Category: New Job

On the bus!

1 Comment
Story by me (Fiona) based on an interview with Amanda
Image by me

Not everyone likes public transport, but when you are totally blind and have not caught a bus for 20 years it can be terrifying!

Amanda was a government lawyer and in 2014 her position became redundant. She decided to become a speaker, trainer and coach and once she finished her training was approached by Guide Dogs NXW/ACT to become a PR speaker for them. “I said I’d love to, because I get to practice my speaking skills and get to give back to guide dogs. I’ve had four guide dogs. It’s fantastic, because I’ve been doing it on a voluntary basis on and off for years.”

During her initial interview they asked Amanda how she planned on getting to her speaking engagements “I said ‘by taxi’ like any other self respecting person who can’t drive. And they said ‘Ah, what would you say if we said, we wanted you to get to as many of these as possible by public transport?’

“And I hadn’t caught a bus in 20 years, because I’ve been lucky enough to have always had someone at work who was willing to give me a lift. Apparently, all the colour drained from my face. I just about nearly threw up in the interviewers lap, because I was convinced that if I caught the bus on I on my own I’d get lost, and that would be a disaster.”

Amanda was reassured that she would not be on her own, they would train her first. And they did! 2 weeks of intensive training followed.

“And so we started with just getting on and off a stationary bus and finding a seat. And I was really anxious because I said, ‘oh, maybe I’m taking too long the bus driver is gonna yell at me’. But no, it was all good. And then the bus driver drove round and round the block in the pouring rain. And while I practiced getting on, ringing the bell and getting off the bus. Then gettting back on and finding a seat before ringing the bell. So we did this and then we had a short a short trip where we went half a dozen stops with the guide dog instructor next to me.

“And then we got to the point where I got to travel into the city on my own and met the instructor there. We had a coffee and then I travelled back again. And now I travel all over Canberra by bus to speak. So that was very definitely stepping out of my comfort zone.”

Amanda was still very nervous – but there were the bus announcements, an app to tell her when her stop was coming up and the bus driver as a last resort. She did get lost once, but called her mum to collect her.

“I travelled to and from a speaking engagement, do the talk. I’d come back and I’d have to have a nap because I’d be absolutely exhausted.

“But it felt really good knowing that I could do it, that I had conquered one of my greatest fears. And it felt really great. And now I’ve got to the point where I can actually check my email and send out an invoice between stops!

“And now ironically, I actually helped to train Canberra’s bus drivers on how to make bus travel more accessible for blind people.”

Amanda had advice for anyone reading this blog “Firstly, you have to want to enough, because if you don’t want to enough, if your why’s not big enough, you won’t bother. So you have to really want to do it.

“Then just take a deep breath and figure out how you can make that possible, how you can overcome that fear. Perhaps using something like the three steps: look at it on the catastrophe scale, figure out the consequences, and then what can you do to mitigate those consequences?”

Lastly Amanda advises to change your thoughts from the reasons why you can’t to ‘How can I?’ thoughts instead.

Thank you Amanda for sharing your story of overcoming a big fear!

Amanda Heal is a published author, professional keynote speaker, sought-after empowerment coach, podcaster, and entrepreneur. For years, she has inspired and encouraged clients and audiences alike to reach their full potential by finding hope, courage, and purpose.
Amanda is the sort of person who, if you tell her she can’t do something, will usually find a way. You may not think that is a big deal, but she has been totally blind since birth, so what you might find easy often creates challenges for her that she overcomes.
Surviving premature birth in 1970 was the first of those challenges. At birth, she weighed just 0.750kg (1 lb 9 oz) and was 24.5cm (10” ) long.
Amanda was the first totally blind student to graduate with honours in Law from the Australian National University. She has climbed to an altitude of 3,210m/10,531 ft, in Nepal, retrained as a speaker and coach after being unexpectedly laid off at the end of a seventeen-year legal career, and is a podcaster and published author of multiple books.
Amanda has made a number of television appearances, including appearing on ABC News  (Australia),  60 Minutes , and The Midday Show (Australia). She has also done quite a number of radio interviews.
As a speaker, Amanda uses her life experiences to inspire and encourage audiences to take courageous action to overcome the challenges that keep them stuck so they can reach their full potential in work and life.
As a coach, Amanda helps people discover their life’s purpose, overcome their limiting beliefs, and follow their dreams so they can celebrate rather than tolerate what they do each day.
Amanda currently lives in Canberra, Australia, with her guide dog Sadie and her budgie Maestro.

Passion and Purpose

Leave a comment
Words by me (Fiona) based on an interview with Kylie
Image by me

Kylie learned the hard way that ‘following your passion’ is not always the path to happiness.

In her case, stepping out of her comfort zone career-wise seemed like the antidote for her lifelong battle with depression and anxiety.

“From early on I assumed that my emotional state was a product of my life circumstances. I dreamed of leaving the small country town I’d grown up in and moving to the city so I could finally be in control of my choices. And that’s pretty much what I did. I went to uni and picked up couple of part-time jobs. I worked really, really hard to acquire all the things that I thought would make me happy – a successful career as a radiographer, dream home, classic car, designer things, great social life and heaps of friends.  Essentially, all the things that the advertising agents tell you will make you happy. But the thing is, none of these material acquisitions changed anything about my life. I was still completely hollow and empty on the inside. 

“And that was devastating. I kept thinking, perhaps it’s just because I haven’t met the love of my life or I haven’t found the career of my dreams. There were no contenders on the romance front, so I decided that the one thing I could control was my career.  So I went looking for something that I thought would make my heart sing. And that’s when an opportunity arose to set up a decorative metal finishes business. It felt like my destiny. So I literally took the leap of faith and left my secure and stable career behind.

“My foray into the architectural and design industry was exciting at first. Unfortunately, after six years of pouring all my resources into this business, it failed. I lost a lot of money and it broke me emotionally. What I couldn’t understand was why. My decision felt so right at the beginning. I thought it was what I really wanted to do. 

“In hindsight, I realised that I’d made the all-too-common mistake of following a passion rather than my purpose.

“As far as how I dealt with it, I don’t know that I did. I felt like such a failure and fell into a deep depression. To cope, I simply kept putting one foot in front of the other. I felt too embarrassed to go back to my old career. I took some time out and did simple, odd jobs that were offered to me.

“More and more, I wanted to understand why things had gone so wrong when they had felt so right. I wanted to know what was wrong with me, why I wasn’t satisfied and why I couldn’t enjoy the simple pleasures in life.  So I started searching. I did lots of courses, workshops, retreats, and that sort of thing to try and work out what was missing. This continued for a good 16 years.”

To cut to the chase, Kylie did find her purpose.  The full story, she says, takes two days to tell properly.

In the essence of time, she had this to share about passion and purpose.

“What people don’t realise is that purpose and passion play two really different roles in your life.  You can have many passions, but only one true purpose.

Passions are the things you thoroughly enjoy doing because they make you feel good. They are very much driven by emotion and thus can fluctuate depending on your mood. In that way they are really quite self-serving. Passions, however, are essential because they help create work life balance, particularly in the face of challenges.

“Your purpose is your contribution to humanity and allows you to serve others in the way that only you can. It can be defined as a combination of your unique skills, talents and life experiences.

“And it’s only through living your purpose that you ever find fulfillment and meaning.

Thank you Kylie!

Kylie Attwell is an author, content curator and facilitator for self-transformation. Her skills and services take a multi-disciplinary approach based on the latest therapeutic modalities and brain science. In her Brisbane practice, she conducts one-on-one consultations and energy assessments to ascertain where clients are on their journey, and then provides personalised guidance to help change the printout of their life. She also facilitates belief change, emotional release, and hands-on healing sessions to relieve stress and anxiety.

The breath of fresh air

Leave a comment
Image by me (Fiona)
Words by me based on an interview with Valerie

Valerie finds that outside of her comfort zone is where you feel the wonder of new beginnings.

In early 2020 Valerie was at the pinnacle of her career in marketing and advertising – the chief marketing officer. This was a role achieved as part of 20 years in the industry, and something Valerie was very comfortable doing.

Then the pandemic hit and Valerie lost her job.

Shortly after that a friend contacted her “do you know a speaker or anybody who can help us understand Facebook, understand the digital space, understand this new world because we all were forced to go virtual?”

Valerie initially recommended a few people. But they were outside her friend’s budget.

So she volunteered her own services!

While this sort of training was new to Valerie, she had the mindset, the experience and her NLP training to call on.

Not that she didn’t have second thoughts. With 300 people to train she initially was not sure what she was going to say to them!

Valerie thinks her friend was actually hoping she would offer.

Fast forward a year and Valerie has trained over 3500 people from all over the world!

This was not the first or last time Valerie stepped outside her comfort zone – she was the first of her friends to work overseas, and she chose Cambodia instead of the more popular Singapore to do that. That was a year well out of her comfort zone with no knowledge of the language, and a very different lifestyle that included not even owning a mirror!

She also dated online well before it was commonplace. She married her partner in a private ceremony “we just we just exchanged vows and I gave our family and friends messages and poems to share with us and that was it. Of course I’m biased but it connected us to our family and it connected us to our friends.”

