Ep 12: Step Back and Leap with Executive Coach & Author Patrick Mork

Today’s guest is Patrick Mork, founder of LEAP, Motivational speaker and author of a new book on personal transformation: Step Back and LEAP. Patrick’s passion is coaching start-up and scale up founders and CEO's and helping them become purpose-driven, responsible leaders bent on solving society's biggest challenges. Clients have included Walmart, Liberty Media, Scotiabank, Falabella as well as many of Latin America's fastest-growing unicorns. 

Prior to starting LEAP, Patrick spent 25 years in marketing, 10 years of which were in Silicon Valley, and built marketing teams at multiple startups as well as Google where he created and launched Google Play store in 2012.

In this episode, you’ll hear about Patrick’s unusual career path to his current success, his mid-life crisis that led to hiring a coach, and his subsequent decision to become a coach himself, and the process of writing his book and how the feedback he’s receiving is truly precious to him.

Authentic, inspirational and relatable discussions with inspirational business leaders, gaining insight into what inspires them and how they got to where they are today. These conversations offer actionable tips for listeners to create their own path to success and shatter whatever glass ceilings arise and overcome any obstacles on their personal journey. Jeanniey Walden, Founder of Liftoff Enterprises, is the award-winning marketing, business & workplace expert and host of the TV show "LiftOff with Jeanniey Walden." Jeanniey dives into compelling conversations with incredible experts of all backgrounds to understand what makes them tick and expose how you, the viewer can learn from these experiences and start to "LiftOff."

Discussion points:

• Patrick’s background and unusual career path
• A mid-life crisis and getting an executive coach
• Leaving the tech world, becoming a coach, moving back to Chile
• Writing the book and the feedback received
• Would he do anything different?
• Stepping out of your comfort zone, learning from “failure”, building your ‘change muscle’
• Words for those just starting out - do what you really enjoy, get out and ‘try stuff’
• Advice for mid-career changes or returning to work
• Online personality and skills tests - get to know yourself
• Most of us don’t know our values so we drift
• Stay tuned to Liftoff Journeys for more incredible guests

Resources:

Patrick Mork LinkedIn

Leap.cl

Book: Step Back and Leap

Jeanniey Walden LinkedIn

Liftoff Website

See what we look like; subscribe to our YouTube channel

Watch the TV show"LiftOff with Jeanniey Walden"

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Jeanniey Walden: Welcome back to Liftoff Journeys, everybody. I'm your host, Jeanie Walden, and today all the way from Santiago, Chile. While it's still warm, I've got Patrick Mork with me, and he is a bestselling author with his new book on Amazon. I'm gonna let him tell you all about it. Thanks for being on the show, Patrick.

[00:00:27] Patrick Mork: It's great to, uh, great to be here. It's great to see you again, Jeanie. Thank you so much. 

[00:00:31] Jeanniey Walden: Now, it's been a long time. We've been connected on LinkedIn for, I don't even want to say how many years, but when it hit over two decades that that made, that made both of us. Joined LinkedIn when we were about eight years old.

But you've had such an incredible career from, you know, different roles in technology, startups, Google to where you are today. Tell me and the audience a little bit about your professional journey and everything that you've done over the past few years. , we'll leave it at that. 

[00:01:03] Patrick Mork: Yeah, I mean, uh, I, I'll try and keep it, uh, as condensed and as short as possible, but, uh, but yeah, you know, I mean, in essence, my professional career.

It was kind of weird. I, I wasn't really sure I was gonna get into business. You know, I, I, I graduated originally with a major in history and diplomacy. You know, it's kinda of one of those weird things. Um, my dad was a business guy who was an expat, you know, uh, we lived all over the world. We were moving country to country every two years.

And so, you know, after, after Georgetown, you know, I joined PepsiCo. I was with PepsiCo for five years, and they, they bumped me around a bunch of different countries. You know, I started with them in the. then, um, because I spoke Portuguese, they, you know, were just relaunching Pepsi and Diet Pepsi in Brazil.

So they said, Hey, you know, we got this crazy opportunity for you and Rio Des Janeiro, would you like to go? And I was like, Hmm, lemme think about that. You know, I'm A2 two year old, single guy. Yeah. Okay. I think I can go to Rio de Janeiro for a couple of years. So I did Rio for a couple of years and then I did a number of assignments there.

And then, um, and then after that they were like, well, we have this opportunity in, in, in g. Uh, you know, to run marketing. And so I was like, okay, great. You know, I, I was 25. I went to, I went to Chile. Uh, it was a weird experience because, you know, I got here like five months into the job. They decided that they were gonna close the office and lay off all the employees.

And, uh, and they left me alone, uh, with our franchise Butler, uh, in the operation and. I was in the factory with our franchise Butler's personnel and, and essentially running the business with very little support for two years. And we had a lot of fun. You know, we did TV commercials with a whole bunch of soccer idols and famous people and models, and I was 25, so it was good times.

Uh, you know, but after that, you know, I decided to go back to business school. I, I adopted to do business school in France, the school called Inci, which is, you know, one of top business schools in the world. You know, they have a very strong focus on entrepreneurship. They have, you know, a hub now in San Francisco as.

and uh, and there I started kind of like, you know, um, my entrepreneurial journey. You know, I, I graduated business school, like a lot of people with a lot of debt. It was in 2000, uh, I think you remember those days and everybody was talking about dot coms and dot coms and dot coms. And, and, and I, and I thought about the going to a.com startup and I chose to go the safer route.

I went to a consulting company, uh, and it was turned out not to be that safe because, you know, they were specialized in. . And so when, you know, all the, all the VC money dried up, I was one of the first to go. And so, you know, from there, you know, the, the last 20 years have really been kind of a startup journey.

You know, I, I did, I did a, a startup in, uh, in, in, which was a franchise chain of cyber cafes focused on multiplayer gaming in 2001. This was before multiplayer gaming became a thing. I did that for a couple of years. Um, what was based out of Madrid in. after that, you know, I moved with, uh, with my wife to England and I joined one of the first mobile gaming startups to get funded.

So this was in 2005. Everybody was starting to think about mobile, you know, and this was pre-phone days, right? You and I remember that cuz Oh yeah. You know, we're, we're old enough, but, uh, but yeah, the world before smartphones. Right. And, and, and you know, you had some startups that were making, you know, these games on Java and on brew phones in the.

And so I joined this small company, um, and I was, you know, head of European marketing and we, you know, were venture funded and we had, you know, a deal with electronic arts to syndicate all their games on mobile. Uh, that lasted for about two years. Then I was poached by them by another company called Glue Mobile to do the same job.

The glue was much, much bigger. They had a much bigger business, much more licenses, and that company actually did pretty well. We ended up going public. We went public on the NASDAQ in like 2000. Uh, and then I left Glue and joined one of the world's first app stores. So I joined a small Lithuanian startup, which nobody had ever heard of, which was called Get Jar.

And, and these guys had built the first app store right before the Apple App Store even existed. and uh, they were funded by Excel partners, you know, who you may have heard of. They funded, you know, Facebook and Spotify. Mm-hmm. , a whole bunch of Atlasian, a bunch of successful companies. So we raised around with, with Excel and I stayed with those guys for a couple years.

And then, um, the unfortunate thing was, you know, we were kinda the ham, the san between Apple and Google. Um, not a very good place to be. And, uh, and so the long story short, there was, you know, one day I got a call from Google and I was living in, in, in San, in California at the. and Google is like, Hey, you know, we, we really are struggling with, uh, Android market, which was their app store back in the day, right?

We're really struggling with Android market. You know, we're way behind Apple. Apple's got all, all this great content. They've got books and they've got apps and they've got movies and we've got nothing. Uh, you know, would you be interested in joining us to help us relaunch, you know, the, uh, the store? Uh, and so I was you.

I left GE Jar and I joined Google to be the first marketing director for what would become Google Play. So my team created the Google Play brand, which was launched in 2012, if I remember correctly. And so I did, I did a couple years of Google, and that was a roller coaster ride. You know, it was like, it was like being in a startup backed by the world's best venture capitalist, right?

