Emily Golden — The NYE resolution that launched a company

Emily built a successful career in HR, pivoting between industries and remote and in-person work. But her biggest pivot came when she left the corporate world to start her own executive coaching company and author her first book. I talk with Emily about her small and big pivots, how a New Year’s resolution launched her company, and why she encourages women to trust that they are not alone on their journey.

Q&A

How did you start your career and what do you consider your first pivot?

When I graduated from college I had a job lined up as a salesperson. I wanted a sales job out of school because it seemed like the perfect fit for my outgoing personality. Well, I didn’t like it at all. In fact, I was pretty miserable. 

That’s when I made my first pivot. I decided to look at another direction my college’s career services had recommended for me. That was Human Resources. I had a friend working for a company that was hiring. I submitted my resume on Friday, I interviewed the next week, and started the following Monday.

I was working during the .com boom and we could not get talented people hired and onboarded quickly enough. I was thrown right into it and focused on recruiting. But I wanted to make a move to become more of an HR generalist. I was able to start working as a generalist. And then I made another pivot, moving from the financial services industry into the chemical industry.

Your industry pivot was around the time you started a family. How did your role as Mom influence your decisions?

Honestly, I went to the chemical company because it was a great commute only 20 minutes from my house. That was attractive to me because I had my first child around that time. 

When I had my child I thought, how could I go back to work? But I also hated the idea that I would have to give up my career to be a mom. Before I left financial services to go to the chemical company, I tried to structure a deal with my employer where I could work a reduced schedule. What wound up happening is I worked the same amount, but packed into three or four days and got paid less. It wasn’t working. 

So I went to the chemical company and I had a successful career there for many years. I still wanted to be more available for my kids. But I was scared about whether we could make it work financially. And even if we could, I was very scared that I would be completely unhappy not having something of my own.

I kept working and was recruited by a company where I could work from home. So in 2013 I had to master working remotely. Once I had started to work from home, I decided that working from home is an absolute requirement for me. It was so valuable. There's a flexibility that I love about working from home. And I am more efficient because I don’t have distractions. I’ve always been great at building relationships, so that distance from the office was never an issue for me. 

Your biggest pivot came when you left the corporate world to start your own executive coaching company. What motivated you to strike out on your own?

One thing about me is that I’ve always had a sense that there’s something more professionally. I started college as an Accounting major because my Dad had an Accounting degree and he thought I’d be great at it. But I knew that wasn’t my heart. And I’ve always had this nagging sense that there’s more out there for me when it comes to my career. 

I remember in 2015 everyone was making New Year’s resolutions. I was sick and tired of the same narrative and soundtrack in my head – “One day I’m not going to do this anymore. One day I’ll do what I really want for work.”

I needed to figure out what “one day” really meant so that I could create a plan. 

I thought I might go back to school to become a therapist. I loved the idea of helping people. While I loved therapy, I saw a limit to how it can help people. Therapy can help a woman understand why she is attracted to the wrong type of partner – by looking back in therapy, she can see it’s the result of a broken relationship with a parent, for example. Of course it’s great that this woman now understands why she keeps pursuing the wrong type of person. But I was more interested in how she can move forward – how she can actually change and do things differently.

That’s where coaching came into the equation. It was a beautiful marriage of my skills – my love for psychology, my love for helping people, and also my experience being and working with other professionals. 

And really, I had been a coach since my first job in HR. This was just formalizing it. I got trained and certified and I started building a business on the side. I was working full-time as a Director of Talent Acquisition during the day. And by night and by weekend, I was coaching people or doing coach training. 

It didn’t feel like work. I loved it so much. I kept thinking to myself, can you imagine waking up everyday and this is your job that people pay you for? It fit me like a glove. My former employer became my first paying corporate client. And the rest is history. 

Is it realistic to expect to find that kind of “magic fit” in your career?

The idea that there’s this magical thing that’s out there – that can be very exciting, but it can also be very limiting.

In my career I knew that I wanted to find something that would light me up. But, I didn’t know it would be coaching. And today, I can’t tell you that in 10 years from now, this will still be the same work that lights me up. 

Timing matters too. It’s divine timing how it worked out for me. I wasn’t ready for this role earlier in my career. I didn’t have the experience. I didn’t have the perspective. It’s much more powerful for me to be coaching because I understand what it’s like to work in a corporation with 100,000 employees. I know what it’s like to work in a multi billion dollar organization. I’ve been there.  

What advice do you give to women who are frustrated or anxious that they haven’t found the right fit yet?

When I work with clients, it’s not just about “what do you want and how do you get there.” 

There is also a third aspect, which is trusting something outside of you. When you talk to people who are thinking about making a career pivot, they believe they need a blueprint telling them exactly how to do it. But in reality, a lot of what you need to do is set the intention – and then move through your life and allow the magic to happen. You need to trust that it doesn’t need to be all self-generated only by you. Opportunities will come. 

I also encourage people to get out of their own way to have exploratory conversations. You might be thinking, “I don’t want to call that person for help because I don’t know exactly where it is that I want to go. What am I going to say when I call them?”

Drop the attachment to being scripted or having the perfect blueprint. Call the person. It’s enough to say: “Hey Jimmy, I’m a salesperson and I’m not loving the work I’m doing. I’m looking to talk to other people who have a similar educational background to hear about their stories.” 

Thank you, Emily, for sharing your story!  You can learn more about Emily and her book “The New Golden Rule: The Professional Perfectionist's Guide to Greater Emotional Intelligence, A More Fulfilling Career, and A Better Life” here.

*Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity.