April 15, 2025 • 32 mins
If your career is stuck in neutral, maybe it’s not your résumé—it’s your relationships.
In this powerful episode, I sit down with Dominic Imwali, Senior Consultant at Deloitte and founder of DX Consulting, to unpack why genuine, face-to-face connections are the real catalyst for career growth—especially in mid-career transitions.
Dominic takes us behind the scenes of his unconventional rise, from a frustrating pandemic moment to an assignment leading global consulting work in Indonesia.
As Dominic says, “You don’t need to know the right people—you need to become the right person for others to know.”
Whether you’re aiming for your next promotion, preparing for a pivot, or trying to revive your career momentum, this episode gives you practical, real-world strategies to build a Personal Board of Directors, deepen your network, and approach relationship-building with intention.
Key Takeaways:
- The real secret to career advancement? Authentic relationships—not perfectly timed applications or flawless LinkedIn profiles.
- Dominic’s mid-career mindset shift: How frustration turned into fuel during lockdown, leading him to prioritize exposure, generosity, and connection.
- Build your Personal Board of Directors: Learn how to identify 3–5 trusted advisors who offer honest feedback, real support, and strategic insight.
- Networking the right way: Why 1–2 meaningful conversations per week outperform mass LinkedIn outreach every time.
- From Cleveland to Jakarta: What Dominic’s 3-month assignment in Indonesia taught him about managing stress, cultural barriers, and uncertainty.
- Avoid these common mistakes: Generic messages, transactional asks, and over-automation are killing your networking potential.
- Where to begin: Start where it’s easy—alumni groups, interest communities, and shared values.
Connect with Dominic Imwalle
Thank you for listening to The Mid-Career GPS Podcast.
Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts here.
Visit https://johnneral.com/resources to get The Mid-Career Job Search Jumpstart and join The Mid-Career GPS Membership Community.
Visit https://johnneral.com to join The Mid-Career GPS Newsletter, a free, twice-weekly career and leadership resource for mid-career professionals.
Connect with John on LinkedIn here.
Get John's New Mid-Career Journal on Amazon here.
Follow John on Instagram @johnneralcoaching.
Subscribe to John's YouTube Channel here.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
John Neral (00:00):
Your secret to career success isn't found in
applying for the job at theright time or having the perfect
resume or LinkedIn profile.
Your career success is based onconnecting with real people and
being one yourself.
You must take time to slow downand connect with people on a
(00:24):
much deeper level so you canbuild your personal board of
directors who will advocate foryour career growth and
development.
Today, I am joined by DominicImwalle.
Dominic is a senior consultantwith Deloitte and the founder of
DX Consulting.
In this episode, you'll learnwhy Dominic took advantage of a
(00:46):
phenomenal work assignment toelevate his career, how to look
at your career in terms of whatyou have control over and don't,
as well as what it means tonetwork with real people to
build your personal board ofdirectors to ensure your career
success.
So let's get started.
(01:15):
Hello, my friends, this is theMid-Career GPS Podcast and I'm
your host, John Neral.
I help mid-career professionalslike you find a job they love,
or love the job they have, usingmy proven four-step formula.
My guest today is DominicImwalle.
Dominic knows that landing yourdream role doesn't happen by
(01:36):
chance or with him creating anoffer letter for you.
His most successful clientsknow it takes hard work,
patience and perseverance, andwhen they do, they make massive
career pivots, find clarity inwhat they want to do and land
their target roles quicker andmake more money.
Born and raised in ClevelandOhio, Dominic is an avid sports
(02:00):
fan who enjoys being active andspending time with family and
friends A man who enjoys beingactive and spending time with
family and friends, he's a realperson, and you will quickly
learn what that means and why itis important he only connects
with real people as well, so itis my pleasure to introduce you
to Dominic Mwale.
Hey there, dominic.
(02:21):
Welcome to the show.
It's great to have you here.
Dominic Imwalle (02:23):
Yeah, john, thanks for having me so excited
to be here with you today.
John Neral (02:26):
Yeah, you know we've had a great connection on
LinkedIn.
It's been so much fun followingyou and getting to know you a
little bit.
I appreciate the conversationswe've had leading up to this.
You've got such a fascinatingstory and I know it's one my
listeners today are really goingto appreciate.
Dominic Imwalle (02:41):
But, Dominic, you got to tell us what was your
mid-career moment that had themost impact in your career, so
far, definitely Jumping rightinto it and, yeah, definitely
have loved our conversation todate so far and super excited to
be here.
And the mid-career moment forme is when I think back to my
(03:02):
early time at Deloitte and I wassitting in a downtown Cleveland
apartment in a room with nowindows.
It had a window to the hallwayto count as an official room and
I was sitting there doing thework right, knocking out the
work, showing up for the work,but I just wasn't having fun.
I wasn't happy with where I wasat.
I wanted a business to bebooming, I wanted to be
(03:23):
traveling.
We're a year or two into covidat this point and that was just
a moment where I look back onthat moment, that time period of
my life where I was, you know,so frustrated at the time, and
(03:53):
it's just that that year or twoof just my head down, pure work
um, helping people out has, youknow, magnified the two years
later and all the exposure andlife experiences I've had over
the last two years with Deloitteand outside, building my own
business as well.
So that was just that mid momentwhere I was like, hey, I'm not
(04:13):
too happy here, things need tochange, and I look to that as
the defining moment.
There's going to be some moredefining moments we talk about
today, but that's the one thathits home.
John Neral (04:22):
Yeah, and the thing that comes up for me, Dominic,
in hearing you, is how powerfulthat word help is.
Right, we know the brain'striggered very differently when
we hear the word help.
But for someone like you who isat mid-career but admittedly a
little bit more toward theyounger part of being mid-career
, why is it for you thatcommunicating how you can help
(04:46):
someone has elevated your careerin the way that it has?
Why is that so powerful for you?
Dominic Imwalle (04:56):
I'd say it's because I've always prioritized
exposure.
Right, I'm coming up, the clockjust keeps clicking.
It's taking five years atDeloitte here soon.
And I think the word helpcontinues to come up, because in
those early years it was justthe thought of how can I get as
much experience as I can in thisshort period of time?
Because everyone jumps intopublic accounting or consulting
(05:18):
and they say, oh, I'll spend twoyears here and then I'll exit.
And we're not seeing thatanymore at Deloitte especially,
right, we're seeing these peoplehave these elongated careers,
and I also wanted to be.
I wanted to enjoy the people Iworked with.
And what better way to figureout, hey, who do I actually
enjoy helping, who do I want toshow up to?
And then, once I started tonail down those professionals
and those peoples that you knowI enjoyed being around, they
(05:41):
also started to pull me intodifferent rooms.
So help just slowly turned intoexposure.
And then, all of a sudden, I'min rooms where, hey, I thought
it might take me three to fouryears to get here.
Oh, there's managers that havenever had this experience.
And then, even right in my, myown business side, right,
there's that whole other side.
Once I started to focus on hey,how can I just get exposure
(06:01):
with podcasts, interviews,one-on-one coaching sessions
with folks?
How can I provide more helpalso in that business?
It just falls on that wordexposure.
