Career Wisdom: Strategies for Professional Growth with Tem Lawal

In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets, our guest is Tem Lawal, a seasoned career expert who has guided numerous professionals toward achieving their career goals. With her deep insights on personal development and strategic career planning, Tem helps individuals unlock their true potential and navigate the challenges of modern careers. She discusses actionable strategies for career advancement, self-promotion, and professional growth.

You can find him on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/temlawal/
https://www.temlawal.com/

Transcript

Tem Lawal 0:00

It it took it was layers, right? It takes time to make that shift, really. Um, mentally, physically, emotionally. So there was multiple layers to it. But you know, there was the first step of, you know, hey, I think I want to do this, but what was that? What would that take? And so doing some research, taking a look at it, having some conversations. But it took a few months of discovery, and I had a I had a coach, uh, career coach that was working with me, and she planted the seed a few times and said, Hey Tim, you know, I I think you should really consider this. I think you would be a perfect person to pursue this as a career route, and this is a great time to explore it. And so I had people who encouraged me, and then I had some early client opportunities.

Davis Nguyen 0:41

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Wynne, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight-figure career coaching businesses myself and have been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Pedro Stein 1:13

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today's guest is Tem Law, CEO of Elum Leadership Advisors and a trusted advisor to investors, CEOs, and founders navigating the leadership decisions that shape growing companies. With a PhD in industrial and organizational psychology and over 15 years of experience, he has supported organizations ranging from Gartner and FedEx to deep tech innovators. Tem helps leaders diagnose the root causes of people and performance challenges, turning complexity into clear, actionable decisions. Known for his calm, human-centered approach, he partners with executives to avoid costly missteps and build companies that elevate both performance and people. Welcome to the show, Tam.

Tem Lawal 2:15

Wow, thank you for having me. That was awesome. Thank you.

Pedro Stein 2:19

It's great to have you, you know. And um, I always like to go back to the origin story because you could be doing a lot of things, right? Could be a plumber, could be a sushi chef, you name it, but you decided to be a coach. So I want to understand like when that moment happened, right? Or if that was more organic, natural flow. So getting back to the time that you decide, you know what, I guess this is what I'm doing now. So, what was that for you?

Tem Lawal 2:48

That's a great question. So um, I've always had a passion for developing leaders and uh supporting with leadership growth and development. Even my first job out of grad school as an intern, um, somehow I got roped into being responsible for designing leadership programs for um lieutenants and captains in police departments. And I'm 23 and these guys had more leadership experience than I was alive, you know. And so it was kind of, you know, just kind of head first into that world. But it's always been a passion of mine. Um, and you know, I might say my life's calling is to multiply multipliers and to influence influencers. Um, and so that I've done that in just about every job that I've had professionally. But what launched me into doing this as a practice, you know, I was employed at Gartner and, you know, as many people have experienced, you know, I was uh laid off from my role suddenly and it was jarring. It was, you know, I had to kind of you know discover what the next move was. But I had already known even while I was there that you know, I wasn't quite sure if the next move for me was another corporate role. It was, you know, I didn't see the next company or the next job that was like, oh, that's that's the thing I want to do. And so I took just a few months of just self-discovery and really asking myself the tough questions of where is my life going from here. And what emerged from that was the desire to really pursue what I believe my life calling is, and to just launch out and really uh step into that fully. And so I launched my coaching practice, and things have really taken off since then, and it's been really exciting.

Pedro Stein 4:29

Interesting, interesting, you know what? And I'm I'm kind of curious about the shift, right? And I always ask this. It's like whenever we see a coach, he starts as helping people, right? Oh, I'm gonna help people, I want to serve people, and there is a moment that he sees himself building a real business around this, you know. So when was that for you, you know, that you realize, okay, I guess this is this is really a business, you know?

