No Coast Consulting

05/19/2026

Calling all employers and hiring managers!

If your company has open positions, I want to know about them. As a career coach, I work with talented professionals every day who are actively looking for their next opportunity and I love making great matches.

Drop your job openings in the comments, send me a message, or tag someone who is hiring. No opening is too big or too small.

Let's help some great people land their next role!

05/19/2026

I'm so excited to be presenting to the Rotary Club of Waukee this week on the state of the job market.

We'll dig into why young professionals are struggling to find work right now, what AI is doing to the workforce, and what it all means for our community.

Can't wait to connect with a great group of local leaders. See you Thursday morning!

05/12/2026

Vocation Matters: Worth a read this week!

Dr. Anderson came across this article and wanted to share it with anyone who has ever felt like their career path was "supposed to look" different than it does.

"The Myth of the Linear Career" is a honest, grounded piece that pushes back on the idea that success means climbing a straight ladder from Point A to Point B. The reality? Career shifts and reinventions remind us that flourishing often lies beyond the frameworks of traditional linear career paths. vocationmatters

Whether you are just starting out, mid-career and restless, or considering a major pivot, this article is a good reminder that twists and turns are not signs that something went wrong. They are often signs that you are paying attention.

Give it a read and let us know — what is the most unexpected turn your career has taken?
👉

The post highlights the importance of guiding students in their career paths, emphasizing ongoing reflection and exploration instead of adhering to common, linear trajectories. It illustrates vario…

05/11/2026

Book #6: The AI-Savvy Leader by Katia Walsh & David De Cremer

Dr. Anderson has been recommending this book to his friends and clients.

This is not a book about how AI works. It is a book about how leaders work in a world shaped by AI. Walsh and De Cremer cut through the noise and give leaders something practical: a framework for staying human, strategic, and in charge when the pressure to just let the technology decide is growing louder every day.

The core message is one Dr. Anderson comes back to often in his coaching work the most valuable thing a leader brings to the table is not data or automation. It is judgment. And judgment is exactly what AI cannot replicate.

If you are a leader, a manager, a coach, or anyone trying to figure out how to stay relevant and effective in the decade ahead, this one belongs on your shelf.

Drop a comment and let us know — what is the biggest AI question you are wrestling with in your work right now? Dr. Anderson would love to hear from you.

05/10/2026

Have you ever been interviewed by a robot? More than half of companies globally now use AI to handle the first round of job interviews, and the candidates who don't prepare for it differently are getting screened out before a human ever sees their application. The University of Iowa's Tippie College has a quick read with practical tips on how to land the next round when there's no person on the other side of the screen.

https://tippie.uiowa.edu/news/2026/02/ever-talked-robot-about-job

AI screening interviews are becoming increasingly common. Tippie’s Jim Chaffee offers tips on how to interview with a bot.

05/07/2026

Book #5: Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
Dr. Anderson picked this one because it reframes a question that comes up in coaching conversations about careers, regional opportunity, and where clients see their futures: why do the things we say we want most, affordable housing, clean energy, good schools, accessible healthcare, feel so consistently out of reach in the places we live?

Klein and Thompson come at the question without the usual partisan framing. The book is a clear-eyed examination of why the systems we built to deliver what we need have gradually become better at preventing outcomes than producing them, and what it would take to build a country oriented around making more of what matters.

One idea that stuck: The authors argue that scarcity in modern America is not a resource problem. It is a process problem. We have layered on so many rules and veto points in the name of caution that we have made it difficult to build almost anything. The book makes the case that an abundance agenda starts with asking not just "what could go wrong if we build this?" but also "what is the cost of not building it?" That reframing applies far beyond policy. It is a question every leader and every career-builder should be asking about their own work.

Who should read it: Executives weighing where to locate or expand. Faculty thinking about the future of higher education. Business owners trying to understand why building and growing have become so hard. Career coaches helping clients evaluate geographic moves and long-horizon decisions. Anyone who has ever wondered why progress feels harder than it should.

The most important shift this book asks of its readers is a shift in posture. From defending the systems we have to honestly evaluating whether they still produce the outcomes we say we want.

What is one area of your work or your life where you have been defending a process that is no longer producing the results you want?

05/04/2026

This Built In article by Ilse Funkhouser is one of the most useful, practical pieces Dr. Anderson has read on what working professionals are facing in today's job market. If you have been job searching, watching colleagues get laid off, or just feeling like the rules of work have shifted under your feet, this article puts language to what you are sensing.

A few of the most important points, in Dr. Anderson's view:
Referrals are now driving most knowledge worker hires, possibly as high as 80 percent. That means the relationships you build today are the job search engine of your future. Investing in real, mutually beneficial professional connections is no longer a nice-to-have. It is the work.

Keep a running record of what you accomplish at your current job. Journal it. Review it quarterly. Tie it to company goals. When the next opportunity emerges (and it will), you do not want to be reconstructing your wins from memory under pressure.

AI is not coming for your job tomorrow, but it is reshaping what makes you valuable. The people who stay ahead are not the ones with the most certificates. They are the ones using AI thoughtfully, talking about it openly with colleagues, and getting their hands dirty with the integrations that turn AI from a toy into a real business tool.

Dr. Anderson's bottom line: the white-collar recession is a hard moment, but it is also a clarifying one. The professionals who come through it well will be the ones who invested in relationships, documented their impact, and treated AI as a skill to develop rather than a threat to fear.

What is one professional relationship you have been meaning to reconnect with?

05/04/2026

Book #4: Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

Dr. Anderson picked this one because it answers a question that comes up in nearly every coaching conversation he has, regardless of whether the client is an executive, a small business owner, or a faculty colleague: why do the conversations that matter most tend to be the ones we handle worst?

The authors come at the question with three decades of research on what they call crucial conversations, the high-stakes moments when opinions vary, emotions run strong, and outcomes really matter. The book is not a communication theory text and it is not a list of scripts to memorize. It is a practical, evidence-based framework for staying productive in the conversations that most professionals avoid, rush through, or handle badly.

One idea that stuck: The authors argue that under pressure, most people fall into one of two patterns. They go to silence, withholding what they really think to keep the peace. Or they go to violence, pushing their position so hard that the other person stops listening.

Both feel like the only options in the moment, and both make the conversation worse. The skill of crucial conversations is learning to create what the authors call a pool of shared meaning, a space where both people can put their real perspectives on the table without the conversation collapsing into avoidance or escalation.

Who should read it: Anyone who leads a team, raises kids, navigates a marriage, manages a tough relationship at work, or is preparing for a conversation that has been sitting in the back of their mind for weeks. The skills in this book apply just as much to family dinner as they do to the boardroom.

The most important skill in modern leadership is not knowing the right thing to say. It is staying in the conversation when the stakes get high, your emotions get loud, and the easiest move is to either shut down or push harder. That skill can be learned, and this book is one of the best maps of how to do it.

What is a crucial conversation you have been putting off, and what is one small step you could take to open it?

05/02/2026

No Coast is a proud sponsor of JCI Des Moines Jaycees.lf you are age 21-40 and looking to join a great group of young professionsls come check out today's bag tournament.

Huge thank you to our proud sponsor, No Coast Consulting! 👏

They help individuals and businesses grow through career coaching, business support, and leadership development—making a real impact in our community.

👉 Learn more: https://nocoastconsulting.com/

05/01/2026

Book #3: Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick

Dr. Anderson picked this one because it answers the question every leader, faculty member, and coaching client is asking him right now: how do I actually work with AI in a way that makes me better at what I do, rather than replacing what I do?

Ethan Mollick comes at the question from a rare vantage point. He is a Wharton professor who has spent the last several years in the trenches of AI experimentation, testing how these tools actually perform in classrooms, executive workshops, and real business problems. The book is not a technical manual and it is not a hype piece. It is a practical, grounded framework for treating AI as a collaborator rather than a tool or a threat.

One idea that stuck: Mollick argues that the people who will thrive in the AI era are not the ones who learn the most prompts or master the latest model. They are the ones who develop what he calls "co-intelligence," the discipline of bringing AI into the work as a thinking partner while keeping their own judgment, expertise, and values at the center. The skill is not knowing what AI can do. It is knowing when to trust it, when to challenge it, and when to set it aside.

Who should read it: Anyone trying to make sense of where AI fits in their work and their life. Whether you lead a team, teach a class, run a business, or are simply trying to figure out what all of this means for your career, this one will give you a framework for engaging with AI without getting swept away by either the hype or the fear.

The most important skill in the age of AI is not technical fluency. It is the ability to bring your humanity, your judgment, and your professional expertise into the conversation with the machine, and to know when the machine is making you sharper and when it is making you lazy.

What is a way you have started using AI that has genuinely made you better at your work?