The Courage to Press Pause: Ed Clementi on Leaving a C-Suite Career to Find Alignment

How do you rise from security guard to managing director at Morgan Stanley?  

Ed Clementi did just that and then made the bold choice to bet on himself by walking away from a C-Suite career to build his own company, Inspired Fire. 

In this episode of Time to Press Pause, host Ellen Williams, CEO of The Salient Strategist, dives into Ed’s story of resilience, self-belief, and the importance of finding alignment in your career. 

In this episode, you’ll discover: 

• How Ed rose from security guard to managing director. 
• The crucial leadership lessons he learned from mentors who saw his potential and gave him room to grow. 
• Why "betting on yourself" might be the most important career decision you ever make. 
• How to recognize the signs that it’s time to "press pause" and realign your path. 
• The simple yet powerful analogy of staying on the "wrong train" and how it applies to your career. 

More from Ellen:  

• Website: https://thesalientstrategist.com/ 
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenwilliamsny/ 
•  Contact: ellen@thesalientstrategist.com  

More from Ed Clementi: 

• Website: https://edclementi.com/
• Newsletter: https://edclementi.com/newsletter/

Transcript

Welcome to Season 3 of time to press pause. Real life stories from the C-Suite. I'm your host, Ellen Williams, CEO of the salient strategist. And today, Ed Clemente and I are talking about his journey from executive assistant to managing director. And the importance of betting on yourself? Ed Clementi is the founder of inspired fire. A leadership development company helping individuals and organizations ignite lasting impact through authentic people. First, leadership Ed spent over 2 decades in financial services, rising from executive assistant to managing director at Morgan Stanley. His approach to leadership is shaped by his unconventional. Climb his belief in doing what's right over what's easy and his first hand understanding of how culture and leadership are the two drivers of sustainable success. He's also the creator of the Totally Unacceptable podcast and author of the Firestarter newsletter. Welcome, Ed. To time to press pause. 

Speaker 2 

Thank you, Ellen. Nice to be. Here. 

Speaker 1 

It's great to see. You, you and I have been connected on LinkedIn for over 10 years, so I'm really excited to have our paths cross again. And although I did get a preview of your press pause story a few weeks ago, I'm really interested in hearing the full thing today, so please share your press plus story. 

Speaker 2 

It's super great to be here and share their stories. Really. Actually, the first time I'm sharing this story in this kind of forum, I started my career just about over 2 decades ago. It kind of happened out of necessity. I was a young father trying to figure out what direction I was going to take. Had aspirations of. Playing ball, but again, being a young father, it really hit home for me that it was time to grow up, become an adult and some of those dreams aside, I was coming up as a security guard trying to figure out how I would make my way get into the door of some company and build a career, whatever that career might be. I had no idea what it would be. Going back two decades, those were the days where things like Microsoft Word and Excel and PowerPoint. If you had those skills, you could get yourself into a nice corporation and have potentially a career. So I decided to get a job in a temp agency and I was actually helping other people. Learn those software skills and I realized I was placing them in jobs where they were making much more money than I was. I asked the owner of the company if I could sit and teach myself these programs. They said of course you can. So I sat there night after night and I trained myself and then when the time was right, I had asked one of the placement coordinators if they would ever consider placing me at a company. And that was the opening. And so I ended up getting a role as an administrative assistant in a big bank and at the same time. I decided it was time to go back and finish my degree five nights a week and on Saturday right after work taking the train, I went to Brooklyn College, finished my degree. I started it as I took a liking to. 

Speaker 

Business. 

Speaker 2 

Through creativity, I have a creative background. I really was getting into graphic design, making websites, and so I shifted midway to an arts and multimedia degree. Ohh while working in a bank and right when I finished my degree I started putting resumes out there and I got a really great opportunity. Working for Morgan Stanley as an administrative assistant and all the way, I was thinking, let's just get in, make some money and who knows what opportunity might be out there in the future. Now I had a college degree. And the one promise I made to myself walking through the doors of Morgan Stanley was I was going to work really hard, prove myself and do something I hadn't done in any job yet, which is then ask for opportunity. And I did that. And so in my very, very first day at Morgan Stanley, they were so gracious and they were happy to have me. And he said, how can we start this? And I said, well, I have one request. At some point, all I will ask for is an opportunity and my boss, my new boss, said to me. How long do you? I said it's up to you. He's like you gotta give us two years. Done. I was going to blow people away. I was gonna take on more responsibility. I was going to differentiate myself and be authentic. And so there I am as an administrative assistant. A big trading floor, super excited. Making more money than I ever had made before, which wasn't a lot. By the way, and I remember telling my wife at the time, just bear with me. I want to be the first one in last one out, but I will make this pay off and to her credit, she did. I saw so many opportunities to make things better, even in my admin role, and I just kept doing that. And as it happens in the financial industry, things change very, very quickly. So the two years that I wanted to give my new bosses didn't turn out to be two years. And so it was something like 14 months that they were pivoting. And I went in, knocked on. Where I said I don't know if you remember, but we kind of had a deal where I would give the very best of myself and it would be for two years. But you're moving on. Is there any opportunity and to their credit, they said absolutely you have proven yourself and we want to get you into the thick of things. They opened up doors for me to go into what we call operations in finance. To quote them to learn the pipes so that you understand how things work. And we think you have a good trajectory here. It was just on from there I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I started enjoying what I was doing, which really at the heart of it wasn't really financy stuff. It was just solving problems. I go in operations, I'm learning all these things. I remember asking my new boss. How long does it take someone to get up to speed? Says 12 months to 16. Months took it as a challenge. I don't know if it's just the athlete or whatever. I took it as a challenge, so I said to myself, let's get this done in three to six months. Sure enough, in three to six months I became a go to person. In operations and in the finance world, you know that's the all the processing of trades and the thing. And I was really enjoying being a go to person, a problem solver, keeping my connections with the folks that I had met on the desk before as an Advent, reality struck, which is, you know, you're in this finance organization and you're thinking, you know. Guys the limit from a compensation perspective, but it really depends on the role. It really depends on the impact you're making and I didn't see those numbers reflected in the effort in my current role and I had the necessary conversations and luckily I had built really good relationships, but once again. And I had to really understand my value and not be afraid to ask for what I felt I was worth. I got this call from a woman that I had worked with in my previous role, and I continued to work with her in my new role to solve problems. And she said there's a role opening up. I put your name in the ring and. I was like well. What is it? He's. She's like. You're gonna come into the chief operating office and you're gonna help solve problems. You're gonna help build controls. You're gonna do these things. I never went through so many interviews in my life. I went through about 10 to 15 interviews and I'm again, I'm still young. I'm about 2526. They're interviewing all sorts of high profile people because the role that opened up was a senior person and the CEO. His words were, I want someone who's hungry and happy to be here. You got the job. And once again, it was on from there. Now I was in the business, which is where the revenue was generated. So it was a whole different ball game from a compensation per. Effective and really it was up to me because I had a great boss who essentially said, here's what we hope to achieve and gave me that leash to go figure it out. Part of my leadership ideas comes from you. Have someone who bets on you, who trusts you, who sees potential and then gives you the leash. And go. Don't do it. You what ends up happening on the other side is you don't want to let that person down, so you work harder and harder and harder. And this person, who I'm still very close with to this day after he's retired, has been instrumental in kind of how I think about leadership. So I had the luxury of having that person guide me for nine straight years. Together we just kept solving those problems in a very genuine and authentic way, and then everybody knows the financial crisis hit. And that was a very dangerous time for lots of people in that industry. But for me, my career actually took off in terms of all the regulation that came down. It was like, who's going to help us solve these problems, put these controls in place, build new policies. We have this guy here who's been doing these kind of things and luckily. My boss and his boss kept getting promoted. We were doing well and we moved up the organization together. I was building a team. Nobody was leaving my team. People wanted to come join my team. I was able to influence people that weren't on my team and I started to think like, what is it? And it really somebody said to me later in my career that you have this ability to take really muddy, complex issues and problems and things. Break them down into their component parts and just figure it out. When people say these things to you, you start to piece this together that This is why succeeding, and actually that's the part I really enjoy. And so when people started to. To me, you know, we'd like you to come talk to our analysts and associate class. We'd like you to go to this event and and moderate A paddle. I started to do those things at first, fearful because now I'm gonna be on a stage. I'm gonna do this. And you know, I just did it. And what I realized was I really enjoyed it. Why? Because I was doing something. That I was doing every day, multiplying my impact, I started to realize. Is that hey, this is what I want to do. That's when the ideas start coming in my head. I think I would only like to write a book like to do a Ted talk. Like to be coaching people here I am in 2017 and I started to jot down like a little logo maybe right out of course. And I came up with the idea of inspired fire. Why? Because so many people. That have come across. They're fired. That thing inside that lights up that you see every once in a while. Most of the days, most of the weeks it's dimmed. And I wanted to figure out how to like. Get up and a lot of times I talk to people I could light it up in those moments and it's kind of like a dream. It's off to the side. It's like I kind of mentioned it to my wife at the time, but nobody wants you to walk away from the career that you're on if you're on this kind of trajectory. The top title, the big prize is a title called Managing Director. And that was on my mind from the moment I walked in. But when you come in as an admin, it really seems like there's a ceiling there within nine years of my entry into Morgan, I was a managing director. It's a hard career to walk away from a lot of money to walk away from in 2023. With an opportunity to continue to stay March towards the 25 and 30 year mark of a career in finance, just go just legitimately take the biggest pause on anything I've ever taken in my life and take the risk and the thing that really hit me. Was. Now I have older children and they're coming to me for career advice. In every instance, I'm guiding them more towards where their heart is. I wonder. If I would give myself that same advice and it was that moment where I said I have a choice, I don't want to finish off this life or get to the end of my life and I say I didn't take the chance. Here I am. I have this dangling option like to continue my career making a lot. With money, everybody would be comfortable around me. Nobody would have to worry or. Say goodbye with no security and then somebody said to me when I made the decision, I made the decision. I am I I went up and I said I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm going to go off and try this thing. And somebody said to me and it really hit me, which was, but what are you going to do? Create Ed Clemente Corp and I hadn't told a lot of people about his by. And I said maybe. And he said. But then you're just betting on yourself. And I said well. Wouldn't that be something? That's when it really hit because I needed to bet on myself. I needed to prove this. And so I did it. I made a decision. I legitimately walked away from this career. I went full in on building this brand. And and I had no idea how to do any of it. None of the social media stuff, none of the video recording, none of it. And I just started one by one, writing my newsletter article, and I just published my 61st straight article. And so I started to build this brand and the following, and it's all organic, all real. The one thing I love is any given morning because I put things out there. I could wake up to an amazing opportunity or message. Even with this. You pinging me and saying, hey, let's get on this podcast. I'd have no idea. Ellen, where this is going, but I have a vision. I will tell you. I feel like I'm on the right path, and that's all I need to know. 