You had unlimited funding. And so, uh, so that was fun. I did that for a couple of, . And then, you know, after, after Google I decided I wanted to start my own thing, which a lot of Googlers do, and I was totally not ready for it. . So, you know, I tried to start a company in gaming that didn't work out. Um, then I kind of like did a stu stint in consulting.

That was kind of okay, but not great. And then I joined a startup in EdTech and that was just a horrible culture fit. And so, . You know, sometimes you make this mistake. You, you go into a company, the role sounds right, you like the people, you like the job, but then you get in and you realize that, you know, the way you operate and the way you work and the way their culture works just doesn't mesh right.

So I, I did that job for about a year, and then it didn't work out. And, and then I had, you know, your quintessential midlife crisis. I, I was completely lost, to be honest. I mean, Everything that you could imagine went wrong. You know, my, my wife leaves me, I lose this job. All of a sudden my whole world starts to unravel.

And then, you know, I woke up one day, like a lot of people do, and I'm sure you know, you can relate to this too. You know, you wake up one day and you're like, okay, I've been doing marketing for like three decades. I don't really feel like the magic is there anymore. I'm not really excited about this anymore.

It's like, oh my God, what do I. I was really lost. And um, and I had talked to some friends from business school about this and they said, dude, you should hire a coach. I was like, what? I was like, hire a coach. I was like, come on man. I went to Google and I went to a good business school, like, I don't need a coach.

And they're like, you know, I talked to enough people and they're like, you need a coach. You're like, lost. You need somebody who can give you some perspective. So, so I reached out to this guy who used to work at Oracle and he'd become an executive coach. and he'd moderated some retreats for me and a group of guys that, you know, were, were, were, had kind of like this YPO group.

And, um, and through the work that I did with him, I started to doing some really deep soul searching. Like I started talking about, you know, what's my purpose and what are my values and where do I want to go? What, you know, all these questions that most of us never really stopped to ask ourselves until you, you know, end up in this big problem, this big mess, like, and the work was so powerful and I learned so much about myself that I was like, you know what?

This is actually really cool, and I know a ton of people in tech who could really benefit from this work. I'm gonna become a coach. And so I was like 180 degrees switch, you know? I decided to basically leave the tech world. I, uh, I, you know, signed up for an executive coaching course at the coach training institute in northern ca.

and I started coaching people from Facebook and Google and Yahoo and all these places. And I just kind of one step led to another. And then of course my, my ex-wife by this point comes to me and she says, Patrick, I'm sick of Silicon Valley. I can't take it anymore. I like this whole tech scene and raising money and all this stuff, and you are our train wreck and we should really move back to Chile.

And I'm like, wait a second, move to Chile. You mean like other end of the world, Chile? And she's like, yeah, we should go to Chile. You know, it's a calm place. Nothing ever happens there. This was before like the near quasi revolution we had in 2019 where they were burning supermarkets and looting the streets and stuff.

So long story short, we moved to Chile and I start coaching Chilean entrepreneurs, and I start coaching Chilean business executives. And I start this company leap, which is all about, you know, helping create these cultures of meaning and purpose. And through that process, you know, We have this quasi revolution, my business, nearly tanks.

Then of course we have Covid, my business, dearly Tanks, , and through that whole process, uh, of constant change and learning a lot about myself and struggling, I was in a coaching session one day with my coach and um, and the thing that came out, which was really weird, is she goes, have you ever thought about writing?

She's like, you've been through all these changes, you've learned so much. You've learned all these tools, all these techniques on how to navigate and survive. Pretty extreme change. She's like, why not write a book? And I'm like, okay, let's, let's think about that for a second. I'm like the single guy living in another country where I don't know anybody.

I have a struggling business. I'm working like 12 hour days, and you want me to write a book on top of that ? So it was like, And here it is, , you know, three years later. It took me three years to write it, but you know, so finally I wrote a book. So that's the short version of the last 30 years. Uh, if you'll I love it.

And rollercoaster ride. 

[00:11:13] Jeanniey Walden: Yeah. I, I love it. It it, because it, it's, I don't think everybody has had a life as. rollercoaster and tumultuous, and as exciting and as adventure failed as you. But all of us over the age of 30 have been in all of those kind of positions that you're talking about. You know, we're, we're fearless and we try something new, and then we are unsure what our direction is and what our purpose is.

