PoolePRoof Wisdom

Remember the old idea that a person chooses a profession and then does that thing for the rest of their lives?  It’s how the world thought everyone would be happiest back then, but time and experience hasproven that the bold, the inspired, the creative among us can do multiple things, often at the same time. Vonda Paige is doing multiple things, all very successfully, and never limits herself to any one thing because curiosity and interest in the world inspires her all the time. So where many people are struggling with what they're doing professionally, she's professionally doing everything she wants.In this episode, we talk about how she does it and you can do it to. And here's the best part: It's easier than you think.

Charles continues the tradition of looking at the year that was and seeking to understand what it has taught us as we look to the year ahead. In a year as topsy-turvy as 2023 has been, the perspective in this reflection is practical, but very, very hopeful.

While career professionals from all walks of life may have generated their sense of accomplishment from trading handshakes after closing a business deal, or being recognized for being the best at what they do, many people are finding that they want more. They want to fuel their passion by making a different kind of difference in the world. Jane Langa Miller, Founder of Purpose-Driven Transitions, says that for many people, nonprofits are the perfect way to do exactly that, and their professional skills are exactly what those nonprofits need. Jane's firm helps people understand what it takes to make a transition, provides perspective that highlights the differences between profit and nonprofit organizations, and connects the dots that help corporate careerists understand their desire to not just know success in their careers, but experience significance by making a difference in the lives of real people. Many executives and senior-level professionals find nonprofits exceptionally rewarding, not just monetarily but also when it comes to emotional fulfillment. If you’re considering moving into the nonprofit sector, listen and learn what you should know making the transition as smooth as possible. I think you'll be glad you did.

I am grateful to be able to discuss faith and personal development in these episodes, and from time to time I find I'm able to do that along with many other topics that interest me. Today, it's real estate. Everything you want to know about it, but through the lens of a realtor whose approach to being a broker, agent, and investor is built on the foundation of her faith. It's a conversation punctuated with make-you-think moments, personal insights, and many moments that will also make you laugh. Enjoy the episode; I sure did.

In this episode, Charles reflects on his recent vacation and how Beyonce's Renaissance Tour and some essential personal reflection on life and living made a difference in his personal vibe, and may do the same for you.

Many dream of changing their lives but few do more than that. But Darin, a successful media executive, had reached a point where his life -- and career -- had become less about joy and more about frustration, uncertainty, and not believing he had a purpose. In this episode, we discuss how he reached that point, then found the courage to leave everything behind and start fresh. . .in Mexico. There, he's found a new life, new professional pursuits, and discovered that after doubting he had more to offer, he has plenty.

In this episode I speak with Matthew, an attorney who has helped free a number of wrongly convicted people, and I was impressed by his reasons for taking on this work and his appreciation of why freedom is so important, such as when he said, "I think we take for granted a lot of things that happen in life. Freedom is one of them." Listen as we discuss what brought him to the law, misconceptions about the law, and ultimately how he sees the law as a calling to help people. It's a conversation many need to have about "the system" and what we can do to improve it.

Charles speaks with new author Giarrante, who wrote Desire Unleashed: The Starting Point to Achieving Your Wildest Dreams. Giarrante describes the book as "designed to guide, inspire, and empower individuals seeking to attain success, wealth, and happiness." Sharing how his own experiences led him to write the book, Giarrante provides insights that are bound to unleash the desire in anyone who wants a better, more fulfilling life.

Join Charles for a candid, inspiring, and thought-provoking conversation with award-winning broadcaster, author, and community leader Carol Daniel, who in a mere weeks from now will be closing one chapter of her life after 28 years with KMOX radio and a 40-year career as a journalist. We discuss everything from the profession, to the faithful journey Carol took to reach her decision to retire from the station, but continue focusing on the many other passions that now define her life.

Charles has been away for four months since the last episode, picking up life and moving from the West Coast back to the Midwest. But this wasn't just another move. In doing in, he has unlocked some additional understanding about life, purpose, and meaning that he thoughtfully shares in hopes that you appreciate how even upheaval can lead us to the place we're supposed to be.

It's the end of the year, and Charles has some thoughts and reflections on what that means.  The end of any year typically finds people ready to leap into the next with all kinds of resolutions, or carrying worries about the life they are leading with them.  But Charles discourages that.  In this episode, he offers hope for the year or just the day ahead, and shares his perspective on how our lives are proof that all is not lost, and hope is ours to claim.

In this episode, Charles provides a stream of consciousness read on a school shooting that left two dead and several wounded in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and ties it into the kind of behavior that Kayne West is engaging in that diminishes us as a people whose great commonality is that we make up the human race.  He encourages accountability across the board, and unity in accepting that sometimes, we've all got to stop wondering what's wrong with someone and just focus on the fact that what they're doing is wrong.

In this episode, Charles talks about how something we all have in common, trauma, influences who we are and what we do.  He also discourages judging people based on how trauma influences people to behave, but to learn what role trauma played in their lives before summarily determining someone is a horrible person.  First among these, he says, is ourselves.  Listen and hear how he makes that distinction, then consider how focusing on what happened to you and others, and not assuming there's something wrong with yourself of them, will change how you move through the world.

When the weight of the world makes trust difficult, Charles has suggestions and insights to help you find your way again.  Listen and get some PooleProof Wisdom.

Away for a month, Charles is back with plenty of reflections on what's been on his mind, and some thoughtful recommendations for making the most of our lives.

The Creative Entrepreneur - Building a Business Without Losing Your Vision In this episode, I speak with Jane Davis, a director-producer and owner Of HypeGirl Creative, an Atlanta-based full-service production house that produces video content. We discuss her journey to finding what has become her life's work, the challenges and opportunities involved in the industry for a woman who describes herself as "an army brat of Korean heritage," and what it took to find both the courage and resolve to create a business and keep it operating in the last two years, when the pandemic saw so many businesses discontinue operations. As we've known each other for many years now, we also have a good time remembering the personal and professional battles we've fought and, I'm happy to say, won.  Settle in for a good conversation, and some personal wisdom from Jane that even gave me a special moment of clarity.

A lot of people have a lot of opinions about people who pursue any kind of therapy to address emotional and other mental health challenges.  There are all kinds of reasons: some believe therapy discloses problems we should protect from outsiders.  Others think therapy is for people who are weak, weird, or just can't get their shit together.  And even individuals themselves may be convinced that seeking therapy means they're not self-sufficient or self-reliant. Whatever the reason, when therapies are perceived as more esoteric -- like hypnotherapy -- fears and judgments are only further compounded.  But the truth is, millions of people use hypnotherapy to help them manage any number of issues that stand in the way of them fulfilling their true and full potential, and it's an effective tool to do so. In this episode, clinical hypnotherapist Kim Yurkovich helps us explore what hypnotherapy is, isn't, and how it helped her -- and now those she helps -- improve life.  Listen and learn, and as always, if you need help. . . get it.  

I titled this episode “Ain’t I A Woman?”: Women in the C-Suite and Trailblazing for DEI, because Zing is truly a worthy inheritor of the message and meaning behind Sojourner Truth’s iconic  1851 speech to the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. In particular, this:  “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.”   Zing is turning the world right side up, y’all! A  successful executive, wife, mother, and advocate for diversity who represents the growth of women executives in the workplace and the impact they’re having not only in that space, but in the social and political spaces, as well. Hers is  journey, we can all learn from and be inspired by.

Featuring: Learning and Organization Development Executive Ruth-Ann Clurman and Organization Change Management Executive Angela Bilkey Chesmore. We're at the start of a new year and the first thing we need to leave in the past is the sense that we're not good enough when it comes to our work, our relationships, and our goals and aspirations.  The idea that we're phonies and only getting by on luck and not talent or skill is at the core of why so many have inner saboteurs and end up getting in their own way, never believing they measure up to anyone's expectations, particularly their own. But this year, we're not doing that.  No, we are walking into the days, weeks, and months ahead driven by one essential belief:  I am worthy. When we think that way, we'll also find a method to embrace coming to believe that we have earned what we've worked for.  No one just gave it to us, and we did not get it just because we were in the right place at the right time. To help listeners understand how easy it is to fall into thinking negatively about themselves, however, we are having a lively -- but thoughtful -- conversation about imposter syndrome in this first episode of the second season of the PooleProof Wisdom podcast.  We'll talk about what imposter syndrome is, how it originates, different types of imposter syndrome, how to overcome it, and much more. My guests are both well-versed in human behavior and how the syndrome plays out for many people.  There is a really insightful conversation ahead.  So insightful, in fact, that we discovered some things about ourselves we didn't recognize by the end of the episode.

One Mom's Journey to Health Advocacy It's our podcastversary! On the podcast's one-year anniversary, I speak with Brooke Abbott, a health advocate and mom who is living with inflammatory bowel disease and fighting for other moms -- and anyone -- living with IBD or any chronic illness.  She explains that while doing so can can be isolating, frightening, and sometimes hopeless, it doesn't have to be.  At least not always.  Listen and learn about how to live, with or without a chronic disease, because her advice is just that insightful, real, and inspiring.