Advertise on podcast: Your Brilliant Difference Podcast with Finka Jerkovic: Personal Branding for Career Advancement

I've got an announcement. My third book is in the works, and I've got a solid draft that I can now work with.  To get to the next stage of my writing process, I need to start from the beginning to write my second draft. My goal is to share a readable draft with a few select readers by the end of the summer.  I need to put all my creative energy into this next draft and as a result I will be pressing pause on my podcast for the summer.  I'll be back in the Fall to give you an update on the book and what is coming up next. Thank you for tuning in and being here week after week. Have a joyous summer and I can't wait to come back and tell you all about the book and where things are heading. Finka

Struggling to tap into your team's full potential? You know your employees are talented, yet you can't seem to bring the most out of them. Chances are it's because you're not coaching to their Brilliant Differences.   A Brilliant Difference is composed of people's God-given gifts, their talents and strengths, and how they uniquely actualize them to transform the lives of others. It just so happens that the workplace and people's careers are the perfect arenas to live it out.  I think of Brilliant Differences as diamonds; they need pressure and cuts to be realized and utilized with the most value.  That's like your team. They're diamonds. They're valuable. They just aren't fully aware of it yet.  That's where you come in, leader, asking them specific questions to hone and coax their Brilliant Differences, so they can make a meaningful impact, leading your organization to excellence.   From understanding the progression of zones of brilliances, to mitigating the mediocrity trap, to the right series of questions to ask, you'll know exactly how to bring the most out of your people after listening to this episode.  Don't Miss Out! Grab Your Brilliant Difference Coaching Questions  Download Here  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Workplace Coaching vs. Edge Mover's Coaching and Why You Need the Latter     How to Create a Successful Coaching Session: 5 Things You Need to Do     3 Coaching Skills Every Leader Needs—Let's Do LAPs!  Connect Beyond the Podcast for Daily Career Support  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call   

There are three coaching skills you cannot forgo in your leadership and career, and they are LAP:  Listen.  Ask questions.  Pause.  Seems simple enough, right?   Wrong.  Trust me when I say there is an art to executing each of these skills. When done wrong, it can be dismal and tiring. But when done right, it not only fuels your career and leadership, but those of the people in your company!  I'll teach you how to do it the right way. By the end of this Your Brilliant Difference Podcast episode, you'll learn:  Lessons from workplace coaching experiences (from myself and clients).  Why coaching is crucial for workplace success now more than ever.  The difference between the three tiers of listening and how to tap into all.  How to form your coaching questions to be open-ended, strategic-thinking starters.  The power of pausing and when to use it.  You're only one listen away from growing your coaching skills, bringing the most out of yourself and people.  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Workplace Coaching vs. Edge Mover's Coaching and Why You Need the Latter     How to Create a Successful Coaching Session: 5 Things You Need to Do     Connect Beyond the Podcast for Daily Career Support  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

What are the elements of a successful workplace coaching session? What makes an employee eager to grow and change vs. stuck in their ways?  I'll answer both questions. Even better? I'll teach you exactly how to facilitate a coaching conversation at work that actually uncovers potential and gets results from your people.   You might think you're already coaching, supporting and mentoring your people through weekly huddles and individual touchpoints, but the truth is, if you aren't doing these five things, you're not actually coaching:  Making space for intentional, strategic thinking Analyzing comfort zones Facilitating the three types of change Developing self-awareness in talent and purpose Designing Edge Moves From knowing the four types of questions to ignite powerful thinking and "aha" moments, to understanding the psychology behind change resistance, you'll have everything you need to start coaching your team successfully.   Share Your Experience!  After listening to this episode, take two minutes and share your own coaching or listening experiences on LinkedIn using the hashtag: #EdgeMoversCoach. Share your biggest episode takeaways and insights and what you'll be bringing back with you to your career.   Mentioned Books  The War of Art by Steven Pressfield  Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn  Breakthrough Coaching by Marcia Reynolds  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Workplace Coaching vs. Edge Mover's Coaching and Why You Need the Latter     Connect Beyond the Podcast for Daily Career Support  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

