The CryRoom

Ella Irwin

The CryRoom is a podcast designed to help you navigate the hard stuff that comes up in your career. Each episode will dive into specific topics that tend to be challenging for all of us as we grow and develop our careers. New episodes available every 3 weeks.

  1. 08/25/2024

    Strategy

    In episode #4 of the CryRoom, Ella Irwin and guest Alex Ruiz discuss what is Strategy and what does it mean to be strategic. Alex Ruiz is an entrepreneur and experienced executive in the technology industry who has helped large and small companies develop strategies and has helped many people develop strategic thinking skills. At some point in your career, you will be asked to form a strategy or you may get feedback that you need to be more strategic, which sounds hard and complex. In this episode Ella and Alex cover: 1) A simple definition for Strategy, which is a plan or set of actions which helps an organization accomplish its goals. 2) How to apply strategy to your career and your personal life. 3) How to become more strategic, particularly when you don’t have mentors in your life to learn from. 4) What are the mistakes people make when first starting out with creating a strategy. Books and References: - The Art of War by Sun Tzu. https://amzn.to/4g2Uacj - Lost my Virginity - How I’ve Survived, Had Fun and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way. by Richard Branson. https://amzn.to/3yQFRHe - Know What Matters by Ron Shaich. https://amzn.to/46Yslhn - Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. https://amzn.to/4dYb2iQ - Make Profits by Stealing Underpants - South Park. https://youtu.be/a5ih_TQWqCA?si=70V91UGH_YtxP9Ri Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

    50 min
  2. 07/21/2024

    Managing Up

    In episode #3 of the CryRoom, Ella Irwin and guest Ethan Evans discuss the practice of managing up and how it impacts your career. Regardless of where you are in your career, you may suddenly be reporting for someone new, who has a different style than you are used to and you will need to quickly figure out how best to work with this person. You need to create a great partnership with your manager and this episode will give you actionable guidance on how to do this. This episode covers all of the following: 1. What is managing up and why is it important? 2. Ways to determine your manager’s style. 3. What questions to ask your manager to better understand their needs. 4. Managing up vs setting boundaries. 5. How to manage up when you make a big mistake and impact your manager/ team/ company and rebuild trust. 6. What happens if your manager leaves? Was it all for nothing? Ethan Evans is a former VP at Amazon with over 12 years of startup leadership experience. While at Amazon he helped start Prime Video, built the Appstore for Kindle tablets and Alexa, started Prime Gaming. He is now coaching managers and executives and has developed valuable training content to help people succeed in their careers. To see more content from Ethan, please visit: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

    55 min
  3. 03/11/2024

    Bad Habits That Can Derail Your Career

    In the season finale of Season 1 of the CryRoom, we wrap up our focus on the foundational skills needed as you build your career by breaking down the bad habits that can derail your career. If you find yourself demonstrating any of these bad habits at any time in your career, it is critical that you break them and turn them into good habits as quickly as possible. In this episode, we discuss the fact that successful careers are a product of many good habits developed over time and avoiding the most common bad habits that derail many people’s careers. The 7 most damaging bad habits are: 1. Procrastination 2. Negative attitude/ mindset 3. Avoiding Challenges 4. Not using your time wisely 5. Failure to Network 6. Avoiding Difficult Conversations 7. Resistance to Change Book References: The Obstacle is the Way - https://amzn.to/4c2nNZv Crucial Conversations - https://amzn.to/4a5pLX1 Difficult Conversations - https://amzn.to/43iRilS Atomic Habits - https://amzn.to/4a5nfjH We would like to thank everyone who has joined us on our Season 1 journey of the CryRoom! We are looking forward to bringing you an exciting and helpful Season 2 in a few weeks where we will be going deeper on exploring the additional skills you need to tackle challenges throughout your career, including how to handle a layoff, how to develop strategies when you are in the market for your next position, how to nail an interview, and much more! Of course, we would love to hear from you! What questions can we answer for you or what topics might you be interested in learning more about in Season 2? Your comments could lead to a future episode! Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

    40 min
4.8
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

The CryRoom is a podcast designed to help you navigate the hard stuff that comes up in your career. Each episode will dive into specific topics that tend to be challenging for all of us as we grow and develop our careers. New episodes available every 3 weeks.