Valerie has advice for others thinking about stepping out of their comfort zone “Mel Robbins has this NLP technique when you count 54321. When you count backwards your brain shifts from being emotional (being afraid, feeling like you can’t do this) to the executive function, your cognitive brain. This makes you more logical.

“So 54321 you count and then you hit the button! You just start with your commit – you share with the world, you share on your facebook so that you’re on the hook and you just do it.”

Wonderful advice Valerie!

Valerie Fischer helps online business owners increase revenue growth with Brain Science Selling. You can find out more about her at her Facebook page or website www.valeriefischer.net.

My fight with lava

Leave a comment
Words by Karen Tisdell – my guest blogger today
Photo by Vadim Sadovski on Unsplash

Tell me about your LinkedIn journey from the start to where you are now.

I was an early adopter of LinkedIn, using it as a recruiter. In 2009, I went on maternity leave. I was considered an ‘old’ mum at 35 but was desperate for children. My husband and I didn’t have a plan for when I’d go back to work, and it was a shock to him when, after just a few months, I was ready.

My husband’s mother is house-proud. She keeps her home spotless – it was what he grew up with. My husband was disappointed that polishing his shoes and vacuuming wasn’t what I lived for and even more appalled at the thought of putting our tiny baby (a delicate little thing that struggled with weight gain) into care.

My frustration grew until one day, I told the truth. I shared my struggles with a friend, confessing that I wasn’t satisfied with staying home. Her suggestion was to combine my aptitude for writing with my knowledge of LinkedIn. I’ve been a champion of the platform since the old days, seeing it as a place where you could pull clients to you and build mutually beneficially relationships.

I took her advice and set about getting clients.

Of course, like every good story, it wasn’t easy. My husband was reluctant. It would be unfair to call him unsupportive – he once spent a whole weekend building me a website. I didn’t have any say in the design and refused to use it. I wanted to pay for a professional site, but he wouldn’t hear it.

Our family was going through it, too. My husband travelled a lot and wasn’t able to be the most hands-on father and I didn’t make that any easier for him by wanting everything my way. I became pregnant three more times, miscarrying at 11 weeks and losing another baby at six months. It was a very difficult time.

The challenges didn’t take me away from my side business. They drew me in deeper. I had something that was all mine, and that kept me strong.

Now in hindsight, I can see that not having financial backing was a positive thing. I invested hours and hours on LinkedIn, learning, building relationships with people that could refer clients to me, and anything else that didn’t cost a cent. You know, that’s what I really love about LinkedIn. It’s equitable – an even playing field. People like me have the same space as Richard Branson. There’s so much power in that. I’m proof of it.

Fast-forward to today, and I am now one of the few people who write LinkedIn profiles in Australia – even the world. The others are marketing people that dabble in LinkedIn or career coaches that think a profile is like a resume – which it absolutely isn’t!

I’ve earned an excellent reputation as a LinkedIn profile writer. It’s my specialty. I am also a sought-after LinkedIn trainer and speaker. I’m not turning over millions, but I’m doing well. I’ve held on to my family (my husband and I are happier than ever) and grown my business.

When did you realise your business had the potential to go full time?

I love being a mum, and I didn’t want a rigid nine-to-five. My work had to fit around my children – not the other way around. My business has never been full- or part-time, rather anytime and all the time!

Early on, I planned around those 20 minutes my daughters were napping. I’d work with razor-sharp focus, turning the whole world off. It’s a skill I’m grateful for today.

When my kids were toddlers, I’d take them to play cafes, the ones with ball pits and playgrounds. They’d wear themselves out, and I’d be pounding away on the keyboard. I’d even meet clients there, something that was perhaps a little weird for them. You can hardly hear yourself think in those places, but I learnt to tune it all out – except for the sound of my children crying.

I even gave up watching TV. I wanted to go to bed at the same time as my children so I could wake up at 4.30 am and work. You’ve got to give up some things – I touch on that more HERE. This was hard on my husband. He likes staying up late and sleeping in. We barely saw each other for years. Our lives have changed a lot since COVID, and while it has been so devastating for so many, I’ve loved having my husband home during the day.

My mother-in-law would also come and stay for about one week out of the year. I plan around this, cram my diary full, and meet as many clients as possible. I didn’t send my kids to daycare for years. It really taught me the value of time.

My hours have grown alongside my daughters’ independence, although I draw the line at meeting clients outside of school hours. I’ve done the math, and I clock about 45.5 hours per week: an hour in the morning while the girls are asleep, six while they are at school, an hour in the evening while supervising homework or in the car while they are at music lessons, and on the weekend, two hours while they are at golf, one while at swimming, one and a half while at tennis, and one precious hour before the house wakes up on Sunday.

It may sound like a busy schedule and I have a lot of time for friends. But I love what I do almost to a fault. And to contextualise, I don’t write profiles every hour of my working week. I’m also responding to questions, crafting content, sending invitations to connect, being a guest on podcasts, or writing for others’ publications. It’s all good stuff – except accounts.

There’s not a bone in my body passionate about the accounts. Money isn’t my main focus, though I am proud to bring in what I do. I’m motivated more by a compulsion to give, to help others, even those that can’t afford my services. It’s almost addictive, and maybe that’s not healthy. But aside from gardening with a podcast or camping beachside with my family (UNO, boogie boarding, long walks, campfires, marshmallows, and burnt sausages – bliss), there are few things I’d rather do.

What mistakes did you make in the early days of your entrepreneurial journey?

When I had a bit of money to spend, I spent it all wrong. I should have invested in a website, but instead, I paid for prettily designed brochures, with comp slips and branded Christmas cards. I wanted to be a high-touch business, so I went all out: expensive paper, raised fonts, the whole wedding invitation shebang. Now I know better. Paper is antiquated. How ridiculous for me to think I needed it. It was only recently I tossed them into the recycling bin.

Another big mistake: trying to be all things to all people. I’m a recovering people pleaser, and I did whatever I could to make my clients happy. I often suffered scope-creep as I gave away far more time than I got paid for.

Pricing was another big one. I researched what part-timers in the suburbs earned and tried to pay myself that amount. Tried. In truth, I was grateful for any money at all. $15/hour. For the first eight years or so, I was blinded by my genuine LOVE for writing profiles. Even as a kid, I wanted to write peoples’ life stories – not as a biographer but an autobiographer. I wanted to be them, live through them. I love the dramatic arts but am a terrible over-actor. Profiles allow me to step into people’s worlds, if only for a few hours.

Anyway, the short of it is, getting paid felt wrong. My husband showed me the value of my work and my time. He was resentful of my business. He thought I was spending too much time on something that contributed so little financially to our family. I finally listened to him, and it saved both my business and my marriage.

What are the key components to your success?

Number one: I am extremely resilient. Tenacious. I don’t give up.

I’m also serious about my habits and routines. Time is precious to me and I’m careful how I spend each and every hour.

Finally, I am willing to listen to others. I’ve learnt so much from my clients, who have shared business advice with me over the years. I do wish I’d listened to my husband earlier. It took too long for me to understand his perspective. I’m glad I didn’t lose him because of my myopic vision and love of what I do.

What are three top tips that you would share with someone starting out on their own entrepreneurial journey?

One: develop great habits. Work practices can reduce decision fatigue, making your life easier. Be sure to regularly assess if your routines are effective.

Two: be grateful – but not too grateful. I think what stopped me from valuing my time (and charging accordingly) was an excess of gratitude. I was so thankful to every client, for every dollar. Gratitude is, of course, essential – I believe it can save you from depression. But it can also mean you put up with things you maybe oughtn’t to.

Three: invest in a business coach and the app Blinkist, which allows you to listen or read a full book in 20 minutes. If you can, a business coach is ideal. I didn’t have one – I self-educated. But I did write profiles for many successful business owners and coaches, so I asked (and continue to ask) them about things I was struggling with, as I did with you Fiona. Sometimes you don’t know what to ask, and that’s why a business coach can be invaluable.

About Karen:

Struggling to capture your vast experience, skills and stories in your LinkedIn profile? It is hard to write about yourself, isn’t it? Call me on 📱 0404 083 678 and I can take away the pain, save you time, and guarantee your professional success with a done-for-you LinkedIn profile writing service that includes coaching on using LinkedIn.

I became a LinkedIn profile writer because I am fascinated with people’s stories. Always have been. In my former career as a recruiter I used to weave stories into resumes to ensure candidates were selected for interview. Foreseeing that being memorable online would become increasingly important, in 2009 I left recruitment to launch my own business. I have since helped countless senior leaders and business owners achieve their goals.

The results have been spectacular. I’ve witnessed my clients secure new roles because of their profile (in one instance with a 35% pay increase), attract new business, secure investors, and improve how their peers see them. All because of how they are perceived here…

Coaching in the Wild #3

Leave a comment
My latest coaching vlog – my latest learnings and updates about my side hustle and journey.


I should also mention that the profile mentioned was my LinkedIn profile – as this was my 11th take (some were only 2 seconds long before I messed up) I decided to clarify here rather than do a 12th take.

Given I once posted the video where my cat knocked over the camera you might wonder what ‘messing up entails’. It is when I go off on a tangent, or say something that feels wrong, completely lose my train of thought mid sentence etc.

