Finding one’s Ideal Job: A Lesson from Systems Thinking

In a career-related conversation I got into with colleagues recently, we engaged on how one gets to the job that they want or would like. More specifically, the issue was more about how does one deal with the fact that they may not like their current job, which was a real case for more than one person in the dialogue.

In our dialogue, we looked at the implications of focusing on the fact that one does not like their current job. The danger with this approach, I contended, was that, in life, when you remove what you do not like, it does not necessarily mean that what remains is what you want. And thus the difficulty is figuring out the place that one wants to be, and also the route to get there. I argued that sometimes, because the future is so far away, it may look impossible to get to. My advice was to borrow from the concept of Idealised Design, popularised by leading systems thinker Russell L. Ackoff (1919-2009).

Essentially, Ackoff’s approach is that the best way to deal with a problem in a system is to use dissolution, which is to redesign the system that has the problem or its environment so as to eliminate the problem. This approach was developed to look at organisations, but I stretched the discussion in our dialogue to get my colleagues to imagine their individual life as much of a system as an organisation. In this approach, using an individual’s life as the system, it would suggest its future trajectory is redesigned, and it would now consist of those elements that would make one reach that career goal. For this to happen, though, the precondition would be that those elements that characterise the individual should be scientifically feasible, capable of surviving in the current environment and also, be able to get the individual to adapt to different conditions.

In this model, it presupposes that the individual’s characteristics as we know them no longer exist, and the individual now has new characteristics that the individual would have designed to have they want. In this case, the individual visualises themselves as if they are already in the job that they want, rather than think about how to get to it. They would think about what they would have as characteristics in this idealised future job state. This approach would firstly simplify thinking about how to get to the future as the individual would work backwards from the idealised future state. Secondly, because one would not be constrained by the challenges they see in getting to that future, the individual would see an enlarged concept of what is possible or feasible. Thirdly, and no least important, this process would enable creativity.

I argued with my colleagues that if all of us spent more time doing this, than worrying about the difficulty of getting to the future we want, we had a better chance of defining the things we need to do today to get to that future.

This approach, however, does not mean one’s mind needs to only stay at the ideal state. My advice was that this should be married with a real focus on what would need to be done in the present to enable that future. Because the individual is already engaged in some form of work, how do you ensure that you remain energised to pursue this ideal? In that instance, rather than focusing on the fact that you may not like the current job, maybe if one spent their energy practicing those elements of the current job that relate to the characteristics of the ideal future job, then they are preparing themselves for that future job.

One of my colleagues then indicated that this makes absolute sense for her because of the saying from the Laws of Attraction that Energy Goes Where Attention Flows. This is also the beauty of a systemic approach, as it allowed for mutually reinforcing approaches to be used in looking at the problem. Through the idealised design approach, we had been able to get to a point where the individual sees their future state today, and also starts to practice the characteristics of that future state in their current job. She argued that by focusing on the positive aspects of the current job that relate to that future, than focusing on the negatives they do not like, then they are building faster to that future ideal state. They would attract the necessary positivity that would potentially attract to them those who could enable that future job.

Anyone can define the right future for themselves, without being constrained by the challenges of the present.

Migration, Diversity and Growth: A Personal Reflection

These past few weeks my beloved country has been in the news because of the prejudicial and violent actions of a few against foreign nationals, particularly those from our own African continent. From a different perspective, this has me thinking about the role of migration and diversity in a person’s own development. I have thought it best to do this through a personal reflection, which will show again the absurdities of those who pursued these barbaric actions but also the value of looking at migration in a positive way.

The first notable personal growth experience that was impacted by migration was during my secondary schooling. The apartheid education system had been designed such that it would make it either extremely difficult or almost impossible for black students to achieve anything in fields that required science and mathematics. Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, an apartheid education architect, is quoted in the 1950’s as having said "There is no place for [the Bantu] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour ... What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice? That is quite absurd. Education must train people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live."

I happened to grow up in one of the so-called independent homelands created by the apartheid governments. One of the things that the education department did in this homeland was to allow for teachers to be sourced from other countries, such as Ghana and Mauritius, for subjects where there was a shortage. These immigrant teachers were to be a source of benefit for me as the school I went to had world-class mathematics teachers that were not the norm in similar black schools. It was through them that I was able to pass enough to get into an engineering graduate school.

