This episode of The Jake Dunlap Show features Laura Gassner Otting, WaPo best-selling author, keynote speaker, media personality, and executive coach. Today, she looks back on her life growing up in a Jewish household in Texas and Miami and her eventual decision to study government in college. She shares that the Iranian hostage crisis during the Carter administration became the driving force behind her desire to go to law school and enter politics. Laura shares funny anecdotes of life before the internet and pivotal moments which led her to work for the Clinton/Gore campaign. By the time she served with AmeriCorps, Laura learned that nobody actually really knows what they're doing. She shares that faking it until you make it is a real thing and that "grownups" who have it together are in the exact same boat as everyone else. So, knowing this, creating your own future is the only real thing left for you to do because nobody will hand it to you. She shares how she actually got her job in the White House and how nothing is what it seems, especially as an intern. But with an honest desire to do a good job and listening to the wisdom of others, she made it. Fast forward, Laura reinvents herself as a headhunter with her Rolodex filled with contacts from her life in the White House. Realizing that she wasn't part of the solution and she wasn't connecting the organizations with the people that needed them the most, she decided to strike out on her own. She ran her firm very differently and focused on creating positive impact and aligning her work with her true values, rather than chasing the most lucrative deals. Laura talks about consonance and how knowing that you are at your best solving a problem you care about is the best motivator. Quotes 19:03 Laura: "On the black and white TV is then Governor Bill Clinton... giving this impassioned plea about service and saying there's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed with what's right with America... and he offered as a solution this idea of community service in exchange for college tuition. And in that moment, what I realized was that needs to happen." 24:07 Laura: "I was able to fake it 'til I made it to a certain point. And then I got there and it was like built on a house of cards. I didn't actually have any of the mistakes that you make along the way they teach you things. So that's how I learned that nobody really knows what they're doing." 30:13 Laura: "I had nothing to lose, I had everything to win. And sometimes you just need somebody to sort of bang you over the head and be like, you know, he's going to fuck you... This is your moment. Take it. Go." 35:25 Laura: "I started my own firm and I then ran that firm with this very different business model of creating budgets for searches based on the complexity of the work... I was no longer trying to build the bottom line of this firm by doing the biggest flashiest searches, but I was actually trying to create the most amount of impact in the sector." 39:20 Laura: "If success doesn't lead to happiness, then what does? And what I realized is that this idea of consonance... What is consonant with who you are? And consonance is alignment. It's flow. It's when you feel like the very best of what you do is being called upon to solve a problem at hand, a problem you actually care about." More about Laura Laura has a passion for philanthropy and public service. She graduated from the University of Texas, Austin with a BA in Government and worked as a staffer during the Clinton/Gore campaign soon after. This introduction into public service would lead her to work in the White House as Special Assistant to the Director, Office of National Service. The White House Office of National Service was formed to author and ensure passage of President Clinton’s AmeriCorps legislation. It paved the way for the birth of the Corporation for National Service, which at that time was a $731.6 million, 400-employee federal agency whose programs annually engaged more than one million people in community service Laura would eventually become a program officer of AmeriCorps. In 1996, Laura finished her MA, Graduate School of Political Management from George Washington University. Laura became the Vice President of Isaacson Miller, a nationally retained executive search firm concentrating on nonprofits, socially responsible businesses and the public sector. It is one of the largest firms in New England, and one of the most highly respected niche firms for nonprofit executive search. She would then start her own executive search firm, the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group, designed to operate with "new economy" savvy, the firm unbundles traditional executive search and leadership transition packages and offers sophisticated services tailored to clients’ various needs. In 2019, Laura published her book Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life which talks about consonance, helping others align their work with their values, and finding satisfaction solving problems which matter to them. Find out more about Laura in the following links: Website: https://lauragassnerotting.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heylgo/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heylgo/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/heylgo Twitter: https://twitter.com/heylgo Amazon book link - https://www.amazon.com/Limitless-Ignore-Everybody-Carve-your/dp/1940858763 Learn more about Jake Dunlap and Skaled by visiting the links below: Jake Dunlap: Personal Site - http://jakedunlap.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakedunlap/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/JakeTDunlap Instagram - http://instagram.com/jake_dunlap_ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JakeTDunlap/ Skaled: Website - https://skaled.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/skaled YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsw_03rSlbGQkeLGMGiDf4Q
This episode of The Jake Dunlap Show features Laura Gassner Otting, WaPo best-selling author, keynote speaker, media personality, and executive coach. Today, she looks back on her life growing up in a Jewish household in Texas and Miami and her eventual decision to study government in college.
