A Note From The President

Avil Beckford, President

This month I asked Simon Grant, CEO, Neoventa Medical in Sweden and Nanci Govinder, a Personal Mastery Instructor in Switzerland how to successfully switch careers.

Simon Grant: I have walked away from a career twice. The first time I did it for love (met a woman on holiday, moved to Sweden, worked washing dishes till I got a chance to start again in a Swedish company in a new industry). The second time I simply stopped having fun in my career and so quit and went backpacking for a year with my now wife, changed country again and had to start from (almost) scratch again.

In both cases and as a general guide I think a successful transition is about understanding that you need to "earn your stripes" with those whom you start working with. You should never expect respect. Gaining respect is not just about what you know or the decisions you make, but, about the passion that you bring to your role and how you treat your co-workers. It's not impossible, but it's damn hard to be successful without the support and respect of your co-workers.

Nanci Govinder: Moving from one career to another is perhaps one of the most stressful and enjoyable experiences one can have in one's professional life. Often people do not fulfill their true desires in terms of a career as they studied to do something and are fearful of change. I have made many transitions in my professional life and loved each step--from a scientist to a career in marketing and general management, to a research associate in an international business school to currently being a coach, teacher and speaker.

Here are some tips to change careers I would like to share with you:

Be clear about what you want
Deep down, we all know what we truly desire but are too afraid to even articulate it to ourselves. To get started, write down some things that you achieved between the ages of 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-25. These must be things that bring a smile to your face when you recall them.

Write it down
This is a really important step as seeing your 'dream' on paper, starts the process of making it a reality. If you just talk about it or think about it, it remains just that, a pipe dream.

Find role models or mentors
During this process, people close to you tend to project their fears on you and tell you what a bad idea it is and how foolish you are to leave a 'good job with good prospects blah, blah, blah.' Don't listen to them. They are just projecting their fears.

Transition part-time
We all have financial commitments and obligations and it can be a big step to make dramatic changes. Find ways to ease into your new career if you can. I reduced my full-time job to three days a week and spent the other two days working on my company and creating my network. When the time came to leave, I felt confident and at ease to work full time in my company.

List your fears
We all have fears. We are afraid of failure, being embarrassed, humiliated, being successful and so on. What are you afraid of? It's important to state your fear and to realize that fear is just a thought or belief that you have

These are the tips that Simon and Nanci would like to share with you if you decided that you wanted a career change. Until next time! Avil Beckford

P.S. Like this newsletter? Will customize for medium-sized firms that want to distribute it to their staff. Contact me at avil.beckford@ambeck.com and let's talk!

Book Review

Review of Mr. Merglar's Gift

This month I decided to review a 30-minute film instead of a book because I found it moving. This story is about a student and her piano teacher. Set in Montreal, Canada, the film begins with Xin Ben and father, who recently immigrated to Canada from China, riding their bicycles. This particular Sunday, as fate would have it, they took a different route from church and rode through a park. As any typical nine year old, Xin Ben wants to play in the park. They park their bikes and Xin Ben goes to play on the swing while her dad sits on a bench beside Daniel Merglar.

Xin Ben's parents had just bought her a piano at her insistence, and it turns out that Mr. Merglar is a piano teacher. The story is centred on the music. This little girl was very special because when she played the piano she played with such feeling. During the documentary, when Mr. Merglar talks about feeling the music, I paused and wondered if I was capable of doing with words what Xin Ben did with her music. When I am writing I want people to be able to feel my words and connect with what I am trying to communicate.

When Xin Ben plays Beethoven's Für Elise, Daniel Merglar realizes this is her song. Each musician has a piece that's his or hers. Though Mr. Meglar has heard Für Elise played hundreds of times, this time it was different. After 26 lessons, Mr. Merglar's cancer starts to overtake him and he is no longer capable of giving lessons. It's at this time that he lets Xin Ben's family know that he is dying from cancer. Mr. Merglar knows that Xin Ben's talent is very rare, and that she needs a special teacher to mentor her when he is gone. As a gift, Mr. Merglar finds one of the top piano teachers for Xin Ben, a professor at McGill University. Xin Ben has to play for this music professor. She plays several pieces for him. He is so impressed by her skill and talent that he takes her on.

This is a heart-warming film and the music is great. Whatever it is that you do, do you do it by rote, or do you feel what you do? This film reminded me to slow down and experience things. It reminded me about the importance of mindfulness.

May's Book List

See a film that you normally wouldn't see to get a different perspective.

Survey Results

Hypnosis May Prevent Weakened Immune Status

Ohio State University conducted a study of 33 medical students to test whether people can protect themselves from immune system changes that normally accompany increased stress. Here are some of the findings:

• Researchers at Ohio State University have determined that hypnosis and related relaxation techniques can actually prevent the weakening of the immune response that often follows periods of acute stress
• Hypnosis may even slightly enhance the immune status in some people compared to similar individuals who don't use these interventions

Source: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/hypnosis.htm

How Did They Do That?

Tom Carter, Retired Banker

Challenge: Part way into my banking career, I introduced a tool called Customer Profitability Management (CPM). Relationship Managers (RM) working with customers focused on giving each customer the same level of service. CPM focused on what customers really needed and bought, how much risk the bank was taking and what it was getting paid for taking the risk.

In this and every business, you have the most important clients, and usually the 80/20 rule applies - 80 percent of your profits come from 20 percent of your clients. The big challenge was how do we change the organization culture from one where we treated each customer the same to one where we did something different and special for our most valued customers?

Resolution:

• Chose to give the RM the information
• Asked the RM to make decisions around customer needs and our profits/returns
• Personalized targets, which depended on the ability and portfolio of the RM
• Rewarded improvements - bonus money
• Very consistent with messaging over the years
• Tools were superior. We achieved 90 percent satisfaction rating on the evaluation tools
  

Outcome:

1. Changed the organization's culture and gave superior service to the best customers
2. Reduced the risk, which is very important in the banking sector
3. Dramatically improved profitability - a modest business became a strong one
   

Lessons Learned

1. Have consistency and support from top management
2. Reward success and penalize failure
3. Provide the tools and support that are needed for people to succeed
4. Support the team. I personally traveled across the company to help solve the most difficult problems that the Relationship Managers were having and this was important for the success of the project
5. Understand the starting culture to be able to get to where we wanted to be
6. Hire really good people with diverse skills
7. Promote teamwork, focus on continuous improvements and fix failures

What Can Ambeck Do For You:

Ambeck Enterprise provides diverse business research and analysis services to senior executives, through the relevant distillation of diverse facts and data.

Formula For Success

Tom Carter

I define success as making a difference, improving things while you enjoy doing them. The following, in my opinion, are the components of success:

• Create balance in life with family and friends
• Do what you enjoy and are enthusiastic about
• Know yourself - your strengths and weaknesses
• Focus on your goal or vision which may change over time
• Self-motivate yourself and have a "can do" attitude
• Prepare, educate yourself and get the tools to do your job - listen and read
• Work hard at the right things
• Manage your money and do not let money problems control you
• Invest at least 10 percent of your income
• Look after your health
• Be a part of a team
• Make a difference in life, develop your communication skills, market yourself and get noticed
• Be disciplined
• Take time to network

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