Dan Smolen is an author, podcaster, and advocate for people who want to do meaningful work. He is the founder and executive producer of The Dan Smolen Experience, LLC, and, host of The Tightrope with Dan Smolen, a podcast that speaks to the hopes and dreams—but also the fears and anxieties—of workforce professionals. The Tightrope Podcast just finished its Fall 2019 season.
- CEO Hack: (1) Writing and updating lists and priorities (2) Doing as much in the early hours
- CEO Nugget: Be consistent and persistent
- CEO Defined: A person who tells the brand story
Website: https://dansmolen.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dansmolen.tightrope/
Instagram: @dan.smolen
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/11077548/
Twitter: @dansmolen
Podcast Page: https://dansmolen.com/about-the-tightrope-with-dan-smolenpodcast-2/
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Transcription:
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Intro 0:02
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
Gresham Harkless 0:29
Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Dan Smolen of the The Dan Smolen Experience. Dan, it's awesome to have you on the show.
Dan Smolen 0:39
Thank you, Gresh. Great to be here.
Gresham Harkless 0:41
Yeah, super excited to have you on it. What I wanted to do before we jumped in, was read a little bit more about Dan, so you hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Dan Smolen is an author, podcaster, and advocate for people who want to do meaningful work. He is the founder and executive producer of The Dan Smolen Experience, LLC, and, host of The Tightrope with Dan Smolen, a podcast that speaks to the hopes and dreams—but also the fears and anxieties—of workforce professionals. The Tightrope Podcast just finished its Fall 2019 season. Dan, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
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Dan Smolen 1:12
Let's do this.
Gresham Harkless 1:13
Let's make it happen. So I wanted to kick everything off with what I call your CEO story and hear a little bit more about your background when you get started with all the awesome things you're looking at.
Dan Smolen 1:22
Well, mostly, your story is going to be probably different than most CEO stories you run on your podcast, I am into my fourth career act. I've been in the work world for about 40 years if you count my freshman year in college, which started off in radio broadcasting. After college, got into the advertising world as an expert in digital indirect marketing, then spent 20 years as a headhunter in the recruiting business, I went to work for somebody that I had worked with, in my sales and marketing years in the agency space and helped her build one of the leading digital marketing, executive recruitment companies.
Then in 2005, one off on my own and then for the next 13 years, ran my own boutique executive recruitment firm, which I closed, I'm sorry, two years ago, beginning of 2018, I just ran out of gas, I didn't have any recruiting left in me and decided I wanted to focus my energy more on the people that get recruited and not the companies that do the recruiting That was the genesis behind the dance floor and experience where we focus on the idea of meaningful work, work that's profound, often protects the planet and empowers people and communities and it's fun to do.
Gresham Harkless 3:00
Absolutely. No, I love that and I love the evolution of that. It definitely sounds like I don't know, usually, this is not according to plan but it kind of sounds like when you look back, I mean, you explain everything science, like everything kind of fits in its perfect spot and improvise this, I guess foundation for the work that you're doing now.
Dan Smolen 3:19
There are no mistakes. There are no coincidences, I wouldn't change a thing.
Gresham Harkless 3:23
Awesome. I love that, and I know we touched on a little bit when I read your bio, and he did as well too. So I wanted you to take us through the dance mall and experience what exactly you're doing, what you're covering on your podcast, and some of the awesome things we can find.
Dan Smolen 3:39
What we do is on the podcast, allow amazing storytelling. So our guests are often people who have made a transition in their work. I'll give you some examples. One of our guests this season, a top attorney in New York City covering traffic law and by just chance meeting, Matt Weiss met up with the dad of a 9/11 hero, a guy who during 9/11 helped rescue 10 people out of the World Trade Centre. When that happened to make a long story short, Matt went from being a guy who made his living helping people to deal with traffic law situations speeding tickets, and other types of things to becoming a film producer. It's really those kinds of stories of transition where it's not always somebody being unhappy with what they were doing prior.
But then something comes along and the meaning just pours out of it. So in Matt's case, he became a filmmaker and it's just stoked his passions, it brings him great meaning. So we tell those kinds of stories. We also interview experts in all sorts of fields relating to work in the work world. One of our experts, explains the importance of emotional intelligence and personality types, and how you can use those to advantage yourself, especially when it comes to doing meaningful work. So we bring on guests who have first-person experience, and we also bring on guests who are experts in their own fields who impact work for the better.
Gresham Harkless 5:31
Yeah, that makes so much sense. I think when we first connected, I loved that project and everything you were working on so much because I think so many times we overlook or don't look at the value, I guess, of work and what role that plays in our lives. I think that when you know, and everything you're doing is bringing light to that and helping people to understand it from different perspectives and different vantage points, so to speak so that we can kind of understand our work, understand what we're doing or saying why we're doing what everything that we're doing from a greater level.
Dan Smolen 6:02
You know, for for so many years work was the means by which ordinary people could attain upward mobility. My granddad came from Eastern Europe 116 years ago, 117 years ago, with lint in his pockets, he had nothing came with no family, just dreams. Little by little he went from pushing a pushcart to becoming an entrepreneur who ran his own furniture store, and 25 years after arriving in this country building a gorgeous custom home. That happened because work back in the day was a means to create not only personal wealth but a wonderful life story. It's not so simple nowadays, for many people. work isn't upward mobility, it's just the means of staying afloat or not underwater. So that's fertile ground for us to talk about on the tightrope because many people suffer some aspect of meaninglessness or disengagement on the job.
