Welcome to Live In Wisdom Career Coaching and thanks for visiting my site.
I became a careers coach to help talented individuals navigate through areas of dissatisfaction in their working lives.
Let me share with you a little about how I got here.
At school, it seemed like I was born to be an economist. I studied it to PhD level and made it my profession. I worked for 23 years as an academic researcher and then later as a policy adviser. This lead me to live and travel in Europe and further afield. I worked for long-established, prestigious universities and international institutions. I researched and formulated policy and published over 50 articles in scientific journals.
But I was also interested in people. Their differences, strengths and weaknesses, how they interacted, what motivated them, their stories. I studied psychology at university too and my work in economics overlapped with topics linked to equality and inclusion, job satisfaction, unemployment, wages, reward and stress at work.
I aimed high in my career as an economist and was entrusted with some challenging and senior roles. Some special memories include drafting secret documents and attending highest-level meetings; briefing board members; working in a building that was under siege; travelling under police escort; taking a limited flight during the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano; being interviewed by BBC radio; appearing on the front cover of the Washington Post; and appearing as ‘a face’ in the opening ceremony of a brand new institution.
But over time, more and more, I felt a sense of lacking a clear direction and being in the wrong place. My work-life ‘balance’ was non-existent. I worked over 16 hours a day in some roles, and others left me underutilized. I felt undervalued, under-rewarded and quite often without support. I experienced dysfunctional relationships with bosses and colleagues. I lacked confidence in my ability and knowledge. I didn’t have a clear plan for how to reach my potential. I felt the glass ceiling pressing against the top of my head without being able to recognise or do much about it.
Looking back over these experiences, I can see now that a career coach could have helped me in all of these areas, had I known they existed and what they did.
After taking what seemed like a huge decision, I made the move to leave my career as an economist. Deep self-reflection, discovering and trusting my natural strengths led me to coaching. I retrained under some of the leading names in this new field. I met a wonderful group of people from all imaginable walks of life. But surprisingly, despite our differences, I had never felt so among my ‘tribe’. I was rebuilt and re-energised through my new knowledge, tools and understanding.
Here, as a coach, I have finally found my “zone of genius” (see “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks).
Now I help people prepare for, initiate, stay the course and flourish through change. Whatever experience you’re having in and around the world of work, I’m interested. If I think I can help you, I’m in your corner. My services, which used to be exclusively for advising a closed circle of leaders and senior management, are now available to you, if we’re a good fit.
And I’m looking forward to working with you.
If you’d like to talk about coaching, reach out to me here through my contact form.