She shares that the Iranian hostage crisis during the Carter administration became the driving force behind her desire to go to law school and enter politics. Laura shares funny anecdotes of life before the internet and pivotal moments which led her to work for the Clinton/Gore campaign.
By the time she served with AmeriCorps, Laura learned that nobody actually really knows what they're doing. She shares that faking it until you make it is a real thing and that "grownups" who have it together are in the exact same boat as everyone else.
So, knowing this, creating your own future is the only real thing left for you to do because nobody will hand it to you. She shares how she actually got her job in the White House and how nothing is what it seems, especially as an intern. But with an honest desire to do a good job and listening to the wisdom of others, she made it.
Fast forward, Laura reinvents herself as a headhunter with her Rolodex filled with contacts from her life in the White House. Realizing that she wasn't part of the solution and she wasn't connecting the organizations with the people that needed them the most, she decided to strike out on her own.
She ran her firm very differently and focused on creating positive impact and aligning her work with her true values, rather than chasing the most lucrative deals. Laura talks about consonance and how knowing that you are at your best solving a problem you care about is the best motivator.
Quotes
19:03 Laura: "On the black and white TV is then Governor Bill Clinton... giving this impassioned plea about service and saying there's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed with what's right with America... and he offered as a solution this idea of community service in exchange for college tuition. And in that moment, what I realized was that needs to happen."
24:07 Laura: "I was able to fake it 'til I made it to a certain point. And then I got there and it was like built on a house of cards. I didn't actually have any of the mistakes that you make along the way they teach you things. So that's how I learned that nobody really knows what they're doing."
30:13 Laura: "I had nothing to lose, I had everything to win. And sometimes you just need somebody to sort of bang you over the head and be like, you know, he's going to fuck you... This is your moment. Take it. Go."
35:25 Laura: "I started my own firm and I then ran that firm with this very different business model of creating budgets for searches based on the complexity of the work... I was no longer trying to build the bottom line of this firm by doing the biggest flashiest searches, but I was actually trying to create the most amount of impact in the sector."
39:20 Laura: "If success doesn't lead to happiness, then what does? And what I realized is that this idea of consonance... What is consonant with who you are? And consonance is alignment. It's flow. It's when you feel like the very best of what you do is being called upon to solve a problem at hand, a problem you actually care about."
More about Laura
Laura has a passion for philanthropy and public service. She graduated from the University of Texas, Austin with a BA in Government and worked as a staffer during the Clinton/Gore campaign soon after. This introduction into public service would lead her to work in the White House as Special Assistant to the Director, Office of National Service.
The White House Office of National Service was formed to author and ensure passage of President Clinton’s AmeriCorps legislation. It paved the way for the birth of the Corporation for National Service, which at that time was a $731.6 million, 400-employee federal agency whose programs annually engaged more than one million people in community service
Laura would eventually become a program officer of AmeriCorps.
In 1996, Laura finished her MA, Graduate School of Political Management from George Washington University.
Laura became the Vice President of Isaacson Miller, a nationally retained executive search firm concentrating on nonprofits, socially responsible businesses and the public sector. It is one of the largest firms in New England, and one of the most highly respected niche firms for nonprofit executive search.
She would then start her own executive search firm, the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group, designed to operate with "new economy" savvy, the firm unbundles traditional executive search and leadership transition packages and offers sophisticated services tailored to clients’ various needs.
In 2019, Laura published her book Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life which talks about consonance, helping others align their work with their values, and finding satisfaction solving problems which matter to them.
Find out more about Laura in the following links:
Learn more about Jake Dunlap and Skaled by visiting the links below:
Jake Dunlap:
Skaled: