In episode #4 of the CryRoom, Ella Irwin and guest Alex Ruiz discuss what is Strategy and what does it mean to be strategic. Alex Ruiz is an entrepreneur and experienced executive in the technology industry who has helped large and small companies develop strategies and has helped many people develop strategic thinking skills. At some point in your career, you will be asked to form a strategy or you may get feedback that you need to be more strategic, which sounds hard and complex.

In this episode Ella and Alex cover:

1. A simple definition for Strategy, which is a plan or set of actions which helps an organization accomplish its goals.
2. How to apply strategy to your career and your personal life.
3. How to become more strategic, particularly when you don’t have mentors in your life to learn from.
4. What are the mistakes people make when first starting out with creating a strategy.

Books and References:

• The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
• Lost my Virginity - How I’ve Survived, Had Fun and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way. by Richard Branson.
• Know What Matters by Ron Shaich.
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.
• Make Profits by Stealing Underpants - South Park.

Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

In episode #3 of the CryRoom, Ella Irwin and guest Ethan Evans discuss the practice of managing up and how it impacts your career. Regardless of where you are in your career, you may suddenly be reporting for someone new, who has a different style than you are used to and you will need to quickly figure out how best to work with this person. You need to create a great partnership with your manager and this episode will give you actionable guidance on how to do this. This episode covers all of the following:

1. What is managing up and why is it important?
2. Ways to determine your manager’s style.
3. What questions to ask your manager to better understand their needs.
4. Managing up vs setting boundaries.
5. How to manage up when you make a big mistake and impact your manager/ team/ company and rebuild trust.
6. What happens if your manager leaves? Was it all for nothing?

Ethan Evans is a former VP at Amazon with over 12 years of startup leadership experience. While at Amazon he helped start Prime Video, built the Appstore for Kindle tablets and Alexa, started Prime Gaming. He is now coaching managers and executives and has developed valuable training content to help people succeed in their careers. To see more content from Ethan, please visit: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com

Don’t forget to subscribe to CryRoom on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or at www.cryroom.com so you don’t miss out on valuable tips that will help you grow in your career!

In this episode, Ella Irwin and guest Anna Martin provide guidance on navigating a job search and interviewing. Anna and Ella have interviewed thousands of people over the course of their careers and share some of the things they have seen work really well and some of the things candidates should avoid. In this episode we discuss:

1. Networking 2. The power of direct contact/ referrals 3. Personalizing resumes 4. The impact of impostor syndrome on your job search 5. Behavioral vs Hypothetical interview prep 6. Mock interviews 7. How to handle a bad candidate experience 8. Compensation questions

Visit cryroom.com for helpful links/ show notes. To purchase Dark Tide, please visit: https://darktidebook.com/