Building a Career That Aligns with Your Values and Aspirations

Faced with the daunting question of what comes next in our careers, we all seek that spark to ignite our next move. Misha Rubin, career strategist and inventor of the Career Leap Method will help us unravel the mysteries of personal and professional evolution. From Ernst & Young's corporate towers to the educational pursuits that now define his legacy, Misha offers insights for those stuck in their current positions. Byron Katie and Michael Singer have shaped his method as well as his life-changing career pivot, so it's more than just theory.

Is there a secret to career satisfaction? The answer might lie in the myriad of experiences one accumulates over time.Rather than focusing on Misha's wisdom, this episode aims to weave those diverse experiences into a cohesive narrative that propels us forward. Finding ways to use your past as a compass for your future is crucial no matter where you are in your professional career. We also discuss the often-overlooked relationship between job fulfillment and employee performance. The goal is to equip you with the blueprint for a career that pays the bills and pays dividends in happiness and impact. 

In this episode, Misha tells us about inspiring non-profits like Worldwide Orphans and their life-changing work in Ukraine, reminding us that what we do professionally can and should resonate with our desire to make a difference in the world. Our legacy is woven through the lives we touch, both during and after our careers. This episode is more than a talk; it's a call to live and work with purpose.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:58

Today is Misha Rubin. He is a career educator and CEO of CareerLeap. His mission is to facilitate meaningful, international, intentional changes at work and in life. He helps executives and professionals reinvent careers, find dream jobs and thrive at work. He was a partner in Ernst Young, spending 15 fruitful years of his career. He sold and managed hundreds of millions worth of projects and guided careers of hundreds of professionals. His 20-year corporate experience, personal quest for meaning and work with hundreds birthed the Career Leap Method a guided, actionable inquiry that is structured for you to discover and pursue your next career. Misha has worked with hundreds to reinvent their careers and start new businesses and re-energize their lives. We welcome him to the podcast. Well, it's so good to have you on the podcast. How are you doing Excellent? Thank you for having me, Keith. It's a pleasure to be here. I love to get my guests on the spot right off the bat, so give me your best piece of advice.

Speaker 2: 2:05

Best piece of advice? Okay, one of the advice that I give to everybody is keep exploring, because many times when people feel stuck or not sure what to do like I work with people a lot around their career, their businesses, some of the big decisions they want to make Should I stay or should I go? Should I make a change? How do I make a change? And sometimes they don't have an answer and then they feel really, really stuck. And one of the reasons that people feel stuck is they don't explore enough. They usually explore just surface ideas but not the full scope of the idea. So I say one of my favorite things to say at the end of my emails is just remember that life is beautiful and keep exploring.

Speaker 1: 2:53

I like that. Who told you that?

Speaker 2: 2:57

I don't know, it just came up for me. I'm sure I haven't invented it, it's not like something radically new, but it really speaks to me as a context for life.

Speaker 1: 3:09

I love it. I'd also like to ask my guest to kind of give us a little bit of background about people in your life who have served to be an inspiration to you, maybe a mentor. I have an opportunity for you to kind of give those people a shout out, a thank you for the impact they've had on you.

Speaker 2: 3:26

So I had quite a few people and organizations and modalities that truly influenced me. Lately, one of my favorite people and favorite influencers for me is Byron Katie. I don't know whether you've heard of her, but she is like an amazing teacher Wisdom her book that I highly recommend to everybody that's called Loving what Is. She developed this very simple and incredibly effective way of questioning your thoughts and questioning what's real, and it helped me personally answer a lot of questions and get rid of a lot of noise in my life, and also I use that methodology to work with my clients to help them to get rid of their noise.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Cool, you said there was someone else. Anyone else you want to think about or shout out to?

Speaker 2: 4:15

So the other person that's been a great influence to me is Michael Singer. His books the Untethered Soul and the Surrender Experiment are fascinating and his story that he was this person who was kind of a yogi who wanted to live in the woods and then he ended up being CEO of a multi-billion dollar company and the quest here is how to make good choices and decisions and how to listen to yourself and trust life. I find it very fascinating and I'm again using a lot of that in my life and in working with my clients.

Speaker 1: 4:52

That's interesting. Yeah, those people kind of we run across kind of really impact us and really shape how we think about things, even kind of take what their ideas are and internalize them and kind of use them as they apply to our lives. So tell us your story. How did you get from Ukraine to where you are now?