I've prioritized itrelentlessly in this early part
of my career and it's paid offtremendously.
John Neral (06:22):
You do a lot on LinkedIn.
You've got a great LinkedInfollowing, and one of the things
that stood out for me as I waslooking at your about section is
you talk about spending timewith real people.
We see AI being more prominentand everybody seems to be in
(06:44):
such a frantic rush.
To hear somebody talk aboutslowing down and spending time
with real people is veryrefreshing.
Dominic Imwalle (06:53):
So the question , dominic, is this In your
experience, what's a real person?
What's a real person and whatdoes that look like?
To me, it's an awesome questionand it's one of my favorite
things to do right now.
As I'm working with people, I'mstill able to hold these raw
one-on-one sessions I've had acouple this week and I leave.
I leave on fire, I leave havinga ton of fun and and obviously
(07:17):
I hope that for the job seekeras well, although there's a ton
of work but that real person,that piece I'm talking about, is
.
You kind of hear it all the timewhen someone's starting out oh,
you don't really know how torun a business yet.
Or, hey, you don't really knowhow to do X, y and Z yet.
And one of the biggest thingsthat I come across on LinkedIn
or when I'm talking to jobseekers is like, hey, you don't
know how to network, you thinkyou do, but you don't.
(07:39):
Here's what it looks like.
And so once you go down thatrabbit hole of, oh, can you look
John in the eyes and have anactual conversation?
Can you?
You know, if you're in person,can you shake their hand and not
pull out your phone for 10minutes?
That's starting to become thatreal person that I talk about.
Can you tell a story about yourcareer that you just love to
talk about, or a time that youmessed up or a time you were
(08:01):
given feedback, getting intomore of those raw moments?
Is that real person I'm talkingabout?
Because I want you to, you know, I want you to come across
people and be able to uncoverthat and not just sit on the
sidelines as a oh you know, Ithink I know that person pretty
well.
Maybe I could reach out to themfor this.
So that's what comes to mindwhen I think of a real person.
It's a good one.
John Neral (08:21):
And I like how you walked us through that.
So, when you think about howyou've built your network at
Deloitte, how much time wouldyou say whether it be every day
or every week do you spend timeengaging in those intentional
interactions and conversationswhere you just really get to
(08:43):
spend time getting to knowsomebody?
Dominic Imwalle (08:44):
Yeah, yes, and I'd say, as I got more senior,
that time has grown less andless, or it just shows up in a
different light.
Right that two years that I wastalking about earlier in
Cleveland, at least two to threeconversations per week.
I have a one note full of atleast 100 professionals that
I've connected with and, truthbe told, all those conversations
were not awesome like some ofthem just were right Complete
(09:08):
rocks or just didn't do anything.
They didn't know Right, and,and that was for me to learn and
me to figure out how, hey, howdo I have a better conversation?
Is this even like?
Does Dominic even want to talkto that person?
I think that's something wedon't ask ourselves as well.
But, yes, as you're, as you'rekind of going through your week,
I always try to.
I don't want to fall victim tohaving a recurring one-on-one
(09:29):
that you know comes up everysingle week and we're just
holding it to hold it.
I do want to.
Hey, can I?
Can I ask them a question or atleast pull myself back and say
what do I have to learn fromthis person?
I don't think we do that enoughwhere and that's part of that
real person we were just talkingabout a second ago is like how
do I unlock the raw version ofthose people I'm trying to
connect with and it is right,when I'm working with the job
(09:51):
seekers right now?
It at least has to be one totwo conversations per week, just
30-minute blocks or whateveryou can get, but it does take
diligent focus, as you said.
John Neral (10:01):
Well, not only that, but it's also about knowing the
boundaries or the filters thatwe have in terms of whether, to
your point earlier, we want tocontinue that conversation.
There can be a lot of power insaying to somebody look, I
appreciate the time, I don'tthink this is going to go
anywhere, so let's just not puta conversation on the calendar
(10:23):
because, right, maybe we comeback at a certain point in time.
And I think that's one of thethings.
Especially when we'renetworking, we have to be really
clear in terms of who's a goodperson in our network and who
isn't.
And it's okay if they're not,because we're not going to be
the right person for everybodyeither.
Dominic Imwalle (10:41):
Of course, I want people to start where it's
easy, and so that oftentimesjust means like, oh, I'll just
hit up everyone in my you knowthat first circle and it's.
And you pull yourself back andyou stop and you think for a
second where you want to go andwho you need to talk to, and you
start to connect the dots andyou quickly realize you know why
did I go into that conversationand immediately seek advice.
(11:01):
I don't love the life thatperson lives, or what they do or
their job, and all of a suddenthey're, you know, telling me
where I need to job search orwhere I need to go in my career,
and so that's kind of one ofthose reasons also that I think
it's awesome to be intentionalwith you know who you're
speaking with.
Good point there.
John Neral (11:17):
So, talking about being intentional, you had a
recent career move that was veryintentional and one which I
know my listeners are going tobe a little excited to hear
about, because not everybodygets that kind of opportunity.
Dominic Imwalle (11:36):
You did a three-month assignment where In
Indonesia, so I was based inJakarta.
John Neral (11:43):
Okay, talk to us a little bit about how that whole
experience came about.
Dominic Imwalle (11:47):
Definitely I haven't had the chance to talk
about it a lot publicly and Ithink I will here in the next
couple of years as I go, but forme it was okay.
What is the challenge this year?
I love to take on ridiculoustasks, whether that's personal,
physical, whatever that may beand there was an opportunity to
go serve our client with somemining operations in Jakarta,
(12:09):
and that also Indonesia.
And that also meant travelingaround the Indonesian islands
and meeting with folks helpingcarry out business process,
consulting and whatnot.
That also meant whole newculture, whole new language and
being a part of a differentDeloitte member firm.
Right, it's a huge organization,but you're part of a different
(12:31):
structure, and so it took me tosome pretty wild places.
It was actually supposed to bea year long, ended up getting a
cut a little bit short due tosome governmental relations that
you know, just part of the gamethat I had to navigate.
But that experience is one thatI will forever cherish, just
because the ability to be arounddifferent, just immerse
(12:52):
yourself and figure out, hey,what's working over here, what
doesn't, how do I need tocommunicate differently or show
up differently in a differentlight?
And then you know I'd love toget back there one day and bring
some family as well.
John Neral (13:06):
Hey there, you know that navigating a job search in
the middle of your career isn'tjust about updating your resume
or polishing your LinkedInprofile.
It's about making the rightmove without the overwhelm and
doing it strategically.
That's why I created somethingjust for you you.
(13:33):
The Mid-Career Job SearchJumpstart is a powerful
step-by-step guide designed tohelp you clarify your goals,
find time to job search andavoid making a move you'll
regret.
And here's the best part youcan grab the jumpstart for just
one dollar.
That's right, $1 for a guidethat can save you hours of
stress and frustration.
So to grab the jumpstart, visitmy website at johnnerrellcom,
(13:57):
forward, slash resources orclick the show notes for the
link.
Together, let's take that firststep towards your next job or
promotion and start buildingyour mid-career GPS with greater
clarity, more confidence and aproven plan.
Now let's get back to theepisode.
