans canfocus on these bigger pictures,
strategic thinking. So if youdon't find yourself naturally
gravitating towards thosethings, this is the time for you
to develop those pieces that aremore higher level in terms of
your thinking, yourcontributions, and what you
bring to organisations, orreally to the world, in what you
(24:10):
bring so you know, again, it'sironic, because how to position
yourself in a world of AI is tonot like so say to yourself as
an individual, yes, using AI,right? Like, don't try to push
it aside, but you need to bedifferent than AI. And with our
job, the job market andfulfilling fitting into what
(24:33):
companies say they want, that'snot going to get you there,
because AI can do a lot of thatby now.
Agi Keramidas (24:43):
That's great. And you said, be yourself. I wrote,
also be authentic, which soundedlike you didn't use that word,
but it sounded very much likelike that. So thank you. That's
a it's a great, great answer.
Agi,
Unknown (24:57):
yeah.
Agi Keramidas (24:59):
As. We're going to start wrapping this
conversation up. I wanted to askyou about where you would like
to direct our listener who hasfound this intriguing and useful
and would like to know moreabout you and your services.
Keith Anderson (25:17):
Yeah, for sure.
So, so in particular, I workwith people who, have you know,
who are either in careertransitions or who are thinking
of transitioning into somethingthat's more aligned with who
they are, whether they have aclear direction of where that is
or not. So if this sounds likeyou, please check out my website
at Keith and Keith, K E, I t h,a n, d.co or go to my LinkedIn
(25:44):
and my hashtag there is Keithand K E, I t h, a n, d and
there, you know, look at everyday I post content at 9am
Eastern, standard time inBoston, wearing beast and see if
the messages there resonate withyou. If so, you know, I offer a
complimentary 30 minuteconsultation, so hop on my
(26:06):
calendar and we can talk. And,you know, we can see how we can
either partner together, or howI can help you with where you're
at in your journey so you'reable to Move move move more
quickly in the direction whereyou want to go, which you know
time is time and money are bothcurrency, and time is something
(26:28):
you can't get back. So you knowthe it's always be thinking that
time is such a valuable piece ofwhat you have to give back. So
let's make sure that if we dowork together, or when you see
what I'm doing, that we takethat timepiece in as well, too.
So anyway, let me know if youare interested in talking more,
(26:52):
if my message resonates withyou, and for all you listeners
out there, yeah, I really hopeyou've enjoyed our conversation
today, and I guess overall, Ihope that it really inspires
like bigger thoughts in youabout who you are and your
potential.
Agi Keramidas (27:14):
That's great. And Keith, let me also ask you, I
have two final questions that Ialways ask my guests, and the
first one is, what does personaldevelopment mean to you?
Keith Anderson (27:28):
Yeah, so personal development for me is,
is about consciousness, to behonest. You know, it's about
getting clear with the unknownand these assumptions that I
have, or the blind spots that Imight not even realise I have,
(27:50):
and explore those and understandmore what they are, and then
also personal development is andprofessional development is
really going towards what I amnaturally drawn to, right? And
for me, early on in my career isalways interested in, like, the
(28:10):
visual arts, graphic design, youknow, I started taking classes
and that just on a whim, andthat became something that
became my profession later on.
So the, you know, these thingsare I might not have you might
not have a reason or purpose forthem, like for this big strategy
in the future, but these things,once you start following these
things that you're just drawnto, who knows they naturally
(28:33):
kind of appear up in otherplaces in your life. Later on,
Agi Keramidas (28:40):
you see me nodding because I agree
completely. Thank you. AndKeith, a hypothetical question,
if you could go back in time andmeet your 18 year old self,
what's one piece of advice youwould give him?
Keith Anderson (28:54):
Oh, yeah, I would say, like, I don't get
caught up in all this small dayto day stuff and what people
think about you, and you knowall of these things that are not
in your control. Because justlike that, it's not within your
control. Can only control whatyou do, what you think, what you
(29:18):
say, where you go, what you do.