Tem Lawal 4:54

Yeah, that's a great question. So it it took it was layers, right? It takes time to make that shift, really, um, mentally, physically, emotionally. So there was multiple layers to it. But you know, there was the first step of, you know, hey, I think I want to do this, but what was that, what would that take? And so doing some research, taking a look at it, having some conversations. But it took a few months of discovery, and I had a I had a coach, uh career coach that was working with me, and she planted the seed a few times and said, Hey, Tim, you know, I I think you should really consider this. I think you would be a perfect person to pursue this as a career route, and this is a great time to explore it. And so I had people who encouraged me, and then I had some early client opportunities that allowed me to kind of exercise and test out some of uh my skills in that area. And and through that I really gained the internal confidence to say, um, hey, you know what? I think I think this is the path. You know, you have the people that tell you, you know, it helps to have those folks to encourage you in your journey. But you know, really the the the where you want to get to is where you have that internal confidence to say, hey, you know what, this is the path for me. And that that happened for me about month five of my discard. Like I said, I took three months of just kind of re-reevaluating myself and then two months of active exploration. And then you know, at that five-month mark, I said, hey, you know what, let's let's go for it. So I registered my business and started to uh reach out to folks and um and and went in the process of once you start is when the learning process starts.

Pedro Stein 6:33

Put it in the wraps, right? Repetition, so you can actually experience what it looks like. I think that's crucial. Powerful reminder, also. Now, I'm curious, you know, about one thing. Usually, when we see a coaching practice starting, there's a lot of trial and error and testing waters, right? I mentioned in an introduction that you're you serve usual investors, CEO, and founders with a common common theme, which is the leadership theme, but in the early days, right? And not even sure if you're already niched down or you found your people. But what I'm trying to understand is who are the people that kept showing up, you know, the ones you realize, okay, this is the people I can serve best, my tribe, you know.

Tem Lawal 7:18

Yeah, that's a great question. So when I started, of course, you're you know, you're building your skill set. So I was coaching just about everybody. I was coaching CEOs and leaders, I was coaching people who are just wanting to be entrepreneurs and need that courage to step out. And and I was also doing some life coaching as well, right? So folks who just had some life moment decisions and things they needed some guidance around. But then I quickly realized that you know, I don't get motivated to coach in generalized situations. Like I need to have, you know, we would there needs to be a clear kind of impact on uh yourself or the business to for me to get excited about the coaching, right? So I love mentoring. I don't mind mentoring, I mentor quite a few people. Uh, but when it comes into the hard work of coaching, like there's some, you know, I I started to discover what made me come alive and what I got excited about. And so it really was boiled down to focusing on uh entrepreneurs, founders, and the startup ecosystem and really kind of gearing my coaching towards that. I also really wanted to support in industries or folks who are building things for the future, right? You know, I really wanted to get into, you know, what what what not just what, you know, we have AI that's happening now, but what's even beyond the AI, right? What's happening? What are the companies, what are the industries that are taking us into the next five to 10 years, and what are the needs that they're having? And so that's kind of what also got me into the deep tech space. And so I've been working with uh, you know, founders uh within the deep tech industry, which is quantum computing, AI, robotics, all the future technologies, hard tech, that requires a lot of really complex uh leadership, talent, challenges, in addition to the technology. And so that's been really exciting as well, because uh there's a natural need for the kind of services and the experience that I bring to support with navigating those complexities. Um not just those uh those that need that industry, but that's uh where things have really started to grow through relationship and uh you know through through that. So it's taken me some interesting places with some interesting folks, and it's been an exciting journey. Yeah.

Pedro Stein 9:39

Interesting. Okay. Now, let me understand one thing, right? We're talking about startups, the ecosystem itself, you mentioned founders and the leadership theme. So let's say I'm one of them, right? How would I eventually find you now? Marketing-wise, right? When we're talking about marketing, how would I find you?