Well, an incredible experience,for sure, because not all of us
(14:23):
get those kind of opportunitiesright To just go across the
world and have an opportunity towork and live.
What I'm really curious about,dominic, is that if you and I
were to come back 10 years fromnow and we were to be back on
this microphone in 10 years andI was to ask you what was the
biggest thing you learned fromyour time in Indonesia that has
(14:46):
impacted your career throughoutthe last 10 years.
What would you tell us?
Dominic Imwalle (14:51):
Well, I think in 10 years, I think I'm going
to know a lot more, but at themoment I would say there's a
piece of hey, you need to watchout for yourself and what's
happening, because there were alot of things that Dominic could
control and there were a lot ofthings Dominic couldn't control
, whether it was governmental,whether it was with Deloitte and
things like that.
But I look back and I know thepeople around me and the leaders
(15:14):
that you know witnessed me gothrough everything I did and
they would look back and theywould definitely share a
sentiment of how calm I was.
My whole goal as I went throughvisa issues, immigration, just
all these different issues andyou know, navigated just
business requirements there andmeetings and whatnot for senior
leader stakeholders the abilityto just stay calm, like I stood
(15:37):
very tall and calm in thatmoment and I think it just
helped me grow because now mylevel for issues or problems
needs to be so much moremagnified for it actually to
impact me right.
A lot of things for me now areno factor.
Okay, hey, you know we missedon this coaching session.
(15:57):
Or hey, we missed on thisdeliverable.
Okay, cool, what?
What do we need to do next,instead of you know coming back
to a puddle of you know sittingin there and doubt and letting
that all creep up, I've feltjust so much more confident as I
come across different problems.
So I think being that calm,cool, collective and trying to
stand tall in those momentswhere everything just seems to
be up against the wall isprobably that piece of advice
(16:19):
I'd give myself.
John Neral (16:21):
I like that a lot and for our listeners, dominic.
So we're recording this at theend of February.
This episode is going to dropsometime in April, and it goes
without saying that, especiallythe last month, the time of this
recording, we have seen a lotof changes happen, both at the
(16:42):
federal government level, bothat the corporate level.
We're seeing ripple effectshappen in terms of some changes
both in the overall joblandscape and just the job
market in general, and one ofthe reasons why I wanted to have
you on the show is not justfrom this angle of confidence,
(17:05):
but how you've built yournetwork, and one of the things
that you talk about and youadvocate is having something
called a personal board ofdirectors, that group of people
whom you keep really close, thatthey're there to help you and
you're there to help them andstuff.
Why is it so importantespecially right now, in 2025,
(17:28):
that anyone who is listening tothis episode work diligently at
building a personal board ofdirectors for their career?
Dominic Imwalle (17:36):
growth Awesome question.
And I got a couple of hot ideasjust firing right now, and I
think one of them is that weopen up an app LinkedIn.
It being that immediatelyraises our blood pressure, we
get stressed out.
We're wondering, hey, where doI go?
What does this look like?
And then we work somewhere Say,we're in an awesome job for a
couple of years but we alwaysstart to wonder, hey, what am I
(17:59):
doing?
I talk with so many mid-careerfolks that are, hey, where does
this role end up in three tofive years, or where do I pivot
from here?
And it's so important becauseif you log onto that app,
there's 25 other Dominicstelling you, hey, you should try
this, or you should do this, orsomeone has a different brand
approach to this and that, andit gets pretty overwhelming
super fast.
(18:19):
And so a question I've alwaystried to ask myself as I build
that board of directors is whatif you played the game like you
were always on offense, you werejust trying to navigate these
conversations and understand,okay, who can help me out here
and give me a real feedback?
Because that's what I love.
I mean, I end my coachingsessions with asking the people
I'm working with you know, hey,what's a piece of feedback?
(18:42):
But I also need to, you know,prioritize my own career when I
go to people.
So I have three to five peoplethat I just like, wholeheartedly
trust.
You know, I give it all to themand I say, hey, right, I
respect where you've been, Irespect what you've done in the
business, I want your input onwhere I'm headed in my career
and I trust it.
And at the same time, I wouldalso want them to tell me, hey,
(19:02):
dominic, you have this all wrong, and I trust them to do that,
and that's why I've put them inthat position, or I feel
comfortable reaching out to them.
But once you start to play thegame like you're on offense,
these things, these puddles oflet's just call it mud,
confusion, not clear on whereyou're going they just start to
dissipate and they start to goaway because you're at least
talking it out, you're, you'regetting connected with people
(19:23):
that are living the life youwant and that's who the you know
, that's who I hope isrepresenting your you know board
of directors that you'recreating here in your
professional world right now.
John Neral (19:34):
I really like that question about how would you
play if you were on offense allthe time.
So for someone who's listening,who may feel like they don't
have a big network or they don'thave that personal board of
directors of people with whomthey believe they can explicitly
trust, what tips or suggestionswould you give for them to
(19:57):
start building their board ofdirectors right now?
Dominic Imwalle (20:00):
Got it.
Definitely, if you've missedout on this opportunity to build
this group because I know somany people have.
I talk to them all the timethat say, hey, dominic, I don't
even right, there isn't.
You are that person.
At this point I don't know whoto talk to.
Start where it's easy for you.
I don't want you to be onLinkedIn sending out 50 cold
messages or nor emails.
(20:21):
I want you to go where you'vebeen involved before.
If that's Boy Scouts, if that'schurch organizations, if that's
you know, university alumni,bowling league, whatever that is
.
Go where it's easy on yourself,because then the conversation
isn't as stressful for you atleast to get started.
And sure, hey, are those peoplein those groups living the life
(20:43):
I want?
Maybe they aren't, and so maybeyou know there's some more
digging that you'll have to do.
But at least just make it easyon yourself as you go to those
groups, because then you'll getbetter at holding the
conversation, because you'regoing to go have a few and
you're going to absolutely dropthe ball a couple of times, just
as I did, just as anyone elsedid.
Who's trying to network, and soas you start to, you know, find
those people that are.
(21:04):
You know, hey, I talk to themno-transcript.
John Neral (21:37):
Nice.
So when someone starts whereit's easy, they start meeting
people, they start pullingpeople in a little bit closer
and now it comes time forfeedback.
So where there's trust, therecan be feedback given, and you
can take that feedback and runwith it.
In that regard, when you thinkback on your personal board of
(22:02):
directors, your network ofadvocates, as you call them,
what would you say is thehardest piece of feedback you've
ever received in your career?
Dominic Imwalle (22:11):
Oh, I can give you a small one.
That I think is I actually tellthis around, I'll tell this out
when I'm with a group of youngadults or presenting
professionally is that I've satin leadership rooms that most
people my age just haven't hadthe chance to sit in, known to
(22:36):
have a facial expression attimes, just like on a Zoom call
or whatnot.
And I was sat down after ameeting and they said hey,
dominic, if you want to be inthese meetings, you'll need to
watch your facial expressions aspeople go through and talk
through their opinions hey,solutions and whatnot.
So that's a small piece.
When I look at my board ofdirectors, the hardest piece of
feedback and I won't say there'slike a general one sentence
that that just completelycrushed me Um, but for me it was
(22:59):
just think a bit bigger thanwhere you.