When I studied engineering, a number of my professors came from many countries outside of South Africa. They brought knowledge that South Africa did not have, but which would be useful in developing a generation of professionals. I saw them as human beings who were not taking from me but adding more to what I was, and had chosen this country as the place in which they could display their knowledge and abilities.

I then myself became a migrant when I decided to study outside of my own country. In a class that was filled with students from more than twenty countries, it was a learning experience that ranks as the best personal decision I ever made. It was through the learning I made from others that I enhanced my own understanding of diversity, and I learnt critical tools that have been invaluable in my management career. In particular, I learnt the value of tolerance as a personality trait, and the importance of diversity, in all its forms. I had been welcomed in a foreign country as a human being.

I then had an opportunity to work in an exciting economic development project in my country South Africa. The development of this project required skills some of which we could not find in South Africa.  An immigrant British-trained engineer, who had worked on similar projects in the Middle East, was one of the critical people we had who played a role in ensuring a better understanding by many of us of the challenges that such a project entailed, and the steps needed to progress it. We also benefited by bringing back South Africans who had worked on projects in other parts of the world, in order to create a world-class team that could service demanding customers from all corners of the world.

In the same project, in one of my executive role, I had the responsibility of creating a research unit that we had defined as critical to our success. Two of the skilled professionals we brought to work in that unit were originally from Cameroon and Benin, and had become permanently resident in South Africa. We had a dream of training young economics graduates in one of the country’s poorest provinces, and also provide critical data and information to the provincial government which would be of use in designing policies that would positively impact the lives of ordinary people. These two professionals, working with other South Africans, put their heart and soul to their work in their adopted country, including training these young economists. We welcomed them with open arms. They were critical to my own success and I learnt a lot from them.

I now work in an African-focused financial services institution and my career success will be defined by how I understand the world, by me being able to interact with others, and by some who have decided to be migrants in my country, even if for some it is temporary and by some who decide to migrate to other parts of the continent. And it is in working with a diverse group of people, who have different professional backgrounds, origins, gender and race that I have come to appreciate more its value.

Whilst there are many South Africans I could also honour for how they have impacted on my growth, the recent experience has brought to my mind the need to see how those who are migrants have been critical to my success. It also has, in my mind, brought to focus the absurdities of the actions of a minority that has sought to damage our country and potentially deny us the possibility of learning and engaging others.

Migration can be a positive force and we can use it for as part of our development as it enriches the human experience. There is so much to learn about the world from others.

Growth and an Insecure Superior's Shadow

An ongoing challenge for many of us is how to ensure consistent growth. I define growth in broad terms, beyond just getting the next higher position or a better pay packet. It is about an increase in the level of your knowledge, exposure, experience and networks. It should reflect an increasing level of responsibility, and more complexity in assignments requiring the use of multiple skills.

I have recently had to assist two people who had to deal with their desire for growth when they were under an unmoving shadow of insecure bosses. The paradox of the situation is that it is in the interest of the boss for the employee to show the best they can do, as it will make the boss look good. But an insecure boss may not want the subordinate to have an exposure lest they either start to be more valued than them, or the boss potentially loses a key person on whom (s)he depends. How do I generally approach this type of a problem?

I start with the acknowledgement of the reality. There is nothing unique about bosses who make the mistake of thinking that the subordinates belong to them, and the fate of their careers is also dependent on them. It also happens that over time a subordinate will start to believe that they need the boss for their career, and thus never get out of the superior’s’ shadow. These superiors forget one very important fact, which is that they have nothing but a “custodial responsibility” on what are the assets of an organisation. The organisation’s leaders have the right, in fact the responsibility, of deploying the employees where they will ensure customer value and maximise returns for shareholders (if it is a profit making organisation) or maximise the level of services to the public or relevant stakeholders (if in public services).

I said once they acknowledged this reality, then they needed to be clear about what they wanted to achieve. Going back to basics, I highlighted the importance of knowing self, which I have written about before. In going through this process of knowing self, I confronted them to be very clear about their full potential. It is an important step as in a way it influences one’s ambition.

I followed this with challenging them to take a more external view of opportunities, rather than relying on the world as framed by the superiors who were the cause of their unhappiness and frustration. This view was not necessarily external to their respective organisations. But then, if you take an external view, what becomes the important next step?

