Andy Storch

In 2016, I had a young family and good job working for a great company. On paper everything looked perfect, but inside I felt like something was missing. After some deep reflection and a lot of personal development, I realized that I had been stagnant and the biggest thing missing was growth. 

So I went on a journey of personal reflection, growth, and development as well as exploration to truly own and build a career that I loved. My journey created the framework that became my first book, Own Your Career Own Your Life, which I published in November, 2020 to teach and inspire others to own their careers as well. 

Because while not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur (I love it for some reason), but I do believe that everyone wants to feel happy and fulfilled in their career and everyone can benefit from taking more ownership and being more proactive in building their careers as well as their personal brands. 

That book was a game-changer for me and I've gone on to follow my dreams of becoming a keynote speaker and trainer teaching people to own their careers and prepare for the future as well as build their personal brands to achieve more success. 

Today I speak in organizations around the world to improve engagement, performance, retention, and career mobility. I also love working with leaders to teach them how to support and coach their people to own their careers and achieve more. 

My newest book is called Own Your Brand, Own Your Career (with Mike Kim) and is a bestseller on Amazon.   And I host two popular podcasts: 
The Talent Development Hot Seat
The Own Your Career Show 

If you are looking for a dynamic speaker to motivate and inspire your people, look no further. I'd love to work with you. And if you want to hear more from me, I also host two popular podcasts: 
🎙️The Talent Development Hot Seat - weekly interviews with L&D leaders and gurus
🎙️The Andy Storch Show - Daily short hits of experience and insight to help you own your life

My speaking topics include: 
🎤 Owning Your Career and Preparing for the Future
🎤 Owning Your Personal Brand
🎤  Setting Yourself up for Future Success
🎤  Building a Mindset of Growth and Resilience 
🎤  Modern Leadership - how to be a great leader in today's modern world 

If you are looking for a dynamic speaker for your next event, reach out and let's talk. 

Learn more at andystorch.com or reach out to book something.

Author and Speaker

I am on a mission to teach and inspire more people to own their careers. I do this via my book, podcast, speaking engagements, and training program. Companies hire me to teach their people how to own their careers so that they are more confident, engaged, have more conversations with their managers, and stay with the organization longer, which saves the company thousands of dollars. 

I've worked with companies across multiple industries and spoken to employees all over the world. 

I have worked with several different organizations and pride myself on a fundamental understanding of what is needed to drive successful career development and growth.

Whenever I decide I want to do something big like write a book, start a podcast, host a conference, start a business, or become a keynote speaker, I always start with a vision and then ask what I need to learn. And who I can learn from. 

Then I go find those learning resources and people and invest my time and money in learning as much as I can from them, and implementing the lessons.

Why wing it when there are so many great learning resources out there. 

When I decided to start my first podcast in 2017, I took an online course and reached out to some podcasts in my network to ask for their advice.

When I decided to write my first book in 2020, I took an online course and reached out to several authors in my network. 

And when I wanted to become a keynote Speaker, I read books about it and started studying what other speakers do to be successful. 

It’s the same for anything else. No point in reinventing the wheel or trying to make it all up ourselves. This is why it’s so important to invest in continuous learning and build your network to set yourself up for future success. 

I have chapters on each of those topics in my first book, Own Your Career Own Your Life and plan on writing a new book this year about how to use these things to truly own your future. 

Do you invest in learning resources when you are ready to do something new? What are you learning this year?

Btw this post is also the subject today’s (short) episode on The Andy Storch Show. Check it out!

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In 2018 I started The Talent Development Hot Seat Podcast as a way to connect with and learn from Talent Development leaders. Along the way I was also going to L&D and HR conferences to meet people and grow my network and I found them all to be so boring. 

So in 2019 my friend Bennett Phillips and I hatched a very audacious idea - why don't we host our own conference? 

Neither of us had ever hosted any events before but we figured we knew lots of great facilitators and had pretty good networks, how hard could it be? 

Well it turned out to be way harder than we anticipated, but luckily we were a great team and got a lot of help from partners like BTS and Advantage Performance Group and from wonderful people like Maggie B., Lauren V. Davis, Michelle W., and Jonathan Hodge. 

