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In the Season 1 finale of Time to Press Pause, Ellen Williams, CEO of The Salient Strategist, reflects on the journey of launching the podcast in April and emphasizes that pausing is crucial for everyone, not just CEOs or business leaders. Whether for personal or business reasons, taking time to pause can help people think things through and find new perspectives.

Ellen announces that the podcast itself will take a short pause before returning for Season 2, thanking all her guests and listeners for their support in this experimental journey.

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In this episode of Time To Press Pause, Ellen Williams interviews Julie Thomas, President and CEO of Value Selling Associates, who shares her journey of career transformation and entrepreneurship. Julie begins by recounting her experience at Gartner, a large IT research and advisory company, where she had a successful career in sales and training. However, in 2002, after a leadership change, her position was eliminated. Following this unexpected turn, Julie decided to pause her career to focus on herself and her family, even spending time playing tennis before reassessing her next steps.

Through career coaching provided by her severance package, she explored entrepreneurship, eventually leading her to take over a business from a friend and colleague. In 2003, she acquired ValueSelling Associates and became its President and CEO, a role she has held for over 20 years. Julie describes herself as an “accidental entrepreneur” and reflects on the challenges of running a small business, emphasizing the importance of agility, strategic prioritization, and empowering her team.

The conversation also touches on leadership insights, including the necessity for CEOs to press pause when clarity is lacking, the value of learning from mistakes, and the importance of prioritizing time effectively. Julie highlights that entrepreneurship involves risk, but it also offers freedom and flexibility, which are particularly crucial when balancing work and personal life.

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In this episode of Time to Press Pause, Ellen Williams, CEO of The Salient Strategist, interviews Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier (MH), a leadership psychologist, executive coach, and workplace mental health expert. Dr. Peltier discusses the importance of taking strategic pauses in life and leadership, sharing her own experience of pressing pause during the lead-up to her book launch, The Resilience Plan. She emphasizes how proactively managing her time before, during, and after the book's publication allowed her to be fully present and creative during key moments, something she attributes to the success of her launch.

Dr. Pelletier explains that pressing pause doesn’t always mean a complete stop, but rather adjusting the usual pace to focus on what matters most. She also highlights the importance of integrating pauses into one’s strategic planning for resilience, ensuring leaders have the mental space and energy to seize new opportunities.

Ellen and Dr. Pelletier discuss how taking breaks enables better performance and creativity, offering advice to CEOs and leaders to plan for pauses as part of their leadership strategies. The conversation concludes with the reminder that leaders should be intentional about their resilience, just as they are about other business goals.