career transition Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

Wondering What Next? Greta’s Unique Listening Tour

May 22, 2024May 22, 2024
by Claire

Our episode this week looks at an under-appreciated concept for reflecting on, and gaining new insights for your next career step or business idea.

We go on a journey with Claire to learn about a ‘World Listening Tour’ that Greta did some years back. She had decided to leave her intense role at (RED) and wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next, nor even which country she should live in!

This dilemma about what next prompted Greta to put together her very own listening tour to learn what had been happening in the world outside the bubble of her all-absorbing (RED) role, as well as discover what other interesting things were happening in the space she was interested in. At the same time, she figured, she’d also get a ‘feel’ for whether she’d want to live in particular cities or not.

In this unique episode we share:

What a Listening Tour is
What Greta wanted from her ‘World Listening Tour’
How she secured her meetings, sometimes with amazing people
What you need to consider to have your own successful listening tour, and
How you can have one these days without leaving home.

What we love about the concept of a Listening Tour is that there’s no limit to the kind of topics or themes you might want to explore. And, as you’ll discover, through curious and well prepared conversations with contacts and strangers, a lot of insight can come.

Perhaps a Listening Tour is exactly what you need now?

Enjoy this episode!

Interview

Life Beyond Work – Natalie Yan-Chatonsky

March 23, 2023March 23, 2023
by Claire

Our guest this week is founder and author, Natalie Yan-Chatonsky.

Natalie founded her start up Full Time Lives some years ago and she’s just launched a book, called ‘The Art of Full Time Living’ which is a guide to help turn women’s mid-life transitions into fulfilling and rewarding transformations for their second half of life.

Natalie is on a pioneering quest to ensure mid-life women take the time to think proactively about living fulfilled and connected lives in the decades ahead, whether that’s post kids leaving home or stepping back from a full time career.

We know Natalie well and she’s bowled us over in the past few years with her dedication and commitment to making a difference to women’s lives, particularly the second half of their lives.

In this episode you’ll hear how:

Natalie has carefully navigated her various career transitions
She originally started researching big life changes ahead of her father’s potential retirement but it’s ended up being her life that’s changed the most
Why she worked 7 days a week for a year in order to complete her book; and
The magic ingredient and habit that’s made all the difference to her focus and productivity.

Whatever life stage you’re at right now, there are lessons in here for all of us… A life proactively shaped is a life that will make us more fulfilled.

Enjoy this episode with the disciplined and purposeful Natalie Yan-Chatonsky.

Useful Links:

Natalie’s website Full Time Lives

Natalie’s book – ‘The Art of Full Time Living’

Natalie on LinkedIn

Interview

Championing Equality – The Honourable Nicola Roxon

January 30, 2023January 31, 2023
by Claire

We’re excited to bring you our first show for 2023.

Our guest today is a topical choice given the recent surprise announcement by New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, that she was stepping down. Topical because we’re speaking with another female political trailblazer.

The Honourable Nicola Roxon was elected to Australia’s Federal Parliament at the age of just 31. She became Australia’s Health Minister for 4 years and then the country’s first Attorney General.

After 15 years in politics she decided it was time for a change and she now has a portfolio of board roles as director and Chair.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How a High Court Judge joked Nicola may cause a constitutional crisis when, as a young Associate, Nicola shared her plans for her next career step
How Nicola handled and navigated the cut and (sometimes brutal) thrust of politics without taking things personally
About the world leading health initiative she introduced that’s been copied around the world and received special recognition from the World Health Organisation; and
How Nicola made the transition from politics to corporate boards after 15 years in Parliament.

We think you’ll glean lots of useful nuggets from this conversation with the thoughtful and purposeful Nicola Roxon.

Enjoy…

Useful Links

Nicola’s website: https://www.nicolaroxon.com/

Nicola on Linkedin

Interview

Making the Leap from Corporate to Startup – Maya…

July 12, 2022July 13, 2022
by Claire

We’re back from our much needed holiday and super excited about our guest this week. She’s a technology veteran who’s just made the leap, after a long career with big global tech brands, to run a climate tech startup in Singapore.

Maya Hari spent over 15 years in the digital media, mobile and e-commerce industries, working in the US and in Asia Pacific with companies such as Google, Samsung and Microsoft. She also led Twitter’s operations in Asia Pacific.

Now she’s taken up the reins as CEO of a startup called Terrascope with a mandate to scale the young venture. She’s had three months in her new role and is excited about how it fits both her professional and her personal purpose.

You can tell Maya is a deep thinker and we love how she talks about:

How she made the decision to leave big corporates to join a startup
How she assesses when it’s right to make a career transition
What she learnt from her most challenging career experience,
And we just loved a habit of hers that she calls ‘Serendipity Reading’.

So without further ado, enjoy this conversation with the strategic and thoughtful Maya Hari.

Useful Links

Maya on LinkedIn

Terrascope website

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’

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

Interview

Greta Thomas – Creating Her Own Path

February 16, 2021February 16, 2021
by Claire

Hello and welcome to another special episode of the show.

For those of you listening in the past few weeks, you’ll know that we have finally relented to the many requests over time to share our own stories.

Claire’s been overwhelmed with the responses to her episode that we aired two weeks ago and this week it’s Greta’s turn to be interviewed by Claire!

Claire loved chatting with Greta about her innovative and fascinating career journey to date.

Tune in now to hear:

How Greta spent the very first part of her working career as a professional ballet dancer
How she hasn’t finished high school and doesn’t have an undergrad degree but managed to get an MBA and work at prestigious management consultancy, McKinsey & Company
How, against all odds, she managed to secure her dream job working for an overseas organisation founded by Bono
And, what she learnt from her time on the executive teams at eBay and Sydney Opera House.

Without further ado, enjoy this episode with our inventive and strategic co-host, Greta Thomas.

Useful Links

Greta on LinkedIn

Greta on Twitter

Don’t Stop Us Now! Website

Full Potential Labs Website

The Lazarus Effect Documentary co-produced by Greta

RED.org

Interview

Ronni Kahn – The More You Give, the More…

January 19, 2021
by Claire

Hello, Happy New Year and welcome to our first episode for 2021!

We couldn’t think of a better guest to start the year with than social entrepreneur Ronni Kahn, the Founder and CEO of OzHarvest.

Ronni is a South African who’s lived in Australia for many years. The story of how she founded and then grew OzHarvest is really quite something.

If you’re not familiar with OzHarvest, it’s Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, ensuring that quality, untouched food from supermarkets and big events gets delivered to provide meals for those in need and saving good food going to landfill.

Incredibly OzHarvest has delivered 160 million meals in Australia to date. Plus, it’s expanded overseas as well.

Ronni recently released her memoir, called A Repurposed Life and we explore her fascinating life and career journey in this episode including:

How Ronni’s early life, from growing up in South Africa, to living on a kibbutz in Israel helped shape her ultimate purpose to end food waste
How her earlier entrepreneurial endeavours with florist shops, pyramid-selling skin care, and a flourishing events business, helped her build her self confidence and enabled her to think bigger
How OzHarvest has had to pivot and adapt through COVID, and
Why Ronni advises you not to wait to give more than you get

If you’re looking to find your purpose, get some inspiration or hear how someone else has made career transitions then don’t miss this episode with the focused and impressive Ronni Kahn.

Useful Links

Ronni’s Book – A Repurposed Life

OzHarvest website

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – When Money’s Stopping You Changing…

December 8, 2020December 8, 2020
by Claire

Brought to you by Microsoft’s The New Next

In this week’s Future Proof Me mini episode we explore one aspect of a topic we’ve been asked a lot about this year. That topic is career transition and today we dive a little deeper on one thing that can be a major consideration for some, and that’s their financial security.

Particularly in this time of COVID, it’s understandable if you’re giving extra thought to your finances. Of course it’s not everything, but it’s a really interesting topic because sometimes it can be hard to think purely rationally about money and one’s medium term financial security.

It’s why this mini episode revisits the refreshing and calm, practical thinking of one of our former guests, Katie Vanneck-Smith. Katie chose to leave her high paying job as President of Dow Jones in New York to co-found a media startup called Tortoise in the UK.

You’ll hear about the thought process she went through to work out whether she could afford to make this change and still support her family. And how she’s scaled back the parties she’s famous for!

Plus, at the end you’ll also hear Claire and Greta briefly each share their stories about how they considered one of their own career transitions.

Enjoy this mini episode.

Useful Links

Katie Vanneck-Smith full episode – Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History

Katie on Linkedin

Katie on Twitter

Tortoise Website

Tortoise on Twitter