We also landed some amazing keynote speakers like Josh Bersin, Liz Wiseman, Christine DiDonato, Julie Winkle Giulioni, and 📚Michael Bungay Stanier, thanks to help from those partners and our network. 

With all of that help and great speakers, we managed to persuade over 100 amazing talent leaders to buy tickets and attend. But first we had to reschedule because a wildfire came into the town and the hotel was evacuated. 

But the Talent Development Think Tank conference finally happened in January, 2020, and it was a huge hit. Everyone said they loved it. Why? Because we recruited great talent and we made it all about them (not us). 

It has been six years since that conference and I'm still so proud of us for pulling it off. Two guys who had never run anything like that before. And it proves that we can accomplish just about anything with the right resources, connections, and support as well as a growth mindset and the willingness to try. 

Hosting that conference gave me the confidence to go launch the Talent Development Think Tank Community, publish my first book, and become a keynote speaker among other things. And I've hosted it twice more since then. 

Now I'm thinking about hosting my next event and I still get nervous but I know what's possible when I have the right vision, get the right support, and just try. 

What are you proud of doing despite having no experience?

I believe in treating people with kindness, empathy, and respect. And on this MLK Day, I wish we had more people who believed in the same. That doesn't mean I don't get angry or frustrated about things. But I don't see the point of leading with hatred or treating others poorly. 

There will always be things and people we disagree with or that cause us to feel afraid of losing money, status, or love. But I promise that when we elevate others, we all rise up as humanity and that there is more than enough money, love, and success to go around. 

This is why we need to work to raise others up, not beat them down. 

Too many people let their ego dictate their decisions (we all have one) or lead with hate when they feel threatened for some reason. I don't want to be that way. I'd rather lead with kindness and respect. 

What about you? 

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. 🙏🏼

One of the most common goals I hear every year is: “I want to read more books this year.” Here's a simple shift I made that resulted in reading a lot more books (and the topic of today's episode on The Andy Storch Show):

I always loved reading and wanted to read more books, but every night I would open a nonfiction book when I went to bed. Then I would read two pages and fall asleep. 

The result? I read on average about 2 books a year. Not great. 

Everything changed when I read The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and made one gigantic shift:

I moved nonfiction reading from the evening to the morning. 
But not for long blocks of time. Just 15–20 minutes each morning. A cup of coffee and a quiet space. No distractions. 

One chapter a day adds up fast.

That single habit took me from two to 25–30 books a year.

But there is another really important shift that needs to be made as well and I'm recognizing it again lately: 

We need to remove distractions, and the primary one is the smartphone. 

When my phone is nearby, my attention is shorter or nonexistent.
When it’s in another room (or on airplane mode), I actually read longer.

So if you want to read more (especially nonfiction) this year, try reading for 15 minutes in the morning with your phone off or in another room. 

Bonus tips:
📚 I read fiction at night to unwind and I love it.
📵 And my phone never sleeps in my bedroom.

If you want to read more nonfiction books this year, you don't need more focus or willpower. You need a better plan and fewer distractions. 

If reading more in 2026 is one of your goals, start here:
✔️ 15 minutes each morning before the day gets started
✔️ Fewer distractions
✔️ Try reading fiction at night to unwind

That’s it.

If you prefer audio, reading more is the topic of today's short, 5-minute episode on my short-form podcast, The Andy Storch Show. Check it out. 

Curious—what’s the biggest thing that gets in the way of your reading right now?

Owning your Personal Brand is not about becoming an influencer. It’s about being intentional with how you show up at work and the reputation you build as a result. 

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking and sharing insights with employees at Glaukos Corporation as part of their Glaukos World Cafe series and we had an important discussion about the components of building an owning a personal brand and the benefits of being more intentional. 

We discussed the importance of
🔷 Self-reflection to build self-awareness 
🔷 How you show up and interact with others 
🔷 Keeping your shoes on in meetings (IYKYK) 
🔷 Acting like an Intrapraneur and proactively solving problems 
🔷 Leveraging LinkedIn to build an external brand 

I am very passionate about this important topic because I know that doing quality work is not enough to attract opportunities in today’s corporate world.

We have to be mindful of how we are showing up and who knows about the work we are doing. 

