#17: Andy Storch on Being Intentional About Career Development

Careers pursuits evolve over time. Take for example when you were entering college. There is a good chance that your aspirations as a young adult changed by the time you were a few years into a career. Probably, as we progress through mid to the end of our careers, interests and goals shift as well. 

Consultant and podcaster Andy Storch can vouch for this, both through his own career as well as the research he did in his new book Own Your Career, Own Your Life. On episode 17 of the Learning and Development Stories podcast, Andy shared some key advice from the book on goal setting, networking and communications strategies that can support career development and a continuous learning mindset. (Note the book was not published at the time of the recording, but is now available). 

After college, Andy was involved with some start-ups that didn’t work out the way he envisioned and then entered the corporate world before working at two different consultancies, the latter focused on L&D. He decided to go out on his own and run his own consultancy, launching membership communities, events and now a book. 

“Everything has been about the network I built; they lead to so many different opportunities,” he said. “I am always thinking about building a brand that allows me to pivot and try different things. If it doesn’t work, then I will try something else.”

How Content Creation Support Pivots

For Andy, conversations help him learn about others' challenges and how he can help. 

“Podcasting has led to so many interesting conversations that has led to different opportunities,” he said. “It also brings a bit of authority that helps open doors to connect with people.” 

An example of this is when Andy tried connecting with a talent development executive to explore business opportunities. Initial requests for a meeting went unanswered. Andy reached out to the executive to have him on the podcast. The executive agreed. The interview led to a great conversation and eventually this individual became one of Andy’s clients. 

Another example is when Andy had Multipliers author Liz Wiseman on his podcast. She became one of the speakers at Andy’s conference and has provided inspiration. 

“Getting to know Liz and her content has spurred so many ideas in me,” Andy said. “I have another book that is now burning inside of me on the topic of leadership.” 

Andy points to how the many conversations with L&D experts on his podcast have made him more educated and provided inspiration.

He advises listeners looking to build their network to provide added value to the individuals they are reaching out to. 

Own Your Career, Own Your Life

Andy wrote the book to help young professionals grow in their careers. 

“Many people get into jobs for different reasons. Usually we pick a random major in college. There is no judgement with that. I want people to be more intentional about what they are doing and where they are going. The first part of the book is about owning your career. It is about setting a vision and connecting to a purpose so you know why you are going to work every day.”

Andy warns that we can’t wait for the “career fairy” to come along and direct our careers. We need to own this, define where we are going and make a plan.

The second part of the book is about setting people up for the future, particularly around building a brand, networking and continuous learning. The third section is dedicated to being more intentional around life choices. 

Learn more about the Own Your Career, Own Your Life book and read Kevin Anselmo’s related blog post Faith-Based Goal Setting. 

The Learning and Development Stories Podcast is brought to you by the Global Innovators Academy’s Workforce Development Partnership. Recent college graduate employees, new hires and/or young high-potential talent conduct interviews with senior leaders. Based on that conversation, a short article is written and disseminated via different internal and external communications channels. This fosters meaningful mentoring conversations, knowledge sharing and employee engagement. Learn more.