Most people move through their careers by reacting to opportunities rather than creating them. But the most successful careers — the ones that lead to meaning, mastery, and momentum — are built with intention.
In this episode of Build Your Edge, Jeremy Burns talks with Bruce Pannaman, a startup technology leader who developed the Tech Career Strategies framework. This free downloadable guide helps you plan your career with purpose and direction.
Bruce explains how to think strategically about your career by first asking:
👉 What outcomes do you want from your work?
He walks through how to translate those outcomes —whether autonomy, wealth, impact, recognition, or leadership — into clear career destinations and avenues, such as building a startup, joining big tech, or becoming a recognised expert. Once you’ve chosen your path, Bruce shows how to identify the superpowers you’ll need to succeed and the stepping stones that will help you reach your bigger goal.
This episode is a practical blueprint for anyone who wants to stop drifting and start building a career with purpose.
⬇️ Download Bruce’s Tech Career Strategies guide free from the Build Your Edge downloads page.
Read more about Bruce on LinkedIn.
Your photo speaks before you do. Whether it’s your LinkedIn headshot, a team photo, or the images that sell your product, people decide what to think of you in about two seconds.
In this episode, professional retoucher Beth Perkins shares five fast edits that make any photo look sharper, brighter, and more trustworthy without turning you (or your brand) into something fake.
You’ll learn:
Beth’s also created a free visual guide with before-and-after examples so you can apply the changes right away.
When a big project goes off the rails, panic spreads fast. Deadlines slip. Teams freeze. Leaders stop sleeping.
That’s when you call someone like David Crawford, a delivery leader known for running toward the fire, not away from it. David’s built a reputation for rescuing complex, high-stakes programmes and turning them back into wins.
You can use his approach to rescue everything from small, time-critical projects that simply can’t afford to fail to large, multi-million-pound programmes that have gone off the rails. In this episode, he shares the exact five-step approach he uses to stabilise chaos, rebuild trust, and deliver results at any scale.
We break down:
David’s also shared the Turnaround Measure Tracker, the simple spreadsheet he uses to diagnose problems, focus your efforts, and track recovery week by week.
If your project’s wobbling, or you just want to lead with clarity when pressure hits, this episode’s worth your time.
Download David’s free Turnaround Measure Tracker at https://www.buildyouredge.org/downloads/turnaround-measure-tracker
There’s also an accompanying guide to help you apply it today, available for free at https://www.buildyouredge.org/downloads/a-guide-to-the-turnaround-measure-tracker
Job interviews are meant to reveal the best people for the job, but too often, they don’t. Candidates feel lost in the process, managers make rushed decisions, and both sides leave thinking, 'that could’ve gone better.'
In this episode, Sam Grill—a hiring manager who’s sat on both sides of the table—breaks down the interview process step by step. He explains what really happens behind the scenes, how decisions are made, and why small mistakes can cost big opportunities.
You’ll learn how to:
Whether you’re running interviews or trying to ace them, this conversation gives you a clear, honest look at how interviews actually work, and how to win at them.
Plus, Sam leaves behind a free digital handout: a practical framework of interview questions for both candidates and hiring managers to plan, prepare, and evaluate effectively.
Download 'The Interview Cheatsheet' at buildyouredge.org/downloads
Most career frameworks stop at progression: tick the boxes, climb the ladder, chase the promotion. But what if growth was about more than just the next level?
In this episode, I sit down with Dan Ashby to explore how traditional frameworks fall short and how his approach flips the script by focusing on impact.
Dan shares how to connect your personal growth with company objectives, why tasks alone don’t qualify you for promotion, and how managers and employees can use his five-part framework to make growth measurable, meaningful, and strategic.
We cover:
If you’re tired of frameworks that feel like admin exercises—or if you’re a manager stuck in endless promotion debates—this episode will show you how to build growth strategies that drive results, inspire teams, and actually matter.
Communicating with senior leaders isn’t like talking to your peers. The C-Suite live in a world of packed diaries, rapid context-switching, and high-stakes decisions. If you can’t deliver clarity, brevity, and impact, you’ll lose their attention and your opportunity.
In this episode of Build Your Edge, Cheryl Warlow joins Jeremy to share her playbook for making your mark at the top. We talk about:
Whether you’re preparing for your first presentation to the C-Suite or want to sharpen your influence in the boardroom, this conversation will give you the tools to nail it.
Giving feedback is one of the hardest yet most important parts of being a manager. Do it badly and you dent confidence, damage relationships, and risk losing people. Do it well and you unlock growth, build trust, and create a culture where people excel.
In this episode, leadership coach Clem Pickering joins Jeremy to break down why feedback so often goes wrong and how managers can flip it into a powerful tool for development. Clem shares practical methods for delivering feedback that lands, including his See, Think, Feel, Intent framework, and explains how to receive feedback without getting defensive.
You’ll learn why annual reviews are the worst place for feedback, how to make timing work in your favour, and what to do when even your top performers are hungry for more.
If you’ve ever felt awkward, fearful, or just plain stuck when it comes to giving feedback, this conversation will give you the tools and confidence to do it right.
Too many organisations spend months wordsmithing values and end up with one-word posters nobody uses. The result: wallpaper slogans that don’t shape culture or guide behaviour.
In this episode of Build Your Edge, I sit down with culture consultant Alya Lilani to show how to define and embed values that actually work. We cover:
If your values don’t change how people act, they’re not values. This conversation shows how to make them real and how to turn them into a driver of culture and business results.
Download Alya’s Values Starter Kit to run this in your team today: buildyouredge.org/downloads.
Most people lurk on LinkedIn. They scroll, they like, but they never post. The result? Beige feeds, the same recycled content, and a missed chance to actually stand out.
In this episode of Build Your Edge, I sit down with video creator Jack Ralph, who went from hating LinkedIn to building a following and picking up clients in just a few months.
Jack admits he was terrified of posting at first, but decided to “just post the damn thing,” and everything changed.
We dig into:
Jack’s honest, funny, and refreshingly real approach will change how you see LinkedIn. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, this is your invitation to step up, hit post, and finally stand out.
How to Job Hunt Like a Sales Pro, with Marylin Schlamkow
If your job search feels like throwing CVs into a black hole, this episode is for you.
Marylin Schlamkow believes the best job searches aren’t passive; they’re strategic. Drawing on her background in both sales and recruitment, she shares how to take control of your job hunt with a structured, proactive approach.
In this episode, we cover:
Marylin also shares a downloadable tool that walks you through her entire process, from targeting and outreach to interviews and offers.
If you’re ready to shift from “hope and apply” to “plan and close,” don’t miss this one.
Watch or listen now and download the free job search framework at buildyouredge.org/downloads.
If you’re ambitious but feeling stuck, this episode is for you.
Kevin McDonnell joins Build Your Edge to break down how continuous learning—and sharing what you learn—can transform your career. Kevin’s approach is practical, honest, and proven. He explains how to learn by doing, how to build credibility in public, and why perfection is the enemy of progress.
We talk about:
🎧 Plus, there’s a free downloadable resource to help you apply everything we cover. Find it at buildyouredge.org.
High Performance From Happy Teams
Can you push for results without pushing people away? In this episode, executive and leadership coach Charlotte Rooney joins Jeremy Burns to share her framework for leading teams that deliver at a high level and thrive while doing it.
Charlotte draws on her experience leading in war zones, boardrooms, and high-scale startups to show how to set clear goals, prioritise the right work, and adapt without losing sight of relationships. You’ll learn how to balance heart and results, avoid the traps of over-caring or over-commanding, and keep your team engaged, even when the pressure’s on.
Whether you manage three people or three hundred, this conversation will help you create a high-trust environment that delivers exceptional results.
The Goal Setting Method That Actually Works – with Aaron Norris
Most people set goals. Very few actually achieve them.
In this episode, Aaron Norris joins Jeremy to unpack why that is, and what to do instead. Aaron left a high-flying sales career at Amazon to help people build successful, purpose-driven lives. His new book Sales Life shares the system he now teaches to clients, and in this conversation, he breaks it down for you.
You’ll learn:
Aaron also shares the exact tool he gives to his clients, a free downloadable asset to help you get started right away.
Whether you feel stuck, distracted, or just ready for a reset, this episode will help you take action on the goals that matter most.
🎧 Download the free tool: An Email From Your Future Self
📗 Buy Aaron’s book Sales Life
📲 Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn
We spend our lives chasing success, expecting happiness to follow. But what if we’ve got it backwards?
This week, I’m joined by executive coach Ellinor Glesner to talk about the pursuit of happiness. Not the fluffy kind. The real, hard-earned kind that comes from aligning your work with your values, your life with your priorities, and your decisions with who you want to become.
Ellinor shares how she redefined success for herself after burning out in a high-flying corporate role. She explains why happiness isn’t found in titles or achievements, but in clarity, courage, and the small, consistent choices we make.
We talk about:
This episode is for anyone who’s ever thought, “I should be happy—but I’m not.”
And yes, there’s a downloadable guide from Ellinor to help you reflect, reset, and design your own version of a successful life. You can find it here:
https://www.buildyouredge.org/community/podcasts/episodes/the-pursuit-of-happiness
If you'd like to connect with Ellinor, you can find her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellinorglesner/
In this first episode, Jack Cole turns the tables and interviews Jeremy Burns, the creator of Build Your Edge, on its origins, mission, and principles, and explains why he and WeDo are supporting it so much.
