Listen to to the entire Episode 50 of Out to Launch on Spotify or Apple or read the highlights below.

What if you could find your dream job?

Say what?! I know this topic may catch everyone by surprise because up to this moment, almost all the content created for Cutclass and Out To Launch revolves around leaving 9-5 to start a business.

But WHAT IF you worked for a company that you loved, where you felt inspired and passionate about the work that you did, and the company you worked for aimed to make a profound impact? Wouldn’t that be so incredibly amazing? 

A unicorn in The Great Resignation

Some would say that Sophie Needelman is a unicorn. Why? In the midst of The Great Resignation, Sophie has something few of us have - a job she enjoys working for a company, Thought Leader, that makes a significant impact by helping people develop and land a TEDx Talk.

How our paths crossed

Sophie is a coach with Thought Leader, a company that helps people take their big message to the biggest stage — a TEDx Talk. A TED talk has been on my bucket list for years. Towards the end of 2021, the inner pull got very strong as I contemplated going from TikToks to TED Talks. I joined the program at Thought Leader and that is how I met Sophie, who really helped me get the fundamentals together for my idea and the various written parts for the TEDx application.

The foundational building blocks

Sophie has a background in performing arts, studying dance and choreography in high school and college. Over time, the world of dance became toxic and Sophie started feeling burnt out. 

She also studied rhetoric, which is basically like using communication to persuade someone of something. The art of influencing someone with words may seem completely disconnected from dance. However, a closer look reveals that both dance and language are forms of communication.

Sophie grew up in an environment that nurtured a more entrepreneurial mindset because both of her parents were self-employed. The key here is that, unlike many college graduates who are pushed into entry-level jobs where they unknowingly remain trapped in an outdated system, Sophie ended up freelancing after college. 

Sophie: I was very lucky to grow up in that ecosystem and I always felt really confident. I’ve always felt confident in myself, in what I know, what I can learn. I’ve always known that I’m smart and that I can learn on my feet. I’ve never doubted that part of who I am, which has definitely helped. There was always a sense that, you know, if this doesn’t work out for this job or this freelance gig, then I’ll be able to make something else work.

Whatever it takes, get your foot in the door

To get her dream job, Sophie took a job she was overqualified for, but she went for it because she was inspired and saw an opportunity.

Sophie: I was really interested in the work that [Thought Leader was] doing,… helping people land TEDx talks because we believe TEDx talks are one of the best ways to scale… So one lesson I learned or that I tried to honor early on is that if a company or organization speaks to you, get your foot in the door, even if it isn’t the perfect job or role for you. So I was more connected to the organization… I was more connected to the organization than the role.

Be a Team Player and Speak Up

Sophie: I saw that there was potential for me to change roles once I got my foot in the door. So I was willing to do a sort of grunt work, or the work wasn’t necessarily that exciting or engaging. But I was willing to do it because I believed in the larger message and the potential…

And when the opportunity to take on a different role came up, I wasn’t shy about my interest and that I had the skills they were looking for (which fit the role) to be a writer on their writing and content team. 

Play for the long term with integrity

Sophie: It ended up serving me, in the long run, to wait it out and wait for an opportunity to come along within the company. And when it did, I wasn’t hesitant about communicating my interest… there was [no game playing]. I was upfront about my intentions and my interests, which is one of our company values. From the start, [we had] radical transparency… there’s no reading between the lines. We’re always all very upfront about what we want and what’s working and what isn’t working.

I love hearing how everything unfolded for Sophie. As someone who owns businesses and puts together teams, I understand why when the Idea Collective restructured during COVID into Thought Leader, Sophie was invited to join the core team rebuilding the brand.

An introvert by nature, powerhouse by nurture

It is magic when a founder of a company (or any leader) can realize their weaknesses and therefore fills in the gaps by creating a team filled with experts. Many companies will never expand or grow because the founder becomes the bottleneck. 

But during COVID, Taylor Conroy partnered with CEO Jordan Schumacher and CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) Taylor MacArthur to really build the business. In the last 2 years, the company has grown from a team of five to now over 20.

And besides the team growing, you can see the individuals on the team growing.

Sophie: My role has really evolved. So I went from this data entry role to a writer… to a coach! Which was crazy for me to step into that coaching role… it was not something I ever envisioned for myself. Again, as a sort of introverted person, I always liked being in the background, but I had to learn on my feet what it meant to lead a coaching call and facilitate someone through an experience, and hold space for them. I went from facilitating or doing one-on-one coaching calls to now leading group calls and all-day group intensives with 30 plus people—which again, I never would have envisioned for myself.

This is how we do it

Are you all getting how incredible this story is not only of Sophie’s individual growth and development but the kind of company culture that Thought Leader must-have?! It is incredible to see a team performing together. People are stepping into their zone of genius, and everyone is winning at the same time.

And if we were able to look at the Thought Leader’s culture, what would we see? A group of individuals who truly admire one another and transparently communicate. They work together, serving a larger mission and vision in the world.

Sophie: When we’re talking about changing the lives of billions of people, the petty stuff that comes up or the stuff that might be petty is so insignificant because we’re all bought into this larger vision and mission of our organization.

What to look for in a company

Sophie: The company’s mission and vision is a huge thing. Then, in terms of team culture, look for an organization where the leaders, the people at the top, are not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. They embody the values of the company themselves; they are setting the example.

They are not just saying these are the values of the company, but they own them themselves and express them themselves every single day. Again, Taylor Conroy stepped back when the team could take on aspects of the business. That humility and self-awareness on a leadership level are huge because it models how to act for everyone else. This is how we do things here. The guys at the top, Taylor Conroy, Taylor MacArthur, and Jordan, are the first ones to say, “I messed up” or “I take extreme ownership of this” or “this is completely my fault.” The leadership team modeling the company values is huge.

They call and we all call each other up to be the best version of ourselves. We are also not shy about straight communication because we all care about each other as individual people. If one of us gets in a tailspin about some stupid thing, someone on the team will acknowledge or mirror what is happening so we can work through things.

I was coached through my rough spots. We do a great deal of internal coaching as well. Everyone feels able to lead in their own way within the context of our own roles.

Making a difference in the world

Every day, Sophie gets to support people through the process of landing a TEDx. She helps people look at their story and extract the meaning around what happened because everything happens for a reason. Through the process of developing a talk, Sophie and the rest of the Thought Leader team are helping people see the patterns and purpose in one’s life experience that perhaps otherwise would not be revealed. 

Thought Leader has coached and created an entire roadmap with a community to support people in getting their message out to the world. If you are interested in learning more about the Thought Leader and their process in a more intentional way in the context of the TEDx experience, click here. 

Creating company culture

This is a list of titles from the Thought Leader team book club which has helped them build their culture:

• Scaling Up - Verne Harnish

• Never Lose a Customer Again - Joey Coleman

• Do the Work - Steve Pressfield

• The Science of Getting Rich - Wallace D. Wattles

• Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

• Traction - Gina Wickman

• Extreme Revenue Growth - Victor Cheng

• 80/20 Sales and Marketing - Perry Marshall

• Good to Great - Jim Collins

• Built to Last - Jim Collins 

About

Every week (or so!) there is a new episode released to help people learn how to start a business, a new project, or start that new chapter in life. The Out to Launch podcast is brought to you by Cutclass, a company designed by and for those exhausted from the rat race, MBAs, ex-executives, subject matter experts, and creatives. We will help you transition into your dream of achieving full-time freedom and turning your passions into a rewarding, thriving business.

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Article by Leslie Levito with Stefanie Joseph