Your Second Curve

Your Second Curve · the podcast

Real second curves. Real conversations.

Your Second Curve is an interview-led podcast hosted by Dr Arnd Halbach, author of the book Your Second Curve. It is for people in the second half of their career who are thinking about going independent or starting a second career.

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Your Second Curve podcast cover: Dr Arnd Halbach in a navy jacket, a gold curve rising behind him

Latest episode

  • Episode 3
  • 31 min

Life Without the Big Logo: Paola Cavallero on Building a Portfolio Career

  • Rated 5.0 out of 5 on YouTube, 5 ratings
  • 24 views

When you leave a big corporate name behind, you have to go back to what you can actually do for a client.

Paola Cavallero spent more than 30 years in international corporate roles at companies including Microsoft, Nokia, Coca-Cola, Gillette and Johnson & Johnson, leading teams across sales, marketing, operations and general management. Then she stepped away from that structure to begin her own second curve as an independent partner with ERA Group.

In this episode of Your Second Curve, Dr. Arnd Halbach, author of Your Second Curve, talks with Paola about what drove the decision, how her work now spans consulting, board positions and mentoring, and what she learned about building a pipeline from scratch without the big brand behind her. They also cover investing in training, using AI as a one-person business, and why a success fee model suits the way she works. She also has three pieces of advice for anyone considering the move.

Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab) Episode page: Life Without the Big Logo: Paola Cavallero on Building a Portfolio Career

Back catalogue

Earlier episodes

    • Episode 2
    • 40 min

    The Network Behind the Practice: Jeff Reynolds on Working with Other Specialists

    • Rated 5.0 out of 5 on YouTube, 8 ratings
    • 95 views

    Going independent doesn't have to mean going it alone. Jeff Reynolds spent more than 30 years in executive leadership across privately held and publicly traded companies before starting his consulting business in 2018…

    Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

    Show notes

    Going independent doesn't have to mean going it alone.

    Jeff Reynolds spent more than 30 years in executive leadership across privately held and publicly traded companies before starting his consulting business in 2018. Eight years on, he works closely with C-suite leaders to improve performance, optimise costs and strengthen enterprise value.

    In this episode of Your Second Curve, Dr. Arnd Halbach, author of Your Second Curve, talks with Jeff about the move from leading large organisations to working on his own, why having your spouse on board matters, how he handled the first weeks and months in a home office, and how he found his first clients and grew them into a portfolio. They also cover how he built a network of specialists to work with on client projects and why that keeps the energy up, how he thinks about retirement and legacy, and his advice for anyone thinking about leaving corporate to start their own business.

    • Episode 1
    • 38 min

    19 Years Independent: Pellegrino Riccardi on Leaving Corporate

    • Rated 5.0 out of 5 on YouTube, 7 ratings
    • 142 views

    What does it really take to leave a corporate career and go independent? Pellegrino Riccardi, award winning TEDx speaker and cross-cultural expert, did it in 2007 with no business plan and a family to support. Nineteen…

    Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

    Show notes

    What does it really take to leave a corporate career and go independent?

    Pellegrino Riccardi, award winning TEDx speaker and cross-cultural expert, did it in 2007 with no business plan and a family to support. Nineteen years later, the phone is still ringing.

    In the first episode of Your Second Curve, Dr. Arnd Halbach, author of Your Second Curve, talks with Pellegrino about the scary first years of self employment, why he never started a company and still works alone as a sole trader, and how he built a speaking business on word of mouth. They also cover how AI is changing work, what people leaving senior corporate roles need to relearn, and his advice for anyone in their late 40s or 50s thinking about starting their own business or a second career.

    • Trailer
    • 39 sec

    He Left Corporate With No Business Plan: Pellegrino Riccardi on HIS Second Curve

    He Left Corporate With No Business Plan. 19 Years Later the Phone Still Hasn’t Stopped Ringing. Arnd Halbach sits down with Pellegrino Riccardi, an award-winning TEDx speaker and cross-cultural expert who has spent…

    Show notes

    He Left Corporate With No Business Plan. 19 Years Later the Phone Still Hasn’t Stopped Ringing

    Arnd Halbach sits down with Pellegrino Riccardi, an award-winning TEDx speaker and cross-cultural expert who has spent close to four decades studying what makes people and organisations tick. In 2007, Pellegrino left a corporate career with no business plan and built a successful independent business around himself. He talks about the fear of the first year, why he never started a company, how he measures growth in ideas and quality rather than money, and why humans still have the edge in the age of AI. He closes with the advice he’d give anyone in their 40s or 50s thinking about making the leap.

    Stay tuned for the full episode

Video

Watch the conversations

The conversations are also published as video on the Your Second Curve YouTube channel.

Open the channel on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

About the podcast

Questions

What is the Your Second Curve podcast?

Your Second Curve is an interview-led podcast hosted by Dr Arnd Halbach, author of the book Your Second Curve. It is for people in the second half of their career who are thinking about going independent or starting a second career.

Who hosts it?

The podcast is hosted by Dr Arnd Halbach, author of the book Your Second Curve.

Who is it for?

People in the second half of their career who are thinking about going independent or starting a second career.

Where can I listen or watch?

On YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or in any podcast app through the RSS feed. Every episode also has its own page here, with its show notes.

What is the latest episode?

The latest episode is “Life Without the Big Logo: Paola Cavallero on Building a Portfolio Career”, published on 30 October 2026.

Between episodes

Thinking about going independent?

Start with the free Toolkit: thirteen worksheets from the author of Your Second Curve, on positioning, pricing, pipeline and the rest of what an independent practice stands on.

Get the free Toolkit Read the book (opens in a new tab)
The printed Toolkit open on a desk at Tool C, the Positioning Compression Canvas, with the page of sequenced AI prompts beside it