Workplace coaching has been used for years to garner performance and results from employees...but it only goes so far. Traditional workplace coaching is limiting, and if you really want to see long-term, sustainable growth and development from your team and business, you need to be an Edge Mover's coach.   Where does traditional workplace coaching fall short and what is Edge Mover's coaching? I answer these questions in episode 202, the catalyst of a new podcast series: Edge Mover's Coach.  Coaching is one of the most vital skills needed in the workplace, but it's often done wrong. I know this because I've experienced it first-hand and had to make my own coaching pivots in my career.  But I'll let you in on everything—my coaching success stories, my coaching fails, and why I now practice Edge Mover's coaching—so you can bring the most out of you and your team.  Share Your Experience!  After listening to this episode, take two minutes and share your own coaching experiences on LinkedIn using the hashtag: #EdgeMoversCoach. Share your biggest episode takeaways and insights and what you'll be bringing back with you to your career.   Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Stop Talking, Start Coaching  How to Be a Brilliant Coach  Connect Beyond the Podcast for Daily Career Support  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

People with executive presence often have charisma, or executive charisma. What is it and how can you establish yours? First off, charisma is your ability to compel people with your charm, inspiring them to understand your message or take action. Sounds pretty close to executive presence, right? But how you actualize and elevate your charisma to fuel your executive presence differs.  You do so by following my simple eight-step CHARISMA framework:  Courage Humility Authenticity Responsiveness Intention Storytelling Mindfulness Articulation Paired with resources below, learn everything you need to know about effectively establishing your executive charisma to elevate your leadership and career.   Executive Charisma Package: CHARISMA Framework + Charisma Self-Assessment Scale  Download Now  Workplace Communication Quiz  Start Now and Find Your Communication Style  Mentioned Research and Books   The Dynamics of Warmth and Competence Judgments, and Their Outcomes in Organizations — Harvard Business School  Presence by Amy Cuddy  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  What It Means to Have Executive Presence (+ an Exercise to See Where You're At)  How to "Own a Room": 3 Executive Presence Primers  Storytelling: Your Executive Presence Secret Weapon  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

If you've ever wondered, "How can I have more executive presence?" this episode is for you. Stories have been shared for millennia and are 22x more memorable than facts, yet corporate professionals and employees give it a middle-of-the-pack priority, even though it's a critical key to boosting their executive presence and leadership at work. The priority revelation is based on data from my Career Advancement Forecast (give it a read if you haven't yet).   So, I'm taking storytelling—what's seen as an underrated, nice-to-have skill—from the middle and spotlighting it at the top because you cannot have executive presence and grow in your career and leadership if you don't tell stories.   They connect. They engage. They influence. They persuade.   Today, you'll learn how to become a master storyteller by:  Understanding why storytelling makes all the difference in your career and impact.   Leveraging 4 types of stories you need to have in your executive presence, workplace arsenal.   Knowing what makes a captivating story.   Listening to how one of my clients told a story in a presentation and received critical career feedback of: "must be promoted."  This is just the beginning of your executive presence, storytelling journey. Uncover your story today and start connecting and influencing important stakeholders and situations.  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Executive Presence Self-Assessment  Download Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  What It Means to Have Executive Presence (+ an Exercise to See Where You're At)  How to "Own a Room": 3 Executive Presence Primers  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

People with executive presence are often told they know how to "own a room," igniting engagement and attention without saying a word. But what does this look like and how can you do it too?  Using these three executive presence primers:  Be intentional Define the stakes Bring your Brilliant Difference Owning a room isn't about owning it, but making space for others, which is where intention, stakes, and your Brilliant Difference come into play.  Tune into this new Executive Presence 101 episode and elevate your EP at work.  Leadership Development Audit Apply Now Executive Presence Self-Assessment  Download Now  Discover Your Brilliant Difference   Download Your Brilliant Difference Brainstorm  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  What It Means to Have Executive Presence (+ an Exercise to See Where You're At)  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