Tem Lawal 10:01

Yeah, that's a great question. I'm here, right? Just find me on this podcast. I just found you. Okay. Yeah, you just found me. So it's really that easy. Uh no, so um, I'm very active on LinkedIn, and so um I check my LinkedIn regularly. I love communicating with folks and meeting people online, so um, I'm easy to find on LinkedIn. And but you know, just I I I also love attending uh entrepreneurial events, you know, that's one of the places that most of the folks that I've connected with have been through handshakes and referrals and connections, right? So um, but you're welcome to find me on LinkedIn. You can also visit my website at timlewall.com or lmleadership.com uh where you'll learn more about me, my approach, uh the way that I can help and support you in your journey. Um, but that's that's you know, like I said, I'm I'm here, man. I uh I love meeting folks, I love being uh being around at events and it's great.

Pedro Stein 10:59

Okay, so let's pretend, let's pretend here. Let's say I'm one of the uh I I belong to your ICP, right? Your client profile. Okay, I'm one of the owner of a startup with uh breaking through technology, and I looked at your stuff, you know. I looked at your LinkedIn, I looked at yeah, or even someone referred me to you, okay, or I am a podcast host, okay? And we're here and I connect with you. Let's say it resonates with your stuff, right? I'm like, hey, cool, cool thing you got going on. I want to know what it looks like. And I got into a call with you, you onboard me. And now what will it look like to be a client from my perspective, right? What the structure entails? That's my question.

Tem Lawal 11:40

That's a great question. So I've spent a lot of time thinking about how do I create value for the people that come to me, whether it's a founder or a business executive or whoever it is, right? So um I've narrowed it down to three core offerings that I provide leaders. One is one-on-one coaching. And so that what that looks like, you know, the you know, the the term I like to use is uh consigliarity, right? So you know, not the it's not the godfather mafia style that you know that we think of. But one of the things I've learned about entrepreneurs is they desperately, almost more than anybody, need a safe space to just figure themselves out as they're going in the journey, right? And so business leaders, entrepreneurs are making decisions, things are moving, they they have to, you know, constantly be uh figuring out what's happening with their business, but in the same time, they're trying to figure out what's going on with them. They're growing, they're learning, they're discovering things about themselves, and they don't oftentimes have a space where they can like process through that and ask themselves tough questions or have somebody ask them questions and have just a safe, dedicated space to do that and to grow um in that kind of environment. And so it's really just it's offering one-on-one sessions, but also on call in the moment. Hey, this is happening right now, and I need someone to help me process and figure this out in the moment, right? And so it's one-on-one coaching. The second uh option, the second service is talent advisory. So not leaders are not only figuring themselves out, but they're trying to figure out you know themselves and what to do with their teams, right? And they're doing this all in real time. So a lot of my coaching is not just on the leader, but it's on the leader and how do we navigate some of the team dynamics, the uh the co-founder challenges, navigating some of those things as well. And so the third is people operations. And so once they get to the point where they now have a team, they now need some, you know, more hands-on support and implementation when it comes to hiring processes, training, uh, you know, improving performance across the team, skill development, capabilities, then we can step in and we have tailored solutions to help support those leaders in uh helping their team be as effective as possible. So again, those three areas is one-on-one coaching, talent advisory, and people operations and then implement getting hands-on with that service. And so it's just that's that's kind of how we support the leaders themselves. And then we we also support with the ecosystem, so with venture capitals, we support with portfolio solutions, with their founders. If you know, they need someone to come in and out and and help with talent with their talent platform. We provide that support. And we also work with accelerators as well, that you know, helping founders discover their unique abilities even early on in the stage and helping them to build a business and business strategy around what their unique strengths are. Um, that's a core component to getting a business started offright and um even helping them match with other co-founders, like who's their ideal match? Um, we help we support accelerators with giving them some tools and solutions around that as well. So um, so yeah, that's that's kind of a nutshell of how we offer value and support to our clients.

