6 Figure Career Management

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I’m growing a Mo. That’s right I’m bringing the back the moustache I used to have in my younger days to help tackle men’s health issues and be proactive in the fight against prostate cancer. You can sponsor me by clicking here.

What is Movember?

Movember is a moustache growing charity event held across the globe during November each year.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache and along the way raise as much money and awareness about male health issues, in particular prostate cancer as possible.

Which ever way we look at it, men are far less healthy than women.

Why?

Men lack awareness about the very real health issues they face. There is an attitude that they have to be tough - “a real man” - and are reluctant to see a doctor about an illness or go for regular medical checks.

Movember aims to change these attitudes and make men’s health fun by putting the Mo back on the face of fashion and in the process raise some serious funds for key men’s health issues including depression and prostate cancer.

Prostrate Cancer – The Facts

In the UK: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK with 35,000 men diagnosed every year. 1 in 11 UK men will be diagnosed in their lifetime.

In the US: Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in the US with one in six American men developing the disease and more than 28,000 men dying of the disease every year.

In Canada: Every year around 24,700 Canadian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 4,300 die of the disease, making it the number one cancer threat to Canadian men.

In Australia: Every year 2,900 Australian men die from prostate cancer and over 18,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

In Other Countries: The rates of prostrate cancer continue to grow in every continent across the world

Where does the money go?
The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men’s health issues and donated to The Prostate Cancer Charity which will have an enormous impact on many men’s lives and the awareness will help us to fight prostate cancer on every front - through research, support, information and campaigning.

Making a donation
You can donate to my Mo by either clicking on this link and donating online with your credit/debit card or PayPal account. 

Thank you for your support!

In recent weeks I’ve had number of requests from various publications for advice and commentary on how to manage careers in the current climate.

Earlier this month the international business and finance publication BusinessWeek featured my article Focus On Reinvention, Not Recession in a feature on ‘Surviving The Downturn.’

I wrote a guest article for the specialist careers site eFinancial Careers on how to make your CV / resume stand out in a tough market. And last week I was quoted in the UK tabloid, The Sun, in a feature on the importance of networking during a downturn. 
 
Links to all three pieces are here if you’d like to have a read:

BusinessWeek: ‘Surviving The Downturn’ (scroll down three quarters of the page)

eFinancialCareers: Sorting Out Your CV / Resume

The Sun: ‘Get Networking’

 “Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.”
- John Allen Paulos (Writer and Speaker)

Over the last 2 years I have been learning comedy improvisation with the excellent London-based theatre company and corporate trainers, The Spontaneity Shop.  I have performed in about 5 shows so far and it’s been great fun.

But whilst I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s not something I have found easy.

You see, in a work environment, I can deal with change, think on my feet and “wing it” with the best of them. But when it comes to walking the uncertain tight-rope of comedy improvisation - on stage with no script and absolutely no idea what will happen next - I’ve found it challenging and consequently been a slow learner.

But earlier this year, I finally started to ‘get it’.

Click here to read the rest…

I read several career and business related blogs on a daily basis. Partly to support my own development, partly to keep me up to date with new ideas and partly because I enjoy it.   

One of my favourite career related blogs is Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist.  

I enjoy it because it combines excellent, well researched content with a very personalised writing style – it’s chatty, witty and draws career lessons from Penelope’s own life experiences.   

On that point, I’d like to point out an excellent post I’ve just read today on her blog on the subject of How To Find Meaningful Work. It reminded me of the similarities between building meaningful careers and comedy improvisation (really!) and prompted me to leave some comments on her blog under this post.   

Having written the comments, I thought “Hey, have I just got a post for my own blog here?!?”                                               
  
So here are my comments below on the similarities between the rules of comedy improvisation (or ‘improv’) and how to find meaningful work:  

Click here to read the rest…

I often get asked questions about my own blog and newsletter  -“So why is it free? Where’s the catch..?”

Similarly when I refer candidates to recruiters or pass across business leads to contacts, I sometimes will over hear people say ”That’s good of him - but he is of course getting a financial kick back for it!” - which makes me chuckle as it’s completely untrue.  

So why am I doing it..?

Click here to read the rest…

This week, I broke one of the unwritten laws of travelling on London Underground trains - I spoke with a stranger! Indeed, I had a laugh and a joke with 2 strangers (gosh horror).

As London-based readers will know full-well, being friendly or chatty to strangers on the tube is a complete no-no. An activity that is strictly reserved for ‘nutters’, stalkers and Tenants Super drinkers (how can they drink that stuff at 8am?)

So what prompted this act of folly on my part?

Well, it was all prompted when I burst out laughing whilst reading the entertaining new book “City Boy - Beer And Loathing In The Square Mile” - an outburst which resulted in a discussion with 2 fellow passengers about the book and life in the City.

‘City Boy,’ is Geraint Anderson’s no-holds-barred account of what it’s really like to work in London’s financial centre. It’s an entertaining account of greed, corruption and the competitive spirit within the sector, along with the hedonistic lifestyle Anderson lived.

He has built up quite a following from writing an anonymous and widely-read column in
The London Paper over the last couple of years.

After 12 years in the City, Anderson realised that he could no longer tolerate his job or the lifestyle and left his role with Dresdner to write a book.

I’m only half way through the book, but so far it’s funny, shocking and true in so many ways.

It’s never going to win a Booker prize or change the culture within banking. But it will certainly make you laugh and get you thinking. And who knows, maybe you’ll even find yourself discussing it with complete strangers on the Tube.

So what are you tolerating?

Like Anderson, many of you are probably tolerating many things about your job, career and subsequent lifestyle.

This week’s newsletter article highlights some of the things many of the clients I meet are putting up with. Which ones apply to you?

See Also: 

The Lighter Side Of Subprime

The Career Change Experiment

Q&A - Are You Pigeon Holed In A Job?

Subsidising Your Dream Career

Satisfied With Your Bonus?

Over the last week I have started attending improvisation workshops once again. I have being doing improvisation on-and-off for about 18 months now and have performed in 4 shows so far.

For those not familiar with improvisation (or improv), it’s essentially acting without a script (ie getting on stage and making stuff up!)

Usually in comedy format and usually in short sketches, it’s performed in front of a live audience. If you have ever watched the TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” - that’s improv.

I have always loved watching improv ever since seeing the likes of Paul Merton, John Sessions and Josie Lawrence on the TV during the 1990’s. Having been told that I have an improvisary style at times (whatever that means), I decided to take it up as a hobby!

Whilst yes, it can be scary and most definitely takes me outside my comfort zone - it is also quite exhilarating and really good fun.

It has also meant that I have met some really interesting people - the kind of people I don’t usually come into contact with during my corporate life. I have got to know part-time actors, actresses, writers, stand-up comedians and voice-over specialists (I didn’t realise that was actually a specialism!) - all dreaming of one day getting that big break on stage, film or television.

Talking of dreams, do you ever dream of leaving financial services and starting a new career or job that you are really passionate about?

If so, take a look at this article on the importance of subsidising your career changes in order to be truly successful. In the very same way that every actor or actress needs to subsidise their dream. Click here to have a read

This weekend saw the final of the TV show Britain’s Got Talent – another one of Simon Cowell’s talent shows.

Yes, I know what many of you are thinking - ‘yet another example of low budget, tacky television.’
 
I agree, there are some really bad reality TV / talent shows around  (I mean that ‘Grease Is The Word’ thing was awful).

But I must admit, I do like Britain’s Got Talent compared to most of the other so called ‘talent shows.’

Why…?

Click here to read the rest…