You know where you grew up from, because I, you know, I'm from
Ohio, I'm from the Clevelandarea, and that's all I knew and
that's all I thought.
I was going to go to Ohio state, say, in Ohio, and hang out
there, and I still love thatarea, but getting out of that
bubble, going to a differentplace where I had no idea what
was going on and just didn'tknow anything was a great piece
(23:23):
of feedback that I needed at thetime, because at that moment I
was just doing what everyoneelse did and so, accepting that
doing it you know, through thetears, through the painful
moments, through the toughrelationships with family,
whatever it may be um, it waswell worth it in the end to kind
of get out of uh, you know,what I had always known.
John Neral (23:42):
Thank you for sharing that.
That that's not an easy, that'snot an easy question to answer
and I appreciate you playingalong with us today because
getting that difficult feedbackright so especially you know,
even if it's something like just, you know, watching your facial
expressions on a Zoom thatimpacts your brand that's what
people get to experience you as,and so that's really powerful
(24:05):
and helpful for people to kindof hear today.
So, thank you.
Dominic Imwalle (24:08):
Yeah, and there's a piece where people
need to walk away from more ofthose conversations and simply
just say you're right, like whatwas I going to say in any of
those moments or justconversations that I'm currently
having?
Right, hey, you're right.
You know what I did was wrong.
Here's what I can do next time,but for now, you're right and I
think we should say that moreoften.
But, thank you, appreciate it.
John Neral (24:32):
Yeah, dominic, when you think about how people are
networking right now and we'reseeing people both with
in-person networking events,networking on the job,
networking on LinkedIn and onsocial media where do you think
mid-career professionals rightnow are networking incorrectly?
Dominic Imwalle (24:54):
hour networking incorrectly?
It's a great question.
It's the 15 minutes for coffee,but I think that's an answer
you're going to get from everysingle person.
So, for me, what I've seen withthe job seekers that I'm
working with right now, it'sokay.
(25:14):
Let me take this to LinkedInright away.
We talked about this earlier.
But, starting with who you knowand the circles, you already
have the top answer I always getI've exhausted my network,
dominic, there's no one else Ican reach out to.
Really Right, I always have tostop there and just push on that
a little bit more, because it'sjust something I've never
believed in.
Um, but to take a template,that I'm not a big fan of giving
(25:35):
out networking templates andwhatnot, because to take a
template and then burn through50 to 100 people on LinkedIn,
that's not, that's notnetworking, and I hate to put
like what we call networking andwhat we don't call it, but
that's one of the biggest placesI see a hiccup right now,
because then you're just you'remissing out on good leads, but
when you actually take the timeto even add one sentence oh hey,
(25:57):
I saw you, you had the chanceto work with that company, I did
back in these years and we weredoing X like that opens a whole
new door than you just copy andpasting, filling out their name
, the role you're looking forand whatnot.
That changes the game whenyou're able to attach some type
of personal note.
So go deep instead of, you know, sending out 50 to 100 messages
(26:18):
.
John Neral (26:20):
I like that and I say I say to people I work with
as well that you can uncovergold in the about section.
If people really took time towrite a thoughtful about section
and even include somethingpersonal in that and also in
their LinkedIn recommendations,you can pick up some common
themes that can pull out sopeople actually feel like you,
(26:41):
you invested and took some timeand looking at their profile,
rather than just that cold,sterile, non-connecting type
message on LinkedIn that that weget.
That drives me nuts.
Dominic Imwalle (26:55):
A hundred percent.
I think it's also and just tobe fully transparent with
everyone it's led to my businessbooming, being able to go and
talk to people and I sendmessages.
I'm not afraid to say thatsending messages to job seekers
and going through their profileand researching where they've
been and what they've done andthen adding a note around that
that opens up a different door.
(27:16):
We have different conversationsthan when, a year ago, I used
to just send them a templatedthing and it didn't go anywhere.
They didn't respond, theydidn't wanna talk to Dominic
just because he was a job searchcoach.
So it's led to just awesomeconversations that I genuinely
appreciate and helped me tobecome a better professional.
John Neral (27:32):
Nice, yeah, absolutely.
The power of connection is soimportant right now and I feel
like having conversations likethis, hopefully, are bringing
people back to really taking thetime to do that.
Hey, dominic, I've enjoyed thisconversation.
I know people listening have aswell.
So, as we start to wrap up here, what advice would you give
someone to help them build theirmid-career GPS?
Dominic Imwalle (27:56):
Good one.
It's better to be terrible for aseason there's a different word
you could use, but I would justI would remind yourself that
it's better to just be genuinelybad for a little bit.
Like go, whether it's contentcreation, whether it's reaching
out and trying to network,whether it's hey, you know, I
want to put myself in front ofleadership and give you know, be
(28:17):
able to present.
Well, you have to stumble a fewtimes, so remember remembering
that as you go through whateverhard piece of your career that
you're trying to navigate rightnow.
And then also this this justhit me today just being grateful
for the experience that youhave around yourself, for me to
be able to do this podcast, forme to be able to do this podcast
, for me to be able to post onLinkedIn this morning, interact
with people I find genuinelycool and just right, have a nine
(28:39):
to five or have a job.
At the end of the day, there'sso many people around us who are
struggling either hey, I, youknow, I don't know what this
career looks like in three tofive years.
I don't love it, haven't lovedit since I start.
There's, there's so many peopleout there you couldn't even
imagine.
And so be grateful for theexperience you have right now as
you're moving through yourmid-career GPS.
John Neral (28:59):
Yeah, thank you for that.
Those are two really powerfulthings and I think sometimes we
often overlook or kind of brushby, sometimes just about being
grateful, but there really is alot of power in just pausing to
appreciate that, and I amunquestionably grateful that you
and I got a chance to connectand have this conversation.
I look forward to stayingconnected with you as well.
Hey, if people want to connectwith you, find you, learn more
(29:22):
about you and what you do, I'mgoing to turn the mic over to
you.
Tell us all the great placeswhere people can find you and
connect.
Dominic Imwalle (29:27):
Definitely.
I'm wholeheartedly focused onbuilding conversations over
applications.
That's my program.
That's what I post about everysingle day.
I'm still working with jobseekers one-on-one, so that's
one-on-one raw coaching sessions.
So if you're interested in that, you can definitely reach out
to me on LinkedIn, and that'sthe place best place to reach me
.
You also grab my freenewsletter there.
I have a five-day email seriesas well around these topics and
(29:50):
so, yeah, linkedin's best placeto reach me.
You'll find my featured sectionwith everything that you need.
John Neral (29:56):
And you've got a great LinkedIn.
So, Dominic Imwalle, thank youso much for being a great guest.
I appreciate you, I'm gratefulfor you and we will stay in
touch, my friend.
Thanks so much.
Thank you, john, I appreciateit.
All right, my friends, ifthere's one big takeaway from
this conversation with Dominic,here's what I want to offer you
today Slow down, slow down, taketime to connect with people.
(30:21):
It's okay if it gets a littlemessy, it's okay if you screw it
up a little bit, but when youslow down and you take time to
get to know people, you may justfind that they're the kind of
people you wanna pull in alittle closer to your network.