Pedro Stein 15:04

I can see the conciliary relation, you know, the fact that you mentioned that it's like I I know a guy who knows a guy. Sometimes it's venture capital, sometimes it is working with us, but sometimes it's just a referral, you know, like a super connector of sorts. Um, I can see that the reasoning behind it. Now, I'm curious, you know, um, because in the coaching space, we see a lot of I would say the main challenge would be capacity, you know, because the coach usually is wearing all the hats. So how do you think about capacity? So you don't stretch yourself too thin.

Tem Lawal 15:39

That is a fantastic question. I'm so glad you asked me that. And that's uh, you know, that is I spent a lot of time thinking about these, not only because I support leaders with that question, but using as myself as an entrepreneur, how do I expand my capacity? I would say two primary things that has helped me tremendously. One is developing key strategic partnerships. Um, I'm not going to be able to do everything for all people. And so what one of the things I took a uh an assessment uh on uh entrepreneurial capability. And um, and it's it's an assessment that I offer to my clients as well. And what it helped me to discover is what are the unique strengths that I have, specifically related to entrepreneurship, that I can lean in on and build my business around and not try to be all the things because I have weaknesses myself. And so one of the things I learned was that I'm really, really good at establishing partnerships. And so it it, you know, you have business development, you have product development, you have service delivery. And I was trying to do all of those things at once. And I said, well, you know, I'm really focused on providing great service. Who are some product providers or some key partners that I can partner with that can help me to expand my business? And so that led to some great partnerships with companies like Zelda AI that provides performance AI-based performance management software, you know, Symeta Behavioral Science that provides entrepreneurial assessments and that help me give me data on how I can best support my clients. And so together, we've now built some great partnerships now to where we support each other's businesses, right? And so um that's just been so just unlocking for me so that I can really focus on the areas that I provide most value and some others as well. But you know, that's been a huge series. And then also, you know, of course, mechanicscape AI. So uh developing clear internal processes that help me be successful, knowing what I need so that I can be successful. I think that's one of the biggest things that I've learned in my own entrepreneurial journey, right? Is what what what are the really the key factors that help me to be at my best consistently? And so and allowing AI to help me to automate some of that. So I I use tools like Notion, I use tools, you know, I use have some agentech agents and a couple other tools that help me to uh have clear processes so I can deliver service consistently and also be uh be at my best self working wise. So that's been my two biggest capability enhancers uh since I started my journey.

Pedro Stein 18:15

So partnerships and tools, it sounds like interesting. Now I'm curious where you're taking all this, Tim. You know, looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Tem Lawal 18:31

Yeah, no, that's a great question as well. So, you know, I've oh I just started this business with the desire to uh build a company um and not just be a solopreneur, right? So when I was initially naming my company, I named it very intentionally LM Leadership Advisors. And so some people are asking me, well, advisors, isn't it just you? Yeah, it is just me right now, but there's a vision that we're aspiring towards. So we're building towards that in even from the beginning. Uh so I do have the goal of bringing on more advisors that can help to scale deliver service towards many clients and customers. But for me to do that, part of what I'm building now, I'm system, I'm finding out what's working really well with my clients. Um, and I'm creating, I'm systematizing that to where I can deliver that quickly and efficiently and have others be able to come in and offer the same consistent value. Working with entrepreneurs is a different animal than working in a corporate business environment. And so, you know, the needs of someone who's leading in a mature business is different from someone who is creating at the early stage of a business. And and the way that you they may need the same insider, the same support, but the way you deliver that support might look wildly different. So learning how um what what really works well in this environment and creating systems and processes to deliver that effectively and efficiently is what I'm working on now and what I'm building towards so that way um we can scale and I can bring in some more folks.

Pedro Stein 20:05

Yeah, I want to dive into that a little bit, you know, because whenever we're aiming towards the next chapter, always something under the hood that we're working, you know. So what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now?