Then everything seems to fall apart and you've gotta pick yourself up and, and rebuild yourself again. And, and that's what I love. You know, the work that you do, the book that you've written is, it starts to give people perspective that they're not alone, they're not the only ones going through this. So what was your favorite part about writing the book?

Besides finishing it? , 

[00:12:01] Patrick Mork: you know, I think the favorite part I got from writing Step Back and Leap is um, I really felt like, you know, people write books for a whole bunch of reasons. And, and, and for me, the major reason. , there are so many people who struggle with their careers today, right? I mean, you look at the statistics, I think 350,000 people have been laid off in the tech sector alone in the last four months and, and then you look at other statistics and tell you that 80% of the world's population that is employed right now is unhappy with what they do.

And I'm like, oh my God, if there's so many people who are unhappy, the impact on society, the impact on our ability to innovate, the impact on individuals wellbeing and happiness is enormous. . And so for me, the most satisfying thing, to be honest, is like when I look at the reviews I've been getting from people when I get like, you know, I got a text message yesterday from somebody who knows me and they're like, I've been reading your book, and it's so authentic and it's so, you're so vulnerable and transparent.

I wanted to like reach out and hug you. Right. And when you get like, you know, I had another former coaching client who reached out and she. I started crying reading your book because there's, you know, the, the book is, it's brutally honest, and I, I wanted to write Jeanie, I wanted to write a, a self-help book that was like more authentic.

I didn't wanna write something academic. I didn't wanna write something like the 10 steps to magically change your Life. Cuz you know what, there is no magic. You gotta work at it. It's hard, right? You're going through the same thing. It's, it's hard. You gotta work at it and. . You know, for me, the most, the most rewarding thing is getting comments from people who are like, I was moved.

I was touched. It was like really powerful. Um, I learned a lot of things about you. I learned that I'm not the only person that struggles with this stuff because everybody struggles, right? It's like, yeah, it doesn't matter whether you're well educated, you're not well educated, you're poor, you're rich, you're smart, you're not, you know, you're successful, you're not.

We all struggle. And so for me it was. I just wanted to put it out there as like a way to kind of give back and help people somehow. Um, and when I get that feedback from people, that's just the best thing ever. Yeah. 

[00:14:11] Jeanniey Walden: It's so amazing. And, and, and reading your book kind of just gives you like chills as you're reading it, but, so let me ask this question.

Through everything that you've gone through, if you had the chance to do it all again, would you make different decisions or do you think the decisions that you made have made you who you are today? 

[00:14:30] Patrick Mork: I was afraid you would ask that question. , um, would I change anything? You know, it, it's really hard because whenever, whenever somebody asks me that question, I always say, well, if I changed something, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Right? The, the course of my life story would've maybe gone in a slightly different direction. That said, I think there's a couple of things that I might have considered doing differently. Uh, and some of these will be contr. One of the things I might have done differently, believe it or not, is I might not have joined Google.

And I say that with the utmost respect to Google as a company, despite all the problems that they're having lately. And, you know, I wrote a post on LinkedIn about why I think they're having these issues. Um, I admire them enormously, more than most companies in the world. But, but I realized that when I, when I left Gtar and went to Google, , it created a fork in my career where I left the startup world.

Yeah. And I, and I kind of went back to corporate and the reason I did it at the time was a, maybe I was really flattered that Google called me and wanted to hire me. I, you know, I think the statistics are something like 3 million people apply a year and they take like 2,500 or something. . And so maybe it was my ego that was like, oh, mine, I'm gonna go work at Google.

And I'm just like, I'm, you know, the best thing since slice bread now. Um, so maybe it was a little bit of that. You know, I was coming out of 15 years in startups and so I was tired emotionally and, and physically of working in the startup environment. I, you know, Google pays very well. I had, you know, stock options.

A lot of that was an alert and, you know, there was the alert of working in a big company and having resources, right? Um, but you don't realize the price that you. , when you make that move, you give up a lot and, and, you know, I gave up the momentum of being, you know, and I say that, well, with all humility, I, I was considered one of the rising starts of marketing in the valley at that time, right?

