Steven Puri shares his journey from Hollywood exec to tech founder, revealing how failure, focus, and flow states power reinvention. In this episode we discuss:

• How transferable skills led him from Die Hard to startups
• Why failure is a critical part of reinvention
• How to create intentional, productive workdays
• The surprising story behind naming his company, Sukha

Show Guest

Steven Puri is the Founder and CEO of The Sukha Company, a focus and productivity app designed to support a healthier work life. A former newscaster, software engineer, and Hollywood executive behind Independence Day, Die Hard, and Star Trek, Steven blends creative vision with tech innovation to help people do their best work. Check out the Sukha app and get 20% off for life with the code REFRESH20

Show Notes:

Ready to lead with clarity, confidence, and impact?
Take the Make Your Power Move Leadership Assessment and unlock the tools to define your leadership identity, elevate your influence, and step into your next role with purpose. For a limited time, use code POWER to get 50% off.

→ Start your Power Move today. Learn More HERE

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

• Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
• Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
• Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
• Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
• Keynote Speaking
• Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn

The job market may be sending mixed signals, but one thing’s clear—companies still hire problem-solvers. In this episode, Jill talks with Kristian Schwartz, founder of The Montgomery Group, about navigating today’s complex hiring landscape with clarity, confidence, and strategy.

Kristian shares how AI is changing the game, how to use summer wisely, and what top candidates are doing differently right now.

• Why AI fluency is no longer optional—only 10% are using it well
• How to turn the summer slowdown into a strategic advantage
• What “builder-leaders” are—and why companies want them
• The right way to follow up after interviews (and when to walk away)

Show Guest:

Kristian Schwartz founded The Montgomery Group, a boutique search firm specializing in senior-level marketing and media placements.

Kristian is a seasoned strategic leader with deep experience on both the agency and client side, having worked at Wired Magazine, Razorfish, and Sapient, and partnered with brands like Visa, Verizon, Clorox, Unilever, and HP.

Show Notes:

Ready to lead with clarity, confidence, and impact?
Take the Make Your Power Move Leadership Assessment and unlock the tools to define your leadership identity, elevate your influence, and step into your next role with purpose. For a limited time, use code POWER to get 50% off.

→ Start your Power Move today. Learn More HERE

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

• Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
• Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
• Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
• Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
• Keynote Speaking
• Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn

What happens when you make a mistake at work, and everyone knows it? Whether a comment was taken the wrong way, an unfiltered moment in a meeting, or showing up unprepared, reputational hits can feel career-ending. In this episode, we talk about processing, recovering, and cleaning it up, without losing yourself in the fallout.

You’ll learn:

• How to handle the awkward “in-between” after a professional misstep
• Strategies to take ownership without spiraling into shame or defensiveness
• How your Leadership Identity can help you reconnect with your values, strengths, and next move
• 4 Tips to recover
  
  

Mentioned on the Show: Access the Make Your Power Move Assessment and Program, for $47. Designed to help you clarify your Leadership Identity, understand why it matters, and learn how to navigate your career authentically and confidently.

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

• Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
• Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
• Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
• Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
• Keynote Speaking
• Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn

In this episode, I explain leadership identity, how it differs from personal brand, and why it’s the key to making confident, aligned decisions, especially in times of change.

You’ll learn how to:

• Clarify your leadership identity using values, strengths, and reflection
• Turn your identity into a decision-making filter
• Set better boundaries and lead with consistency
• Navigate transitions, burnout, or reinvention with clarity and confidence

Mentioned on the Show:

Ready to lead with clarity, confidence, and impact?
Take the Make Your Power Move Leadership Assessment and unlock the tools to define your leadership identity, elevate your influence, and step into your next role with purpose. For a limited time, use code POWER to get 50% off.

→ Start your Power Move today. Learn More HERE

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

• Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
• Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
• Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
• Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
• Keynote Speaking
• Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn

In this candid and powerful conversation, Jill Griffin—Career Strategist and Executive Coach—sits down with Vicki Bradley, CEO and Founder of Women in Leadership, to talk about the messy middle of career setbacks and how to come out stronger.

They dive into the emotional toll of getting fired, how to reframe workplace trauma, and what it really takes to rebuild career joy and confidence.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

• Recover from being fired and reclaim your narrative
• Shift from feeling like a victim to showing up as an empowered professional
• Use clarity and compassion as a launchpad for career growth
• Stop hiding, start healing, and own your story
• Apply mindset shifts that move you from “impossible” to “possible”
• Explore how coaching can support your reinvention

Plus, Jill shares why she believes her brain injury was the greatest gift she never asked for.

This interview has been lightly edited for time.

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

• Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
• Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
• Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
• Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
• Keynote Speaking
• Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn

Why do some confident presenters crumble during coffee chats? We unpack the paradox of high-performing speakers with social anxiety and offer practical ways to show up without spiraling. In this episode we cover:

• The science behind “performance vs. connection” anxiety
• Why social stakes feel higher than spotlight moments
• How to manage real-life interactions without shutting down

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

• Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
• Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
• Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
• Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
• Keynote Speaking
• Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn

If your thoughts bounce from “she’s rude” to “they’re amazing” in the same breath, you’re not alone. But this pattern messes with your brand—and your ability to trust your own mind. In this episode I discuss:

• Why constant mental flip-flopping kills your strategic edge
• The hidden cost of narrating everyone else's behavior
• How to rewire your brain for clarity, confidence, and leadership presence

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

• Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
• Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
• Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
• Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
• Keynote Speaking
• Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn

In this episode of The Career Refresh, I talk with Eric Gillin—an executive who’s held just about every role in media: editor, product lead, head of sales. He calls himself “professional putty,” and he’s not wrong.

We cover:

• How to drive influence without a formal title
• How to lead teams through turbulence and build trust
• Why chasing the right problems beats chasing promotions

Show Guest

For over 20 years, Eric Gillin has been a force inside legacy media—driving innovation at Condé Nast, Hearst, Maxim, Discovery, and beyond. He’s partnered with over 100 editors-in-chief, from David Granger to David Remnick, to launch digital products that moved the needle.

He’s done nearly every media job out there—writing for Esquire, interviewing celebrities at Maxim, hosting a podcast at 23, launching a dozen apps at Hearst, creating the viral Bon Appétit video strategy, and becoming the first person to run Condé Nast’s U.S. ad sales team.

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

• Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
• Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
• Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
• Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
• Keynote Speaking
• Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn