The Startup of You Podcast

Building your network matters not just for career success but because the friendships you form along the way shape your overall sense of happiness, connection, and meaning. But how many of us actually slow down to assess our friendships and reflect on how to deepen them? On this bonus episode to conclude Season One of the Startup of You Podcast, Reid and Ben (longtime friends themselves) dig into the many nuances of friendship: the different meanings of “I love you,” why the idea of having a single Best Friend is shortsighted, and how to explicitly talk with friends about the state of the relationship and how to improve it. We end by including the 20-minute commencement speech on the importance of friendship that Reid delivered to the Vanderbilt University Class of 2022. Follow Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ Follow Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencasnocha/ Check out the Startup of You Website: https://www.startupofyou.com Please rate/review us on your favorite app – and be sure to follow or subscribe. Thanks for listening.

Status – it’s a fact of working life that’s uncomfortable to talk about yet can have a tangible impact on your career. Hierarchies of power, prestige, and rank exist in every professional context we enter, and learning to navigate these dynamics is crucial. But what are the common status hazards, and how can you gracefully step around them? On this episode of the Startup of You Podcast, Reid and Ben get honest about the role of status in careers. They explain how to show you value a higher-status person’s time; they discuss why interactions with peers require a different kind of finesse than interactions with superiors; and they tell the story of how The 48 Laws of Power author Robert Greene lost a power battle early in his career, and what we can learn from him. Follow Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ Follow Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencasnocha/ Check out the Startup of You Website: https://www.startupofyou.com Please rate/review us on your favorite app – and be sure to follow or subscribe. Thanks for listening.

How do your friends and colleagues describe you? What would *they* say your top strengths and weaknesses are? The answers to these and other questions define your professional reputation—your own individual brand. But you shouldn’t leave things up to chance. You should be authentic and thoughtful about shaping how you are perceived. On this episode of the Startup of You Podcast, Reid and Ben discuss how to construct your personal career brand and leverage it to fulfill your aspirations: choosing the right LinkedIn profile headline (Reid shares that he recently updated his!), asserting your value without bragging or distorting the truth, and supporting the brands of your allies. Follow Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ Follow Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencasnocha/ Check out the Startup of You Website: https://www.startupofyou.com Please rate/review us on your favorite app – and be sure to follow or subscribe. Thanks for listening.

How do you make better life decisions? By becoming world class at tapping the brains of the people in your network. Your network is a source of constant, customized information that helps you make wise decisions, both large and small. On this episode of the Startup of You Podcast, Reid and Ben get into the skills and techniques needed to harness the “network intelligence” that already surrounds you: asking the right questions, identifying different types of expertise in other people, and developing the finesse required for reference checks. Follow Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ Follow Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencasnocha/ Check out the Startup of You Website: https://www.startupofyou.com Please rate/review us on your favorite app – and be sure to follow or subscribe. Thanks for listening.

Exceptional careers happen when someone conceives a brilliant plan and executes it flawlessly, right? Wrong. Every career is an ongoing process of experimentation. You learn by doing and recalibrate as you gain new experiences and knowledge. But this doesn’t mean you don’t need a plan – you need plans, plural, that you continually update. On this episode of the Startup of You Podcast, Reid and Ben unpack the ins and outs of their “ABZ Planning” framework: How to approach your Plan A, how to conceptualize your Plan B(s) and when to pivot, and why having a backup Plan Z is a must. Follow Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ Follow Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencasnocha/ Check out the Startup of You Website: https://www.startupofyou.com Please rate/review us on your favorite app – and be sure to follow or subscribe. Thanks for listening.

Many professionals are turned off by the idea of “networking.” They think it’s about slimey glad-handing and using others to get ahead. But when pursued with an eye toward leveraging your skills and experiences to help other people succeed, building a professional network becomes something else entirely – a chance at authentic human connection that can fuel enriching relationships and create opportunities over decades. On this episode of the Startup of You Podcast, Reid and Ben break down three common misconceptions about how professional networks function, while also deep-diving on two types of relationships that are essential for success: “Allies” (close collaborators) and “Friendlies” (acquaintances). Follow Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ Follow Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencasnocha/ Check out the Startup of You Website: https://www.startupofyou.com Please rate/review us on your favorite app – and be sure to follow or subscribe. Thanks for listening.