The most critical is the process of having conversations with those external to your current environment. This required them to start building a new value network wider than their current one, which was limited to the areas where they worked. It needed them to have a deeper understanding of the business challenges and opportunities that existed in the environments external to their own. It required them to be very clear what value they bring and why the current position limited their ability to add this value. After developing a deep sense of these external opportunities, and having a clear sense of who they are and what capabilities they bring, they were able to start matching the opportunities to their capabilities and ambition.

Subtly, by going through this process, one of them was able to use the fact that her organisation has a responsibility to ensure that it uses its human resource to its full potential to her advantage. She used the knowledge that an organisation is not beholden to the whims or needs of a particular individual, even if that individual has a seemingly powerful position. And she did it using tactics that limited conflict between her potential new superiors and her current boss.

Although they either did this or are in the process of doing it, I have emphasised the need for them not to speak negatively about the current boss. Most executives do not like to deal or engage people who come across as complainants. I emphasised the importance of framing the argument around the context of their growth potential, their capabilities, the desire to add value and why the current environment was limiting in that context. The current boss should come out as a player in the environment rather than being the environment. I did not see it as a positive action to come across as simply just whining about the boss.

Paradoxically, they had to find some positives in the experience of an environment that they were finding no longer worked for them. This was important because they should ensure they do not devalue themselves in the process of being critical of the current state. If they hated the current boss and environment so much that they did not value anything, they would be giving the potential new superiors leverage in positional and remuneration discussions to undervalue them. A lot of us spend too much energy on the getting out part (which I think is negative energy) than on the potential to create something new (which is the positive energy that enables you to see more). I emphasised the need to focus on the latter.

One of them has found a new opportunity that will take her career to the next level, and she credits our dialogue as being crucial to opening her eyes to her own potential. It fits the definition of growth I used at the start. The other one is at early stages of the journey, but I am convinced she is in the right direction.

The message is to go on tackle the world. To get out of the shadow of an insecure boss, but use the experience has gained as leverage for the next opportunity.

For Success in 2015

It is the beginning of a new year, in which many of us will set objectives. From a career perspective, it also provides an opportunity for us to chart proposed moves, and make choices that will have the most impact. For me, the first step to think of how to progress is to acknowledge the current destination. This means I appreciate that something has happened in my life that has led me to where I am today. I draw from that to think of how to progress. While it is true that you cannot just rely on the same thing you have done if you are expecting a different result, it is just as important to realise that it is what you have done that gives you your current credibility.

I have thought of those things that make the goals easy to achieve and have proven to work. I have drawn these from many wonderful conversations I have had this past year, lessons from others as well as restating things from my book on the lessons that have led me to where I am today. They are not the only ones, but to me are the most critical, especially in the current period.
 
These are the things I would suggest must be on the menu for continued success in 2015:

Be yourself: This first route is to ensure that you are authentic. Be true to who you are, know where you are strong, and where you need others. Proactively ensure that those critical to your success can feel your strengths, and are able to appreciate them. This authenticity will also form the basis of trust, and you are likely to differentiate yourself from a crowd where everyone is trying to fit in but do not show their true value, self and character. People buy you.

Aim for excellence: Future success is unlikely unless we practice the art of being excellent. In your current assignment, whether a job or a vocation, you have been given a theatre in which to practice how to be excellent. There is a difference between excellence and perfection. Excellence is about doing the best you can and drawing on all one’s strengths and knowledge. Unless you practice and understand what it takes to be excellent, you may not be developing the skills that enable you to transition your current assignment in order to excel on a sustainable basis. No one else will do this but you.

Focus on the present: Leadership trainer Phil Nuernberger, in his book Strong & Fearless: The Quest for Personal Power reflects that there are two twin demons that impact on us. One is fear and the other is self-hatred. Self-hatred is related to guilt and is about the past, and we spend too much time focusing on the things that did not go down well (see discussion on mistakes below). Fear is about the future and is related to things that may or may not happen in future that we do not have control over. If we focus on the present, we seek to prepare ourselves for whatever future we want, on the basis of who we are, our capabilities, personality, et al. This enables us to focus on the things we can do now to create the future we want, rather than have our minds and energies being taken up by things we either cannot change or control.

Wear mistakes with pride: The Russian revolutionary. V.I. Lenin once said “Show me a man who has never made a mistake, I will show you a man who has never done anything” [gender-specific language not mine]. It is in the process of doing rather than inaction that we make mistakes. Acknowledging the mistakes we make, and taking responsibility proactively, is a much more sustainable approach to learning and development, than the desire to be seen to be perfect.

Develop yourself: The world is seeing so much change that we have to reinvent ourselves every few years. New skills are being required that we did not even know were needed five years ago. The impact of technology is such that those you either serve as customers or work with as colleagues are undergoing such transformation that you may be overtaken. One powerful tool you have is to focus on your ongoing development, whether by studying further or gaining relevant new skills. Without this, success will be hard to come by.

Enable your creativity:  One of the best ways to differentiate is through the creativity and innovation you put in your work. Develop these creativity skills by learning to do something different that takes your mind to a different level. Go to a cooking course. Learn a new language. Learn pottery. Teach. Do a writing course. Just do something that is different from the linear processes that we find in business. Do something new. Do something now.

Create networks: Your value is not just in what you do, but also in the networks you have. The networks are the basis for it to be recognised, and rewarded. Both internal and external to your organisation, build the networks that will provide a platform for you to express yourself, that will help promote and support you. Networks are like investments, which continue doing work for you in your absence. It is not just in what you do that you will succeed, but in whom you get to know to help you succeed. Commit to extending your networks in 2015. Do not be an island.

Be generous: As a person, you have been blessed with wonderful skills and abilities that go beyond your job. Whatever these are, find a way to share and give back to others that need them. Sharing with others creates such goodwill, and it will also payback for you later. It also provides an opportunity for you to learn about yourself through how others respond to you, and you use this knowledge to project yourself to the world.

Read: I do not want to say too much about this, but just to emphasise that without reading, you are not helping your mind and thus yourself on the route to success. The mind needs to be exercised, and you also need to improve your knowledge. Read.

Be inquisitive: George Bernard Shaw, in his book of plays entitled Back to Methuselah, said “You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?”. Ask why is it that you cannot do what your customer is asking. Why could you not design the job you want? Enquire. Research. Look. Listen. Read. And through that you will see a lot more possibilities than you anticipated.

To end, I would like to leave you with this quote that is likely to be my mantra in 2015. It is about ignoring the negative noise that will seek to stop you in your journey. The quote is about “The Man in The Arena”, and is taken from the speech “Citizen in a Republic”, delivered by former US President Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne, Paris on 23 April 1920 [gender specific languages not mine].

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. "

Have a successful 2015.

Career Transitions and Continuing Education

This coming week I am spending time learning more about the work I do from a global perspective.  It is the kind of training that I am sure will take my knowledge to the next level. This has given me an opportunity to reflect more on the issue of career transition, and the role that continuing education plays in that. And in this process I also drew on the teachings and lessons of management consultant, educator, and author, Peter Drucker.

It is typical for many of us to choose our primary training or qualification based on what are seen to be our intellectual capabilities. Sometimes, we make these choices because we think a particular technical field may give us more money, or because our parents pressured us. Sometimes we are influenced by friends, and at times we just made the choice because we did not know any better. Whatever the reason, it does not matter. The most critical issue is what happens when you reach a point in your life that either what you studied does not define you or that the work you are doing is not using the best of your abilities or helping you in your career advancement.

Some may be fortunate to have a mentor or a network of people that can help them transition to the career they desire after a journey of self-discovery. Many do not have that luxury or opportunity. In my career, I have found the value of continuing education to be vital in this process. It is important because over time the knowledge that we gained in our initial training may no longer be sufficient for the world we are in or the challenges that many organisations face. Peter Drucker once said “Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes”. And many may ask, what of those who have gone this route but have not successfully managed to make this transition?

I see continuing education as a start rather than the end of the process. On its own, it cannot work unless there is a clear plan. Most fundamentally, a decision on continuing education must have a sense of purpose. It should also be defined by the potential career choices that one can make after completion, and an understanding of who would likely value this new knowledge gained. It requires that one has a better understanding of the world around them, how is it changing, what are its needs, and matching those to one’s better knowledge of self.

If you are employed and your employer helps you with continuing education, it provides both advantages but also risks. The advantages being that your employer may present you with career options after you have completed this training. Often I find, however, that for most employers, they provide continuing education without a plan for the employee. And the employee makes the dangerous assumption their career will be mapped out for them.

Hence I emphasise that it is the person being trained who must make a decision as to what is the purpose for the training they are pursuing. The person needs to be the one who evaluates the potential options that such training will give them, and have a plan on how to pursue them. Most importantly, they must see the training not just from the perspective of transitioning from the current career, but also how it can have lifetime value.  Peter Drucker again says, “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn”. How can this continuous learning provide skills that can leverage not just the next career transition, but at least one more after that?

Reflecting on Peter Drucker’s long and successful career, what is it that made him transition and also have such staying power?  He emphasised these important things: lifelong learning; being multidimensional, and not relying on just one person or organisation (hence my advice on creating options above); always focusing on the future and not dwelling on past achievements, but thinking about emergent trends that will impact a career; being prepared to take risks to create that future;  paying attention to innovators, and using their lessons from a career perspective; being prepared to let go of things or relationships that are no longer relevant.

In my life I have made a number of career transitions that have been risky but immensely beneficial. Fundamentally, I have used lifelong learning as a basis, but not as the end goal. I have supplemented this through developing relationships, understanding myself, creating options, and being prepared to take risks. I still maintain, however, that without the learning from continuing education, it would have been more difficult to make these transitions.

The Dilemmas of Career Changes

One of the most challenging phases for a professional is the discovery that what they studied or specialised in is not really what drives them. It becomes even more difficult when one has practiced in the field for a period of time. How does one make a late career change without studying something new, a lot of my mentees ask me? What guarantee would one have that such a change will not impact negatively their lives, such as reduced ability to secure meaningful employment?

One of the easiest ways to make a career change is to study further, through a relevant post-graduate qualification which can build on your previous career. Alternatively, one can be fortunate to find an employer who is open-minded in their definition of skill, and thus in their talent identification process they allow themselves to have a broad definition of what is a relevant skill in their business. However, not everyone has the luxury to wait for such a qualification or is fortunate enough to find such an employer. We face these challenging questions daily and the solution may not always lie with such a qualification or finding this elusive employer.

I have often found that we tend to confuse either a job or a specialisation with the character and core competence of that individual. We thus describe ourselves through our qualifications and/or qualifications, such as saying I am an accountant, engineer, doctor, lawyer etc. The fundamental flaw with such an approach is that it does not tell us anything about the person. Having narrowed one's description of self to these technical definitions, then it should not be a surprise if we battle to see ourselves surviving except in these technical fields. This becomes even more difficult if we feel social pressures to live out these definitions, either from friends or family, because that is the only way they see or value us.

In my mentorship discussions I always get people to focus on their character, core strengths and competencies. Essentially, what is it about them that made them successfully complete whatever qualification, as that will get them thinking more about their strengths? If they have actually worked in this profession that may no longer energise them, what did they achieve and what was a distinguishing character that either clients or their superiors valued? What are the key things they have done which other people in the same field have not done? These are a family of questions that go to the heart of what makes for a good career thinking process: through answering them, the individual is able to accentuate the positive about themselves, rather than spending too much energy in focusing on the negative.

This requires a lot of thinking, which may not be easy to do alone. It will help to get a mentor or thinking partner to tease out the answers, or at least someone to whom one  can verbalise their observations to. For many people, the answer to what they can do in life lies deeply in their understanding of self, rather than in focusing on what they are doing as a job or what they have studied. That can only be a proxy of their capabilities, but not a true definition of the person.

Once one has a true understanding of self, including using the qualifications or experience they have, then one is able to see the possibilities in life for a person with such strengths. It requires that we have a wider view of the world, and not one predefined according to very narrow technical prescriptions. And then what we need to do is generate various options, that are directly linked to the person we have come to understand. We are effectively starting from a new slate, but paradoxically we are using an existing understanding based on qualifications and experience.

When we are in this space, we are no longer prisoners of our past, suffering from the demon of self- hatred.  We are also not immobilised by the twin demon of fear that makes us to be worried about the future. We get in a mode of generating options based on an understanding of who we are, at that moment, which is about the present. We are neither guilty of the past no fearful of the future. It is in exercising what we seems the best of the options we have generated that we create the future that is not constrained by guilt or fear. We move from being unhappy to being masters of our destiny, utilising the best of what the past offers, to a future that we have created. This future may involve studying further, finding the right employer or starting a new initiative.

This is the basic framework I guide others to use when thinking about life-changing career decisions. It is possible, and I used it when I had to make similar decisions. I have made three major career changes throughout the years, and when I look back, the basis for my relative success has included an understanding of my character and capabilities, drawing the best from my previous experience, having a wide view of the world, and being fearless about the future.

If you are sitting with a career dilemma or being worried whether this change is possible, I encourage focusing first on self as a basis of generating options. It is easier than you think.

Mentorship as a Two-Way Gift

This coming Friday, 18 July 2014, the world will celebrate Nelson Mandela Day, which recognises the selfless service that this great icon gave to humanity in general and the South African people in particular. I have been personally honoured by a group at work who have invited me to be a guest speaker at a school in order to motivate young people. This has set me thinking on how complementary this activity will be to something that has been immeasurable in my career development, which is that of mentorship. I want to talk about this and reflect on its benefits, both for the recipient as well as the giver. In the spirit of making every day a Nelson Mandela Day, I know this is one thing that I give to others on a daily basis.

When I began my career in management, I noticed that, whilst I was driven by business results, I was motivated more by seeing the transformation of people around me, through their growth in terms of levels of knowledge, responsibility, and positions. In time, I came to realise that I had adopted a management style that was later refined by a good coach under the theme “Leader as Coach”. I came to realise the importance of giving an opportunity to others to grow, and also allowing them to be immersed in a very deep process of learning. These also gave me the opportunity to do other things and thus grow, proving the truism of the paradox that says “To move on, plant roots”. I also came to see how limited it was to focus only on those one had direct supervisory responsibility, and I started on a journey where I increasingly mentored people who did not work with me directly. Simply put, the benefits have been immeasurable.

The first benefit for me was learning how to engender trust, and also build it. Because in the spaces you operate when you mentor, you get into deep and rewarding conversations that can only have real meaning if they are based on trust. In a sense, because you build a reputation for helping others who allow themselves to be vulnerable in front of you, your reputation and credibility increases faster than you could do it by telling others yourself. Your mentees become some of your most important career ambassadors, and help build a reputation for you that will benefit you beyond your mentorship relationship.

Secondly, these mentorship conversations also provide a safe space for the mentor to receive feedback that they would not ordinarily get. Through a space that is not about judgement, it is a real joy to take this feedback from people who deeply care about you because you have developed such a strong relationship with them, and thus they are as focused on your success as a mentor as you are focused on theirs as mentees. It is an incredibly unique experience.

Thirdly, from the issues that you discuss with the one you mentor, you also learn so much about how different people approach problems. Some of the challenges they face may be similar to ones you face, but you may not have given yourself the opportunity to think about them. These discussions can have the unintended consequence of letting you confront challenges that you may not have been ready to deal with.

Fourthly, through them both the mentor and mentee realise the value of patience. Since the journey of mentoring someone to achieve a goal is long, taking at least six months, typically a year, it requires that there be patience in observing how the process impacts, and leads the mentee towards the goal that has been identified. I used to think that this process can be completed and results realised quickly. Through years of practice, I came to see that it takes a long time, essentially because the formulation of the problem, challenges and issues is not as simple as the mentee thinks they are when the discussions begin. The issues get reformulated and the nature of the problem changes with deeper enquiry, thinking and dialogue.

Lastly, and not least important, the ultimate benefit is to see how as a mentor you feel your impact on someone’s career. Personally, I do count the number of careers I have helped save every year, more than the ones I have helped advance. And I am always amazed at how simple the tools are to get to do this and the fact that I am never the one who actually solves the problem. I just approach these engagements with a focus on deeper enquiry, care for the individual and allowance for them to reflect and question a number of assumptions they have. And they tend to have all the answers.

This process proves true these words from the touching poetic essay by Michael Josephson entitled “What Will Matter”, which has lines as follows:

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built,

not what you got but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched,

empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

 For me, I send the gift of mentorship, through which I receive so much in return.

Making every day a Nelson Mandela Day.