So focus on that. And you know,once you do that, 18 year old
Keith, you know, you start tofeel more at ease, right, and
not have so much angst aboutbeing in college. So, you know,
give yourself grace, Keith, andfocus on yourself, not on trying
(29:39):
to make other people thinkdifferently of you, you know, so
yeah,
Agi Keramidas (29:47):
that's great, Keith. I want to thank you very
much for this conversation wehad today, and I think for me
anyway, and I hope that it alsocame. Close to the listener,
there was the message that wascoming strong. That was that
much of you know, having asuccessful transition has to do
(30:10):
with inner elements rather thanouter elements, rather than
documents or anything out there.
You know this, you mentionedsome works like intuition or
being drawn to or things likethat. So for me, that was a very
clear, let's say, undertone inyour message. So thank you for
(30:32):
this. I want to wish you all thevery best with continuing your
mission, and I will leave it toyou for your parting wisdom to
the listeners.
Keith Anderson (30:47):
Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you everyone
for listening. And you know, Ivery much agree that from this,
you know, from this half an houror so podcast episode. I hope
that you know, you got thatfollowing your guidance, your
(31:08):
inner system that brings youjoy, that that brings you
towards inspired action is thepath to take. And you know, even
though life might seem reallycomplicated and there's all of
these things going around,things that you could do, should
do, all of that. It doesn't needto be that complex, right? Once
(31:29):
you start listening to yourself,things, you start to learn how
to feel, how to gravitatetowards what works best for you.
So I hope that you take thataway, you know, and live
wonderful. Have a wonderful day.
And you know, if you'reinterested in this more, just
reach out to me. You have allthe information that we talked
(31:51):
about earlier to do so. So,yeah, thank you. Thank you
everyone for listening.
Agi Keramidas (32:02):
I hope you have found this episode enlightening.
If you resonate with theseconversations and feel like you
are at a crossroads in yourlife, I offer one to one
coaching to help you gainclarity and step into your next
chapter with confidence. If thatsounds interesting, reach out to
(32:22):
me and let's have aconversation, and until next
time stand out. Don't fit in.
Are you stuck in a career that no longer aligns
(00:05):
with who you are? Would you liketo stop chasing jobs and instead
start attracting a career thataligns with who you truly are?
Welcome to personal developmentmastery, the podcast that helps
intelligent, busy professionalsdevelop self mastery and gain
(00:30):
clarity so you can thrive in afulfilling, purposeful life. I'm
your host, Agi Keramidas, andthis is episode 508 many mid
career professionals feeltrapped in roles that don't
reflect their evolving passionsor values. By listening to this
(00:51):
episode, you are going todiscover why redefining your
professional identity is the keyto meaningful transitions, and
you will learn how to shift fromjob seeking to Job attracting,
using strategy, intuition andpersonal branding. If you are
(01:12):
feeling stuck in your career,then this episode is for you
before we dive in. If youresonate with these
conversations and feel like youare at a crossroads in your
life, I offer one to onecoaching focused on personal
growth and mindset. My aim is tohelp you reconnect with your
(01:37):
inner compass, enabling you tomake confident, aligned
decisions whatever the nextchapter may bring, get in touch,
and let's have a conversationnow. Let's get started
Today. It is my real pleasure tospeak with Keith Anderson.
Keith, you went from earning$27,000 as an English teacher to
(02:01):
leading teams at Google andmeta, and now you help mid
career professionals do the samethrough your company. You teach
people how to stop chasing jobsand start attracting them using
a brand a blend of strategy,psychology and intuition. You
are passionate about helping midcareer professionals rediscover
(02:24):
their purpose, redefine theirprofessional identity and create
meaningful, aligned careers.