Speaker 2: 5:12

How did I get from Ukraine? Listen, I have so many stories that I could share with you, so, but let me maybe focus Ukraine. That was 30 years ago. My whole family immigrated, but one of my favorite stories of change and what I help people is create meaningful, intentional changes in their work and life, and maybe one of the leaps that I my personal leaps that I want to share is how I started to become a career educator and doing my work, because before that I worked on Wall Street, I was actually a partner at a big four management consulting firm.

Speaker 2: 5:46

So I was one of these busy, exhausted consultants that ran around and did a lot of work. And I remember that I was sitting in one of these business meetings where I was talking to my colleagues and everybody was talking, and then I heard my you know like my corporate voice, you know the serious voice, and as I was speaking, I heard my quiet voice. And my quiet voice said Misha, you're done with this, you're not going to do this anymore. The only thing my white voice wasn't that polite, and that was really like a moment of truth for me, because at that time, you know, I was making more money than an immigrant from Ukraine could have ever imagined.

Speaker 2: 6:27

I was a partner for over five years, I had this job, I also had three young children and I was a breadwinner in my family, and I kind of had a direction of what I wanted to do, but I didn't have clarity.

Speaker 2: 6:42

So I did something that I don't recommend anybody to do I jumped off the cliff. And as I was flying off the cliff I realized there are so many people that I knew that either were not fulfilled around their job or just knew it was time for them to do something else, but they didn't really know what it was, how to go about it, when is the right time to make change, how to actually implement it. That I realized there is like a missing in our society from education perspective, and that's where the career leap method got born. And so in the past almost four years, that's what I've been doing. I've been working with executives, with professionals, with leaders, with business people to help them create a meaningful, fulfilling life and craft the life that they want and make changes in their career and life. So that's basically my story and my life work.

Speaker 1: 7:33

So there are a lot of people in the sphere that you're in right now who help people to find or make career changes. What makes your process or what you do different from other people who kind of give advice about careers?

Speaker 2: 7:49

Well, one thing I've been very successful in my career, so I know what it is. You know like for many years my career didn't make sense to me, even when I remember I received that phone call about becoming a partner and I worked so hard for it, so hard for it, and I knew it wasn't it right and I was like why am I doing this? Even as I kept growing my career and making more money and being more successful, I was like it doesn't make sense to me. And then when I left my corporate career, I realized it actually made sense to me. I had to experience this moment of stuckness. I had to experience these moments of success. I had to experience these moments of how to navigate all these different organizations. I had to experience how to make a leap myself. So when I decided and chose to do what I will do in life, it's actually rooted in a very deep experience.

Speaker 2: 8:43

You know, I guided careers of hundreds of people and I've impacted lives of thousands of people through a lot of different things that I've done. So to me it's just like my natural expression On top of it. So that's one side of it On top of it. As a good management consultant, you know, you're trained in creating frameworks and methodologies, and so I was very interested how can I do something that's repeatable, something that I can actually give people as a series of tools for once, that they can use it over the course of their lifetime, but then also that I could give it to many, many people? So that's how the career leap was born. So I think that's what differentiates, and I think the results that I produce with my clients Good, so tell us about what Career Leap is.

Speaker 2: 9:29

So the method is the Career Leap as a method, right. So one of the big principles of the Career Leap is that knowing what to do in life is a function of knowing who you are and understanding some of these fundamental, deep questions of how we are designed as humans and also what it is we want. So I call this, I call it career blueprint. It's a set of criteria that really articulates of who you are and what it is you want. And who you are could look like your vocational value system, your strengths, your motivational mechanism, and what it is you want could be related to what type of learning you have, and what it is you want could be related to like what type of learning you have, what type of responsibilities you want, what type of future you see. So if you really put it together and articulate as a set of criteria that's prioritized, it's actually much easier for you to make decisions about what's right and what's not right for you. And on the other side of the equation is what I call the career leap map not right for you. And on the other side of the equation is what I call the career leap map, which is a list of ideas of where and what you could be doing. So this is where I take my clients through a process. We really examine a lot of different industries, maybe business ideas, maybe revolutionary ideas, maybe community ideas, all these types of ideas to generate the pull, and someplace where your career blueprint and career leap map overlap, there will be this finite number of ideas that are both exciting and pragmatic, because many times the people feel stuck again is because the ideas that they're exploring are either not exciting enough or not pragmatic enough.