I had a lot of calls from head hunters. I was getting approached by, uh, venture capitalists to v CMO at this next great startup, or this unicorn or whatever. I, you know, I, I was sought. and, and I made that decision to go to Google because of those reasons. And I have often asked, should I have refused?

Should I have just gone to another startup and what would my life have looked like? But you know, I mean, hindsight's always 2020, right? You, you don't know. And, and, and, and, you know, I probably would not have done what I've done now. I might not have written the book. I might not be talking to you right now.

You know, you just don't know, right? Yeah. Well, you just, uh, you just. 

[00:17:11] Jeanniey Walden: You don't, you don't. And I think you and I, um, met each other around the Get jar Google Days when I was at XO and we were launching, you know, exactly our, our digital newsstand. And it was a crazy time. So I, I don't know, like, think thinking back to then and, and the launch of that, gosh, I mean, I remember XO was.

one of the first six apps on the iOS app store back when Apple didn't have a newsstand back before Google Play the whole nine yards. And I remember. Sleeping out in a Xeo t-shirt in front of the Apple store with my mother and my two children, um, on the streets to get the first iPad when it came out, because Xeo was on it, we were one of the first apps and getting interviewed by every news caster on the planet because there's this mom.

Um, I don't know, executive and then two young children. There were three generations of women waiting for a tech device on the streets in the middle of the night. And I mean, it was a, it was a crazy time. I don't know that I would've made a different decision than you did, so I don't know that I can follow fault you for going Google.

That seemed like the, at the time, 

[00:18:21] Patrick Mork: who knows, you know, it was, it was a totally crazy time and, and, you know, , but the, the fondest times I remember were actually the get jar days. Ironically, they were not, you know, my fondest moments were not Google, I mean Google. I wouldn't say I had, I had a bad time. I think we did some amazing things.

I loved my team at Google and the play team was fantastic, but. You know, what you're alluding to, you know, the stuff with, with, with ZEO and, and, and being aar. I mean, you know, I remember being AAR when, when we were sued by Apple, you know, they tried to sue us at one point because we were using the Word app store, and it was in all, all the, all, you know, it was in te it was in all the blogs.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and I wrote this fiery. Email kind of attacking Steve Jobs saying that he couldn't push us around and stuff like that. So I, you know, I think those are the funnest things. And, and, and what I always talk about, you know, and I talk about it quite a bit in the book, is, um, the best moments in life are when you really step outta your comfort zone and do something that scares you.

You know, it's. When you're kind of like, you know, you're breathing, you're like, oh my God, I'm about to step out into the unknown. That's really at the end of the day where all the growth is, and you know, you, you have that Zeno, you, you know, you, you've had it many times in your career as well. I had making the move to Chile.

I had it right in the book, you know, when I hit published on Amazon, like, what are people gonna think about my book? What if it sucks? What if people hate it? What if I get haters? You know, you just don't know. But the cool thing is, you know, when you're willing to make that change and try something new. Uh, I always tell people there's no such thing as failure.

There's only learning you. You can't really fail. I 

[00:19:56] Jeanniey Walden: love that. Just gonna, I love that. Yeah. It's gonna 

[00:19:58] Patrick Mork: take your life to the next level and, and, okay, you start a company and maybe it tanks and you fail, but you're gonna learn so much from doing that. It's gonna make that, that, that, you know, that change muscle stronger the next time you wanna try something difficult.

For 

[00:20:11] Jeanniey Walden: sure. For sure. So, so two questions because the audience that listens to Liftoff Journeys spans from getting ready to start a career. So people getting ready to graduate college, just graduating college, all the way through to people that have a career that are in the midst of it, that are thinking about going back to work.

So for the younger listeners that are just getting ready to start the career, you said you got your degree in diplomacy. I talk all the time about how my degree was in teaching and here both of us all are ending up doing nothing related to our degrees. Do you think it matters what type of degree you get in college, or do you just think you should get a degree in something that interests you and then let the world open up the doors of opportunity?