So as you start building thatpersonal board of directors or
building your network ofadvocates, think about who those
(30:43):
people might be and be open tothose experiences of getting to
know people, truly getting toknow them, those real people
that Dominic talked about.
Be a real person first to them.
Slow down, have thoseconversations and build your
network with more intentionalitythan ever before.
So until next time, my friends,remember this you will build
(31:06):
your mid-career GPS one mile orone step at a time, and how you
show up matters.
Make it a great rest of yourday.
Thank you for listening to theMid-Career GPS Podcast.
Make sure to follow on yourfavorite listening platform and,
(31:26):
if you have a moment, I'd loveto hear your comments on Apple
Podcasts.
Visit johnnarrellcom for moreinformation about how I can help
you build your mid-career GPSor how I can help you and your
organization with your nextworkshop or public speaking
event.
Don't forget to connect with meon LinkedIn and follow me on
social at John Darrell Coaching.
I look forward to being backwith you next week.
(31:47):
Until then, take care andremember how we show up matters.
Your secret to career success isn't found in
applying for the job at theright time or having the perfect
resume or LinkedIn profile.
Your career success is based onconnecting with real people and
being one yourself.
You must take time to slow downand connect with people on a
(00:24):
much deeper level so you canbuild your personal board of
directors who will advocate foryour career growth and
development.
Today, I am joined by DominicImwalle.
Dominic is a senior consultantwith Deloitte and the founder of
DX Consulting.
In this episode, you'll learnwhy Dominic took advantage of a
(00:46):
phenomenal work assignment toelevate his career, how to look
at your career in terms of whatyou have control over and don't,
as well as what it means tonetwork with real people to
build your personal board ofdirectors to ensure your career
success.
So let's get started.
(01:15):
Hello, my friends, this is theMid-Career GPS Podcast and I'm
your host, John Neral.
I help mid-career professionalslike you find a job they love,
or love the job they have, usingmy proven four-step formula.
My guest today is DominicImwalle.
Dominic knows that landing yourdream role doesn't happen by
(01:36):
chance or with him creating anoffer letter for you.
His most successful clientsknow it takes hard work,
patience and perseverance, andwhen they do, they make massive
career pivots, find clarity inwhat they want to do and land
their target roles quicker andmake more money.
Born and raised in ClevelandOhio, Dominic is an avid sports
(02:00):
fan who enjoys being active andspending time with family and
friends A man who enjoys beingactive and spending time with
family and friends, he's a realperson, and you will quickly
learn what that means and why itis important he only connects
with real people as well, so itis my pleasure to introduce you
to Dominic Mwale.
Hey there, dominic.
(02:21):
Welcome to the show.
It's great to have you here.
Dominic Imwalle (02:23):
Yeah, john, thanks for having me so excited
to be here with you today.
John Neral (02:26):
Yeah, you know we've had a great connection on
LinkedIn.
It's been so much fun followingyou and getting to know you a
little bit.
I appreciate the conversationswe've had leading up to this.
You've got such a fascinatingstory and I know it's one my
listeners today are really goingto appreciate.
Dominic Imwalle (02:41):
But, Dominic, you got to tell us what was your
mid-career moment that had themost impact in your career, so
far, definitely Jumping rightinto it and, yeah, definitely
have loved our conversation todate so far and super excited to
be here.
And the mid-career moment forme is when I think back to my
(03:02):
early time at Deloitte and I wassitting in a downtown Cleveland
apartment in a room with nowindows.
It had a window to the hallwayto count as an official room and
I was sitting there doing thework right, knocking out the
work, showing up for the work,but I just wasn't having fun.
I wasn't happy with where I wasat.
I wanted a business to bebooming, I wanted to be
(03:23):
traveling.
We're a year or two into covidat this point and that was just
a moment where I look back onthat moment, that time period of
my life where I was, you know,so frustrated at the time, and
(03:53):
it's just that that year or twoof just my head down, pure work
um, helping people out has, youknow, magnified the two years
later and all the exposure andlife experiences I've had over
the last two years with Deloitteand outside, building my own
business as well.
So that was just that mid momentwhere I was like, hey, I'm not
(04:13):
too happy here, things need tochange, and I look to that as
the defining moment.
There's going to be some moredefining moments we talk about
today, but that's the one thathits home.
John Neral (04:22):
Yeah, and the thing that comes up for me, Dominic,
in hearing you, is how powerfulthat word help is.
Right, we know the brain'striggered very differently when
we hear the word help.
But for someone like you who isat mid-career but admittedly a
little bit more toward theyounger part of being mid-career
, why is it for you thatcommunicating how you can help
(04:46):
someone has elevated your careerin the way that it has?
Why is that so powerful for you?
Dominic Imwalle (04:56):
I'd say it's because I've always prioritized
exposure.
Right, I'm coming up, the clockjust keeps clicking.
It's taking five years atDeloitte here soon.
And I think the word helpcontinues to come up, because in
those early years it was justthe thought of how can I get as
much experience as I can in thisshort period of time?
Because everyone jumps intopublic accounting or consulting
(05:18):
and they say, oh, I'll spend twoyears here and then I'll exit.
And we're not seeing thatanymore at Deloitte especially,
right, we're seeing these peoplehave these elongated careers,
and I also wanted to be.
I wanted to enjoy the people Iworked with.
And what better way to figureout, hey, who do I actually
enjoy helping, who do I want toshow up to?
And then, once I started tonail down those professionals
and those peoples that you knowI enjoyed being around, they
(05:41):
also started to pull me intodifferent rooms.
So help just slowly turned intoexposure.
And then, all of a sudden, I'min rooms where, hey, I thought
it might take me three to fouryears to get here.
Oh, there's managers that havenever had this experience.
And then, even right in my, myown business side, right,
there's that whole other side.
Once I started to focus on hey,how can I just get exposure
(06:01):
with podcasts, interviews,one-on-one coaching sessions
with folks?
How can I provide more helpalso in that business?
It just falls on that wordexposure.
I've prioritized itrelentlessly in this early part
of my career and it's paid offtremendously.
John Neral (06:22):
You do a lot on LinkedIn.
You've got a great LinkedInfollowing, and one of the things
that stood out for me as I waslooking at your about section is
you talk about spending timewith real people.
We see AI being more prominentand everybody seems to be in
(06:44):
such a frantic rush.
To hear somebody talk aboutslowing down and spending time
with real people is veryrefreshing.
Dominic Imwalle (06:53):
So the question , dominic, is this In your
experience, what's a real person?
What's a real person and whatdoes that look like?
To me, it's an awesome questionand it's one of my favorite
things to do right now.
As I'm working with people, I'mstill able to hold these raw
one-on-one sessions I've had acouple this week and I leave.
I leave on fire, I leave havinga ton of fun and and obviously
(07:17):
I hope that for the job seekeras well, although there's a ton
of work but that real person,that piece I'm talking about, is
.
You kind of hear it all the timewhen someone's starting out oh,
you don't really know how torun a business yet.
Or, hey, you don't really knowhow to do X, y and Z yet.