It's elusive. People often don't know exactly what it is or looks like. Let's change that. Discover exactly what it means to have executive presence, as well as where yours is right now. This is the start of a new, four-part series: Executive Presence 101.   Executive presence is something you either have or don't. It's an invisible ingredient that enables you to capture attention in a room without uttering a single word but makes people lean in when you do speak, remembering how you made them feel hours afterward.   So it's no surprise that it's often called the "X factor" of leadership, and I'm going to teach you how to harness it. Not only will you understand the three pillars of executive presence, but how to assess where your current levels are at in your career.  Do You Have Executive Presence? Find Out With the Executive Presence Assessment  Download Now  Discover Your Brilliant Difference   Download Your Brilliant Difference Brainstorm  Mentioned Research  Executive presence: what it is and why it's important  The New Rules of Executive Presence  Equipment to Help You Elevate Your Online Executive Presence  Logitech for Creators Blue Yeti USB Microphone   IXTECH Boom Arm - Adjustable 360° Rotatable Microphone Arm  Shure MV7X Microphone   Rode PodMic Cardioid Dynamic Broadcast Microphone   Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Why is Influence Important in Leadership? Learn From My Doozies   3 No-Nonsense Rules for Influencing Executives and Senior Leaders  5 Communication Styles in the Workplace — Which Do You Speak?  Value-First Centre of Influence Framework: Proven Method to Build Career-Elevating Relationships  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call   

To have influence, you need to tap into the influence of others. You need a centre of influence (COI). Influence is built and nurtured; it's not something you're automatically granted. And the process starts with building your influence network, or what I like to call, your centre of influence.   To grow in your career and leadership, it's essential to surround yourself with the right people. Knowing and working with the right people can bolster your chances of being hired into a new role, getting promoted, getting invited to important conversations, and expanding your network and reach in your industry.   But it starts with giving value.  Concluding the Influence Without Authority series, in this episode I dive into:  What a circle of influence is.  How to identify COIs in your company.  How COIs can help you break through the corporate noise.  3 steps to mapping your COIs.   The 3 types of influencers that will make up your COI.  Methods to add value to your influencers.   By the time you're done listening, you'll know exactly who to turn to and build relationships with, and how to shine in your Brilliant Difference, giving value to those who matter most.    Take the Communication Quiz  Discover Your Workplace Communication Style  Influence Amplifier Blueprint: Apply Essential Influence Rules in Real-Time  Grab Your Blueprint   Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Why is Influence Important in Leadership? Learn From My Doozies   3 No-Nonsense Rules for Influencing Executives and Senior Leaders  5 Communication Styles in the Workplace — Which Do You Speak?  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

Do you know how you think, speak, and make decisions? What about for those you work with? If not, it's no wonder why your brilliant ideas aren't landing with executives and rallying teams together. That's why I'm sharing with you five communication styles in the workplace, so you can:  Communicate more effectively.  Adapt and tailor your message to others' communication preferences.   Elevate your impact and influence.   Using my career experience, I've created five workplace communication styles that are inspired by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, meaning they're ordered in what people often require the most.   The five communication styles in the workplace include:  Certainty Connection Consequence Confidence Change What do each look like at work and which type is yours? Find out by tuning into this episode and taking my Communication Quiz!  Take the Communication Quiz  Discover Your Workplace Communication Style  Influence Amplifier Blueprint: Apply Essential Influence Rules in Real-Time  Grab Your Blueprint    Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Why is Influence Important in Leadership? Learn From My Doozies   3 No-Nonsense Rules for Influencing Executives and Senior Leaders  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call     