When change is constant…

Leave a comment
Image by me (Fiona)
Story by me based on an interview with Olga

Olga’s story is one of a life lived well outside of most people’s comfort zones, which means she is rarely outside of her own. When change is a constant in your life, how do you get uncomfortable?

Becoming an entrepreneur might do it…

“Oh, I think it just happened gradually. And I wouldn’t call it stepping out of my comfort zone, I’ll say, extending my comfort zone. As lots of people did, I went through a lot of career transformation. And I lived in six different countries. I moved a lot. And my career kind of turned and twisted, because of that, as well. Everything contributed in a way.

“And I think that my major stepping out of the core of my comfort zone was transforming from a corporate worker to entrepreneur. To actually do my own business full time.

“I started my business six years ago, but it was a little bit of a love/hate relationship.”

Olga would work for herself, then be interested in what a corporation was doing and head back to that world.

“That’s what happened three times”

Once Olga made the choice to truly be an entrepreneur “It felt very liberating. And I think that’s one of the major contributing factors. Another aspect that really was appealing to me is the fact that I’m learning all the time. Before that I was well paid, but the job was extremely transactional. And it was very depressing to be honest. So, to get the opportunity to dive in and to learn all the time, and actually feel that I am growing as a professional, that was amazing. And it still is, you know, I’m still learning every day.”

And if someone was considering stepping out of their comfort zone?

“I think that my advice would be to think of actually applying the classical change management framework to the plan. Which means that you have to plan, you have to establish your success metrics, you need to be able to get the sponsor, get as much support as possible, and explain to family and friends how this changes might affect you. 

“It’s important to communicate and explain to people how the change would affect them, and how it can be a good thing.”

Olga sees benefits in stepping out of your comfort zone – learning a growth to start with – but also appreciates that not everyone wants to get uncomfortable “you might want to still think of how you can learn. And you might not change jobs or move countries, but it’s a good idea to track what you’re doing and to track your growth. Stagnation is not good.”

“I think it’s very important to ask for help, to allow yourself ask for help. I think at different stages of our lives we all need mentors. And maybe not just one mentor.  Two mentors who are different, of maybe different age groups, because I think that there are people who struggle, because they don’t see outside themselves. And that’s where I come, and I help and guide them through this journey. So I think it’s important to have someone who you trust who can help you to keep growing.”

Thank you Olga!

A little about Olga:
Having lived in 6 countries across Europe, Middle East and APAC and after working in senior HR and Recruitment role for the last 20 years, now Olga Barrett resides in Melbourne and helps people who go through their Career Transformation.

Olga helps people get the jobs they want and build the careers they deserve to have by creating actionable career transformation frameworks that make job search process transparent, manageable and even fun.

Self Awareness is Key

Leave a comment
Image by me (Fiona), Words by me based on an interview with Rachel

Rachel started her interview with me by telling me about the time she left her job to focus on her typewriter poetry business – Typolar.

She has an old 1970s typewriter and she types poems on the spot on the subject requested. This started as Rachels side hustle but she took a leap and started working on it full time.

Leaving her job was not hard for Rachel. As someone who is neurodivergent, with ADHD and autism, she never felt like she was a 100% fit for her role. It was not all bad, but she decided to give being her own boss a shot!

Typolar was going well, but winter was approaching and Rachel was not sure about busking in winter. “I got interested in the neurodivergence space, I went to a symposium and heard about these interesting things with neurodivergence and employment. And I just thought I want to find a way to get the stories out there! So I studied marketing.”

I asked Rachel how making these decisions felt “I think on one hand I was terrified. On the other hand, I also thought I had nothing to lose.

“I already had my lowest points in employment, how much worse could entrepreneurship possibly get? It comes down to not having any regrets. Even if something was a bad decision, the human spirit is ultimately quite resilient.”

The resiliency was a theme throughout our interview. It is something she leans a lot on these days.

Rachel learned a few things about herself while on this journey: She was a better business person than she assumed, that her ADHD trait of being good in emergencies helped her adapt quickly to changing circumstances, and that trusting herself led to much better outcomes than taking on other opinions.

One of the other benefits Rachel discovered by being out of her comfort zone is not to fear failure. Writing poetry on request meant that sometimes (not often!) the poem wasn’t what the customer wanted.  And Rachel learned that it was not the end of the world if that happened!  Also “people are more afraid of the social judgement that comes with that rather than the actual failure itself. So once you realise that it’s actually about being afraid of other people’s judgement on that failure, you go, ‘Okay, well, why do you care about that person’s opinion because they’re more worried about their own judgement’”

As for advice to anyone thinking about stepping out of their comfort zone: “number one is self-awareness. Really understanding yourself as to what are you good at? What are you not good at? What do you really want to achieve in life? And sitting down and mapping out all those different strengths, interests, weaknesses. Then using that to help with making a decision on whether to step out of that comfort zone and do your own thing or even making a tough decision about your career.”

Rachel also advises to think about just how important decisions are – what is critical at 19 may not be such a big deal at 90 when you look back on your life.

And of course, Rachel had a chance to give me some final words, powerful ones “I think the more the more that people are self-aware of what they want to do, what they want to do to be happy. I think it’s just better for society. I think if we just worry less about other people’s judgement, if we just even stop judging people in general. I think everyone will just be a lot happier, society be more productive. work will be far more pleasant. A lot of social issues and political crises will be resolved. If we just stop being judgmental about other people’s differences and embracing everyone’s neurodivergence.”

About Rachel:

My day job is being the CEO of Neurodiversity Media, a global tech-enabled media company that combines journalistic flair, marketing insight and legal rigour to unleash potential in the workplace. Our signature product is our Resource Library platform, our one-stop shop for news, products and services for all things neurodiversity in the workplace. Join as a free member today: www.neurodiversitymedia.com/join.

My first business and current side hustle, typepolar, is my creative outlet where I write poems on demand at weddings, parties and events. I also do personalised poetry commissions for gifts.

Turning up is 90% of the game

Leave a comment
Words by me (Fiona) based on an interview with Monica
Image by me

What if you had spent so much of your life outside your comfort zone that your challenge was in settling back into being comfortable?

Meet Monica!

Up until the age of 13 Monica had an idyllic life. One of 8 children with two great parents she was perfectly happy. And then her father passed away suddenly. On the surface life didn’t change, other than missing her dad.

Monica found herself becoming the ‘clever, naughty kid’ after that. “I adopted this persona of always being outside the comfort zone, always being rebellious.”

Monica balanced jobs and school from ages 14 to 17, and then decided to take a gap year as she had no idea what direction to take next. Career advice was varied and not useful!

After finding herself working 5 jobs in Cairns, a push from her mum had her moving back to the city and getting a job at a trading house – the start of something wonderful for Monica!

“And it was just the dynamism of this really complicated global working environment a whole new language to learn – bills of lading, 90cl, futures, phytosanitary certificates, regulations and steamship owners that were German. Russian and Pacific Islanders. It was an interesting process, and I went to work as a shipping clerk.”

Monica describes one of her key attributes as curiosity, which combined with an ability to make friends and retain information had her soon selected to be part of an international fast track program!

“That just then opened up a whole world! This month, you’re going to go to Singapore, and you’re going to learn about our insurance business. Next month, you’re going to go to Hamburg and you’re going to have learn how we manage our asset fleet of breakbulk ships, or every variety of ships and how many ports we own around the world. You are going to learn the economics of the cattle/beef industry, from paddock to burger. As a 22-year-old kid I just soaked all this up.”

Monica’s career went from strength to strength, a combination of confidence and talent seeing her succeed in whatever she set her mind to. She moved from Brisbane to Perth to Sydney and then to New York as part of her career progression.

For 8 years in US she thrived then as she turned 30 she reflected on her next step and incidentally started to meet women 10 years older and whilst “successful” in their careers and earnings they were unhappy. That was the first trigger in her decision to come home to Australia, but there was more “I think something sat with me from meeting those all the women and I got a glimpse of my future self.

“I actually got sick because I’ve flown a lot and I picked up a virus, I think on a trip back from South America. And I remember I flew into Miami and was feeling just not quite well. I went to whoever the doctor was according to our health plan, and before I knew it, they put me into the ICU because what I’d actually picked up was a viral infection in my heart muscle.”

It was not long after that Monica moved home to Brisbane and moved in with her mum, who sadly passed away 4 months later.

Monica struggled to get a job in Brisbane – a recruiter suggested her experience and her New York accent may have been intimidating to the branch offices in that smaller city – but instead of moving to a bigger city Monica embarked on an MBA – and 2 years later topped the Dean’s list. Another year on she married a pilot and move to Dubai where she embarked on another 9-year adventure in Arabic foreign wealth funds.

Her marriage lasted a decade and she moved back to her beloved Brisbane in 2012.  “The divorce gave me cause to reflect.”

Monica shared with me at this stage that if it is work related, she has no issue solving problems, but struggled more with being uncomfortable / vulnerable on a personal level.

“One of my brothers suffers with bipolar. In the last five years, I took my brother in and he came to live with me. And I started to get a real appreciation of mental illness as an illness not as something that people should just get over.

“I got the understanding of just how cruel and hurtful people going through both ends of that cycle are. I felt useless. I just felt like it was something I couldn’t fix. And that really, for a long while, it really affected me. And it took me a while to develop a mindset about removing all my unconscious bias that it was about my brother. It’s not just get out of bed and do something. That’s my method. That’s not healing. 

