78. On Building a Values-Aligned Career and Life with Stephanie Movahhed

Overview

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 been guided by what was important to her and her values, interests, curiosities, and what was calling her next. She also shares how she has leaned into experimentation to de-risk career transitions.

We close with Stephanie offering thoughts on how to step into living and working aligned with one’s values, how to build supporting routines, and how one can coach themselves if they don’t have access to a resource.

Stephanie - thank you for sharing your journey and your tips for navigating pivots in one’s career! I truly believe your story is an inspiration for how others can navigate their career journeys with more joy, confidence, and ease.

More About Our Guest

Stephanie Movahhed is a leadership coach based in San Francisco. Stephanie works with founders and leaders at all levels to up-level their results and themselves. Through coaching, her clients find more fulfillment, balance, and success in work and in life. In addition to her 1 on 1 coaching practice, Stephanie facilitates groups at The Grand World and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Women in Management Program. Prior to becoming a full-time coach, Stephanie held roles in Operations, Strategy, and Product Partnership at technology companies of various stages, such as Google, SurveyMonkey, LinkedIn, and Persona Identities. She has an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Based on her interest in building and growing tech companies and leaders, Stephanie also invests in and advises startups.

Topics Covered

  • We start by hearing about Stephanie’s own career journey—where it started (with a gap year before college), what led her to move from what she thought would be a path towards academia to landing in the technology industry, and what has brought her now to being a leadership coach.

  • What you’ll hear is how Stephanie has always been guided by what was important to her and her values, interests, curiosities, and what was calling her next. I also appreciate that Stephanie shares that she paid attention and also “threw a lot of stuff at the wall.” I can relate to that! She’s a prime example of what I talk about and she says, “planting a lot of seeds.”

  • Stephanie is also an example of developing unique “assets” for herself that translated to career opportunities.

  • I appreciate that she shares her pivot and switch into coaching, because she offers a perfect illustration of what I spoke about in E76: On Finding the Courage to Step Back to Go Forward in Your Career. The way she approached the move is exactly how you can de-risk making a switch, learn into what might be next, and through your experimentation gain the confidence and courage to move forward.

  • We then dig into making choices for your career based on values and what it also means to lead a values-aligned life. Stephanie offers tips on how to do that and how to integrate routines into your days to support what’s important to you.

  • We close with a rapid round of questions and Stephanie’s parting counsel to all of you: Dream it, lean into it, and test it, because if you can dream it you can be it.

Resources Mentioned

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78. On Building a Values-Aligned Career and Life with Stephanie Movahhed

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2022-2Kathy OnetoRight Aspiration, Right Success