I met Summer through LinkedIn. She had started posting and building her own brand, and I found it inspiring and honestly a bit brave, because it’s something I hadn’t done myself. So I asked her to come on the show.

Summer is a sales executive and level four apprentice with experience across B2B technology, property and hospitality. Right now she sells hardware leasing into the education sector, which she’ll tell you is not easy over the summer holidays. She’s also doing all of this while finishing her apprenticeship.

In this episode we talk about:

• The hard parts of starting early. Keeping friendships going when your classmates are out on a weekday afternoon, moving from eight weeks of summer holiday to 28 days of annual leave, and the comments she got for choosing an apprenticeship over A levels. I share a bit of my own start too, a night shift in customer service straight out of college.
• Staying organised without getting stressed. Getting in early to beat the traffic, what Parkinson’s Law taught her about long to-do lists, and her 30-minute bursts of calls, about four a day. I add my own thoughts on buffer time and the pins example from Atomic Habits.
• What she loves about sales. Every day is different, and the skills (negotiation, customer service) are valuable in almost any industry.
• Burnout, honestly. Summer is open about how drained she felt in her first months, and about being too tired to talk to the friends she loves after speaking to 70 people in a day. We talk about what helps, from time blocks to getting out of the house at the weekend.
• Her lessons for anyone just starting. No one is coming to save you. Start building your brand from day one. Make yourself valuable by doing things your coworkers don’t, like topping the call board, running the company TikTok and collecting customer reviews. And advocate for yourself, because no one will hand you a gold star.

If you’re at the start of your career, in sales or not, I think you’ll take something from this one.

Tell us what you thought in the Spotify comments, or send me an email like you always do, and I’ll pass your feedback on to Summer. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn, where she shares her insights every day. Next episode is coming next week.

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You don't need the same culture in every office. You need the same standards. That's how Adam O'Connor answers the first question I ask him, and it sets up the rest of our conversation.

Adam has spent over 20 years in global sales and revenue leadership. He's helped companies grow from under $1M to more than $150M in annual revenue and led teams across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. He's now Chief Revenue Officer at Connectus. In this episode we talk about what actually makes global teams hard, and what he's learned from the C-suite.

Some of what we get into:

• Why silence means different things in different cultures, and Adam's tip for learning the local rules fast: ask the taxi driver on the way in from the airport
• Why 99% of founders think building more features will fix everything, and why polishing something that isn't finished doesn't make it finished
• What happens when customers show up having already asked ChatGPT about you, and why the human conversation matters more now, not less
• Why servant leadership isn't soft, and why Adam doesn't try to take pressure off his team. He tries to find out what's blocking them.
• How you build trust with people who won't speak up in a group, even if it starts with a private message
• Our own culture clashes: Adam is British, married to a Turkish wife, and spent ten years in the Philippines. I'm from North Macedonia and based in Portugal. Neither of us has it figured out.

His advice for anyone stepping into a C-level role: you don't have to know everything. Ask your team. Nine times out of ten, someone knows it better than you do.

I also mention The Culture Map, one of my favorite recent reads, if you work in a global company.

If you enjoyed this one, leave us a rating on Spotify or a comment, or message me directly with feedback. You can also find Adam on LinkedIn, and he's happy to take your questions. New guest next week.

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Hi everybody, welcome back to Mindverse! Season 8 is here, and I'm starting it with Scott Zuckerman, financial services professional and founder of Financial Fitness Passport.

Scott's point is that nobody teaches us this stuff in high school or college, so we end up asking family and friends for money advice. He puts it this way: you wouldn't ask them for medical advice, so why ask them about your money? We talk about the mistake he sees most (living beyond your means, because people love credit cards and credit cards really love people), and why so many of us feel that first-paycheck "I can finally treat myself" pull.

We also get into why finance feels so overwhelming, how the jargon makes people give up, and how Scott keeps it simple, sunglasses and umbrellas included. And we talk about AI. ChatGPT can explain what life insurance is really well, but it won't ask whether you have kids, what you're trying to protect, or what your situation looks like. That's where the human side still matters.

Scott's advice is to start somewhere, because "I don't have enough money" is one of the biggest myths out there. You can get a free score from 0 to 100 at Financial Fitness Passport, and if you're under a 70, you've got some work to do.

Connect with Scott on LinkedIn and check out Financial Fitness Passport. See you next week with another guest!

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