“It took me a long while but I’ve reframed my whole mindset around, this is an illness. And if he had cancer, I would be there in a heartbeat with whatever it needed done. And so I just had to accept it was something out of my control, and I had to manage it. Like I would manage the volatility of the marketplace, and say, whatever version of my brother turns up today, I’ll be okay. I think that was helpful. And that’s helped me a lot more in this last phase of my career. Because I think now, I’m much more of a humanist.”

And Monica’s advice to others about stepping out of their comfort zone?

“It’s hard, but you can’t let it disable you. I would implore them to go to a time where the first experience has been discomfort, like when they learn to drive, the first time you ever get behind the wheel of a car, you think you’re never going to be able to do this. The first time you go out for a run, you think I’ll never be able to run more than 20 minutes. The first time you touch a computer, are you ever going to be able to type? I think there’s lots of examples in our lives where we’ve had discomfort, but we just work our way through it. And for me, I think turning up is 90% of the game. So turn up”

Great advice Monica!

Stepping into a transformation!

Leave a comment
Image by me (Fiona)
Words by me based on an interview with Alex

Imagine for a moment leading a company wide transformation and “be suddenly leading that level of change in an area that I really did not have deep domain expertise. I had not worked in that way before. I was having to learn while we were building and be able to be quickly build my own knowledge around it. But the biggest challenge was, it challenged me personally. So it wasn’t just that I was working on something that was new to me. I had to really reflect on my own leadership and how I was showing up and what this was all going look like and feel like.”

Alex knew that the T22 transformation was what Telstra needed, and a leaning in to the strategy was very much one of her strengths, but this change “was probably one of the most fundamental out of comfort zone experiences because it challenged a lot of deeply ingrained practices and ways of thinking.

“It profoundly impacted what work we did, how we delivered that work. It profoundly impacted all the people in the function. And in my mind, I had to adapt and change to that new way of working fastest of all, if you’re going to advocate for it, and you’re going to push for it.

“There wasn’t a guide. It’s not as if I could sit down and read the 101 manual and suddenly just get it. It was very much a learn through experience and trying some different approaches.”

Alex felt anxiety, fear of failure and a loss of control as she led the company through this huge change. A lot of which she admits came from high expectations of herself.

I asked Alex how she dealt with those feelings “I think on one hand, one of my lucky strengths is that I am pretty naturally resilient. I think we’re all different in how we deal with anxiety. But I do think there are a couple of things that help you with that.

“One, I tend to be pretty open with people around me. So my direct reports, I would joke with them about how I was learning and trying to get it right and knew I was going to get it wrong at least 50% of the time. And I do think when you verbalise things that make you anxious your halfway there to being able to deal with them because then they’re not the biggest secret that you’re carrying. Fear of failure is a really heavy thing to carry. It’s actually sharing it with others explaining what you’re challenged by and asking for feedback. Others will help guide you. 

“And the other is actually just to invest some time in in learning. I do believe to lead something, try and exemplify that you must educate yourself. Knowledge builds your confidence. Learn the language, the things that make it feel intimidating. If you can cross that boundary, then suddenly it’s not so frightening and a whole bunch of it’s just common sense. 

“So educate yourself and lean on others.”

Alex surprised herself with her adaptability throughout this journey “you can start to believe your own excuses about ‘I’ve been working too long. This is the way I grew up working’. All of that sort of stuff. But it really proves to me, we can all choose to change, we can all choose to change how we manage work, how we manage people, workplace relationships, and that as the world around us is changing traditional assumptions around organisational culture and engagement are changing as well. 

“For senior execs, or those of us who’ve been around a bit longer, it was that absolute reinforcement of we need to stay fresh and contemporary. If you’re still relying on research you heard 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, there’ll be some gems in there. But there’ll be some things that have fundamentally changed because the new generations coming into our own organisations their expectations are shifting. And we’ve got to be able to constantly learn, adapt and change, to be able to deal with that.”

And Alex told that was as relevant with a 15 year old and a 6 year old at home as it was in business – you have to keep pace with change in order to relate.

Another important learning for Alex was to focus on the long goal, not the short term wins: “… being pragmatic. We had big bold visions, and you want to do everything at once and change everything. You’ve got to pick your battles, and you’ve got to work out which one’s most important. Which one do you really want done? And which one can you come back to later? What’s the most important step for us to take?

“I do think sometimes you can get a bit too wedded to your plan.”

Of course I asked Alex for her advice to anyone considering a step out of their comfort zone “one of the pieces of advice I can give people is think about adjacencies. For a lot of us, we’re not prepared to completely change everything. Think about the core skill set you have.

“One of the things I often suggest to people is think about what are the three or four anchor skills you’ve got that are not described by the functional, the specialist area you’re in? And then what’s the next logical step? So, if I’m working in risk, start to look around you and go, what are things that look a bit like that? Well, health and safety is a second line risk function. Compliance is a risk related activity, depending on what your training and expertise is regulatory might come in to the frame. So think about that first layer of the next circle around you and dip your toe in the water because you’re leveraging core strengths, and you’re not too far away from home.

“The other thing is I do think you’re often trying that in an environment where you’ve got sponsorship. Think who’s your supporter? Who’s going to be the person you can lean on or call out to when you’re learning. And when you’re learning, you’ll probably make a couple of mistakes. And you probably stumble and fall a couple of times. It helps to have a friend and a sponsor in those moments to help guide you. So think about the adjacencies, have your sponsor lined up, then take the job and give it a go. Because rarely do does anything dreadful happen.”

What great advice, thank you Alex!

Alex Badenoch is the Group Executive Transformation, Communications & People at Telstra
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-badenoch/

Comfortable being Uncomfortable

Leave a comment
Words by me (Fiona) based on an interview with Drew
Image by me

I asked Drew if he would let me interview him when I heard him talk about being out of his comfort zone a lot, and he said it with joy!

Drew has many examples, but I will share today what he told me about his role as the Executive General Manager of High Performance at Cricket Australia.

Being approached for a role is not a new experience for Drew – winning Olympic gold medals makes you fairly high profile – but this one surprised him “I was called by one of our former athlete management representatives,  he rang me out of the blue and asked ‘What are you doing right now?’ And I said ‘I’m walking around the athletic field watching my son do cross country training’. And he clarified ‘what are you doing workwise”. The answer was rowing and coaching.

“He then asked would you consider another sport? And I said, ‘what sport’ and he goes ‘Cricket’.

“I didn’t know anything about the sport at all!”

Drew had no experience in cricket, none as a performance manager and had lost his job as head coach of the national rowing team just 12 months earlier.

But what he did have was a lifetime of being bold and giving things a go.

Drew credits his dad and his coaches with that approach to life “what I’ve been encouraged always do is stick your hand up have a crack at something, it’s okay to fail. It’s okay to make mistakes.”

Drew is also okay with not knowing and being open about that. “What I’ve worked out is it’s okay to show that you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re not across it. But asking questions and that sort of stuff is what makes me feel more comfortable.”

He took on the role – trusting that the CEO, and athlete manager knew him well enough to be know if he was the right fit – and hope they would not judge his lack of cricket specific knowledge.

An unusual sense of optimism is one of Drew’s personality traits that enables him to take risks. But he also has a lot of self-awareness. Drew knows that he is more comfortable failing in front of strangers than people he knows “To go to a surf beach as a kid, where you don’t know anyone, but there are others surfing I felt relatively okay with giving that a go. But if I came to my local surf beach where I knew everyone on the water, I found my apprehension would go through the roof. And sometimes I would talk myself out of going in the water.

“What I’m suggesting here is we have to get to know ourselves first. Work out the things that either trigger us positively or negatively about a situation.”

Drew is also aware of his motivations – committing to at least one other person is a great way for Drew to not ignore his alarm in the morning!

When it comes to things like public speaking, Drew uses tactics learned as a rower to ground himself. “It didn’t make the nerves any better. But what I generally found was it meant that my mind was less active. And so the thoughts or self talk slowed down.

“The interesting thing about self talk is when your self doubts and your self talk really get magnified, and almost to the point where it’s sort of stopping you and debilitating. When I was rowing if you put your hand in the water, it’s amazing. If you just feel the viscosity, you feel a temperature and all that stuff. It’s like your mind can’t be anywhere else apart from feeling that and so it slows everything down. It just gets you away from the past, present, future dynamic, and also the positive, negative dynamic. It gets you into ‘it’s just water and just the temperature and it’s just the feeling’. It’s the same thing with breathing. I think breathing helps us in that way a lot. And so I find whenever I’ve got to lead a meeting, or do a presentation of any sort just taking a few deep breaths and centring yourself into you what really matters most now. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the anxiety or concern go away, but they go away enough to give you insight.”

Drew’s advice to get more comfortable with being uncomfortable is to start small. Try something new. That small change, being uncomfortable, gives you a new perspective and can be the catalyst for bigger changes. Maybe even a gold medal or three?

Thank you so much Drew!

A bit about Drew:

A life of passion for family, sport and adventures. Working in high performance is a gift and since transitioning as an athlete into my work life it’s been a privilege to engage with great people working to achieving great outcomes.