Speaker 2: 11:08

I'll give you an example of a client of mine. You know she came to me like she was an international tax attorney, very educated, very smart, you know she. So for her she was like either I have to keep doing what I'm doing, which I really don't like, or I really want to start my own business, but I don't have money, I don't know how to do it. So here you are have these two ideas that neither pragmatic nor exciting at the same time. Right, so that's where people feel stuck.

Speaker 2: 11:35

And then when we explored with her, when we looked at her career blueprint, we really understood what is the industry that she wanted to be and she was really interested in children, education and development and the type of role that would be right for her. She was like this go-getter organizer, coo type of a person. So the next thing you know she's calling is that, misha. I got a gig in international educational company where I'll be an operational role. I'll still keep some of my international tax clients, but I'll explore this and this is not only aligned with my values and my strengths and my motivation and what I want to do in life, but I get also to see whether starting my own business is the right thing for me and if it is, then I'll learn more about how to do that.

Speaker 1: 12:22

Education tends to have us take a test and say you should do this career. And I'm curious if you were on the front end of people deciding what their career should be. What guidance do you have? Because I know a lot of people get into the careers like you say. They find out that they educated themselves and something they really don't like to do. It's not satisfying and they feel stuck. So how do you avoid picking the wrong career to even start out with?

Speaker 2: 12:52

That's a very good point. I would say there are three drivers. That how people choose their careers and I usually say it will be confronting what I'm about to say to them Like the C word resonates with you. But I usually say you haven't made probably a single authentic choice in your career. And if you look from the point where you chose your major or chose your first job or your last job, just look. So there are three drivers.

Speaker 2: 13:20

Number one is other people's opinions. Right, so there are all these your parents, your family, your friends, your community and it might not be some direct pressure For some people it could be, but it could be just the subtle conversations in your network of people about what's good, what's bad, what's right, what's successful, what's not successful that impacting you. So that's number one other people's opinions. The second one is circumstantial. You know how these jobs show up circumstantially Somebody gave you a call, a recruiter, an ex-colleague, or you just saw this ad or something, or you got fired or laid off or something like a literal matter of circumstance. And the third one is stagnation. So stagnation is where you stay, where you are, because either you don't know what else you could be doing, maybe you're afraid to make a change, but that's stagnation. So one of those three, but I've experienced all three myself and I know a lot of people probably experience all three. So if you base so, you got to just start being aware that your next career decision is not driven by any of those.

Speaker 2: 14:32

But to make a good decision you need a few things.

Speaker 2: 14:35

One thing when I work with younger people or a lot of my friends or colleagues talk to me about their kids I usually say when you don't have a lot of data points about yourself, it's very hard for you to create a solid criteria for your choices. So what's important at that part of your life is to create a lot of data points, and to do that you need to have a lot of different experiences and you can start it from high school or middle school organizing things, managing things, running things, designing things, creating like see what is that? Working with people, not working with people just trying a lot of different things and see what will resonate with you. But when I mostly work with seasoned executives and professionals, for those people you actually do have a lot of data points, but you don't have tools to put them into criteria that you can actually effectively use for your reinvention or figuring out what's next. So that's where I do a lot of work help people actually articulate based on a lot of data points that they already have.

Speaker 1: 15:38

So it seems to me like just talking to you and thinking about where we are in society. So many people are in the workforce underperforming because they do not like their job. People are in the workforce underperforming because they do not like their job, and so employee retention has to be really high in terms of the workforce right now. If people are stuck in jobs that they don't feel they're qualified for or satisfied for, it's got to be a huge problem. So what do you see in your work as the greatest challenge facing the workplace today?

Speaker 2: 16:07

Mm-hmm. Well, I think there are multiple challenges, but I always like to come from your inner challenge, because clearly there is a lot of obstacle that outside of our reality and we can prepare for them. But to me I'm very interested in your inner obstacles. You know, like, what is stopping you from having the life that you really want to have? And very often it is the most common word when my clients come to me when they say I want clarity. That's the number one thing they say. I understand I want to make more money and be more successful. I get all of that, but if only I could have clarity. Get me to clarity. That would be like.

