[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Today’s guest on Mitlin Money Mindset™ is Marla Brady of Marla Brady Consulting. Marla uses her two-step system while working with students in both high school and college, as well as career professionals, to help them thrive and let their natural abilities and help shape their future. She uses a number of tools to help these groups, including the Highlands Ability Battery. This assessment helps people measure their natural abilities and identify key elements to consider when evaluating a career or a career change. It’s a great show, don’t miss it!

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

  • Marla’s background and what led her to start her consulting practice. [2:28]
  • What about people who are stuck in a career where they are miserable? [6:57]
  • Second careers after retirement [10:06]
  • What is the Highlands Ability Battery [12:41]
  • Walking through the process and how it can balance out [17:00]
  • Saving money simply by doing your homework [20:03]
  • Missing skill sets across the diverse group of people Marla works with? [25:14]
  • What Marla did today that put her in the right mindset for success? [29:17]

Looking for that happiness factor at all stages of life

Marla Brady is sought out by many different people at many different stages of life. There are high schoolers and their parents looking to find direction for kids that are navigating where they should go to college, if they should go to college, and the direction they want to go with their lives. There are also college students looking at declaring a major and trying to make sense of what’s next. Then you have career professionals who may be considering a career change or just looking for ways to balance out the career they have with other aspirations that may bring fulfillment to their lives and potentially add value to the job.

Consulting is all about understanding the background and abilities of those you work with. Through talking with them and using the Highlands Ability Battery she is able to help people understand what they are good at and what will bring them joy over the long haul. Investing in something like this early in life could have so much impact over your lifelong happiness factor.

Why Marla believes the Highlands Ability Battery to be such a powerful tool

I wasn’t personally familiar with the Highlands Ability Battery so I asked Marla to explain what it was used for and how it’s helpful. She said at her brother-in-law’s suggestion, taking this assessment was the first thing that she did when she retired from teaching— after 31 years— to pursue being a consultant. Marla was blown away by what the tool could do.

It’s a three-hour online assessment that measures natural abilities. It’s not a measurement of intellect or a personality test, it’s about how you’re hardwired to respond or do things. Everything from how we learn and take in information to how we choose to solve problems, interact with individuals or small and large groups, there are so many different things that it measures. Then all of that information goes through an algorithm and basically comes up with recommendations of choices that are actually career fields as we know them right now, or in a 10-year projection. The beauty of it is you could take the test today or you could take it 30 years from now, you’ll get the same results. It’s tried and true. It’s been tested and retested for validity and reliability. Listen to the episode to hear Marla go further into the details of this amazing resource!

Skill sets that are the biggest struggle are also the most important for people of all ages

Marla works with such diverse age groups and careers. I was curious to know what she sees as the biggest skill sets that are missing from the groups that she works with. Is it common between all of them or are there specific skill sets for each of those groups? What areas need to be focused on in the coming years in order to get these groups up to speed for that next wave in the labor force?

Marla thinks a lot of this is to be determined due to the drastically changing circumstances surrounding the workforce right now. It’s different than it was a year ago and we can’t even project what it will be in 6 months. There are just too many variables right now. She did say there are two things that all groups have in common. A lack of time management and building relationships. The two are intertwined and have a great impact on productivity. It was a very interesting conversation and one you definitely shouldn’t miss!

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect with Marla Brady

Each of us possesses natural abilities and traits that shape how we approach life, learning, and career. I learned the importance of illuminating that special gift in each of us in more than 30 years as an educator and as a consultant working with everyone from kindergarten students to career professionals in many professions.

Just as I will work to understand your background and abilities, I wish to share the professional path responsible for who I am. My career began in the classroom.

For 12 years, I worked with students from kindergarten to grade nine before becoming an administrator. I served as a principal for 19 years: elementary, middle and high schools. During that time, I also worked as a consultant with other districts and for individuals to create strategic plans and professional development plans. My combined 31 years in education afforded me the opportunity to work with people across all walks of life and to earn a Doctorate as part of that process. All of it taught me lessons and moved me forward.

During the six years, I served as principal for the Alexander D. Henderson Development Research School at Florida Atlantic University, I was the educational leader for the research team that developed and opened Florida Atlantic University High School at Florida Atlantic University, a unique and fully dual-enrolled high school program. It was an amazing opportunity, but observing students and adults enjoy their chosen direction or struggle to find their way made me even more determined to develop and provide a system for helping others to figure out what they wanted to do in their work-life that could provide a good living and great satisfaction.

In 2004, I received National Leadership recognition in Washington, D.C., and have been a presenter at local, national, and international conferences. In 2008, I retired from education to work full-time as a career consultant specialist.

I am a licensed affiliate for the Highlands Company, responsible for the industry-leading tool for defining a person’s natural abilities: The Highlands Ability Battery. Raised in St. Louis, I hold a B.A. in Education from William Woods University and both an M.S. and Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. My client list has included individuals in high school and college, adults both beginning and ending their professional careers, and larger corporations like Pepsi Cola, Miami Dolphins, and others seeking to provide quality professional development.

Guests on the Mitlin Money Mindset Show are not affiliated with CWM, LLC, and opinions expressed herein may not be representative CWM, LLC. CWM, LLC is not responsible for the guest’s content linked on this site.

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