career change Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

Championing the Circular Economy – Lisa Saunders

October 5, 2022October 5, 2022
by Claire

Our episode this week is packed with great advice and stories thanks to our guest, social entrepreneur Lisa Saunders.

Less than three years ago, Lisa and her partner Adrian decided they had to do something to stop so many household goods from being sent to landfill. Specifically, they made a life changing decision to prevent as many electronic appliances and tech products as they could from being thrown away.

As a result, ‘Arnie’s Recon’ was born. It’s a completely free service that takes your old electronics (think phones, computers, fridges, cables etc.) and ensures they’re recycled and not sent to landfill. Plus, as you’ll hear, this startup has already created more than 80 different products and spawned others around them to start complementary businesses.

CEO Lisa’s stories of adapting to start-up life after a career in leadership development and coaching, and particularly getting used to literally getting her hands dirty in her day job are really fascinating.

Plus you’ll hear:

How Lisa’s ten years of doing Karate has helped her to stay mentally calm and not be triggered by difficult people and bullies
Plus, the clever and simple thing she says to herself to stay in that calm state when others around her are not
How she and her partner navigate having to pivot as they grow their enterprise
The simple thing she does when she needs to think creatively
And the magic of this model that stops so many electrical appliances and tech from going to landfill.

We love the ethos and the business model behind Arnie’s Recon and we think you will too. So enjoy this conversation with the passionate and resilient Lisa Saunders.

Useful Links:

Arnies Recon Website

Arnies Recon on Facebook

Lisa Saunders on LinkedIn

Clare Graves Spiral Dynamics Explanation

Interview

Don’t Quit Your Day Job – Aliza Knox

April 26, 2022April 26, 2022
by Claire

This week’s guest was named IT Woman of the Year for the APAC region in 2020 and despite her illustrious and super busy career in senior regional leadership roles at Google, Twitter and Cloudflare, Aliza Knox also managed to find time to mentor many women along the way.

As a result of all her rich experience, Aliza has just published a book on the 6 essential mindshifts you need to rise and thrive at work. The book is called Don’t Quit Your Day Job.

These days, Aliza serves as a non executive director on Boards in multiple countries and is a senior advisor to her old consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group.

We were fascinated to catch up with Aliza to learn more about her own career lessons as well as the 6 key mindshifts she’s identified in her book. We think you’ll be fascinated too.

Hear unique advice and stories including:

Why a bad job situation led to Aliza moving countries
Why reflecting on your career options at any point in time is so valuable
What job dating is
And, which of the 6 essential mindshifts Aliza believes has been the most influential in her own career.

Aliza has some amazing career advice so sit back and enjoy this episode.

Links

Aliza’s website

Aliza on Twitter

Aliza on LinkedIn

‘Don’t Quit Your Day Job’ on Amazon, Booktopia

Interview

Championing Creativity – Lucinda Barlow

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022
by Claire

It’s not everyday you come across a global marketing leader who trained as an engineer and computer scientist! But that’s true for our visionary guest this week, Lucinda Barlow.

Lucinda is Senior Director, Head of Marketing for Asia Pacific for Uber. Before joining Uber two years ago, Lucinda was global Marketing Director for YouTube, with its 2 billion daily users.

With more than 20 years of experience working in Internet and mobile in Asia, the US and UK, Lucinda has some incredible and varied experience coupled with a true passion for championing creativity.

In this episode you’ll hear how:

How Lucinda changed her life, and her job, after receiving some wise advice from fashion designer and icon Diane von Furstenberg
How she thinks about making big career transition decisions
Why she believes failure should be celebrated more
And how Lucinda brings creativity out in her teams.

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly passionate and creative Lucinda Barlow.

P.S. A reminder that our mini episodes are taking a little break right now so we’re back with a new episode every 2nd week.

Links

It’s Not About Me – Joanna Flint

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022
by Claire

We’re back from Covid (hooray!) and so even more excited about this week’s inspiring guest!

Joanna Flint is Chief Commercial Officer for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group where she’s responsible for its global marketing, sales, revenue management, brand and distribution functions. She is also a member of the company’s Board.

Joanna joined the luxury brand last year after more than twelve years with Google in Asia where, amongst other roles, she was Managing Director of Google Singapore. Based in Singapore with her family, after 20 years living in Asia, Joanna is also a member of YPO and a mentor to early stage start-ups.

If you’re contemplating your career or thinking about changing roles then you have come to the right place because Joanna has some of the most thoughtful musings on this topic we’ve heard.

In this episode you’ll learn:

The incredible story of why Joanna nearly didn’t apply for the top job at Google in Singapore and what happened to make her change her mind
The opportunities she feels she wasted because she wasn’t super clear about what she wanted next in her career
Exactly how Joanna got that clarity on what her next role needed to look like
And how she manages the challenges of leading a truly global team without working 24/7.

We know you’ll love the amazing insights and advice shared in this conversation, so enjoy this episode with the insightful and passionate Joanna Flint.

A quick P.S. from us that we are giving our mini episodes a little break for a while, so we’ll be back in two weeks time with our next conversation with an amazing, pioneering female leader. Hint – she’s ‘uber’ cool.

Links

Joanna on LinkedIn

Mandarinoriental.com

How To Episode

How to Make Career Decisions

February 8, 2022February 8, 2022
by Claire

Career decisions can be tricky things can’t they? Often they can be some of the most stressful decisions we make; decisions such as: ”Should I say yes to this project or transfer?” Or “Should I stay in my job or should I go?”

These times come to nearly all of us . . . unless you’re the Queen of course who’s just reached her 70th year anniversary in her job! Can you imagine that?

Our How To episode this week explores all that’s involved in making great career decisions and with a lot less stress. Huge apologies to Her Majesty as we know this probably isn’t the episode for her 😁.

In this episode you’ll hear us share:

Traps we can fall into when searching for the right answer,
What to do when you have multiple options to choose from,
How to make sure you’re not leaving for the wrong reasons,
And, a simple process and lots of practical ideas for your next big decision.

As Tony Robbins says, “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”

Enjoy this episode!

Useful Links

Adam Grant’s new book ‘Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know’

Article on ‘Why you need a Challenge Network’

Daniel Kahneman’s great book – ‘Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow’

A past episode of ‘Don’t Stop Us Now!’ you might also like ‘How to Feel Less Stuck in Your Job’

How To Episode

How to Shine on LinkedIn

November 16, 2021
by Claire

With so much talk about the ‘Great Resignation’ and all the job changes that are occurring as a result, what better time to make sure your LinkedIn profile is working for you?

In this episode we share some valuable ‘insider’ tips and gain an insight into how recruiters use LinkedIn to find the right people. We’ll also hear from US based Executive Resume writer and expert Donna Svei who will share insights you may be surprised to learn.

And you’ll glean some valuable tips to ensure that you are doing yourself justice on this all important platform.

You’ll learn:

How you can optimise your LinkedIn profile
What parts of your profile get shared by recruiters with their clients, the hiring managers
And, a simple step you can take that could make a surprising difference.

Here’s to you having an ‘All Star’ profile and shining bright! Enjoy.

Useful Links

Executive Resume Writer, Donna Svei’s website

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me: 3 Founder Essentials

August 24, 2021August 24, 2021
by Claire

We’ve been thinking about the impact the global pandemic has had on peoples’ careers and one thing that’s been happening is many folk have been wondering whether it’s time for a career change and, in particular, whether they should start their own business.

So for today’s mini episode, we’ve chosen to share some brilliant advice for founders and potential founders from the successful British entrepreneur, Debbie Wosskow OBE.

Debbie is well known for building and selling her online home exchange business, Love Home Swap for £53 million.

Not only that, Debbie is now co-founder of another business called AllBright, an education and networking organisation designed to provide skills and connections to working women particularly in the UK but also internationally. We talked all about AllBright when we first spoke with Debbie on the show some years ago.

Having sold her own start-up and also being a start-up investor, Debbie knows first hand what it takes to build a business from scratch and, as you’ll hear, there are 3 key things she believes founders need.

Useful Links

Debbie’s full interview episode – Debbie Wosskow, OBE – What It Takes To Be A Successful Female Entrepreneur

AllBright Website

The AllBright Academy

TheAllBright on Twitter

Debbie on Linkedin

Debbie on Twitter

Book on Grit – by Angela Duckworth

How To Episode

How to Change Your Career

June 30, 2020
by Claire

Welcome to our latest How To episode!

