Ascend Engage challenged us to think about what it means to move Forward with Purpose—and we're carrying that momentum into August and beyond. From reconnecting at Post-Engage Meet & Greets, to learning through bestselling author Jia Jiang’s candid leadership conversation, to looking ahead to our September IAG/AEN Conference, see below for some of the many ways to connect, be inspired, and help shape what’s next for our community.
What if a leadership conference did more than give you ideas? What if it gave you a place to test them?
On September 18, Ascend NorCal returns to Santa Clara University for our IAG/AEN Conference, bringing together professionals and leaders for an experience designed around a simple idea: Leadership development becomes more powerful when insight turns into action.
We're excited to welcome Jia Jiang, bestselling author of Rejection Proof and Easy Discipline, as our featured opening plenary speaker. Jia's work challenges conventional thinking about rejection, ambition, discipline, and achievement—and will invite us to think differently about what helps us take action and keep moving forward.
Following, we’ll head into interactive Career Labs where participants will work through real career and leadership challenges, test approaches, receive feedback, and walk away with solutions they can immediately put into practice. We’ll explore areas, such as:
How do you make the strategic capabilities you possess more visible?
How do you respond to rejection without letting it define what's next?
How do you build relationships that make meaningful sponsorship possible?
For members of our Ascend Executive Network (AEN), dedicated experiences will explore the complexities of leadership at the enterprise level, including consequential judgment, transformation, and readiness for broader responsibility.
Whether you're early in your career or an experienced leader, this is an opportunity to listen, question, practice, connect, and leave with something you can use.
Ascend Engage brought our national community together, but it’s in our local communities where many of those relationships have the opportunity to grow. Earlier this month, Ascend NorCal brought that spirit home through Post-Engage Meet & Greets in San Francisco and Sacramento, both hosted by Crowe.
These gatherings created space to reconnect, welcome new members, and build relationships across companies, industries, and career stages by bringing Forward with Purpose to life.
Thank you to Crowe, along with our Ascend NorCal leaders, volunteers, partners, and attendees, for helping create opportunities for connection beyond a single event.
Connection is not the follow-up to the work. It is part of the work.
Ascend NorCal is exploring another way for our community to connect, this time on the water!
We recently connected with KP Dragons, a Bay Area nonprofit entering its 25th anniversary season and dedicated to promoting wellness, inclusion, and community through dragon boat.
We’re exploring whether there’s enough interest in the Ascend NorCal community, either as a team or through another opportunity to participate with KP Dragons.
There’s no commitment at this stage; we’re simply exploring opportunities. If you are interested,send us a note at northerncalifornia@ascendleadership.org by September 30.
What happens when being excellent at your job is no longer enough for people to see what you could do next?
That was one of the questions we explored in a recent conversation with Jia Jiang, bestselling author of Rejection Proof and Easy Discipline: An Unconventional Way to Achieve Ambitious Things.
The conversation went beyond his books and into challenges many professionals in our community know well. Three ideas stood out:
Make your leadership visible. If you want to be seen differently, people need opportunities to experience more of how you think and lead.
Build relationships in a way you will actually sustain. Networking does not have to look the same for everyone.
Question the way you are pursuing ambition. More effort is not always the answer when the approach itself is creating unnecessary friction, or as Jia says, “Get uncomfortable through the things you like.”
Read the full Community Spotlight where Jia shares what it takes to move beyond being known only for execution, why traditional networking does not work for him, and how rejection and his 10,000-preorder experiment shaped the way he thinks about ambitious goals.
Navigating a career transition, re-entering the workforce, or impacted by recent layoffs? Experience the power of the Ascend network with bi-weekly virtual office hours designed to support career insights, networking, and actionable support.