If your message isn't sticking, it's because you're not doing these three things. I'll teach you exactly what these rules for influencing executives and senior leaders are, so people can buy into your ideas. Every. Time.   Rule 1: Know your audience.  Rule 2: Identify motivators.  Rule 3: Plot the transformation journey.  I've designed this episode as an immersive learning experience so you can see what these rules look like in action right away. Grab your copy of the Influence Amplifier Blueprint, fill it out, and translate the rules into your influence impact at work as I guide you along:   The most powerful yet overlooked aspect of influence.  The three most common influence mistakes and how to mitigate them.  Why you need to know your audience (you cannot skip this step).  The differences between your primary, secondary, and tertiary audience.   How to understand what motivates your audience's decision-making process.   How to plot your audience's transformation journey.  Influence Amplifier Blueprint: Apply the Influence Rules in Real-Time  Grab Your Blueprint Here   Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Why is Influence Important in Leadership? Learn From My Doozies   Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call   

You hear it all the time: you need to have influence at work. But why is influence important in leadership and what does it look like done right and wrong? You get to learn all of that from me. This episode sets the tone for a new series: Influence Without Authority.   No matter your position—manager, executive, president—your title can change but what no one can take away from you is your ability to inspire. Want to persuade senior leaders to agree to an initiative? You need influence. Trying to gain buy-in for a new process? You need influence. Collaborating with team members on cross-functional projects? You need influence.   You get the picture.   If you nodded along to any of these scenarios, you're in the right place. In this episode I'll help you learn:  What influence is and isn't.  Where you may be going wrong with your influence and why your message isn't sticking with your team and leaders.  How having strong influence can amplify your leadership and career.  How not having influence can drain and stall your career.  Why influence matters.  The best-case and worst-case of my own influence scenarios, so you can know what hinders and helps you to effectively influence.   What are you waiting for? Press play and get to the answer of why influence is important in leadership.   Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Influence Stack Part 1  Influence Stack Part 2  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

Approaching change and trying something new can be downright scary. But what if it didn't have to be? It seems society has conditioned people to make change in one full swoop, immediately, seeking instant gratification, and it's setting up people to fail. Making a big change or trying something new is like going into a polar plunge head-first versus tiptoeing in and getting your body adjusted—it shocks your system.  What I'm saying is, your success of managing change and trying something new all comes down to how you approach change. With the right strategies and the best practices for using Edge Moves (incremental actions that bridge your comfort zone to courage zone), you can handle change with ease, elegance, and even excitement.   I teach you how in this Your Brilliant Difference Podcast episode.   Learn about these 10 strategies to approach change:  The 80/20 rule   Openness to become someone new Repetition Manage your FUDGE energy Anchor in the familiar Focus on skill development Sell the outline Build external support Have a Brilliant Difference project Bring an Edge Move mindset to everything you do  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

It's time to continue your Edge Moves Evolution journey. Get right to the good stuff at 2:26! Thank you for joining Finka for another week and committing to being a transformational leader by actualizing your Brilliant Difference through Edge Moves.   In episode 190, she covered what Edge Moves are and how our brains react to threats, newness, and change.   Then, in episode 191, she got deeper into Edge Moves by giving you types to think about applying in your role and work.   And now, she's peeling back the layers even more to help you identify what Edge Moves you can make that are specific to your role and industry in six simple steps:  Identify your problem or goal. Identify your actions that are producing your current results. Visualize where you want to go; define your destination. Determine a person, place, or scenario to apply your Edge Moves. Brainstorm a list of Edge Moves. Choose and act on your first Edge Move.  But don't do it alone. Finka guides you in the episode!  What You'll Learn:  How Edge Moves fuel personal and professional growth.  How to identify a problem or goal within your workplace.  Ideas to practice Edge Moves in real situations.   How practicing Edge Moves leads to thought leadership and visibility in your organization.  The importance of support systems when trying something new.   How to strategically ties success metrics to Edge Moves.   Why continuous learning and adapting are crucial for being a successful Edge Mover and leader in your company.   Get Career Clarity and Direction for 2025: Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Surveying over 100+ corporate leaders and professionals, Finka Inc. has the pulse on what's top of mind for people at work in 2025. What should be your priorities? What is the workplace landscape going to look like? What are career advancement critical skills you need to help you soar? Find out by clicking the button below to download your copy.   [Grab Your Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast]