Today, I’m in conversation with Olga Trusova, author of the new design book, Calm Living. In this episode, Olga introduces us to design thinking principles and exercises that we can use to design our spaces and experiences so they work better for us and support us in doing our best work. She offers accessible ways to shape your space and how you work to really work for you, not against you, and to create calm instead of chaos. This is an invitation to make simple, accessible design choices to ma...
May 17, 2023•48 min•Ep. 105
Today I'm in conversation with Christina Wallace, author of the new book, The Portfolio Life: How to Futureproof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger Than Your Business Card. Charles Handy coined the term Portfolio Life in 1989 to argue that your life’s work shouldn’t be defined by one job, but that it could be a collection of passions, interests, and hobbies. Christina expands that definition to include relationships, community, personal growth and impact, creating a full portfol...
May 03, 2023•52 min•Ep. 104
Today, I’m joined by Jessica Marati Radparvar. Jessica serves as inspiration as someone who is practicing Sustainable Ambition, crafting a life with work that works for her. In Jessica modeling this for us, it makes it feel more possible for all of us to thrive in life and work. Jessica works in the field of sustainability, and regularly sees firsthand how building resilience is critical for impact practitioners who carry the weight of, and champion, making change in the world. As she says, “You...
Apr 19, 2023•46 min•Ep. 103
In today's episode, I'm joined by Dana Miranda. Dana is the author of the forthcoming book, You Don't Need A Budget, and her work brings visibility and voice to the diverse experiences we have with money and finance that aren't currently being recognized and expressed in our culture. You might find for yourself that traditional financial and money management tips don't resonate with you, and Dana is offering new perspective through her media company, Healthy Rich. What you'll hear in today's con...
Apr 05, 2023•58 min•Ep. 102
Almost all of us know what it’s like to struggle to stay focused and get work done. And so many of us are plagued by feeling too busy. It’s hard to find time to do all we want or need to do, yet I wonder if part of our busyness problem is actually a distraction problem. In his book, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life , Nir Eyal writes about the idea of, “people making time for what they want by making a conscious effort to control their time and attention.” So of ...
Mar 22, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 101
During the pandemic, the cultural tides around work ambition turned. People were over their ambitions. Consider these stats: In 2022, Gartner found that more than 50% of surveyed workers said they were questioning the purpose of their jobs and the role work should play in their lives. Also in 2022, the Mckinsey Health Institute found that one in four employees experienced burnout symptoms. And in mid-2022, 29% of employees who resigned from their jobs said they did so for better work-life balanc...
Mar 08, 2023•44 min•Ep. 100
Introducing The Sustainable Ambition Podcast. Host Kathy Oneto talks with experts, authors, and friends with insight on her philosophy to life and work focused on three concepts: Right Ambition, Right Time, and Right Effort. On the podcast, Kathy shares ideas for navigating your career at different stages of life and work. You’ll learn to define your own success. You’ll embrace a consciously ambitious approach to better align life and work. And no matter what you choose to take on, you’ll have t...
Mar 06, 2023•3 min
Are you called to honor more than one side of yourself in your life and work? Then this episode is for you! You, too, might be an ampersand. Or perhaps we all could be if we weren’t forced to choose. What is an ampersand you might ask? Meet Jessica Wan, an ampersand herself and host of The Ampersand Manifesto podcast. Jessica explains ampersands as those who are multi-passionate, lead double lives, and straddle two completely different worlds. In this conversation, learn more about Jessica’s exp...
Feb 22, 2023•46 min•Ep. 99
Tricia Montalvo Timm is a board director, venture investor, speaker, and author. She is also a first-generation Latina and one of the few to have attained the triple achievement of reaching the C-suite, joining the boardroom, and cracking the venture capital ceiling. Today we discuss her new book, “Embrace the Power of You,” which is for those who are code-switching or struggling to belong in the corporate landscape and for those of us who want to support creating inclusive environments. Tricia ...
Feb 15, 2023•45 min•Ep. 98
“I feel very ambitious even though on the outside my ambition may look very different, but it feels like ambition on my terms.” Yes! That sounds like Sustainable Ambition—ambition that’s rooted in you and on your terms. Today I’m joined by Neha Mandhani, a certified executive leadership coach, for an open, honest conversation on what it’s like to listen and honor oneself, to move through the discomfort of choosing self-authorship, and to step out of the norm onto a path that aligns to your integ...