Tem Lawal 20:19

So that's a great question. So a couple things. One, one of the things that I'm looking to do is to create systematized playbooks for different scenarios that I'm seeing happening recurringly across my clients. So not just like, hey, here's the coaching and here's the, you know, we we create the space, we do the coaching, but here's a playbook that goes along with that, that is that allows for the the leader, the entrepreneur, the the founder, whoever, uh allows them to take that further and take it towards action or to implement, right? And so, you know, coming up with there's in the moment in real time, hey, you know, I need coaching on this specific topic, this is happening. Uh, but one of the things I'm learning with specifically with in the startup environment is that these individuals are they're learning a lot about themselves and about leadership in real time. Sometimes this, you know, they they came fresh out of school and started a business, right? So they're learning professional skills, uh, managerial skills, and executive skills all at the same time. And so offering really bite-sized, tailored, developmental solutions that that they can quickly uh review and implement that can support with the coaching, I'm finding is uh a really big support as well. And so creating some um some systems and some um learnings around that that helps them towards their journey is another thing that I'm working on. And then um I'm also looking to build out again my own business systems and and whatnot that will help me scale myself and scale. my business as well. So that's that's those are the the things that I'm work actively working on. I have great partnerships as well.

Pedro Stein 22:07

And we are establishing some really great partnerships uh between our businesses that helps us to uh maximize the value that we add uh with clients whatever direction they come in and so that's been great as well so okay I want to tap into your experience one one moment here especially because you're in that uh ecosystem right the startups and you mentioned before that you're looking to to serve people that are not just dealing with AI but even looking at five to ten years ahead so as a coach right how do you see the impact of AI in the coaching space specifically and the reason I ask is because I had people in the coaching space telling me like for example creating a chat bot and replacing entirely a coach I had people telling me I'm gonna like a 10 million plus business telling me oh I'm gonna get rid of all my 10 to 20 quote coaches and just gonna replace them with AI. And I had people that are like hey you know what coaches are irreplaceable there's the accountability factor. So I want to hear from you you know your opinion on it like the AI and the coaching space yeah so I have some pretty strong opinions about this AI is a game changer.

Tem Lawal 23:29

I love AI I use it heavily but we also have seen clearly the limitations of AI. AI is nowhere near able to replace the nuance and the uh expertise that is needed in these critical and complex areas. AI is best used at the present moment maybe 10 years from now that's going to be different but at the present moment the best case for AI in coaching is as a AI is best used as a tool to support the expert in delivering their service as opposed to replacing that expertise because it's what for example right it's one of those things where you know you um you know we all do this now where I I have an email I want to send and it's like you know um I I come up with the draft and I say hey AI help me draft up this email and then you it comes up with the draft but then you spend the next 30 minutes trying to get it to like where it sounds like you or it's like you know it doesn't sound like some generic AI thing that we all know is like okay that's not a real person that's speaking to me right now. AI can't get into the nuance of an individual and the specific capabilities the specific support that an individual needs that requires experience history complexity. I've I used AI to develop a AI enabled leadership 360 assessment right and so fully AI optimized and it's great but I you know I I certainly can't trust it to just come up with all of the insights because it straight up lied and said a bunch of stuff that you know wasn't even true about the data we were putting in right so imagine if I just put my blind trust in a tool that doesn't hasn't figured itself out yet and that's just with some simple data talking about someone's livelihood and their life their future their leadership their team their organizations right that's not AI is nowhere near um at the level of of um complexity and capability to to be fully trusted with that it it's a great tool it has lots of information that it can provide but you know it needs to be handled with care because it's not always accurate.

Pedro Stein 25:43

There's so many risks involved with providing AI, you know, using AI data um and you know so we we just have to be careful we're not there yet you know again the futures could still look different but you know with with with certain things I I wouldn't trust AI at the present moment to fly me to uh to Florida right that's this you know there's a lot of nuance that's required and navigation required and so um you know we we just we just have to be mindful of that and that's my thoughts you know I think uh you know we still we still need a experience we still need that nuance right now you know what I agree with you I would highlight two points but that's just my opinion right um the prompt it is as good as you can feed it right for example if I ask ai how to punch a wall the best way to punch a wall it will give me the three best ways but eventually sometimes it won't challenge me on hey man should you really be punching a wall you know so that's the first thing and um you got me excited about go ahead though yeah I'm just gonna end up with my second point which is the bias you know it's like it's so agreeable you you it it it gaslight you sometimes into being someone smarter than you actually are it's like hey Pedro that was a great idea you know and all of that and I'm like was it really and the coach has the up the ability to call call out I would say you know have a that that relationship built and it's like hey man that's actually are you sure about that you know and the whys and peel it off the onion for the real intention you're trying to achieve so I'm not sure we agree with that I'm just thinking out loud here yeah so I just read a news report yesterday that someone was accused of or you know uh they they murdered somebody started to get you know um you know deep here but someone was caught for murder and they they they pretty much got the smoking gun because they looked at their chat history and they were asking AI how do I uh hide a dead body what's the best way to cover up a crime what do you do when someone's unresponsive right and the AI is giving them tips and resources on how to do that where's the AI that says hey you need to turn yourself in you know like this is we shouldn't be looking up these things right and so that's just a really morbid and extreme example of that but where's the AI if somebody's Googling and AIing how to be a leader you know where's the AI that says hey you probably shouldn't do that right you should be you probably hey let's look over here instead that there's so much nuance that we just can't blindly trust this tool it's a very intelligent baby that's the best way I can put it right it's it has all the information in the world but it's it still needs direction on how it should be applied and you know your career your leadership your business is too valuable to blindly trust that resource with you know especially in these kind of critical moments and critical conversations that is so funny also that reminded me of like there was a guy on internet he was like hey a uh chat chat GPT on this situation like um I have a car wash five minutes away from my home you know should I go by car or should I walk and then the AI was like and I need to wash my car and the AI was like yeah you should walk take a walk you know but how am I going to wash my car if I'm I'm I'm I'm taking the walk you know so there are these nuances that AI sometimes they don't count but eventually like that 10 years from now could be totally different.

Tem Lawal 29:22

But right now I wouldn't trust that like like take for face value you know I'm not sure if you I'm just gonna agree like I said you know I had a situation where I was leveraging AI to help me analyze some leadership uh feedback that I wanted to deliver to a client and I was putting in the data and you know having that working with the AI to do that. Eventually I started seeing like quotes and things that I was like wait a second I don't remember anybody ever saying anything like that. And and all of a sudden it was all these fabric like these stories that it was coming up with so I asked AI I said hey AI um is was any of this in the data that I gave you or these quotes that you're giving me that what people said can you look at the transcripts and see if any of this was there and it said oh you're right it's it's not none of this is in here I just made all of this up sorry I'm like man what if I just it's because it's in its code right so it's like it's conversational it's in its code if you say it hey don't be conversational eventually down the chat it will be again again it eventually goes back to the origin.

Pedro Stein 30:27

Yeah yeah so as wonderful as it is and helping us be more productive and helping us to scale our capabilities when it comes to um navigating complex situations and decisions expertise is still and will at least within the next five to ten years be um the primary driver which we should be looking to uh get support from I love that now Tem before we close this out you know there were a few things you've shared today that really stuck with me I would say the multiply the multipliers and influence the influencers that quote I mean it's about the ripple effect right it's like if you can uh uh impact the person that at the leadership level you're gonna impact so many lives right so I think that mission is really important very powerful I can also see the conciliary you know in you uh the the structure you built the one-on-one the talent advisory and uh people uh operations right the systems so definitely something that looks very exciting just by hearing out of it you know from you and uh I would say like the intention of calling yourself you know advisors despite the fact you're a solopreneur you know I mean it's the same price to dream big right dreaming small is the same price as dreaming big so might as well dream big that's um I mean at least in my book that's that's right call now Tem I appreciate what you do and I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today okay it was great having you on no thank you so much Pedro thanks for having me it was an awesome conversation and great questions and hopefully the folks who are listening will find it helpful.

Davis Nguyen 32:12

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community and how we can help you grow your business visit join purplecircle.com