Keith, welcome to the show. It'sa pleasure to
Keith Anderson (02:35):
speak with you today. Thank you. I'm really
happy to be here. I'm
Agi Keramidas (02:39):
looking forward to this conversation, Keith, as
I was telling youenthusiastically before we
started recording, because Ihave the feeling that our
listeners today is very muchaligned to this, you know,
message of transition in acareer, whether it is something
(03:03):
that is happening or hashappened, or it is just a
thought which many It startslike that. So we will explore,
and I'm looking forward toexplore, you know, finding
purpose in a career which youtalk about. And before we go
there, there is one question Iwould like to ask you, to warm
(03:28):
up immediately. And yeah, youknow, there is so much career
advice out there, some of it isright, some of it is wrong. It
doesn't matter. My question toyou is, what's one piece of
career advice that youintuitively knew it was right
way before, you know, you hadthe evidence to back it up?
Keith Anderson (03:52):
Yeah, that's a that's a great question. So for
me personally, before I became acareer coach, and you know,
early on in my career, I'vefocused really much on doing
things that bring me joy. Andkind of, I tend to follow that
(04:13):
path of where my heart is drawntowards, right? And you know,
the best piece of advice thatyou don't really hear that much
of is trust that as yourintuition to be that guiding
light towards opportunities andthings that you should naturally
gravitate towards or that youshould not right. And a lot of
(04:35):
times in people's careers, forexample, you know, a lot of
times you start out that way,and you you have, you want to
take inspired action. Then aftertime that wanes, things change.
And then you know, your energyand your ties go somewhere else.
So before I became a coach, thatwas one thing that I noticed I
(04:57):
was doing in my own life. Andnow, since then. Of realised
that this is actually somethingthat is scientifically backed
and, you know, shows that, likeyou are following this right
path, because it's, you know,it's, it's kind of a never
ending journey, right, where younever get to the end
destination, because thatdoesn't actually exist, to be
(05:18):
honest, it's just like, youknow, going through different
different phases of your lifeand figuring things out that
way.
Agi Keramidas (05:27):
It's a great way of looking at it as phases in
our life, and it is the way itis really but many don't see it
like that. You have to take itlike an outside perspective of
life. There is something that Iread that you've said, and I
would like to start us with withthat, because I find it
(05:50):
interesting. And before I do, Iwill just give this as you know,
let's say preface to thisconversation, assuming that our
listening right now, and that'swhy I said that there is
probably a lot of alignment. SoI'm assuming that who's
listening now is in the brink ofa transition, or would like a
(06:15):
transition, or in the middle ofa transition. And when I say
transition, I meanprofessionally mainly, but, you
know, personal, professionalhave found that sometimes they
intertwine very much. So I'mgiving this, as you know, a base
(06:36):
for the conversation, but myquestion to you was something
you said that job seekers shouldstop searching and start
attracting. And I like very muchthis approach, approach, I
suppose that would require somekind of a mindset shift to be so
tell us about this. Let's startwith this.
Keith Anderson (06:59):
Yeah, for sure.
So essentially, the idea behindjob attraction and career
attraction is basically seeingyour life as a mirror, right?
All the things that you arethinking, feeling about
yourself, about your career,they're showing up in the
physical world, right? So ifyou're unhappy with yourself,
(07:20):
then that's what's appearingright in front of you, right? So
it's about changing the scriptfirst inside, and then that is
the impetus and the driver formaking the shifts happening on
the outside. And once you startdoing that, your energy changes,
right? People start, peoplestart noticing your energy. And
(07:43):
you know, when working with mein particular, like I show you
the techniques to really createmore of, like a magnetic
perspective that you have onlineand in other in other elements,
so that you have the language,the neuro, the neuroscience
backed and linguistic back,scientific approaches within,
(08:05):
embedded within your profile andyour your visual brand, to
actually, like, draw people in.
So it's a mix of, like, thiskind of inner working right,
that you're doing, but it'salso, like, really focused on,
like, what are particularcompetence markers and warmth
(08:27):
markers that are used thatactually incite people to your
tribe, essentially, to come findyou and want to work with you,
or have you worked with them?
So, yeah, that's, that'sessentially what it is. And, you
know, there's a lot more to talkabout there, but at a high
level, that's, that's what itis, sure.
