Development Nerds with Candice Mitchell

What if the thing holding you back isn’t lack of talent — but lack of permission?

In this episode, Candice Mitchell sits down with keynote speaker, author, and musician Rachel Druckenmiller for a powerful conversation about courage, burnout, self-trust, and choosing yourself — even when it feels risky.

From studying abroad and finding her voice, to building a career through initiative, to burnout, a life-altering accident, and learning to trust herself again — Rachel shares what it really takes to live an unmuted life.

This is an honest, deeply human episode about agency, resilience, and why your...

Leadership isn’t about having all the answers it’s about being willing to ask better questions.

In this episode, Candice Mitchell sits down with Al Dea, founder of Edge of Work, to unpack what leadership really looks like in practice not theory.

From Al’s first leadership role at age 14, to navigating loss early in his consulting career, to building a consulting practice rooted in empathy, curiosity, and context this conversation is honest, grounded, and deeply human.

Together, they explore how leaders are shaped, how trust is built, and why curiosity matters more t...

In a world obsessed with hacks, shortcuts, and instant success, this conversation slows everything down.

In this episode, Candice Mitchell sits down with Ryan Clark to explore what it actually takes to build a life and career you love without pretending it’s easy.

Ryan shares his journey from building a production company with close friends, navigating betrayal and reinvention, and ultimately choosing freedom, creativity, and values over status or certainty. Together, they talk about content creation, discipline, trusting yourself, and why loving the work matters more than motivation ever will.

This episode is...

What if the pressure to be “on” every single month is actually holding your business back?

In this episode, I sat down with Abi for a deeply honest conversation about building a business that’s profitable and sustainable.

Abi shares her journey from early entrepreneurship and freelancing to running an agency and coaching course creators — along with the reality of feast-and-famine cycles, mindset traps, and why there’s no single moment where everything suddenly feels “figured out.”

This conversation is calm, practical, and refreshingly real — especially for anyone tired of chasing constant growth.

What you’ll...

What if the pressure to “have it all figured out” is the very thing holding you back?

In this episode, I sat down with Erin Halper for a refreshingly honest conversation about entrepreneurship, consulting, and what it really looks like to build a sustainable business over time.

Erin shares her journey from early entrepreneurship to private equity, consulting, and eventually building The Upside — a global community for independent consultants and business owners. Along the way, she breaks down some uncomfortable truths we don’t talk about enough: nobody has all the answers, “overnight success” is mostly ficti...

Why do so many workplace changes fail, even when the tools are “better” and the systems are “improved”?

In this episode, Candice Mitchell sits down with Katrina Kennedy, facilitator, consultant, and author of Learning That Lasts, to talk about learning, change, and what really happens when organizations roll out new systems without supporting the people expected to use them.

Katrina shares stories from her early career in the district attorney’s office, the moment that shaped her philosophy on training, and how decades of experience taught her that learning isn’t about information, it’s about confiden...

What if the thing holding you back isn’t fear, skill, or timing but waiting for permission that’s never coming?

In this episode, Candice Mitchell sits down with Jenny Wood, former Google executive and author of Wild Courage, for a wide-ranging conversation about career growth, confidence, and taking bold action before you feel ready.

Jenny shares the now-famous subway story that sparked her concept of “wild courage,” along with lessons from her 18-year career at Google, her transition into entrepreneurship, and the mindset shifts that help people stop waiting and start moving.

This con...

What if the reason your career feels misaligned isn’t your role, your company, or your industry but the way you’ve been taught to separate work from life?

In this episode, Candice Mitchell sits down with Mel Fox Dhar for an honest conversation about career alignment, burnout, and navigating transitions especially in big tech. Mel shares her journey from retail and customer-facing roles to Microsoft, Amazon, and ultimately into career coaching.

Along the way, she explains why alignment doesn’t come from optimizing your resume alone but from understanding who you are as a whole...

In this episode, I sat down with Rosie for a very honest conversation about self-judgment, shame, and the quiet emotional weight many people carry especially when life doesn’t unfold the way they expected. Rosie shares what helped her move through a deeply difficult season, including the jealousy, resentment, and guilt that often stay unspoken. Candice adds context from her coaching work, where she sees these same patterns show up again and again in capable, driven people. This isn’t a conversation about “fixing yourself.” It’s about understanding yourself with more honesty and less cruelty.

What you'll get...

Behind every confident leader is a collection of awkward, funny, and deeply formative moments, and many of them start in our very first jobs.