Thanks to Molly (Ottele) Sype, MS and team for inviting me to speak and to everyone at Glaukos who showed up and engaged. I would love to hear your takeaways. 

I am rooting for each of you to build strong, intentional brands. 

And for anyone who didn’t get to attend you can learn the same principals by reading my new book, Own Your Brand, Own Your Career, that I published with Mike Kim last year. We also have a free workbook on our website (link in comments). 

Cheers! 

#PersonalBrand #Ownyourbrand #ownyourcareer #GlaukosWorldCafe

I have been speaking more in companies about personal brand and one of my favorite moments of the sessions is when I ask people to think about someone they have loved working with… and someone they have not enjoyed working with.

The room or the chat window usually lights up with impassioned comments explaining why they loved or hated working with someone and the comments tell an important story.

Because “brand” isn’t your logo.
It isn’t your LinkedIn headline.
It isn’t your job title.

Your brand is the experience of YOU.

It’s what people say (and feel) after:

🔷 a meeting with you
🔷 a project with you
🔷 an email from you
🔷 a tough conversation with you

And here’s the part most people don't understand:

You already have a brand. And even if you’re not intentional, you’re still building one… just by default.

In my keynotes and workshops, we often discuss three simple pillars:

➡️ Self-awareness - Know what you stand for, what energizes you, and what you want to be known for.
➡️ Your interactions at work - The little things matter more than we want to admit: reliability, curiosity, follow-through, how you show up in meetings, how you make others feel.
➡️ Visibility / thought leadership - Not “becoming an influencer.” Just making it easier for the right people to understand your value.

One of the best comments I heard recently in Q&A was this:
“I used to assume people would just know the good work I do. And it’s just not true. People are busy.”

Exactly.

Doing great work is table stakes.
Being known for it is what creates opportunity.

If your organization wants to help employees:

💥 take ownership of their careers
💥 communicate their value without being “salesy”
💥 build credibility and internal influence
💥 show up with more intention and confidence

…I’d love to come speak to your team.

#personalbranding #careerdevelopment #leadership #talentdevelopment #learninganddevelopment

How do you balance humility with building your personal brand? How do you make sure people know about your work without bragging? How does someone who is introverted and shy get past the fear of self-promotion? 

These are questions I get asked a lot and they are not easy to answer. But the are important to ponder. 

Because there is a myth that if you just put your head down and work hard, you'll be rewarded. But the truth is that quality work is the table stakes. But you also need people to know about your work and accomplishments. 

The other myth is that if you talk about your work, people will be annoyed or think you are arrogant. But that's also not true. Because it's all about your approach. 

I once heard that the difference between confidence and arrogance is that confidence is believing in the value you provide and arrogance is believing you have nothing else to learn from anyone. Is that true about you? 

It's ok to be confident in your value and proud of the work that you do. And as long as you know that you still have more to learn (we all do), it's doubtful that anyone will see you as arrogant. 

You can remain humble and still be proud, be excited, and talk often about the work you are doing. The things you're learning. 

And no, you don't ever have to post pictures of yourself doing the "superman" pose on LinkedIn. That's just a bonus :-) 

Are you building your personal brand? 

You can find more insights and concrete, actionable advice, in my book, Own Your Brand, Own Your Career, that I wrote with Mike Kim. Find it on Amazon.

Loren (Executive Career Strategist) Greiff

Career Coach & Strategist > I Help Executives LAND FASTER and EARN MORE. Master The Hidden Job Market to Unlock 80%+ of High Quality, Unposted Positions. 1:1, Group & Bootcamp programs I 🪩 Forever Bee Gees Fan

Most senior roles are decided long before they’re posted.

By the time a job appears online, the outcome is already constrained by internal politics, risk avoidance, and prior relationships.

The market didn’t get harder.
It got faster.
And speed rewards familiarity, not merit.

Senior leaders kept performing.
The hiring system stopped rewarding performance.

That mismatch is where experienced executives lose leverage without realizing it.

When performance is no longer the variable, positioning determines outcomes.

Decision leverage for senior leaders at inflection points.

This is not a job search problem.
It’s a decision-making problem.

I work at senior inflection points.
Moments where an executive has been exited, restructured out, plateaued, or quietly sidelined. Not because they failed, but because the system recalibrated around them.