And one of the biggest thingsthat I come across on LinkedIn
or when I'm talking to jobseekers is like, hey, you don't
know how to network, you thinkyou do, but you don't.
(07:39):
Here's what it looks like.
And so once you go down thatrabbit hole of, oh, can you look
John in the eyes and have anactual conversation?
Can you?
You know, if you're in person,can you shake their hand and not
pull out your phone for 10minutes?
That's starting to become thatreal person that I talk about.
Can you tell a story about yourcareer that you just love to
talk about, or a time that youmessed up or a time you were
(08:01):
given feedback, getting intomore of those raw moments?
Is that real person I'm talkingabout?
Because I want you to, you know, I want you to come across
people and be able to uncoverthat and not just sit on the
sidelines as a oh you know, Ithink I know that person pretty
well.
Maybe I could reach out to themfor this.
So that's what comes to mindwhen I think of a real person.
It's a good one.
John Neral (08:21):
And I like how you walked us through that.
So, when you think about howyou've built your network at
Deloitte, how much time wouldyou say whether it be every day
or every week do you spend timeengaging in those intentional
interactions and conversationswhere you just really get to
(08:43):
spend time getting to knowsomebody?
Dominic Imwalle (08:44):
Yeah, yes, and I'd say, as I got more senior,
that time has grown less andless, or it just shows up in a
different light.
Right that two years that I wastalking about earlier in
Cleveland, at least two to threeconversations per week.
I have a one note full of atleast 100 professionals that
I've connected with and, truthbe told, all those conversations
were not awesome like some ofthem just were right Complete
(09:08):
rocks or just didn't do anything.
They didn't know Right, and,and that was for me to learn and
me to figure out how, hey, howdo I have a better conversation?
Is this even like?
Does Dominic even want to talkto that person?
I think that's something wedon't ask ourselves as well.
But, yes, as you're, as you'rekind of going through your week,
I always try to.
I don't want to fall victim tohaving a recurring one-on-one
(09:29):
that you know comes up everysingle week and we're just
holding it to hold it.
I do want to.
Hey, can I?
Can I ask them a question or atleast pull myself back and say
what do I have to learn fromthis person?
I don't think we do that enoughwhere and that's part of that
real person we were just talkingabout a second ago is like how
do I unlock the raw version ofthose people I'm trying to
connect with and it is right,when I'm working with the job
(09:51):
seekers right now?
It at least has to be one totwo conversations per week, just
30-minute blocks or whateveryou can get, but it does take
diligent focus, as you said.
John Neral (10:01):
Well, not only that, but it's also about knowing the
boundaries or the filters thatwe have in terms of whether, to
your point earlier, we want tocontinue that conversation.
There can be a lot of power insaying to somebody look, I
appreciate the time, I don'tthink this is going to go
anywhere, so let's just not puta conversation on the calendar
(10:23):
because, right, maybe we comeback at a certain point in time.
And I think that's one of thethings.
Especially when we'renetworking, we have to be really
clear in terms of who's a goodperson in our network and who
isn't.
And it's okay if they're not,because we're not going to be
the right person for everybodyeither.
Dominic Imwalle (10:41):
Of course, I want people to start where it's
easy, and so that oftentimesjust means like, oh, I'll just
hit up everyone in my you knowthat first circle and it's.
And you pull yourself back andyou stop and you think for a
second where you want to go andwho you need to talk to, and you
start to connect the dots andyou quickly realize you know why
did I go into that conversationand immediately seek advice.
(11:01):
I don't love the life thatperson lives, or what they do or
their job, and all of a suddenthey're, you know, telling me
where I need to job search orwhere I need to go in my career,
and so that's kind of one ofthose reasons also that I think
it's awesome to be intentionalwith you know who you're
speaking with.
Good point there.
John Neral (11:17):
So, talking about being intentional, you had a
recent career move that was veryintentional and one which I
know my listeners are going tobe a little excited to hear
about, because not everybodygets that kind of opportunity.
Dominic Imwalle (11:36):
You did a three-month assignment where In
Indonesia, so I was based inJakarta.
John Neral (11:43):
Okay, talk to us a little bit about how that whole
experience came about.
Dominic Imwalle (11:47):
Definitely I haven't had the chance to talk
about it a lot publicly and Ithink I will here in the next
couple of years as I go, but forme it was okay.
What is the challenge this year?
I love to take on ridiculoustasks, whether that's personal,
physical, whatever that may beand there was an opportunity to
go serve our client with somemining operations in Jakarta,
(12:09):
and that also Indonesia.
And that also meant travelingaround the Indonesian islands
and meeting with folks helpingcarry out business process,
consulting and whatnot.
That also meant whole newculture, whole new language and
being a part of a differentDeloitte member firm.
Right, it's a huge organization,but you're part of a different
(12:31):
structure, and so it took me tosome pretty wild places.
It was actually supposed to bea year long, ended up getting a
cut a little bit short due tosome governmental relations that
you know, just part of the gamethat I had to navigate.
But that experience is one thatI will forever cherish, just
because the ability to be arounddifferent, just immerse
(12:52):
yourself and figure out, hey,what's working over here, what
doesn't, how do I need tocommunicate differently or show
up differently in a differentlight?
And then you know I'd love toget back there one day and bring
some family as well.
John Neral (13:06):
Hey there, you know that navigating a job search in
the middle of your career isn'tjust about updating your resume
or polishing your LinkedInprofile.
It's about making the rightmove without the overwhelm and
doing it strategically.
That's why I created somethingjust for you you.
(13:33):
The Mid-Career Job SearchJumpstart is a powerful
step-by-step guide designed tohelp you clarify your goals,
find time to job search andavoid making a move you'll
regret.
And here's the best part youcan grab the jumpstart for just
one dollar.
That's right, $1 for a guidethat can save you hours of
stress and frustration.
So to grab the jumpstart, visitmy website at johnnerrellcom,
(13:57):
forward, slash resources orclick the show notes for the
link.
Together, let's take that firststep towards your next job or
promotion and start buildingyour mid-career GPS with greater
clarity, more confidence and aproven plan.
Now let's get back to theepisode.
Well, an incredible experience,for sure, because not all of us
(14:23):
get those kind of opportunitiesright To just go across the
world and have an opportunity towork and live.
What I'm really curious about,dominic, is that if you and I
were to come back 10 years fromnow and we were to be back on
this microphone in 10 years andI was to ask you what was the
biggest thing you learned fromyour time in Indonesia that has
(14:46):
impacted your career throughoutthe last 10 years.
What would you tell us?
Dominic Imwalle (14:51):
Well, I think in 10 years, I think I'm going
to know a lot more, but at themoment I would say there's a
piece of hey, you need to watchout for yourself and what's
happening, because there were alot of things that Dominic could
control and there were a lot ofthings Dominic couldn't control
, whether it was governmental,whether it was with Deloitte and
things like that.
But I look back and I know thepeople around me and the leaders
(15:14):
that you know witnessed me gothrough everything I did and
they would look back and theywould definitely share a
sentiment of how calm I was.