This episode brings together some of the most memorable, laugh-out-loud stories from past guests as they reflect on their earliest working experiences. From misunderstood presentations and customer blow-ups to first paychecks, first mistakes, and first lessons in responsibility, these moments are as funny as they are meaningful.

What begins as humor quickly turns into insight:

What were the most impactful moments from Development Nerds this year? This special Top 12 compilation episode pulls together the clips that stopped me mid-sentence, rewired a belief, or made me sit in silence for a second.

You’ll hear powerful takeaways on future readiness, confidence and self-worth, burnout, career pivots, mentorship, resilience, experimentation, and what real impact looks like beyond the workplace.

Featured guests and their moments:

To wrap up the year, I’m bringing you something special — the most relatable moments shared by a curated group of incredible guests from the show.

Not all of this year’s guests appear in this episode.

These were specifically chosen because they shared something deeply human, honest, and universally felt.

This episode is part of our BEST Moments of the Year series, and this one is all about the moments that made us say:

“Wait… I’ve felt that too.”

“Oh wow, I thought I was the only one.”

“Ye...

This episode is special.

Across dozens of conversations this season, certain moments made me stop, scribble notes, replay the audio, or just sit back and breathe for a second.

These weren’t just good insights — they were the best learning moments shared by a handful of guests whose wisdom hit differently.

Today, I’m bringing them together for the first time.

You’ll hear the strongest, sharpest, most transformative moments from:

These m...

What does it look like to take ownership of your money, and your career, when the world told you not to?

In this episode, Lorie Jones (CFP®, MBA), owner of Fearless Financial Advisors, shares how she went from McDonald’s Hamburger University to helping grow an RIA from ~$30M to ~$230M, all while raising five kids, earning her licenses, and fighting imposter syndrome in a male-dominated industry. We dig into servant leadership, building systems when life is full, why “balance” is measured over years (not days), and how women can start feeling fear-less about their finances, today.

Yo...

What if everything you do today is already out of date?

In this episode of Development Nerds, Candice sits down with Allister Frost — former Microsoft marketing leader, global keynote speaker, and author of Ready Already — to talk about developing a future-ready mindset in a world that won’t stop changing.

From wiping tables at 11 to leading marketing at Microsoft, Allister shares how curiosity, empathy, and continuous learning shaped his career. He unpacks his 5-step Ready Already Growth Cycle — Follow, React, Open, Surprise, Tell — a simple but powerful framework for staying adaptable, creative, and human in the age...

If you work in Learning & Development, HR, or People Enablement and you keep asking “How do we actually close skills gaps at scale?”, this episode with David James (Chief Learning Officer at 360Learning, former Director of Learning, Talent & OD at Disney, and host of The Learning & Development Podcast) is your blueprint. We go from stacking shelves at 14 and gigging in London, to running L&D functions, mentoring (without ever asking), and designing learning that drives proficiency, not vanity metrics—so you can genuinely love Mondays again.

What you’ll learn

Proficiency at scale: David’s practical...

Executive coach Susanne Biro (Vancouver, BC) gets radically honest about leadership, self-doubt, and what entrepreneurship really looks like—sometimes 11 p.m., laptop open, tears flowing… and doing it anyway. We dig into “having your own back,” doing scary things before you feel ready, building a reputation that earns investment, and why the inside-out game (how you feel daily) drives sustainable success.

In this episode:

Dr. Jessica Schloemp’s story is a powerful reminder that leadership isn’t about titles, ladders, or likes — it’s about being honest with yourself. From dropping ketchup on a customer at 14, to door-to-door sales, to earning her doctorate in Strategic Leadership, Jessica has lived every lesson she now teaches.

In this episode, Jessica and Candice talk about:

✅ Finding yourself again after losing your identity in the corporate mold

✅ The difference between being nice and being kind

✅ How to lead authentically in a male-dominated industry

✅ Why getting off social media helped her...

On paper, Lauren Evans had everything: a secure corporate job, steady paycheck, even a pension. But inside her cubicle, she kept asking herself one quiet, uncomfortable question — is this it?

This is the story of what happens when you stop ignoring that question.

Lauren shares how she went from an 18-year-old UPS supervisor to the founder of Design and Streamline Solutions, where she helps small business owners reclaim time and sanity by simplifying their tech.

We talk about the real meaning of “paying your dues,” what happens when your weekends are the only time y...

When you hear the name “L&D Detective,” you probably think: clever branding. But for Kevin M. Yates, it’s more than that — it’s who he is.

In this episode, Kevin shares his remarkable journey: from his first job at 16 stocking shelves in a Chicago pharmacy to a global career leading learning impact at brands like McDonald’s and Meta — and ultimately, to founding Meals in the Meantime, a nonprofit that’s fed thousands.

