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eCareerCoaching If you're in job search, you're in sales. Let us show you why, and how to do it right. Career Progression. Career Coaching. Be found. Get hired. Faster.

10/14/2026

A whammy bar on a keyboard, huh? Pretty cool!

Dave Rix, Price, Rick Demski, Rio

Remeber how we were raised? Come out on top? Top of the class. Star of the team. Beat the other kid.It works great right...
10/14/2026

Remeber how we were raised? Come out on top? Top of the class. Star of the team. Beat the other kid.

It works great right up until you’re a senior executive in a final round with four other people every bit as accomplished as you are.

Here’s the thing: by the time you’re a finalist, everyone already knows you can do the job. That part’s settled. So the committee isn’t hunting for the most qualified person. They’re looking at accomplished people who all clear the bar, and squinting at the small stuff. “Culture fit.” “Energy.” How far along you are in your career. (You know what that one can mean.)

Trying to be the better candidate keeps you inside that comparison. And a comparison is something you can lose to someone younger or cheaper on any given day. It’s a simple concept, but it’s not easy to pull off.

Just stop competing on 'better.' Be the only one who does the specific, expensive thing you do. The turnaround nobody saw coming. The team you rebuilt twice. The number that moved because you were in the room. That problem was worth many times your salary, and you’re the proof it got solved. Lead with that, and there’s nobody left to line you up against - it becomes your moat.

Better puts you in the lineup. Different makes you the category.

Easy question: what’s the one thing you do that your peers just can’t copy? Drop it in the comments. I read and respond to every one personally.

Reach out for ideas, so you can enter stage right.

Better competes. Different disqualifies the field.



(Graphic created with AI through Canva - my prompt)

Years ago, I interviewed 38 people to fill 3 sales jobs. Two of them sent a handwritten thank-you note. I hired one of t...
10/12/2026

Years ago, I interviewed 38 people to fill 3 sales jobs. Two of them sent a handwritten thank-you note.

I hired one of those two.

It wasn't about good manners. It was about proof.

Here's what I mean: by the time you're being interviewed for a senior role, everyone's qualified. The resumes all clear the bar. The references all say "wonderful leader, great operator." So competence stops being the deciding factor. How you actually operate becomes the whole ballgame.

And that's the one thing a person can't tell you. They can only show you.

The other 36 told me they were reliable and followed through. The two who wrote didn't say a word about it. They just showed me, in a small moment where following through was completely optional and nobody was keeping score.

A thank-you note doesn't get anyone hired; the habit behind it does. The person who writes the note is the same one who returns the hard call and closes the loop when no one's watching.

Easy question: in your last search, what did you actually show people about how you operate, instead of just telling them?

If the honest answer is "I sent my resume and waited," let's talk it through. Comment below or send me a message. I read and reply to every one myself.

Reach out for ideas so you can enter stage right.

Everyone claims value. The few who prove it get hired.

Someone congratulates you on your work anniversary. Three years. Maybe five.You smile. It feels like proof you're valued...
10/09/2026

Someone congratulates you on your work anniversary. Three years. Maybe five.

You smile. It feels like proof you're valued.

Here's a gentler truth I share with the senior folks I work with: The company isn't counting your years. It's counting your math.

Here's what I mean:

When they hired you, there was a problem that cost them real money. For a while, you cost less than that problem. You were a bargain. Then you fixed and documented it. That's your job, and you did it well.

But the problem's monetary value got smaller. And your comp went up. Somewhere around month 18, those two lines cross. After that, you're the bigger number on something that's mostly handled.

It's not about your age. It's about a paycheck with no fresh problem attached to it. It's not that they stopped valuing you. It's that the thing they valued is finished.

So the goal was never just to stay. It's to stay valuable. Every year and a half or so, go find the next problem worth 10x your salary and put your name on it. It's a simple concept, but it's not easy.

Tough question: if your role ended this Friday, could you say in one sentence the quantified value of the problem you're solving right now?

If that one's hard to answer, let's talk it through. I keep a few 30-minute Zoom slots open each week for just this. No pitch, just ideas. Send me a message and I'll get you the link.

Reach out for ideas, so you can enter stage right.

Loyalty has a shelf life. Value doesn't.

"Did you ever hear back on that job?"You know the question. Maybe it came at dinner. Maybe from your partner. You're mor...
10/08/2026

"Did you ever hear back on that job?"

You know the question. Maybe it came at dinner. Maybe from your partner. You're more than qualified, and yet you've heard nothing.

Here's something that might be going on.

Your resume says one thing. The posting says another. Yours says "VP of Sales." Theirs says "Business Development Leader." Same work. Different words.

Now, the good news. Some of the newer hiring software actually reads for meaning. It can tell those two titles are related.

The not-so-good news? That's not the whole story.

Plenty of companies still use older systems that look for the exact words. Even the smart ones rank the exact phrase higher. And a real person, the recruiter, is still typing words into a search box. If she types "business development" and your resume never says it, you never show up in her results.

It's not that you weren't good enough. It's that you weren't found.

Here's what I tell the senior folks I work with: "Keep your real title. Don't ever change it. But put the language of the job you want in the places you control: your headline, your summary, and the results you've delivered."

Tslk about markets you opened. Partnerships you built. Pipeline you built from nothing. That's where the words belong.

It's simple, but it's not easy. Know what I mean?

Easy question: does your resume speak the language of the job you want, or the job you had? Drop it in the comments. I read and respond to every one personally.

Free resource: email me with the phrase "Executive Resume Reality Check." I don't sell your iinformation, and I won't spam you

Reach out for ideas so you can enter stage right.

Responsibilities get listed. Outcomes get hired.

The September issue of "Own Your Value" was just published today. If you'd like to subscribe but you don't have access t...
10/07/2026

The September issue of "Own Your Value" was just published today. If you'd like to subscribe but you don't have access to LinkedIn or Substack, PM me your email address, and I will add you to the list (and not SPAM you or sell your data to anyone).

Next are the first few paragraphs of this newsletter, so you can decide whether to get this free monthly newsletter from me.

--------------------

I did something over the last year and a half that I'd recommend to anyone who talks to people for a living. I went back and listened.

Not to one call - to 193 of them, across 48 senior job seekers, over the 18 months through this past September. Directors, VPs, a few in the C-suite. People who've run divisions and carried real numbers.

I wasn't fishing for testimonials. I wanted to hear the words they actually used to describe their own search, before I said anything back. Here's what I heard...

Get the whole story - subscribe.

Someone at the family dinner asks how the search is going. You hear yourself start to say you're "looking at a few thing...
10/07/2026

Someone at the family dinner asks how the search is going. You hear yourself start to say you're "looking at a few things," and part of you just wants the question to stop coming.

That's the exact moment the trap opens.

A role comes up that's one level below where you were. The money is lower, but the search has been long, and taking it would make the questions at the next dinner party go away.

Here is what I tell the senior folks I work with before they seriously pursue a lower-level position. "A title below your level does not shorten your search. It resets it. The next hiring manager sees the step down and starts doing math on why you took it. Now you're explaining a perceived career slide. Wouldn't you rather be telling a compelling story about the outcomes you've generated over the course of your career?"

You're not being picky. You *are* protecting what took you decades to build.

Taking any job ends the search. Taking the right-level job ends the problem.

It's simple, but it's not easy.

Pro tip: if you do consider a role a level down, write the exact story you'll tell the next interviewer about why you took it. If you cannot make it sound like a choice, it'll read as a slide.

Easy question: is the lower title a bridge you've designed, or a slide you are rationalizing?

If you're weighing this approach right now, drop your messaging in the comments and tell me what's pulling you toward it. Or send me a message if you'd rather not post it. I read and respond to every one personally.

Reach out for ideas, so you can enter stage right.

Loyalty has a shelf life. Value doesn't.

Sunday night. You're at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the bank statement open, doing the math out loud with...
10/06/2026

Sunday night. You're at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the bank statement open, doing the math out loud with your spouse. You give the search a number. "Nine months. Maybe 10."

I've watched a lot of good people hit that exact moment. Nine of the 48 senior folks I talked with on 193 recorded calls over the last 18 months named it out loud. "Running out of runway." "A short clock."

And the clock does something quiet to smart people. It doesn't make them quit - it makes them scatter.