We’ve had numerous people ask us recently if now is the right time to change jobs or even careers. It got us both thinking and before you knew it, we had a new ‘How To’ ready to go!

In this episode we explore why you might want to change careers, when is the best time to change careers, and finally how you go about changing career. We also explain what we mean by ‘changing careers’ versus simply changing jobs.

You’ll hear step-by-step examples of how both Claire and Greta have each changed their careers. (Hint – we’ve had a fair bit of practise!)

Plus you’ll also learn:

The key timing and financial considerations you need to take in to account before you change careers
Why we think now is a time to be cautious and conservative before leaving your current job
Advice from a resume expert on how to change industries (a potentially common scenario for people working in COVID-affected industries such as Travel and Hospitality right now)
Examples of how to think ‘outside the box’ to make that career change easier
And a checklist of things to consider and plan for.

So without further ado, enjoy this ‘How To’ episode on changing careers …

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Navigating Tech When You’re Not…

May 12, 2020May 12, 2020
by Claire

Welcome to our second Future Proof Me mini episode. These mini episodes will be uploaded in the weeks between our usual, longer interview and ‘How To’ episodes. They are designed to snappily share nuggets of ideas or insights to help us all thrive in future.

This week’s nugget is all about engaging with emerging technologies even when we are not ‘techie people’.

First you’ll hear from Martha Lane Fox, one of the UK’s most respected technology leaders and entrepreneurs. These days she has an illustrious board career, sits in the House of Lords, and she campaigns for responsible technology through her foundation, Doteveryone.

Martha shares great advice on positioning yourself in your career and how important it is to be curious about technology. She then goes on to talk about how, with the quickening pace of change, we need to be prepared to have multiple different careers.

Then we hear from the Artificial Intelligence expert, Kriti Sharma. She builds really practically on Martha’s point about learning about tech, and specifically talks about how we can all get more informed and familiar with the important topic of AI.

A humble request from us…if you are getting value out of what we’re sharing here at Don’t Stop Us Now! then why not be sure you don’t ever miss out and sign up here for our weekly email where we share advice, tips and, of course, info on our latest episode.

Enjoy this mini episode with Martha Lane Fox and Kriti Sharma.

Check Out the Full Interviews:

Martha Lane Fox – A Powerful Voice Where Few Women Are Heard

Kriti Sharma – Robots, AI and the Future

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Other Resources of Interest

Dot Everyone Digital Understanding Resources

Elements of AI Course from the Finnish Government

Recognising Fake News Game

Digital Unite – Technology Guides

MIT Media Lab

Google’s AI Education Hub

Interview

Dr Cath Ball – Flying High with Drones and…

September 24, 2019September 24, 2019
by admin

In this week’s episode we meet an entrepreneur and innovator who’s been through more than her fair share of challenge and trauma, yet has found a way to forge her own unique path. We’re talking about the irrepressible Dr Catherine Ball.

Catherine, or Cath, grew up in a pretty poor, single parent household in an industrial town in the UK. Unlike her peers she was determined to go to university where she studied environmental protection. She then went on to complete a PHD – a process she now describes as torturous.

Needing to pay off her student debt, her path then took her into the corporate world where she worked with a number of engineering consultancies in the UK and then in Australia.

Just as Cath was being recognised as a leader in her space receiving the Queensland Telstra Business Woman of the Year award in 2015, her company merged with a competitor and she, to her surprise, was made redundant.

It was this shocking jolt that led her to start her first company and led to her building on her already existing experience working with drones.

Since then she’s be recognised as a true thought leader in emerging technologies, having been awarded many accolades in Australia, including then AFR Women of Influence and Top 25 Women in Robotics Lists, both in 2016.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How she’s carved out her unique path as an entrepreneur;
How she manages her time involved with 10 different projects plus having a young toddler and another one on the way;
How drones will change our lives and
How you need to think about your career in a world of AI, robotics and cybersecurity.

Enjoy this episode with the witty and inspiring Dr Cath Ball.