Agi Keramidas (08:47):
And I liked what you said about changing the
script inside, which is a veryit's a great represent the
description. Actually, when Ihear that the script inside,
there is something that comes tomy mind that is a strong, let's
(09:10):
say, factor that people who arein transition have trouble with,
and that is identity. So youknow the internal script, the
script inside, as you weresaying identity, can I would
like to hear whether they arelinked, and then I would like to
ask you a bit more aboutidentity. And when I say
(09:32):
identity, I mean professionalidentity that you know someone
might have been working for 20years in work that becomes a
very internal, integral part ofwho they are as a personality,
Keith Anderson (09:48):
yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, I
think like these pieces that areinside of us and who we are over
time, they can feel almostpermanent. It right, like this
is me, which I experienced too.
I was a teacher for eight years,and I felt like Keith equals
teacher, right? Whether I, youknow, partially I consciously
(10:11):
knew that, but subconsciously itwas kind of another deep level
of identity that I didn'trealise. And I mean, I think
like with that and understandingwho you are, we all have
different identities, right? Weall have different sides of
ourselves. So for me, when Itransitioned from teaching into
(10:33):
landing my first role at Google,you know, yeah, I had to do a
lot of, I guess you could saysoul searching or re
identifying, all of thesedifferent pieces of me, not just
teaching as my professionalidentity, but these other great
aspects that I bring to aprofessional workplace. And I
just bring to people that I workwith, naturally, up to the up to
(10:59):
the up to surface. But you know,besides that, I think, like the
big thing with all of us is thatwe're not one dimensional. We're
not a career path. We are not ajob, right? We're so much bigger
than that. And you know this,for example, for me, I, you
(11:19):
know, as, as you said earlier, Iwent from teaching all the way
up to leadership roles at meta,door, dash, calibrate, and then
worked at Uber, Google, allthese places, right? And I have,
obviously, I've always beenmyself through this, right? But
I change, and people change andadapt and embrace that right
(11:44):
Change is the only constant inlife. So, you know, get don't
feel that the identity that youhave now, as a teacher, for
example, from me, is the onlyidentity that you have in the
future. You're way, way, waybigger than that in many
different ways. You just mightnot have explored it so much in
(12:06):
a professional setting, but eventhings from your childhood, your
teenage years that you naturallygravitated towards, who knows,
maybe there are things thosethose natural tendencies or
gifts you have from those agesmight now appear in your
professional world, or mightappear relevant. It's things
aren't as linear as we like tothink sometimes, or how society
(12:31):
tells us right, and we need tokind of embrace that approach.
Agi Keramidas (12:39):
What would you say to someone listening right
now that they're having troubleshading that previous identity.
It is really strong they clingon to the end. In the end, it
prevents them from, you know,embracing the change that you
were talking about,
Keith Anderson (13:01):
yeah, for for sure. And I think, you know,
just to double down on thatwith, you know, our programming,
like societal programming, evenparental programming from when
we were really young, they'relike, very big gravity pieces
that draw us to a certainreality, right? So first
(13:23):
acknowledging that there is thatyou are an identity in something
like more of a larger programmeunit or a larger societal push.
That's not necessarily who youare, right? So first, it's
acknowledge that, right? And,you know, be open with yourself
(13:45):
and be okay with, you know,having these feelings of maybe
money and prestige and all thesethings in your current path,
right? How you don't want toleave them behind it just to
start with just acknowledge thatthose are there, and don't try
to put them down and say, Oh,well, you know, money is greedy.
(14:07):
I shouldn't think like that, orsay any should, should, should,
don't should on yourself, right?
And then, you know, from there,once you once you have started
to get really clear withyourself on where you're at and
and those those pieces, thenit's about really exploring more
about, like, you know, whatreally are you at that next
(14:30):
layer, right? Putting aside allof the corporate Bs and the
corporate values and all ofthat, who really are you? And
you know to do that, it reallygoes back to basics of like,
what do you like to do? Who arethe people that you like to hang
around or be around? What do youlike to do with them? How do you
like to help them right? Andwhat is that feeling that you
(14:55):
have from helping them right?
