Ali Reznikoff on the Question That Changed Her Career: How Did I Get Here?

<p>Ali Reznikoff was offered a promotion. A good one, steady, the kind you take. She freaked out and went to woodworking school in Maine instead.<br /><br />What followed was not a plan. It was a chain of things she said yes to: convincing day laborers to pick up litter at a racetrack, which turned into a staff of over two hundred and eighteen hour days. Running cleaning departments across seven hospitals. Building an industrial machinery company from a guy in a car into an actual operation. A jewelry business running underneath all of it.<br /><br />Then she turned thirty, sat down in her living room, and asked herself how she had gotten there.<br /><br />What came back was not regret. It was one sentence that reorganised everything, and it is the reason she now coaches executives and founders as The Solution Sherpa.<br /><br />We talk about managing people with no training and no idea what she was doing, why so many capable people get thrown to the wolves the same way, the difference between a coach and a consultant, and the answer she found on her couch at thirty.<br /><br />CHAPTERS<br />00:00 Welcome to The Scenic Route with Victoria Steward<br />01:43 She Was Going to Move to New York City and Climb the Ladder<br />02:11 Offered a Promotion, She Freaked Out and Went to Woodworking School<br />03:42 No Management Experience and a Crew of Day Laborers to Lead<br />04:48 A Staff of Over 200 and an Eight Hour Day Counted as a Day Off<br />06:45 Horses Are Easy, Humans Are Not: Learning How People Actually Work<br />07:57 Moving to Asheville: The One Part of the Path That Was by Design<br />09:03 Seven Hospitals and Her First Ever Management Training<br />11:35 Talking Her Boss Into Teaching Her Bookkeeping to Justify a Raise<br />13:58 From a Guy in a Car to a Real Company With Systems Behind It<br />16:23 Moderation Is Not a Strong Suit: Running Several Businesses at Once<br />19:40 Cutting the Five Year Plan and Going Straight to Coaching<br />22:38 Where the Name The Solution Sherpa Came From<br />30:09 Turning Thirty and Asking How Did I Get Here<br />30:54 The Epiphany: Every Decision That Got Her There Could Take Her Elsewhere<br /><br />ABOUT ALI REZNIKOFF<br />Ali Reznikoff is the founder of The Solution Sherpa, coaching executives and founders who think differently. A former COO, self-taught jeweler and woodworker, she helps leaders find the right path rather than handing them someone else's map.<br /><br />If you're in the Ashville, NC area joi