[00:20:53] Patrick Mork: Yeah. I, I, I think that you should do something you really enjoy doing. Uh, and, and I think, you know, the one thing I, and, and you know, I have a 16 year old, you know, you've got kids as well. I mean, the conversation I have with him is whether he wants to do college. Yeah. That's a genuine, that's a genuine, legit question, right?

Is like, should I go and waste four years of my life? And I'm not saying it's wasted. I remember my years at Georgetown fondly, but I also remember that there were things in the curriculum that were interesting but didn't serve me at all in any capacity. There were things in the curriculum that were neither interesting nor served me at all.

So I think, you know, in a nutshell, what I would say is if you're gonna spend the time and the money to go to college, study something that you really, really enjoy and that, and, and, and that you. You know, that you're passionate about. That's interesting. You know, whether that ends up being your career or not, I think, you know, how you find your career is a whole different question.

And, and, and that's the fascinating thing and the wonderful thing for young people today is there's so much more access to information and knowledge than there was back when you and I were in college, right? I mean, we didn't have any of this stuff. We didn't. You know, Google or the internet or mobile or chat g p t or whatever exactly that stuff I, it's like now I can go chat g pt, what career should I do?

Cheap , , lemme feed you my psychological profile chat gpt. Maybe that helps. So I would, I would go back and I would say study something that you enjoy. You know, don't worry so much about it. And, and I would say to young people, spend a lot of time trying to understand. what your gifts are. You know, we all have gifts and, and we have that from a very young age.

You know, I, I became a marketer, partially because I love storytelling. You know, I, I was one of these kind of nerds that used to play Dungeons and Dragons all weekend with my friends, and I did that because I enjoyed creating the stories, and I didn't realize the connection at the time. But being a good storyteller opens up obvious career paths, right?

Whether it's marketing or whether it's advertising, or maybe it's journal. So I think pay attention to what are the gifts that you have and then get out in life and try a lot of different things. Right? I mean, I, I didn't tell you this in my 30 year synopsis, but I even did, I even sold Herbalife products door to door for a while.

Don't ask me why. Okay. Don't ask me why. They were great products. I was a consumer. My wife's like, they're great margins selling this. You don't have a job anyway. Why don't you just do something? I said, I'll sell Herbalife products door to. . So I went out and I tried stuff, but I think you gotta, you gotta, um, get out and try a lot of different things.

And the more training things you try, you're, you'll start figuring out what you're good at, what you're not good and good at, and that will help you decide. 

[00:23:46] Jeanniey Walden: I love that advice. Now, second question, for somebody that's established in their career or that maybe took some time off for family reasons and is looking to get back into business, do you believe in the same philosophy that you.

Try something new. Or once you get into something you like, would you say stick with it and just kind of hone your craft in, in more specificity? 

[00:24:09] Patrick Mork: You know, I think part of the answer to that really depends on people's individual situation, right? I think, uh, some people, you know, I'd like to be able to tell people, you know, like Steve Jobs said, you know, kind of like find your purpose, right?

If, if, if you're passionate about what you do, you'll never work another day in your life. And that while that's. . Um, I think that it's very hard for some people financially to do that. If you've got a mortgage in three kids in, you know, private schools, it's much harder to make that transition, right? You can still make it, but you have to craft the path.

But what I would tell people in that situation, Jeanie, is I would say the first thing you should do is really kind of, Understand yourself far more deeply. Right? It it, for me, it wasn't until I got laid off from that startup, years after Google that I started doing a lot of these online tests. Like I did Myers Briggs, I did the Benziger Thinking Styles assessment.

I did 360 s. You know, I did Landmark Seminar. I did Landmark Forum because I really realized that I didn't know myself as well as I thought. and it was only, you know, by taking a lot of these on online diagnostics and searching and reading and then getting coaching, that I start to realize, you know what, like I've always liked mentoring people and this coaching thing sounds a lot like that, right?

And so I think the more that you know yourself, the more you start to figure out what's right and what's. . Um, the other thing that helped me was a particular exercise and, and I talk about this actually and step back and leap, I talk, there's a chapter where I talk about values, right? And I think one of the things people don't realize, Jeanie, and this is, I think this is a reason why so many people are quietly quitting and so many people burn out, is they don't know their values.

