Work - What do I do and Why?
Hello and thank you for reading this.
This is my first monthly post on the topic of work.
Work is one of what I am calling my 5 pillars of a ‘good’ life which are work, rest, play, sustenance and love
Every Thursday I intend to write something on one of these topics starting with work and ending with love. Every 4-5 weeks I will return to the start and continue where I left off. i’m not sure where it will take us; but I hope like me you are up for the journey.
It feels right to chat in this first post about the work I do and why I do it.
If you have followed me for a while you likely know that I help good people lead great things.
But what do I mean by good people? And why do I do that.
For me, good people work in service of others and of a cause larger than themselves.
Good people implicitly or explicitly believe in the principles of social justice - access to resources, equity, participation, diversity, and human rights - in all the work they do.
If someone is working towards creating these organisationally, sector wide and or nationally and internationally, then I am in; with both feet.
Good people are exceptional; many of those around them know it but they, themselves, haven’t found a way to absorb that yet and fully trust in their talents.
Good people usually care massively, over burden themselves, don’t always stick up for themselves (as much as they do the cause) and are often working harder than they need to.
Good people often end up doing more than is healthy for them because of how purposeful they feel and because of how important they see the change they are leading, or want to lead.
Good people are, what I call, life’s doers and go getters and are often held back by something they cant quite put their finger on - how do I know this? I’m one of them and have worked with many.
With a background in large corporate organisations including..
…Nationwide, NFU Mutual and Santander and having also worked as a coach and consultant with organisations including Age Concern, Friends of The Earth and The Gov Design System, I have experience of delivering change both as a leader, coach and consultant across multiple sectors.
The ceiling I reached was overseeing a 3rd of the UK for Santander which means I know what is required to lead at the highest level nut I also know what it iOS to do that when you are one of life’s good guys.
This means that I know what it is to reach a ceiling of self belief, confidence and influence and to extend myself beyond my energy levels because off my passion to do whats right, rather than whats right for me.
Since the age of 24 (I’m 47) I have coached people to be succesful, made teams more effective and grew profits and efficiency for organisations. When I look back I’ve been blessed that a large part of my work has been with good people (tyes, yhere have been a few bad eggs along the way) and this means I want more of the ‘good people’ to get on and to use my skillset for good, not ‘just’ corporate gain.
A few years ago we founded an award winning coffee house on the lsle of Wight, within the heart of our community, and that enabled us to see the impact we could have there. These along with the responsibilities I feel as a father of 4 mean that I want to play a part in creating a positive future for those I will one day leave behind.
It happens to us all.
In my mind the best way to do this is to help the good people in our world, who want to serve others, to influence and if necessary take the seats currently sat in by the ‘less good’ so that they can lead the great things we need leading, more selflessly, in this world.
Being good doesn’t mean you don’t make tough decisions, by the way, it just means you make them for the right reasons.
Exceptional people aren’t always exceptional at everything but coaching can help people to use their talents to overcome their weaknesses; it’s solution focused and in my experiences transforms the lives of those who invest in it.
One of the most exciting developments, for me, is that since I re-badged my coaching to ‘helping good people lead great things’, more leaders have approached me for coaching who are already delivering change in their organisation with social justice in mind.
All of my coaches are committed to making change sector wide with the potential of one day transcending their sector.
On top of this; I have also started to work with individuals who are focused on championing the cause of leaning into climate change and developing fully sustainable practices; the delight for me is that these include a CPO’s and a Deputy Director General as well as a Head of Sustainability
For me, a sustainable world to live in, is the cause under which all others must align and when making decisions they should be being made in sight of this aim, benefitting from the principles of social justice and the decision which can be made more ‘whole’ as a result of considering them.
To borrow words, arguably wrongly ascribed to Anthropologist Margaret Mead “…we have called societies civilisations when they have had great cities, elaborate division of labor, some form of keeping records”.. but, in fact “…helping someone through difficulty is where civilisation starts’ and “we are at our best when we serve others…”.
The “…first sign of civilisation in an ancient culture is a femur (thigh bone) that has been broken and then healed”.
In the animal kingdom, with some exceptions, “…if you break your legs, and cannot keep up with the herd or feed, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink, or hunt for food. You are meat for the prowling beasts”. Rarely does an “…animal survive a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal”
In my mind a truly civilised society one which often seeks to place itself, wrongly above other species, would make decisions based upon the principles of social justice and notice the broken legs in society and in our world.
In turn, as a coach and father, what could be the greatest act of caring, and in turn a civilised culture than to work in service of our planet and restore it and give it time to heal?
That is why I help good people lead great things and why I recognise that the part I can play is to use my coaching expertise to help liberate them to do it.
And there you have it - What I do and Why
I must admit it feels quite naked to be so direct with my views but the reality is that if we don’t stand up for what we believe in, how can we expect others to do so.
Next time
Next time, I would like to talk about how I work through coaching; and I will start to share some best practices from my work and examples.
For now, I’d like to leave you with these 5 questions; which i’d love to hear the answers to - if you are happy to send them over.
What is the great thing you are trying to lead?
How is that ‘great thing’ you wish to lead connected to the cause of sustainability and climate change?
If you could have support in leading your great thing, what would it be?
What’s stopping you from reaching our for that support, today?
What would you need to believe about asking for support to see it?
Your questions
I welcome questions and will do my best to answer as many of them as a receive honestly, sensitively and with care.
For now; thank you
I am…
An executive coach who specialises in helping good people lead great things.
Good people care about others, our planet and beauty. Great things are changes for the betterment of society and all that lives within an around it.
It sounds big and fun - it is.
I'm also an endurance racing cyclist and a go. getter.
You can read more about me and what I do; how I work here