My whole goal as I went throughvisa issues, immigration, just
all these different issues andyou know, navigated just
business requirements there andmeetings and whatnot for senior
leader stakeholders the abilityto just stay calm, like I stood
(15:37):
very tall and calm in thatmoment and I think it just
helped me grow because now mylevel for issues or problems
needs to be so much moremagnified for it actually to
impact me right.
A lot of things for me now areno factor.
Okay, hey, you know we missedon this coaching session.
(15:57):
Or hey, we missed on thisdeliverable.
Okay, cool, what?
What do we need to do next,instead of you know coming back
to a puddle of you know sittingin there and doubt and letting
that all creep up, I've feltjust so much more confident as I
come across different problems.
So I think being that calm,cool, collective and trying to
stand tall in those momentswhere everything just seems to
be up against the wall isprobably that piece of advice
(16:19):
I'd give myself.
John Neral (16:21):
I like that a lot and for our listeners, dominic.
So we're recording this at theend of February.
This episode is going to dropsometime in April, and it goes
without saying that, especiallythe last month, the time of this
recording, we have seen a lotof changes happen, both at the
(16:42):
federal government level, bothat the corporate level.
We're seeing ripple effectshappen in terms of some changes
both in the overall joblandscape and just the job
market in general, and one ofthe reasons why I wanted to have
you on the show is not justfrom this angle of confidence,
(17:05):
but how you've built yournetwork, and one of the things
that you talk about and youadvocate is having something
called a personal board ofdirectors, that group of people
whom you keep really close, thatthey're there to help you and
you're there to help them andstuff.
Why is it so importantespecially right now, in 2025,
(17:28):
that anyone who is listening tothis episode work diligently at
building a personal board ofdirectors for their career?
Dominic Imwalle (17:36):
growth Awesome question.
And I got a couple of hot ideasjust firing right now, and I
think one of them is that weopen up an app LinkedIn.
It being that immediatelyraises our blood pressure, we
get stressed out.
We're wondering, hey, where doI go?
What does this look like?
And then we work somewhere Say,we're in an awesome job for a
couple of years but we alwaysstart to wonder, hey, what am I
(17:59):
doing?
I talk with so many mid-careerfolks that are, hey, where does
this role end up in three tofive years, or where do I pivot
from here?
And it's so important becauseif you log onto that app,
there's 25 other Dominicstelling you, hey, you should try
this, or you should do this, orsomeone has a different brand
approach to this and that, andit gets pretty overwhelming
super fast.
(18:19):
And so a question I've alwaystried to ask myself as I build
that board of directors is whatif you played the game like you
were always on offense, you werejust trying to navigate these
conversations and understand,okay, who can help me out here
and give me a real feedback?
Because that's what I love.
I mean, I end my coachingsessions with asking the people
I'm working with you know, hey,what's a piece of feedback?
(18:42):
But I also need to, you know,prioritize my own career when I
go to people.
So I have three to five peoplethat I just like, wholeheartedly
trust.
You know, I give it all to themand I say, hey, right, I
respect where you've been, Irespect what you've done in the
business, I want your input onwhere I'm headed in my career
and I trust it.
And at the same time, I wouldalso want them to tell me, hey,
(19:02):
dominic, you have this all wrong, and I trust them to do that,
and that's why I've put them inthat position, or I feel
comfortable reaching out to them.
But once you start to play thegame like you're on offense,
these things, these puddles oflet's just call it mud,
confusion, not clear on whereyou're going they just start to
dissipate and they start to goaway because you're at least
talking it out, you're, you'regetting connected with people
(19:23):
that are living the life youwant and that's who the you know
, that's who I hope isrepresenting your you know board
of directors that you'recreating here in your
professional world right now.
John Neral (19:34):
I really like that question about how would you
play if you were on offense allthe time.
So for someone who's listening,who may feel like they don't
have a big network or they don'thave that personal board of
directors of people with whomthey believe they can explicitly
trust, what tips or suggestionswould you give for them to
(19:57):
start building their board ofdirectors right now?
Dominic Imwalle (20:00):
Got it.
Definitely, if you've missedout on this opportunity to build
this group because I know somany people have.
I talk to them all the timethat say, hey, dominic, I don't
even right, there isn't.
You are that person.
At this point I don't know whoto talk to.
Start where it's easy for you.
I don't want you to be onLinkedIn sending out 50 cold
messages or nor emails.
(20:21):
I want you to go where you'vebeen involved before.
If that's Boy Scouts, if that'schurch organizations, if that's
you know, university alumni,bowling league, whatever that is
.
Go where it's easy on yourself,because then the conversation
isn't as stressful for you atleast to get started.
And sure, hey, are those peoplein those groups living the life
(20:43):
I want?
Maybe they aren't, and so maybeyou know there's some more
digging that you'll have to do.
But at least just make it easyon yourself as you go to those
groups, because then you'll getbetter at holding the
conversation, because you'regoing to go have a few and
you're going to absolutely dropthe ball a couple of times, just
as I did, just as anyone elsedid.
Who's trying to network, and soas you start to, you know, find
those people that are.
(21:04):
You know, hey, I talk to themno-transcript.
John Neral (21:37):
Nice.
So when someone starts whereit's easy, they start meeting
people, they start pullingpeople in a little bit closer
and now it comes time forfeedback.
So where there's trust, therecan be feedback given, and you
can take that feedback and runwith it.
In that regard, when you thinkback on your personal board of
(22:02):
directors, your network ofadvocates, as you call them,
what would you say is thehardest piece of feedback you've
ever received in your career?
Dominic Imwalle (22:11):
Oh, I can give you a small one.
That I think is I actually tellthis around, I'll tell this out
when I'm with a group of youngadults or presenting
professionally is that I've satin leadership rooms that most
people my age just haven't hadthe chance to sit in, known to
(22:36):
have a facial expression attimes, just like on a Zoom call
or whatnot.
And I was sat down after ameeting and they said hey,
dominic, if you want to be inthese meetings, you'll need to
watch your facial expressions aspeople go through and talk
through their opinions hey,solutions and whatnot.
So that's a small piece.
When I look at my board ofdirectors, the hardest piece of
feedback and I won't say there'slike a general one sentence
that that just completelycrushed me Um, but for me it was
(22:59):
just think a bit bigger thanwhere you.
You know where you grew up from, because I, you know, I'm from
Ohio, I'm from the Clevelandarea, and that's all I knew and
that's all I thought.
I was going to go to Ohio state, say, in Ohio, and hang out
there, and I still love thatarea, but getting out of that
bubble, going to a differentplace where I had no idea what
was going on and just didn'tknow anything was a great piece
(23:23):
of feedback that I needed at thetime, because at that moment I
was just doing what everyoneelse did and so, accepting that
doing it you know, through thetears, through the painful
moments, through the toughrelationships with family,
whatever it may be um, it waswell worth it in the end to kind
of get out of uh, you know,what I had always known.
John Neral (23:42):
Thank you for sharing that.
That that's not an easy, that'snot an easy question to answer
and I appreciate you playingalong with us today because
getting that difficult feedbackright so especially you know,
even if it's something like just, you know, watching your facial
expressions on a Zoom thatimpacts your brand that's what
people get to experience you as,and so that's really powerful
(24:05):
and helpful for people to kindof hear today.
So, thank you.
Dominic Imwalle (24:08):
Yeah, and there's a piece where people
need to walk away from more ofthose conversations and simply
just say you're right, like whatwas I going to say in any of
those moments or justconversations that I'm currently
having?
Right, hey, you're right.
You know what I did was wrong.
Here's what I can do next time,but for now, you're right and I
think we should say that moreoften.
But, thank you, appreciate it.
John Neral (24:32):
Yeah, dominic, when you think about how people are
networking right now and we'reseeing people both with
in-person networking events,networking on the job,
networking on LinkedIn and onsocial media where do you think
mid-career professionals rightnow are networking incorrectly?
Dominic Imwalle (24:54):
hour networking incorrectly?
It's a great question.
It's the 15 minutes for coffee,but I think that's an answer
you're going to get from everysingle person.
So, for me, what I've seen withthe job seekers that I'm
working with right now, it'sokay.
(25:14):
Let me take this to LinkedInright away.
We talked about this earlier.
But, starting with who you knowand the circles, you already
have the top answer I always getI've exhausted my network,
dominic, there's no one else Ican reach out to.
Really Right, I always have tostop there and just push on that
a little bit more, because it'sjust something I've never
believed in.
Um, but to take a template,that I'm not a big fan of giving
(25:35):
out networking templates andwhatnot, because to take a
template and then burn through50 to 100 people on LinkedIn,
that's not, that's notnetworking, and I hate to put
like what we call networking andwhat we don't call it, but
that's one of the biggest placesI see a hiccup right now,
because then you're just you'remissing out on good leads, but
when you actually take the timeto even add one sentence oh hey,
(25:57):
I saw you, you had the chanceto work with that company, I did
back in these years and we weredoing X like that opens a whole
new door than you just copy andpasting, filling out their name
, the role you're looking forand whatnot.
That changes the game whenyou're able to attach some type
of personal note.
So go deep instead of, you know, sending out 50 to 100 messages
(26:18):
.
John Neral (26:20):
I like that and I say I say to people I work with
as well that you can uncovergold in the about section.
If people really took time towrite a thoughtful about section
and even include somethingpersonal in that and also in
their LinkedIn recommendations,you can pick up some common
themes that can pull out sopeople actually feel like you,
(26:41):
you invested and took some timeand looking at their profile,
rather than just that cold,sterile, non-connecting type
message on LinkedIn that that weget.
That drives me nuts.
Dominic Imwalle (26:55):
A hundred percent.
I think it's also and just tobe fully transparent with
everyone it's led to my businessbooming, being able to go and
talk to people and I sendmessages.
I'm not afraid to say thatsending messages to job seekers
and going through their profileand researching where they've
been and what they've done andthen adding a note around that
that opens up a different door.
(27:16):
We have different conversationsthan when, a year ago, I used
to just send them a templatedthing and it didn't go anywhere.
They didn't respond, theydidn't wanna talk to Dominic
just because he was a job searchcoach.
So it's led to just awesomeconversations that I genuinely
appreciate and helped me tobecome a better professional.
John Neral (27:32):
Nice, yeah, absolutely.
The power of connection is soimportant right now and I feel
like having conversations likethis, hopefully, are bringing
people back to really taking thetime to do that.
Hey, dominic, I've enjoyed thisconversation.
I know people listening have aswell.
So, as we start to wrap up here, what advice would you give
someone to help them build theirmid-career GPS?
Dominic Imwalle (27:56):
Good one.
It's better to be terrible for aseason there's a different word
you could use, but I would justI would remind yourself that
it's better to just be genuinelybad for a little bit.
Like go, whether it's contentcreation, whether it's reaching
out and trying to network,whether it's hey, you know, I
want to put myself in front ofleadership and give you know, be
(28:17):
able to present.
Well, you have to stumble a fewtimes, so remember remembering
that as you go through whateverhard piece of your career that
you're trying to navigate rightnow.
And then also this this justhit me today just being grateful
for the experience that youhave around yourself, for me to
be able to do this podcast, forme to be able to do this podcast
, for me to be able to post onLinkedIn this morning, interact
with people I find genuinelycool and just right, have a nine
(28:39):
to five or have a job.
At the end of the day, there'sso many people around us who are
struggling either hey, I, youknow, I don't know what this
career looks like in three tofive years.
I don't love it, haven't lovedit since I start.
There's, there's so many peopleout there you couldn't even
imagine.
And so be grateful for theexperience you have right now as
you're moving through yourmid-career GPS.
John Neral (28:59):
Yeah, thank you for that.
Those are two really powerfulthings and I think sometimes we
often overlook or kind of brushby, sometimes just about being
grateful, but there really is alot of power in just pausing to
appreciate that, and I amunquestionably grateful that you
and I got a chance to connectand have this conversation.
I look forward to stayingconnected with you as well.
Hey, if people want to connectwith you, find you, learn more
(29:22):
about you and what you do, I'mgoing to turn the mic over to
you.
Tell us all the great placeswhere people can find you and
connect.
Dominic Imwalle (29:27):
Definitely.
I'm wholeheartedly focused onbuilding conversations over
applications.
That's my program.
That's what I post about everysingle day.
I'm still working with jobseekers one-on-one, so that's
one-on-one raw coaching sessions.
So if you're interested in that, you can definitely reach out
to me on LinkedIn, and that'sthe place best place to reach me
.
You also grab my freenewsletter there.
I have a five-day email seriesas well around these topics and
(29:50):
so, yeah, linkedin's best placeto reach me.
You'll find my featured sectionwith everything that you need.
John Neral (29:56):
And you've got a great LinkedIn.
So, Dominic Imwalle, thank youso much for being a great guest.
I appreciate you, I'm gratefulfor you and we will stay in
touch, my friend.
Thanks so much.
Thank you, john, I appreciateit.
All right, my friends, ifthere's one big takeaway from
this conversation with Dominic,here's what I want to offer you
today Slow down, slow down, taketime to connect with people.
(30:21):
It's okay if it gets a littlemessy, it's okay if you screw it
up a little bit, but when youslow down and you take time to
get to know people, you may justfind that they're the kind of
people you wanna pull in alittle closer to your network.
So as you start building thatpersonal board of directors or
building your network ofadvocates, think about who those
(30:43):
people might be and be open tothose experiences of getting to
know people, truly getting toknow them, those real people
that Dominic talked about.
Be a real person first to them.
Slow down, have thoseconversations and build your
network with more intentionalitythan ever before.
So until next time, my friends,remember this you will build
(31:06):
your mid-career GPS one mile orone step at a time, and how you
show up matters.
Make it a great rest of yourday.
Thank you for listening to theMid-Career GPS Podcast.
Make sure to follow on yourfavorite listening platform and,
(31:26):
if you have a moment, I'd loveto hear your comments on Apple
Podcasts.
Visit johnnarrellcom for moreinformation about how I can help
you build your mid-career GPSor how I can help you and your
organization with your nextworkshop or public speaking
event.
Don't forget to connect with meon LinkedIn and follow me on
social at John Darrell Coaching.
I look forward to being backwith you next week.
(31:47):
Until then, take care andremember how we show up matters.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.