And so they end up in a job or they end up in an industry, or they end up in a company where for weeks or months or years, people are trampling on those values. all the time, right? Like, say your, say your, one of your values is family, right? It's important for me to spend time with my girls. If you are aware of that, you're more likely to, to put limits on, on how far your employer will push you or what kind of work you're, you're willing to work in, right?

If they tell you, Hey, Jeanie, you know, you're gonna make 2 million a year, but you're gonna work 15 hours a. and your value as family, you're probably gonna think about that twice. You're gonna be like, you know, thanks, but no thanks. You know, I wanna be at home 6:00 PM having dinner with my girls. And I think the problem today is that most of us, you know, and myself included, I didn't figure this out until I was 45 years old, right?

It's like most of us don't spend the time to actually write down what our values are and live our lives and our careers that way. And so if we don't have our values and we don't have our purpose, you know, which is another chapter in the. We don't have like a compass for where our life should go. And so we kind of drift into jobs and careers that oftentimes are not the right ones for us.

So, you know, my, my, my feedback and kind of my advice to people would be spend time really knowing yourself. Do these diagnostics, read interesting books. Figure out your values, figure out your purpose. If you can hire a good coach. You know, there are tons of amazing coaches online. You can find them. I mean, I'm a coach, but there's millions of coaches, right?

Spend the time to really know yourself and then trust your gut and your values, and follow a career path that aligns as closely as possible to your purpose and your values. And if you do that, you're much likely, much less likely to make the kind of mistakes. 

[00:27:48] Jeanniey Walden: But you should make mistakes cuz that's how you learn

There are no mistakes. 

[00:27:52] Patrick Mork: Right. I learned, I learned a lot. I learned a lot. But, but it was painful as hell. Right. So that, that was, that was the other reason I wrote the book is, is I, I thought to myself with my coach one day, I was like, is there a way that I could write the book that not only helps people, but also possibly helps them avoid some of the pain that I went through?

Because Absolutely. You know, you, you shouldn't wanna be a och. Right. I mean, life, life is hard enough as it's right. We don't need more pain. We get plenty of that in spades. Right? So, so, uh, so if there's a, I wouldn't say that, you know, I don't, I would never say that step back and leap is a, is a formula or a blueprint because it's not, it's, it's not written that way.

It's not, it, it's kind of structured with nine keys, but it's not gonna solve everybody's problem. But, but what I was trying to do was, was trying to provide tips and pointers and stories so people could avoid some of the mistakes. Whether I love it, whether that works, . 

[00:28:44] Jeanniey Walden: I dunno. We'll see. Well look, you know, I think, I think step back and LEAP is an introspective journey for yourself that unlocks your values and your potential.

So I read it. I think everyone should read it, and I'm super grateful to have your time today on this episode of Liftoff Journeys. This has been such a great conversation. Still good to reconnect after. A few years and I can't wait to see the next book that you write that comes 

[00:29:14] Patrick Mork: out. Oh my God, my editor's already pressuring me on that.

He's like, it's fantastic. Fantastic. What's the next book? I'm like, I don't know. I'm still trying to digest this one. But anyway, look, I really appreciate it. Um, you know, it's, it's been awesome to reconnect with you again after too many, way too many years. Yeah. Uh, I'm so delighted. Like I was telling you before the show, I'm so excited for you.

I'm really delighted by what you're doing. I love the theme of the show. I think it's gonna help a lot of people. I think people need this kind of help, so, you know, kudos to you as well for, you know, for stepping back and leaping and, and taking this big leap of faith with, with your show and with the, with the company.

It's, it's fantastic. I wish you obviously all the best and you know, I hope we stay in touch and hopefully you'll be back on your show at some point for the next book. Me too. 

[00:29:56] Jeanniey Walden: Sounds great, and thanks so much. Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend, and for everybody else, stay tuned because we've got more incredible guests just like Patrick that are gonna help you create your next 

[00:30:07] Patrick Mork: journey.

Thank you so much. Have a great weekend.