And it might be. Or somethingthat you don't even think is
possible. For example, I have aclient from last year who she
was a litigator, and she hatedher job, right? She did not like
(15:15):
it, but she had such pressure tobecome a lawyer, right? From her
parents, mostly, right? I mean,it was also seen as prestigious
and high pain, and they're allthese positive connotations with
that. You know, believe it ornot, through the work that we
were doing together, she wasable to go back to kind of the
(15:36):
base of who she is, and sherealised like she's more about
helping people become better inwhat they're doing, right? And,
you know, from there, sheactually became the Director of
Education for a nonprofitstartup, you know, working in
working with Palestinianchildren, right? Like, kind of
(15:59):
random, right? Because she was,she was a corporate executive
working as a litigator for alarge tech company here in the
United States. And doing that islike completely 180 so, you
know, it's first identifying whoyou are now, then it's
identifying who you areunderneath all of the societal
(16:22):
pressure, and then it's aboutplanning a path on what your
North Star is, and understandingwhat you represent in your life.
Not like, I am a doctor, I am ateacher, but like, Who do you
help? What do you help themwith? And why are you doing it
like and seed all of thedifferent seeds that you have.
(16:44):
Plant those, and some of themwill ripe. Some of them won't.
But that brings you towards thedirection of where you're going,
right? Because I also firmlybelieve in my own life, and what
I've seen from everyone I workwith you know, is that the
purpose of life is to be happy,and to do that like you just
need to go within First,understand where things are and
trust that by following yourintuition and your guidance,
(17:08):
that you are moving down theright path, Even though it might
not be anything that you thoughtit was earlier, you Know. So,
yeah,
Agi Keramidas (17:21):
thank you for your answer. And I like very
much that you ended with this,the trusting that the path that
you're on, that you are guidedon, it is it is so important to
have this. I will call itconnection. You know, you use
the word Trust, which is abeautiful word for this. There
(17:47):
is a I like very much themessage that comes through what
you're saying. Keith and Iwanted to ask you one more
thing, because you werementioning your, you know, the
people you've worked with. Soout of the many people that you
help them to make major youknow, career transitions, what
(18:10):
would you say is one commonalityamongst those that have the
biggest success?
Keith Anderson (18:21):
Yeah, for sure.
So I tend to work with folks whoare, either are who are drawn to
move into tech, tech industry,or who are looking to move out
of the tech industry, right? Sothat tends to be the folks that
I work with, and from there, theone kind of underlying piece
that I see most of them have iskind of the first stage that we
(18:45):
were just talking about, youknow, realising that, like these
things of money, prestige andother people's impression of
them, that that's fleeting, andIt's not making them feel good,
like you know, sure, it's greatto be acknowledged as being a
high performer, what have you,but at the end of the day,
(19:06):
they're not feeling fulfilled inwhat they're doing. So, you
know, it's interesting, becauseI haven't thought about it in
this exact way, but a lot of itis like coming to a practitioner
to kind of help them, like, findtheir light, find a new path for
them and with not for them, withthem. And you know, starting
(19:28):
when we work together, it startsto be it starts out very
exploratory, right, like, whatif, right? And what are
different things out there,because we don't know what we
don't know. So it's, it'slooking at all these different
paths and seeing just what onesmight sound interesting. And
then from there, then we startdoing career experiments and
(19:51):
understanding what actually doesit mean to to do whatever these,
these other paths. Are that seeminteresting, right? And then
from there, it's identifying theNorth Star and then building
out, what does that mean, right?
What are the actionable stepsthat you need to take to get to
(20:13):
these milestones? Right? Becauseat the end of the day, it's yes.
Mindset is kind of thefoundation of everything. Your
inner work is the foundation.
But nothing will happen if youdon't take action. So like
action is the most you know isthe most important thing after
you get clear with yourself,otherwise you're just thinking
(20:33):
you know
Agi Keramidas (20:37):
for sure. And you mentioned, you said the word
inspired action there ordirected action. Also say
because taking just takingaction without a clear
direction, where you're going isnot necessarily good
Keith Anderson (20:54):
exactly
Agi Keramidas (20:59):
there is, I will ask, bringing again, back to,
you know, the transition, orpeople that are thinking of
transition, and there is in ourespecially in our time, it's
very much prevalent more andMore. And that is AI, it has
been suddenly changed. So manythings and changing, and I think
(21:25):
we have only seen the tip of theiceberg, but in terms of the,
you know, job finding or careertransition in sectors, what do
you think is the human skillthat we really must cultivate
(21:46):
much, much more to stay relevantwith in an AI dominating
environment. That's
Keith Anderson (21:56):
a great question, and I'm smiling and
laughing a little bit to myself,because really ironically, what
I think is like, I think thesolution for this, for all of us
is to be more human, like, to bemore authentic to ourselves and
(22:17):
being clear with who we are andexpressing that out to the
world, than following like whathas been the traditional
approach in the job sector,which is where, you know, a
company posts a position and youtry to fit into their box and be
kind of this, this thing foreveryone you know, and not
(22:39):
really be yourself. And rightnow AI is going to be doing
that. AI is going to be isfilling in those boxes already.
So what you need to do to standout into land new roles, to get
new opportunities, is to reallybe yourself. And don't think
that you need to just fit a box,but once you start getting
(23:01):
comfortable with being who youare and expressing that and
under and knowing your worth,then things start to come to
you, right? I and I also do wantto say that you're very right
when you say, AI, has reallychanged the game, right? In the
job market, a lot of people arefearful of this, right? You
(23:24):
know, it's interesting. Iactually am not fearful of it at
all. And I actually think thatthere's a lot of great things
that are coming from it, right?
A lot of these more manuallabour type of roles, even in
like white collar jobs are nowbeing able to be done by AI.
This allows a lot morecreativity and innovation for
(23:47):
us, right where we as humans canfocus on these bigger pictures,
strategic thinking. So if youdon't find yourself naturally
gravitating towards thosethings, this is the time for you
to develop those pieces that aremore higher level in terms of
your thinking, yourcontributions, and what you
bring to organisations, orreally to the world, in what you
(24:10):
bring so you know, again, it'sironic, because how to position
yourself in a world of AI is tonot like so say to yourself as
an individual, yes, using AI,right? Like, don't try to push
it aside, but you need to bedifferent than AI. And with our
job, the job market andfulfilling fitting into what
(24:33):
companies say they want, that'snot going to get you there,
because AI can do a lot of thatby now.
Agi Keramidas (24:43):
That's great. And you said, be yourself. I wrote,
also be authentic, which soundedlike you didn't use that word,
but it sounded very much likelike that. So thank you. That's
a it's a great, great answer.
Agi,
Unknown (24:57):
yeah.
Agi Keramidas (24:59):
As. We're going to start wrapping this
conversation up. I wanted to askyou about where you would like
to direct our listener who hasfound this intriguing and useful
and would like to know moreabout you and your services.
Keith Anderson (25:17):
Yeah, for sure.
So, so in particular, I workwith people who, have you know,
who are either in careertransitions or who are thinking
of transitioning into somethingthat's more aligned with who
they are, whether they have aclear direction of where that is
or not. So if this sounds likeyou, please check out my website
at Keith and Keith, K E, I t h,a n, d.co or go to my LinkedIn
(25:44):
and my hashtag there is Keithand K E, I t h, a n, d and
there, you know, look at everyday I post content at 9am
Eastern, standard time inBoston, wearing beast and see if
the messages there resonate withyou. If so, you know, I offer a
complimentary 30 minuteconsultation, so hop on my
(26:06):
calendar and we can talk. And,you know, we can see how we can
either partner together, or howI can help you with where you're
at in your journey so you'reable to Move move move more
quickly in the direction whereyou want to go, which you know
time is time and money are bothcurrency, and time is something
(26:28):
you can't get back. So you knowthe it's always be thinking that
time is such a valuable piece ofwhat you have to give back. So
let's make sure that if we dowork together, or when you see
what I'm doing, that we takethat timepiece in as well, too.
So anyway, let me know if youare interested in talking more,
(26:52):
if my message resonates withyou, and for all you listeners
out there, yeah, I really hopeyou've enjoyed our conversation
today, and I guess overall, Ihope that it really inspires
like bigger thoughts in youabout who you are and your
potential.
Agi Keramidas (27:14):
That's great. And Keith, let me also ask you, I
have two final questions that Ialways ask my guests, and the
first one is, what does personaldevelopment mean to you?
Keith Anderson (27:28):
Yeah, so personal development for me is,
is about consciousness, to behonest. You know, it's about
getting clear with the unknownand these assumptions that I
have, or the blind spots that Imight not even realise I have,
(27:50):
and explore those and understandmore what they are, and then
also personal development is andprofessional development is
really going towards what I amnaturally drawn to, right? And
for me, early on in my career isalways interested in, like, the
(28:10):
visual arts, graphic design, youknow, I started taking classes
and that just on a whim, andthat became something that
became my profession later on.
So the, you know, these thingsare I might not have you might
not have a reason or purpose forthem, like for this big strategy
in the future, but these things,once you start following these
things that you're just drawnto, who knows they naturally
(28:33):
kind of appear up in otherplaces in your life. Later on,
Agi Keramidas (28:40):
you see me nodding because I agree
completely. Thank you. AndKeith, a hypothetical question,
if you could go back in time andmeet your 18 year old self,
what's one piece of advice youwould give him?
Keith Anderson (28:54):
Oh, yeah, I would say, like, I don't get
caught up in all this small dayto day stuff and what people
think about you, and you knowall of these things that are not
in your control. Because justlike that, it's not within your
control. Can only control whatyou do, what you think, what you
(29:18):
say, where you go, what you do.
So focus on that. And you know,once you do that, 18 year old
Keith, you know, you start tofeel more at ease, right, and
not have so much angst aboutbeing in college. So, you know,
give yourself grace, Keith, andfocus on yourself, not on trying
(29:39):
to make other people thinkdifferently of you, you know, so
yeah,
Agi Keramidas (29:47):
that's great, Keith. I want to thank you very
much for this conversation wehad today, and I think for me
anyway, and I hope that it alsocame. Close to the listener,
there was the message that wascoming strong. That was that
much of you know, having asuccessful transition has to do
(30:10):
with inner elements rather thanouter elements, rather than
documents or anything out there.
You know this, you mentionedsome works like intuition or
being drawn to or things likethat. So for me, that was a very
clear, let's say, undertone inyour message. So thank you for
(30:32):
this. I want to wish you all thevery best with continuing your
mission, and I will leave it toyou for your parting wisdom to
the listeners.
Keith Anderson (30:47):
Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you everyone
for listening. And you know, Ivery much agree that from this,
you know, from this half an houror so podcast episode. I hope
that you know, you got thatfollowing your guidance, your
(31:08):
inner system that brings youjoy, that that brings you
towards inspired action is thepath to take. And you know, even
though life might seem reallycomplicated and there's all of
these things going around,things that you could do, should
do, all of that. It doesn't needto be that complex, right? Once
(31:29):
you start listening to yourself,things, you start to learn how
to feel, how to gravitatetowards what works best for you.
So I hope that you take thataway, you know, and live
wonderful. Have a wonderful day.
And you know, if you'reinterested in this more, just
reach out to me. You have allthe information that we talked
(31:51):
about earlier to do so. So,yeah, thank you. Thank you
everyone for listening.
Agi Keramidas (32:02):
I hope you have found this episode enlightening.
If you resonate with theseconversations and feel like you
are at a crossroads in yourlife, I offer one to one
coaching to help you gainclarity and step into your next
chapter with confidence. If thatsounds interesting, reach out to
(32:22):
me and let's have aconversation, and until next
time stand out. Don't fit in.
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