Speaker 2: 16:48

So the question, the inquiry for people if you're not clear about what's next for you, how come? What do you think is in the way? Is it because you're not exploring? Is it because you're afraid? Is it because you're not really in the driver's seat of your life? Is it like you really explored and you gave up, so kind of like really looking to that space, that you get to that exploration part?

Speaker 1: 17:15

I'm curious what tools do you use in your career path that people can access and even connect with you on to figure out that sense of clarity?

Speaker 2: 17:25

Sure, I actually designed a digital program that's called careerleappro Actually, that's the website, careerleappro, where this is the course. You know, after working with dozens of people so my clients, who pay me tens of thousands of dollars, you know, I basically thought about how do I put this methodology in the accessible way. So this is what I have available right now, and that it has all the tools that I described. You know how to build your career blueprint, so you actually have a criteria and you get clarity about what it is you want. How do you build your career leap map, so you actually examine a lot of different ideas. How do you go into that overlap, how do you narrow down those choices and what do you do after that?

Speaker 1: 18:14

I'm curious as I think about how you use this program you have now. How would a company who maybe have people in their organization who want to be there, but maybe they're in the wrong place on the bus in the organization Do you have some tools that would help them, or organization or business figure out how to get their people on the right place?

Speaker 2: 18:36

on the bus. I don't have it laid out as a tool that I can give away, but I definitely could help facilitate that conversation with a company, because it's a very similar process, because you always start with a career blueprint, so people get clear about what it is they want. And one of the biggest reasons, or the first reasons why people feel disempowered about navigating their career they don't know what it is. And it actually could be inside of the existing organization and it could be something that's actually very close to you, but if you don't know what it is, it's very hard to pursue it and then people feel disempowered. And the second piece, again, would be the same career lead map, but I would look and explore options within organizations, which I always ask people to do that Go explore. If you resonate with your organization, go examine what are the opportunities there. And it's similar process, it's just no different.

Speaker 1: 20:24

I love that. I love to ask people like you, who have this incredible desire to change the world, what drives you incredible desire to change the world.

Speaker 2: 20:36

What drives you? My value system. This is what I realized. That was my really breakthrough about the career leap map. If people could understand their value system like articulate in language and when I say value system I say that's something that I don't know, whether you either were born with, or maybe it got created in you and set in you very, very young Then you have a very good compass for your decision making. So my vocational values are making a difference clarity and creating. So I don't know whether I have like a drive, but to me it's literally I'm in alignment with my value system and that makes it very easy.

Speaker 1: 21:22

It makes sense. I get that. I also want to talk about your nonprofit. You started a nonprofit. You want to share with us about that.

Speaker 2: 21:31

Sure, I've been on the board of Worldwide Orphans for almost 10 years now and I'm very passionate about children causes, and this is an organization that works with orphans and other vulnerable kids, and we have these amazing educational, play-based programs that allow kids with trauma to overcome it and do much better. And we work in different countries. We work in Ethiopia and Vietnam and in Haiti, and in Bulgaria and in the US. So when two years ago, about two years ago, the war in Ukraine started and I have this on my wish list for many, many years start our organization in Ukraine, and it never was kind of like there was never a momentum for that.

Speaker 2: 22:13

But after the war in Ukraine started, I was like, oh my God, this is my time to bring world-wide orphans to Ukraine, and so about a year and a half ago, I raised my first $25,000. I brought the board together. I found people actually went to Ukraine in May or June 2022, like a year and a half ago and I started our very, very first organization there and right now we're serving we have 40 programs serving over 3,000 people and those are kids that experience trauma because you know when you live in a country that it's war, that's continuously being bombed. Some people actually had to relocate very rapidly, like there's a lot of really. Some kids actually witness some horrendous things. The work that we do is really, really needed there.

Speaker 1: 23:11

And I see you won a humanitarian award for your work in Ukraine. Congratulations on that.

Speaker 2: 23:15

Thank you so much. It was like a big surprise, but yes.

Speaker 1: 23:19

That's always neat, isn't it? Yes, so, misha, what are you excited about in this season of your life?