The risk is not employability.
The risk is mis-positioning.

Most leaders 40+ respond by applying more, networking harder, and waiting longer.
That behavior signals compliance in a market that selects for advantage.

It isn’t personal.
It’s structural.

I don’t help executives job search.
I work on decision leverage when outcomes are being shaped upstream.

That means:
– Reframing experience so it signals relevance, not risk
– Redirecting effort away from visible competition and toward invisible decision paths
– Restoring access before roles are formalized
– Neutralizing age bias by changing where judgment occurs
– Closing credibility gaps that quietly disqualify experienced leaders, including AI literacy
– Negotiating from power, not relief

No templates.
Templates scale average.

No performative networking.
Visibility without leverage is noise.

The outcome is not a new role.
The outcome is control.
Over access, over narrative, over choice, over compensation.

“Within three months, the decision path shifted. I entered conversations that hadn’t been public yet and stepped into a Chief Medical Officer role without competing in a visible search. This work wasn’t about preparation. It changed where decisions were being made.”
H. Beeman, Chief Medical Officer

“The role didn’t exist publicly when conversations began. Formal process followed outcome, not the other way around. That sequencing made all the difference.”
B. Buehler, EVP Acquisitions | Board Member

President & Founder

PortfolioRocket.com is NOT recruiting or headhunting. 

We don't push jobs.
We don't smush you into a position or company.
We don't placate either.

We are proof that your search can be a wildly fun, challenging, successful process.
Sure it requires effort, but the all best rewards do.
And if you're here, you know from hard work that pays off. 

🚀   PortfolioRocket is a proprietary career curriculum to access today and use for life -- enabling you to GET FOUND for 80-85% of the opportunities NOT posted online, in the hidden job market while building your network for your future. 

PortfolioRocket is culmination of 30+ years of torture tested corporate experience -- immersed in the end to end process with candidates while partnering with demanding hiring managers. 

Clients land their next ideal career moves efficiently and effectively. 
❌   Without wasting time sucked in by "easy apply" buttons
❌   Job boards OR
❌   With opportunities that don't meet their deeply personal criteria.  

Best of all they've scored coveted role at top tier companies like Netflix, Instacart, SalesForce, Sega, Kaiser Permanente, Salesforce, FCB & over 100 others with remarkable results superseding compensation alone.  

My promise is that you'll never approach your search the same way ever again.

Time just put "The New Old Age" on its cover.

And buried inside that headline is a truth most hiring managers still haven't caught up to:

The three-stage life is dead.

Learn. Work. Retire.
That's the blueprint everyone over 40 was handed.
And it's obsolete.

The new thinking? Learning and work should be "sprinkled throughout a lifetime." Not front-loaded. Not back-ended. It's continuous.

Here's what that means for you:

You're not "late career."
You're mid-career in a 60-year working life.

Life expectancy in 1950? 68.
Today? 79.

That's 11 extra years the old model never accounted for.

And yet companies still treat 50 like the exit ramp.
Hiring managers still see age as a liability.
The system hasn't caught up to the math.

But you can.

Because transition at 45 or 55 isn't an ending.
It's the halfway mark.

The execs who get this don't see themselves as winding down.
They see themselves as relevant leaders for the next 20 more years.

So the next time someone makes you feel like you're running out of time,
remember this:

The old map was drawn for a shorter trip.
You're on a longer one. Own it.

Bookmark this for the moment doubt creeps in.
Repost for someone still measuring themselves against the wrong clock.

Loren Greiff

Decision leverage for senior leaders at inflection points.

Three minutes on national TV.
I nailed the content. But missed the connection.

ABC News. 
Career pivots for 40+. 
My first time on national news.

I looked at my notes instead of the camera.

Three minutes of expertise—a few glaces to my paper.

Here's what nobody told me and what I am reminding you:

On Zoom, eye contact IS the connection.
Best content in the world means nothing if you're not looking at the lens.

The fix is stupid simple:

Post-its with just one prompt. 
Right next to the camera.
Not below. 
Not beside.
Next to the lens.

Glance while you're still looking at them.

Rookie mistake. 
Lesson learned.

What did you learn the hard way on or off camera?

Save this before your next big moment.