We talk about rediscovering purpose when work starts to feel flat, why mentorship and community matter more than strategy, and what it means to...

What does it take to go from bartending in a tourist town to leading global leadership development programs for billion-dollar companies?

In this episode, I sit down with Amber Anderson, Head of Learning & Leadership Development and Executive Coach, to unpack her incredible 25-year career journey. From working in her dad’s dive shop on the Great Lakes, to creating her own role in corporate training, to taking bold leaps of faith without a safety net — Amber’s story is all about courage, self-trust, and building a career that truly fits.

We talk about:

When Dr. Sarah Nicholls hit the wall in her first year as a doctor, she did what most high-achievers do: pushed harder. That only made the burnout worse. In this conversation, Sarah shares how a toxic work culture, night shifts, and perfectionism turned life into a slog—and how she found her way back to lightness, joy, and sustainable success. (Plot twist: she also launched a mini business painting people’s pets to pay for med school. 🐶🎨)

We talk about:

What happens when you do everything “right” — top grad program at GE, Six Sigma Black Belt, big roles at BP — and still feel the tug to do life on your terms? Meet Lisa Long, a Scotland-born entrepreneur and psychologist who moved countries (more than once), left corporate, built and sold a viral custom art brand (featured by major outlets), earned a master’s in psychology at 44, and now coaches women in midlife to design sustainable, hype-free businesses that fit real life.

We talk about:

• moving overseas young and “growing up fast” — loneliness, culture shock, and finding your peopl...

What does it take to go from walking dogs for $10 a day to coaching New York Times bestselling authors, Olympians, and industry leaders on how to deliver the best speech of their lives?

In this real, unpolished conversation, I sit down with Mike Pacchione, founder of Best Speech, to hear his career journey — from comic books and mowing lawns, to botched interviews, a fax machine that changed his life, and the random Saturday class that opened the door to Nike and Silicon Valley.

Mike shares:

Worried about the jobs AI will replace? You’re not alone. It’s not just entry-level work at risk anymore — some of the highest-paid, most prestigious careers are on the chopping block.

In this video, I break down the 4 jobs AI will replace first — from content creators (yes, even in Learning & Development) to financial analysts, lawyers, and even managers who don’t actually lead. More importantly, you’ll learn what keeps you safe in an AI-driven world: doubling down on the skills no machine will ever touch.

You’ll discover:

✅ Why content isn’t impact (an...

Andrew Barry’s career story is a masterclass in resilience, humility, and reinvention.

From bagging groceries in Cape Town to qualifying as a chartered accountant, from corporate auditor at KPMG to global learning facilitator, and finally taking the leap into entrepreneurship — Andrew’s journey shows the lessons hidden inside the hardest jobs and the courage it takes to keep moving forward.

In this episode of Development Nerds, Andrew shares:

AI is coming for jobs — maybe even yours. Roles built on repeatable, predictable tasks are already disappearing. But this doesn’t have to be a career death sentence. If you know how to respond, you can make yourself AI-proof and thrive in this new world of work.

In this video, we’ll talk about:

In this episode, I sit down with Matt Gjertsen, founder of Better Everyday Studios and former Air Force pilot turned SpaceX training leader, to dive deep into what it really takes to love your work and build a career that fits the life you want.

We talk about:

✅ Matt’s journey from yard work as a teen to the Air Force Academy and pilot training.

✅ How becoming an instructor pilot led to running training at SpaceX for 7,500+ employees.

✅ Why frontline managers hold the key to engagement, retention, and productivity—and what most compa...

Meet Brenda Noon Schmidt, aka Kick-Ass Modern Mom.

She grew up on a cattle ranch on the Arizona/Mexico border, worked six jobs in college (including teaching swim lessons and working at a cigar shop with retired cops), built a career in marketing and finance, and now runs her own business teaching moms how to outsource, delegate, and reclaim their time.

This episode is pure energy. We talk about:

✅ What ranch life taught her about systems and collaboration

✅ How she balanced multiple jobs, paid her way through college, and married an entr...

How do we help our kids (and learners) grow up with AI — without outsourcing all their thinking to it? In this final episode, Gavin shares the behind-the-scenes of his AI academy for kids and what he’s learned about teaching technology in a way that builds curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.

We also explore the massive opportunity AI offers L&D professionals to personalize learning and build truly future-ready teams — and what we, as parents and People leaders, need to do right now.

Get to know Gav:

I’m a husband to an ambitious...

