Linda Pallien (MyCheerLinda) is a world-class career strategist, award-winning serial entrepreneur, author and speaker. She has helped thousands of people around the world transform their professional and personal lives. With a passion for people, her mission is to inspire more people to leverage their natural talents, and take a more conscious and long-term approach to their career. As she puts it: “You have genius inside you, your mission is to find it, leverage it and serve the world with it.”
Linda’s own career journey has helped her to reach her highest potential and gain the experiences to help her clients facing similar obstacles.
“I started off working in finance. I studied international business, French and Mandarin Chinese. And then worked for a financial institution doing investment banking, but I completely hated it,” Pallien said. Like so many of her clients now, Linda had made her career decision based on societal expectations and the pressure from family. “It was something that I was expected to do, my parents always wanted this for me, and that was what my degree was in, so I went to do that,” Pallien said. “And then I really didn’t like it because I didn’t get to work directly with people as I wanted to do.”
The stress of the financial business world eventually forced Linda to truly take a look from within herself and discover what makes her happy and successful in her life.
“There was no big picture within the company’s mission I could resonate with. I couldn’t directly see the results of my work and personally, I had very little interest in the products we offered. I struggled on for a while longer until it broke me. I had one day where it was just not working out. And I was so stressed, so I just walked out and then took the next job I could find, which was being a PA to the CEO of a marketing company. I ended up doing HR with the vice president,” Pallien said. This position gave her the chance to work with people and realize the parts of it she enjoyed the most. “In HR and consultancy, I finally felt purpose and fulfilment in my job.”
While finally having found her calling of inspiring people, Linda’s lifestyle was changing, which resulted in her taking the leap into entrepreneurship.
“I envied my partner’s ability to go all over the world with his job, wishing that we could travel together and synchronise our schedules. I wanted more control, flexible working and holistic impact, so I decided to set up as an independent coach and launched my career consultancy business.” “I knew I wanted to do career coaching. I got asked to do a job in career coaching for college grads, who were just leaving school and entering the job market,” Pallien said. “Then it transitioned into personal development. So now I help people with both personal and professional development.”
With her years of experience in the career industry, Linda has developed “C.A.R.E.E.R,” her own personalized six-step roadmap to building and following your own career path, and doing it with results! “This model was born as a result of my professional training and international coaching experience, and is rooted in psychology. I observed these success traits while working with professionals at all stages of their career, no matter the field they had chosen. The premise is to get to know yourself and the career you are embarking on. I have found it to be useful for people at any stage of their career, which is why it has been the source of 3 of my books. The first book “How to C.A.R.E.E.R.” is dedicated fully to the C.A.R.E.E.R. acronym and how you can apply it, the second book “C.A.R.E.E.R. Success“ takes success to the real world and guides you through any stage of your career with practical advice and exercises from branding yourself, choosing a career, and preparing for the job interview all the way to leaving your legacy and getting the promotion you deserve. The third book is called “The Ultimate C.A.R.E.E.R. Workbook for Success” and it’s the perfect tool for anyone to make sense of, evaluate, and accelerate their career success, with the whole book dedicated to practical exercises anyone can implement.”
As a sneak peek into the books, Linda recommends asking yourself these important questions to help you figure out what’s your true passion, how to turn it into a career path and reach professional success.
“It’s really going inward first, and understanding what it is that you care about. List your interests and start with your “why.” Why am I interested in this? What is my cause – what am I working towards? The job is your “how,” it’s a vehicle to do the “why” – whether you choose to be an entrepreneur, a freelancer or an employee,” Pallien said. “We start with that, and after you’ve established your cause, it is time to see how you can turn it into a career. What’s the opportunity cost? What should I start with? Does it excite me? Am I passionate about it? Do I want to make a difference in that area? And then, of course: Who’s in the industry as well? Who am I gonna be working with? Are they my tribe, my people? How much am I going to get paid? Answering these questions can sort of narrow down your choices and show you the way you should go. It really works.” You can see Linda talk about choosing the right career for you in her TEDx talk “How Unicorns Wind up in Straight Jackets.”
Linda’s newest book focuses more on personal development and how our mindset plays a role in our daily lives.
“My latest book is called “MindF*cks.” It’s a very different turn from what I normally do as a career counselor, author and speaker,” Pallien said. “I’ve always been in the professional space. But, you have those personal aspects that you need to be able to marry together, because you’re the same person, whether at work or at home, and a lot of us have separated that bit, which can cause friction and internal confusion.”
Becoming mindful of ourselves can help us have more clarity in our lives and the choices we make. “MindF*cks is sort of the back office of my story. So this book unveils pretty much what it says on the cover, all the mindfucks that go on in our heads and the various subjects that we deal with,” Pallien explains. “The book talks about love, sex, marriage, spirituality, health, and well-being, so all the aspects we face in our daily lives.”
Her passion for personal and professional development has earned Linda the nickname MyCheerLinda.
“My brand name is MyCheerLinda because I’m the cheerleader of people’s success. It’s a nickname I have gotten from my clients and I’m proud of that name,” Pallien said. She helps her squad of clients find their zone of genius, succeed in their careers, and work on their mindset.
Linda knows that it’s hard to gain work experience right out of college. So, she helps students apply their life experiences to their resume skills. “Not having much work experience is a huge issue for people going into their first job because you need the experience to get a job,” Pallien explains. “What we do is just empower them and show them all the other areas of life they’ve got experience in or what they’re qualified for, with real evidence backing that up, even if it might not have been a paid job. For example: maybe you’ve been a caretaker for your family member, or you’ve budgeted money because you grew up poor or whatever it is, you could use all of those competencies to land your dream job. It’s all about finding the clues in your life and putting them together.”
Linda is determined to empower people all over the world. “We’re globally moving towards a more conscious work society. And that really involves doing fulfilling work in our personal and professional lives,” Pallien said. “For me , the opportunity to work with someone one-on-one and make a real deep difference in their life is much more rewarding than just surface level inspiration with a story from a big stage”
For more inspiring words from Linda check out her website.
Written By Elizabeth Dowell