Career Coach & Strategist. I Help C-suiters 40+, Land Faster and Earn More. Access the 80% of Executlive Roles NOT POSTED in the Hidden Job Market I Loud Mouth Age Advocate. #Ageism.

Business Insider asked me why smart executives over 40 get stuck.


My short answer: They're running on an outdated operating system.

Younger workers get hired for potential.
Older workers get evaluated through cost, immediacy, and risk.

When passion leaks into the narrative?
Employers hear "unfocused," "expensive," or "overqualified."

I don't tell clients to abandon passion.
I tell them to sequence it differently.

Passion becomes a byproduct. Not the pitch.

The first thing I ask every executive over 40:
Rank your 3 C's — Culture, Compensation, Challenge.

Not in your head. On paper. In order.

When younger workers lack clarity on their 3 C's, the penalty is inefficiency.
A wrong move early is a detour.

For older job seekers?
A wrong move is a dead end.

Less runway. Less tolerance for experimentation.
Your 3 C's aren't a preference — they're a risk-management tool.

What's your #1 C?

Save this for the day you need to reframe your search.
Repost to help someone leading with passion and wondering why they're stuck.

Full article here:
https://lnkd.in/egPCw8Tq

He's 78.

Does he look exhausted from 14-hour days?
Does he look frustrated by the smell of grilled mushrooms in his clothes?
Does he look bothered by his patrons who watch him do his work?

Not by a long stretch.

This man found something most of us are still searching for.

Not success. Not recognition.
The work itself became the reward.

He doesn't grill to make a living.
He makes a living because he grills.

That's the difference.

Imagine if his expression was yours at work.
Imagine if your work included the element of joy.
Imagine what you'd feel like at the end of the day and the impact on those around you.

Most of us have it backwards.
We tolerate the work to get to the life.
He integrated the life into the work.

What would have to change?
What would you be willing to sacrifice?
What would that mean to you?

The answers aren't comfortable.
They rarely are when they matter.

But at 78, with smoke in his hair and a smile that wide
He's already answered them.

Have you?

Save this for the day you need to remember what you're working toward.
Repost to remind someone that joy at work isn't a fantasy.


PS: This shot was taken at my last dinner in Tokyo at Nambantei. The dinner an hour or so, the message everlasting.

LinkedIn just dropped its 2025 Jobs on the Rise.
But here's what nobody's breaking down for executives over 40:

AI needs to be your 2026 jam. 
It's not just wearing a hoodie.

Dan Roth (LinkedIn's Editor in Chief) said it plainly:
AI roles are spreading into strategy, operations, planning—even real estate.

You don't need to build the algorithm.
You need to know how to use it.

3 insights for you in your transition:

1. Your experience is the edge—IF and only IF you translate it into relevance.
AI tools are multiplying. 
People who know how to aim them? Scarce.
A 28-year-old can prompt. 

You can strategize.
That's not a liability. That's leverage.

2. Stop thinking "job title." Start thinking "skills."
Roth's advice: Know what you're great at. Then map it to where demand is growing.
The market doesn't care what you were called.
It cares what you can do now.

3. The old playbook expired.
56% of Americans are job hunting this year.
Same number as last year—but in a tighter market.
If you're running 2019 tactics in 2025, you're not competing. You're watching from the sidelines.

The shift isn't about learning to code.
It's about precision positioning.

Your decades of judgment, pattern recognition, and leadership?
Those are the skills AI can't replicate.

But experience alone won't land you.
Relevance will.

What's the one skill you're betting on this year?

Save this for the day you need a reminder that age isn't the obstacle—translation is.

Recruiting has been broken for 200 years.
AI just made it louder.

I sat down with Matt Alder the host of The Recruiting Future Podcast.
He's been spilling the tea there for 11 years +25 years in talent acquisition.

He didn't sugarcoat it.

⤑ Resumes and interviews are the 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 effective way to predict job performance.
⤑ Only 20% of companies use AI strategically—the rest are automating bias.
⤑ Job seekers get blamed for "gaming the system" while employers do the same thing.

AI isn't the problem.
It's just accelerating on a system that was already failing you.

Listen in to find out Matt's take on what actually works:
https://lnkd.in/enyvbzub

Save this if you're tired of being filtered out.
Repost to remind someone the system isn't their fault.

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