At seven years old, Brianna published her first book and dreamed of changing the world. But her path was far from easy. Bullied in school, battling an eating disorder, and starting a business at 16, she learned grit the hard way. Ten years later, after building a successful agency, she burnt it all down to rebuild life and business on her terms — and birthed Overflow, her global movement helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses while actually enjoying their lives.

In this episode, Brianna shares:

Will AI agents replace people? Or will they just free us from the worst parts of work? In this episode, we explore the future of work with AI agents — intelligent tools that don’t just suggest actions, but take them for you.

We talk about automation, emerging roles, job redesign, and how People functions need to get ready — now. Plus: how to help your workforce shift, reskill, and stay relevant in a world where knowledge work is being redefined.

Get to know Gav:

I’m a husband to an ambitious woman and a dad to t...

What does it take to go from working 17 jobs before age 25 to building a business in Dubai, pitching to investors, and living an adventurous, international life?

In this episode, Elena Agaragimova shares her fascinating journey:

➡️ Moving from Russia to the U.S. as a teen and feeling like an outsider

➡️ Changing majors five times and navigating her way through community college

➡️ Traveling the world recruiting students and living out of a suitcase (while sick in Peru!)

➡️ Moving to Dubai, reinventing herself, and launching a startup from scratch

➡️ Facing rejection, ca...

Ever talked about something random and then got an ad for it the next day? You’re not imagining it — and there’s more going on than you think. In this episode, we dive into how AI-driven algorithms shape what we see, hear, and even believe.

We unpack targeted ads, cookies, echo chambers, and why your AI tools are so agreeable — and how that can be dangerous. Plus: how to use prompts like “act as” to break out of the bubble and get AI to challenge you instead of flatter you.

Get to know Gav:

I’m a...

John Kraski has been an ice cream scooper, UPS loader, aspiring airline pilot, Big Four accountant, author, startup exec, LinkedIn content machine, and maybe, just maybe, a future TV producer.

This episode isn’t about climbing a ladder. It’s about realizing the ladder’s against the wrong wall… and having the nerve to build your own.

We get into:

What’s the difference between machine learning and generative AI? What even is a hallucination in AI terms (and is ChatGPT taking mushrooms)? In this episode, Gavin breaks it all down in plain English — no tech jargon required.

We explore how tools like ChatGPT work, what they can really do, and why understanding the difference between prediction and true intelligence matters more than ever. This is your no-BS AI 101 — and every People leader should hear it.

Get to know Gav:

I’m a husband to an ambitious woman and a dad to two curious girl...

Chris Taylor built his first business at 12, selling homemade "devil sticks" at school fairs. Since then, he’s been on a wild ride, from selling knives to crashing hard as a young leader, to rebuilding from his parents' basement and becoming a trailblazer in behavior change and impact measurement.

In this conversation, Chris shares the real behind-the-scenes story: the failure that humbled him, the habits that changed everything, and why he believes L&D must evolve from content delivery to driving measurable behavior change.

He also opens up about building Actionable (a tech platform now used...

How does a kid stacking shelves in a South African supermarket end up advising Fortune 50 CEOs on AI strategy? In this episode, Gavin Bull — now a Principal at AWS — shares his unexpected journey from retail to tech leadership. We talk about the early jobs that shaped his people skills, the realities of moving across three continents, and the career pivots that led him into cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

Whether you’re in HR, L&D, or just curious about real-world tech careers, this is a powerful reminder that your starting point doesn’t define your trajectory.

AJ Lauer, EdD: From Shoveling Snow in a Blizzard to Coaching Scientists Through Imposter Syndrome: a Story of Knowing When to Walk Away

What do snow shoveling, hurricanes, and a room full of grandmothers on a ferry have in common? They're all part of Dr. AJ Lauer’s winding, real-life journey to becoming a leadership coach for scientists, engineers, and STEM professionals.

In this episode, AJ shares her incredible path — from her first job trudging through Wisconsin snowstorms to standing on stage as an executive coach and author of My Monster Mungo, an illustrated book about...

Alyssa Willet: From Cleaning Glasses at 13 to Coaching Women to Ditch the Doubt — a Story of Owning Her Voice

What does it really take to own your voice and design a career you actually love?

In this inspiring and refreshingly honest conversation, I sit down with Alyssa Willett—leadership trainer, certified coach, and talent development powerhouse—who shares her journey from cleaning glasses at age 13 in her stepdad’s optometry shop to coaching women to ditch doubt and design lives they're proud of.

We talk about:

✨ Early jobs, leadership lessons, and the power of...