Speaker 2: 23:27

You know I'm about to turn 51, and I feel like I'm in the most like the summer of my life, right where I've learned so much, I've suffered so much. You know, I tried so many things and it took me all this time to arrive to this point in my life that I know that every part of my life is aligned with my value system, with who I am, whether I am working with my clients talking to who I am, whether I am working with my clients talking to you on the podcast, whether I am working with the worldwide orphans, whether I'm with my children, whatever whether I'm with my community, my friends, I know I'm living inside of my value system, which is making a difference, clarity and creating, so I'm excited about just living in this beautiful space that I designed for myself and continue making a difference.

Speaker 1: 24:23

So what's next for you? Got a book in the works or some new company you're starting. What's next for you?

Speaker 2: 24:29

So what's next for me? I'm about to launch my newsletter. This is the first time I'm announcing this. I can't imagine this, Keith. You got me to talk about this, so it will be Misha Rubin's Life Altering Weekly and you should be able to get there to life-alteringcom. I'm excited about that. I think the book. I'm not writing it yet, but it's cooking in my head and I already have the framework and the concept for the book. I would like to finish my book in the next three years.

Speaker 1: 25:04

This is the first time I'm announcing that also See we're breaking news here on the podcast.

Speaker 2: 25:08

I don't know how you got this information out of me. And then you know I'm raising my kids, I am building a work in Ukraine and all over the world through World.

Speaker 1: 25:21

Wide Orphans. That's my life right now. That's exciting stuff, you know. I'm curious because you do work around the world with kids. Is there some trend you're seeing? It seems to me like kids around the world, as a vulnerable population group, sometimes get lost in the world. How is your organization kind of helping raise awareness for kids at?

Speaker 2: 25:45

risk globally. Well, we actually not as much like just raising awareness, we're actually helping those kids, because kids are experiencing trauma and kids are extraordinarily resilient Like it's actually very hard to help an adult with trauma. But for kids, if they end up in the right environment with the right people and with people that actually know how to be with kids with trauma, you can do that. And what we do is we provide these ongoing psychosocial support and programs to the kids that experience trauma. So we train librarians, teachers, social workers on how to do that. We have the whole curriculum. So this is so unique, right. And then we find partnerships, we train them, we give them tools, we give them materials and then they end up working with these kids. And then we find partnerships, we train them, we give them tools, we give them materials, and then they end up working with these kids. And then those kids coming to these special places for them.

Speaker 2: 26:41

One of the parents called the island of childhood, especially during the time of war or, for instance, in Haiti, we came there after earthquake. Or maybe in Vietnam, you know, we arrived there during HIV epidemic. So every country and every time has its own specific. Kids need these environments and adults that know how to be with kids with trauma. That's what we do.

Speaker 1: 27:05

So what's the connection or the website for your worldwide organization?

Speaker 2: 27:10

Worldwide Orphans you go to wwworg.

Speaker 1: 27:16

Okay, well, misha, thanks so much. I'd like to ask my guest this question, as we kind of wrap up what do you want your legacy to be?

Speaker 2: 27:32

I think my life is my legacy. I don't think about this legacy in the terms Excuse me. I don't think about my legacy in terms that I wanted to be something like this thing. So I know I'm raising my kids, they'll be my legacy. I'm doing my work with my clients, I'm designing my methodology, I'm writing my book, so I think that all will be part of some type of legacy. But I'm not thinking about this. I want to leave X. I want to live. I want to be an example of how to live a meaningful, purposeful life.

Speaker 1: 28:09

Anything. I haven't asked you that we should have covered Because we got a lot out of you today? No, I think we covered all important topics, and we had breaking news, too on top of it. I know, I know.

Speaker 2: 28:23

I wanted to tell you, shh, don't tell anybody.

Speaker 1: 28:25

Don't tell anybody.

Speaker 2: 28:26

I'm on the podcast okay, that's right.

Speaker 1: 28:30

Well, Misha, where can people find you one more time, your website and what can they find you on social media?

Speaker 2: 28:36

So the best place to find me is my website is MishaRubincom, m-i-s-h-a-r-u-b-i-ncom and LinkedIn. Linkedin is my favorite method. Misha Rubin there, come connect with me, chat with me, yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:52

Well, ruben, thanks so much for sharing and thank you for what you do for, especially for kids. Kids are a big part of my heart and passion too, so thank you for helping those kids who are dealing with trauma all around the world, because they are such a valuable asset that we want to make sure we protect and take care of.

Speaker 2: 29:10

Thank you, keith, I really appreciate your kind words.