Speaker 1 

On the right path is all you need to know. That's an interesting way of directing this to your life. It's that inner feeling that you're doing the right thing that feels good to you. And I love that. That's great. 

Speaker 2 

Yeah. 

Speaker 1 

Ed, this has been really wonderful. I have one last question for you. What advice do you have for leaders to when they can identify it's time for them? 

Speaker 2 

Sure. 

Speaker 1 

To press pause. 

Speaker 2 

Yeah. The best advice I could give is. We unfortunately don't listen to our bodies enough and for me, I just feel that our bodies usually are telling us the direction of travel, the GPS and so. For me, there was something in my body, in my heart and mind, that was saying there's a different direction you should be taking. But all the realities of life and the responsibilities of life was pushing me to do the logical thing, the responsible thing. Listen to your body. Listen to your heart. Listen to your mind, and it's even broader than in your career, right? You think of other things in our lives. Usually our bodies are telling us. Whenever you start to feel like your value set, your being is not in alignment with the direction you are in or headed. I think it might be time to press pause and figure out why. Maybe you're on the right track, but there's something in that environment that's causing you to feel a certain way and you got to solve for that. But maybe you're not on the right track, and the analogy I use in my post and in some of my writings. Is if you. Today went to the train station and you got on the train because you're so busy and you started getting on train in four or five stops in you look up because you've heard the wrong stop. You've heard it and you look and Oh my goodness, I'm on the wrong train. Would you stay on? And the answer is no, you wouldn't. You'd hop off and I think it's just like that. The unfortunate truth is we stay on the wrong train too long. Lots of us. For me, the advice I would just simply give is when your body starts to speak to you and you feel like this misalignment with values or what have you, it might be time to press pause and at least figure out why. 

Speaker 1 

Identifying the why is always good idea and definitely. Staying on the wrong train. I definitely. See myself as as have been on the wrong train in the past, and I love that analogy, I think. I'm very visual person, so that was perfect for me, totally. So on that story and. And. Totally connected with it as I think. Most of my listeners will as well. 

Speaker 2 

That's great. That's great. 

Speaker 1 

Ed, thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for sharing your story for, I guess, the first time in this platform. I appreciate you being here and it was really wonderful to have you here on time to. 

Speaker 2 

Press for us, it was a pleasure, Ellen. Thank. You for having me. 

Speaker 1 

Thank you for listening to season 3, Episode 1 of time to press pause. If you'd like to learn more about Ed, please visit edclemente.com. If you'd like to learn more about me, please visit my website thesalientstrategist.com or reach out at Ellen at the salientstrategist.com and please listen again wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

Summary: 

Bet On Yourself with Ed Clementi 

Season 3, Episode 1 of Time to Press Pause 

In this episode, host Ellen Williams, CEO of The Salient Strategist, talks with Ed Clementi—founder of Inspired Fire and former Managing Director at Morgan Stanley. 

Ed shares his remarkable journey from working as an executive assistant to reaching the C-Suite, and why he ultimately chose to walk away from a secure, high-profile career to build something of his own. His story is one of resilience, self-belief, and the courage to press pause when life feels misaligned. 

🎙️ Topics we cover: 

·       How Ed transitioned from security guard to Managing Director in less than a decade 

·       The leadership lessons he learned from mentors who trusted him 

·       Why betting on yourself can be the most important career decision you make 

·       Recognizing the signs when it’s time to press pause and realign your path 

·       The vision behind Inspired Fire and helping others reignite their inner spark 

👉 Learn more about Ed at https://edclementi.com/ 

 👉 Learn more about Ellen at https://thesalientstrategist.com/