Actually, our research, actually from the Gallup organization says that 66% of people in the workforce, suffer some degree of meaninglessness or disengagement on the job. That's 145 million people, if you extract it out against the entire workforce, that's a huge portion of the population, not just the workforce, but the population of the United States that is suffering, at work. We feel Gresh we have an opportunity, but also a responsibility to help people take the reins of their careers, and restore some meaningfulness to it. So that the work that they do really inspires them. It's not just a paycheck.
Gresham Harkless 8:07
Yeah, absolutely and me being a millennial, I feel like that from everything I read about millennials, not to say I'm an expert or anything, that's something that we're craving, and we're thriving for. It's not just to work just for work's sake, but to work to have a mission and value and meaningful work, as you said, as well. I love how everything you're doing is bringing those stories out. Because I think that a lot of times again work is something that doesn't have life, sometimes it doesn't feel it doesn't think it doesn't do those things.
But when you add those stories in that aspect to it, I think it brings everything to light. So I wasn't sure if that is what you would consider to be what I call your secret sauce, the thing you feel kind of sets you and your organization apart, but do you feel like it's the stories and bringing that work together that kind of sets you apart?
Dan Smolen 8:56
Well, the podcast is the main feature of the Dan Smolen Experience. We're a work in progress. We unlike a lot of companies that write a business plan, and they chart out, okay, we're going to be a media company and we're going to have this lane of programming in that lane of programming, and we're going to do this and we're going to do that. I actually did would probably any business school would tell you not to do, which was to start as a blank slate, and figure it out from there. I'm actually okay with that. So we're by all intents and purposes, a media company. The center of that is our podcast. So that's available wherever people get podcasts by keywording, the type of podcast and we provide the stories to people to inspire them.
Beyond that, we were going to be doing other things. We have a newsletter where we offer insight tips and hacks to people so that along the way, they can get better at recognizing meaningful work opportunities and then go about seizing them. What I hope in time to happen is that our work touches people more directly, maybe through training, maybe through other types of things or communities. I don't know, though, and we'll figure it out and that'll be okay.
Gresham Harkless 10:21
Definitely appreciate you for mentioning that. I wanted to just switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So that could be like an app or a book or habit that you have for what's something that you feel makes you more effective and efficient.
Dan Smolen 10:37
I am constantly writing and updating lists, and prioritizing what I need to get done in a day. I also tried to put as much early in the day as possible, I never realized I was a morning person, but my dogs get me up at 5:30. I get them fed and then my wife who teaches she's got to get ready for school and get her out the door. So she's out the door by by 830 and that's when I'm hitting the ground running. As a podcaster, I'm doing a lot of editing and a lot of production work. I try to do as much of that early in the day as possible when my energy level is the best. As the day goes on, I do less taxing pursuits.
Gresham Harkless 11:24
Definitely, you know, appreciate that. I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. That could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or if he can happen to a time machine what would you tell your younger business? So
Dan Smolen 11:37
If I told my earlier business self to do something, and it changed the course of my destiny, I wouldn't be speaking to you right now. I don't know that's really the case. I mean, yeah you could say, I wish I did this, I wish I did that. With all the disappointments and all the career changes that I had, I really wouldn't change a thing. But I think that the word that I use, is his persistence, don't give up, be consistent, be constant. If you have a focus in your life, if you have a mission, even on days, when you don't have a lot of energy, just give what you can give it a daily effort.
Gresham Harkless 12:24
Awesome. Well, Dan, I truly appreciate that and I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO, and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote, CEOs on this show. So Dan, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Dan Smolen 12:39
You know, my take on it is going to be different than anybody else. I didn't go to business school. I think that today's CEO is the chief storyteller of their brand. They're the chief storyteller of the company's revenue, stream, and scale potential. But at the end of the day, he or she is the person who tells the brand's story, weaves the story for relevance, and makes the consumer of their brand, the person who drives the storytelling. If you do all those things today, I think you're an effective CEO.
Gresham Harkless 13:22
Nice. I love that definition. I love that perspective. Because a lot of times we forget about the stories and we're living on a day-to-day basis. But also we're living, of course in our businesses and our lives and our family, and so on and so forth, and you often can lose perspective and forget about that. I think that if we are cognizant of that in the team and live that and figure out how best to articulate that, I think that we truly are being our best CEOs
Dan Smolen 13:47
Agree.
Gresham Harkless 13:48
Awesome. Well, Dan, I truly appreciate that definition. Again, I truly appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know. Then of course, how they can find out about the podcast and all the awesome work that you're doing.
Dan Smolen 14:05
Well, I appreciate that opportunity. Gresh. So I encourage your listeners to give us a listen and find us where you get your podcasts by keywording The Tightrope podcast. You can find us on Apple podcasts, on Google, on Spotify, on Pandora, on Stitcher Radio, on Tune and goodness knows other types of places as well. We are also as of this past Friday on YouTube. So for a different type of experience, you can keyword, The Tightrope Podcast channel, and you'll find video representative, I'm sorry, you'll find video representations of our weekly podcasts and also come to see us at dansmolen.com, that's d a n s m o l e n .com and pull down the podcast tabs.
You can find information about our podcast. But also click on past episodes, read our story notes, and at the top of the page, each page, you can find our player just press the forward triangle button, and you're on your way to listening.
Gresham Harkless 15:20
Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Dan. We will have those links and information in the show notes as well too so people can click through and subscribe and of course, listen to the podcast and see all the awesome work that you've been doing. I appreciate you again for talking about meaningful work and for helping us to figure out how we can have meaningful work and understand exactly what that is and I just hope you have a phenomenal day.
Outro 15:43
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
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