Forty applications in two weeks. Three that actually fit a career she spent 25 years building. It feels like progress because you are busy. But busy and closer are not the same thing.

That scattered approach actually punishes job seekers. I call it the "blind archer."

By the way, that clock isn't counting your applications...
...it's measuring the distance between you and the one room where your experience is clearly worth the money.

More 'easy-button' blind applications widen the net. They don't shorten that distance. Ten companies picked on purpose, with someone walking you in the door, do.

You don't need a faster search. You need an aimed one. It's simple, but it's not easy.

The clock is real. The panic is optional. And the panic is the costly part.

If that clock's the loudest thing in your life right now, let's take 30 minutes and aim your approach, together. I'll help you cut the list down to where your experience is an asset and map the warm paths in. A free "Are We a Fit" call. No pitch.

Easy question [Figure this out - ASAP]: if you had to name the 10 companies where your experience is clearly an asset, could you, right now?

Reach out for ideas, so you can enter stage right.

Loyalty has a shelf life. Value doesn't.

It usually shows up at dinner. Someone you love asks, gently, "any luck yet?" And you hear yourself say "not yet" for th...
10/05/2026

It usually shows up at dinner. Someone you love asks, gently, "any luck yet?" And you hear yourself say "not yet" for the 40th time.

Here's something we don't say enough to senior lesders in job search: the hardest part isn't the resume - it's the quiet.

I went back through 193 recorded calls from the last 18 months. Of the 48 senior job seekers I talked with, 13 used words like these on their own: "demoralizing," "lonely," "barely any confidence left." These are people who ran divisions and carried big numbers. Strong, capable people.

And it makes complete sense. Think about what changed. One week you're the person a whole building depends on. The next, your calendar is empty and your inbox doesn't answer. The daily proof that you're good at your work just got unplugged, and the silence rushes in.

So the confidence dips. That's the process doing it to you, not the truth about you.

Because feeling unhireable and being unhireable are two very different things. One's a mood this stretch manufactures. The other is a fact, and the market hasn't actually weighed in - yet.

A quiet inbox is not a verdict - it's just a quiet inbox.

Your value didn't leave when the building did. It's still in you, waiting for one room to see it. It's simple, but it's not easy.

Pro tip [do this as needed]: on the hard days, do one thing that has nothing to do with applying. Call an old colleague just to talk. Go to a movie. Take your partner out to dinner. Take a walk in the park. Drive through the countryside.

If this stretch is wearing on you, you're not weak and you're not alone. Tell me one win from your career you're still quietly proud of. I read and respond to every one personally.

Easy question: who's one person you could call today just to talk, not to ask for anything?

Reach out for ideas, so you can enter stage right.

Loyalty has a shelf life. Value doesn't.

You're filling out an online application, and it asks for the year you graduated.You pause...You actually sit there and ...
10/02/2026

You're filling out an online application, and it asks for the year you graduated.

You pause...

You actually sit there and wonder whether to leave it blank.

I talk to a lot of accomplished people who have quietly started editing themselves smaller. They cut the first ten years off the resume. They drop the graduation date. They trade "30 years of experience" for "seasoned leader." All of it quiet; all of it before anyone in a hiring seat ever says a word about age.

Here's the thing worth hearing. The bias you're bracing for may - or may not - even be in the room with you. The editing is always in the room, because you did it to yourself.

And it isn't a confidence problem. These are people who've run divisions and carried huge numbers and important projects. It is a reflex. You can't win an argument you can't prove, so you quietly pull the evidence instead.

But look at what that evidence is. Those first ten years are where you learned to read a room, fix a broken team, and make the call nobody else wanted to make. Cut the years, and you're not hiding your age. You're hiding your proof of your value.

You don't make age irrelevant by shrinking. You make it irrelevant by leading with value so specific they stop doing math on your birth year, and start doing math on your impact. It's a simple concept, but it's not easy for people to do it alone.

Easy question: what's the one win from your first ten years that still matters today?

If that's hard to answer cleanly, that's the work. Grab a free 30-minute "Are We a Fit" Zoom call and we'll build a first draft of the line together.

Reach out for ideas, so you can enter stage right.

Loyalty has a shelf life. Value doesn't.

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