Feb 08, 2023•49 min•Ep. 97
When we pause, more is happening than we think. Host Kathy Oneto shares three examples to inspire you to practice your own pauses. When and where will you allow yourself to take a break of any length? Resources Mentioned I’d love to hear from you! Send me a voice note, ideas for what you’d like to hear on the podcast, or a question that might be read and answered here on the podcast! Go to https://bit.ly/sapodcast-ask Dr. Rick Hanson and his HEAL Method: https://www.rickhanson.net/possible-heal/...
Feb 01, 2023•15 min•Ep. 96
Today host Kathy Oneto jumps back into time and how the concept of time factors into Sustainable Ambition. We can’t do it all at once across life and work, so what it is time for now? Kathy offers three concepts and explorations considering the Future, Past, and Present to help you determine what it is time for now in your life and work. Resources Mentioned I’d love to hear from you! Send me a voice note, ideas for what you’d like to hear on the podcast, or a question that might be read and answ...
Jan 25, 2023•18 min•Ep. 95
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Jan 18, 2023•9 min•Ep. 94
Inspired by the ambition of astronauts, host Kathy Oneto invites you to consider what it might look like to dial in your ambitions. Do you have big ambitions? Small ambitions? Just right ambitions—just right for you? Explore what it might look like to play with dialing in your ambitions to be the right aspiration for you and aligned to the right effort. Resources Mentioned I’d love to hear from you! Send me a voice note, ideas for what you’d like to hear on the podcast, or a question that might ...
Jan 11, 2023•10 min•Ep. 93
In this first episode of 2023, host Kathy Oneto talks about how you might want to start your year. Are you someone who wants to blast off or would you rather push off? What will support you best as you step into the new year? Resources Mentioned I’d love to hear from you! Send me a voice note with a topic of interest or a question that might be read and answered here on the podcast! Go to https://bit.ly/sapodcast-ask NASA and the James Webb Telescope: https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/ Thanks for List...
Jan 04, 2023•8 min•Ep. 92
In this episode, Kathy Oneto, founder of Sustainable Ambition, closes out the yearlong series on planning and living a more sustainable+ambitious year. In this episode, it’s time for the 12-month review. How did your year go? How did you do with your ambitions and making your life+work more sustainable? Kathy offers prompts and shares her own experiences as she guides us to think about what we’ve learned and what’s next for the new year. A reminder that these episodes are good ones to do while o...
Dec 19, 2022•34 min•Ep. 91
Today I’m happy to be in conversation with one of my besties, Carol Best! Carol and I have known each other for almost 15 years, and I wanted to have an informative yet fun conversation about how Carol keeps herself engaged in her work, how she’s learned to both step into her ambitions and navigate them across both work and life, and why she prioritizing stepping into being an upbeat, passionate, and optimistic leader. Carol is a champion of personal purpose and lives it. We hear about that in t...
Dec 14, 2022•42 min•Ep. 90
In this solo episode, host Kathy Oneto asks you to give yourself permission to pause and reflect to honor the past year. Join her for 11 questions to close out the year and welcome 2023. You may want to listen while out on a walk, pausing to note observations, or sit down with your favorite beverage and a journal at hand. Or, check out the Google document provided to capture your reflections and insights (refer to the Resources in the Show Notes). Here’s to creating space for whatever is needed ...
Dec 07, 2022•34 min•Ep. 89
Today I’m joined again by Al Dea, the founder of Betterwork Labs, an organization focused on helping companies create cultures where their people can thrive. Al is an author, speaker, podcast host, and researcher on workplace trends and talent development. I had Al back for a second episode so we could go deeper and get Al’s perspective on Sustainable Ambition. I love how Sustainable Ambition takes on different meanings for different people, and Al shares that for him it’s about having the auton...
Dec 01, 2022•45 min•Ep. 88
In this Sustainable Ambition (SA) Quick Tip, host Kathy Oneto talks about finding purpose in your work and in your life where you are, rather than look for it externally outside of yourself. She also offers a more accessible definition of purpose and provides examples that can broaden our view of what it can mean and how we can achieve it. It just might be easier than we think. Resources Mentioned Find Your Purpose article: https://bit.ly/sapurpose E66 - On Smart Strategies to be Fulfilled at Wo...
Nov 29, 2022•19 min•Ep. 87
Today I’m joined by Tara McMullin, a writer, podcaster, and producer, to discuss her new book, “What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting.” Tara has also studied small business owners for over 13 years. She’s been an inspiration to me, and her wisdom has helped tremendously on my own journey of self-employment, getting me to rethink and figure out what works for me. Her book is for anyone looking for a new approach to goal-setting, one that you might find b...
Nov 16, 2022•54 min•Ep. 86
Today I’m joined by Jennie Blumenthal, author of the new book, “Corporate Rehab: ditch the hustle culture and thrive again.” After 20 years as an executive in Corporate America, Jennie chose to leave during the pandemic pivot after realizing that she had lost herself and was no longer leading the life she wanted to live. In this conversation, Jennie shares her career journey and what led her to make her pivot, why it’s easy to fall into hustle culture, how it’s important to step back and re-eval...
Nov 09, 2022•52 min•Ep. 85
Today I’m joined by Todd Cherches, CEO of BigBlueGumball, a NYC-based management consulting firm specializing in leadership development and executive coaching, and author of "VisuaLeadership: Leveraging the Power of Visual Thinking in Leadership and in Life." In this conversation, we talk about Todd’s book, the power of visual thinking, and how visual thinking can be applied through visual images, mental models, metaphors, and stories to be more effective in your thinking, decision-making, and c...
Nov 02, 2022•49 min•Ep. 84
Are you a hybrid or remote worker? And, did you know that in today’s remote and hybrid work environments that many of us are feeling disconnected from each other? - 72% of employees say they aren’t able to socialize enough when they’re remote (Workplace Intelligence) - 60% of remote workers say WFH (working from home) makes them feel less connected to their colleagues (Pew Research) That’s a problem. Why? Because having friends, relationships, and a community at work has huge benefits! That mean...
Oct 26, 2022•22 min•Ep. 83
Today I’m joined by Luis Velasquez, an expert in resilience. Luis is an Executive Coach, Stanford University facilitator, and an HBR Ascent contributor. He is also an avid endurance athlete and a brain tumor survivor. In our conversation, we dig into the definition of and Luis’s equation for resilience, which = Commitment + Persistence x Optimism. We hear core themes of what resilience truly looks like through Luis sharing his own personal experiences from his childhood in Guatemala to surviving...
Oct 19, 2022•49 min•Ep. 82
In this episode, I’m happy to be joined by my business school classmate, Mike Trigg. Mike has worked for twenty-five years in Silicon Valley as a founder, executive, and investor in dozens of venture-funded technology start-ups. And now he’s turned his attention to creative pursuits, having just published his first novel, a corporate thriller called “Bit Flip.” In this fun conversation where Mike and I talk about the book, we discuss what it’s like to have an entrepreneurial career in tech, the ...
Oct 12, 2022•48 min•Ep. 81
This episode builds on the series that kicked off the year on planning and living a more sustainable+ambitious year. Kathy Oneto, founder of Sustainable Ambition, is back with Part 2 of the Q3 Review to now focus on Q4 planning. Here she talks about dialing in your ambitions for the end of the year, creating a sustaining plan to avoid the end-of-year crush, and has you focus, despite her own resistance, to looking ahead to 2023 to make initial plans for making it all more sustainable if you expe...
Oct 06, 2022•26 min•Ep. 80
In this episode, Kathy Oneto, founder of Sustainable Ambition, builds on the series that kicked off the year on planning and living a more sustainable+ambitious year. In this episode, we check in on your Q3 progress. Then in Part 2, we’ll look at planning for Q4 to avoid the end-of-year crush and make our end to the year more sustainable. A reminder that these episodes are good ones to do while out on a walk or making time for quiet reflection. You’ll likely want to pause the episode, think, tak...
Oct 04, 2022•40 min•Ep. 79
Joining me today is Stephanie Movahhed, a leadership coach based in my hometown of San Francisco. In this conversation, Stephanie talks us through her career journey and offers learning and tips from her personal and coaching experiences. Stephanie has had an interesting career full of pivots that have kept her challenged and growing. Her experiences are a great illustration of staying engaged and in action to help identify one’s next career arc. What comes through is how Stephanie has always be...
Sep 28, 2022•43 min•Ep. 78
Today I’m joined by Jeffrey Shaw, author of The Self Employed Life and host of the podcast of the same name. Jeffrey is a champion of self-employment and through his book, podcast, institute, and coaching guides people to lead a successful life of self-employment. In this conversation, we hear what pulled Jeffrey into self-employment for his entire career and what’s given him the focus to support others choosing this courageous path. We cover a lot of ground discussing what calls people to self-...
Sep 22, 2022•53 min•Ep. 77
