Linguist, teacher, masseuse, counselor, headhunter,
conservationist - just a few words to describe the colorful journey
Michele Seymour has taken during her life. She's now an executive
coach working with senior management to connect them to the powerful
self within them so that once they've recognized who they are; they
can then lead others confidently forward. "I'm now feeling
incredibly optimistic, curiously satisfied and fulfilled like never
before in my life," she enthuses.
Michele describes herself as a caring, generous-hearted person
who loves people and nature. "I'm really inspired to connect people
back to nature, because I believe that by re-establishing this
connection, we can connect back to ourselves. I'm passionate about
conservation, the planet, and go on adventure trips to nourish my
soul. Upon returning, I can impart my enthusiasm to the people I
meet. I am a woman in the 21st century; this means being a
successful business woman but not quite having the right balance
personally. Thus my life question is: what is balance? It's a place
to come back to; not a place to stay. I find myself often going to
extremes, but struggling with the bit in the middle. I work a lot
with clients on this issue, hence naming my company Balance
Matters."
As a child, Michele didn't have specific ideas of what work would
be for her. "I thought about working with animals, as I always loved
them. My mother used to say that I get on well with people of all
ages, from all walks of life, and I think that lingered with me. I
didn't say as a child I want to be an astronaut or a naturalist, I
didn't have that dream. I think that's why it took me so long to get
to where I am.
" Nonetheless, she's had what she calls a "wonderful, wonderful
path of 5 different career strands. " She started as a linguist in
French and German, living in Germany teaching English, and realizing
she knew nothing about England. She then went on to become a
secondary school teacher, teaching French and German in an
inner-London school with students from 27 nationalities. By the age
of 30, she was Head of the Language Department, and knew the next
step was going to be a very bureaucratic one, so she left.
Next, she fell into executive recruitment. It was quite
character-forming, and as she says: "I had to eat 'humble pie'".
From managing a team of five, she took a drop in salary, as she
started at the bottom inputting CVs, thinking: "what am I doing
here?", but knowing she would stick with it, as she was fascinated
with how high-powered people got their jobs.
As she wasn't 100% convinced that headhunting was for her, and
always having had an interest in health, she retrained as a
therapeutic masseuse in her spare time and set up her own practice
in the evenings. She subsequently got sent to Paris for an amazing
year as a headhunter, but she came back thinking: "I'm not sure
executive search is for me".
So she did a counseling course for two years, which improved her
interpersonal skills so vastly that she got promoted in headhunting
and started to bring in huge fees. This made it all more difficult
to leave and set up a practice as a masseuse and a counselor. She
was successful, but she felt like her personal relationships were
floundering, that she never had time for anything and that somewhere
along the way she'd stopped having fun. "The only joy I did get was
when I went on my trips, like going to see gorillas in Uganda." At
work, she'd be interviewing candidates for top jobs, and thinking
she could be doing so much more for them than putting them in an
even more stressful job. "A chasm was growing inside me. I felt that
something was dying in the company I was with, and I felt like I was
dying with it."
She asked for a sabbatical; and spent three months in Madagascar.
"I sat in the rain forest thinking: what am I meant to be doing? I
had an experience out there, where I found myself in an environment
where I didn't feel safe. I got out of there, and I had a miraculous
experience thereafter in another part of Madagascar. This put me in
touch with my resourcefulness. When I came back, I got myself a
coach and we looked at the environment I was working in, realized it
was not healthy for me, saved up, and then resigned."
"I continued my existing contracts on a part-time basis, and went
to France for 6 weeks. I hired a house in the countryside, and
immersed myself in croissants and loads of management development
books." She realized that her work was to be a coach and she wanted
to work with top clients, and to do that, she needed the best
training. Eventually, she found Newfield Network, a top coach
training organization in the US. "Part of the training was to take
my learning into my target audience, senior management. It was a
huge gulp factor, as I wasn't even sure of what I was learning at
the time. Boy has it paid back though, because from there on I was
able to get clients and it built my confidence."
As she transitioned into coaching, she also did a lot of yoga. "I
was very rigid as a headhunter, and I knew that to bring out more of
my creativity, I needed to be flexible in my body, and I believe
there's a strong link."
Did you have voices of doubt in your head, I asked her. "Oh my
God! Did I have voices? Yes! You know Barry White's booming voice?
It was like: what are you doing, you've got a mortgage to pay? Can
you do this? What if you don't get the clients? Where's your
courage? How can you best look after yourself to be a sparkling
enough offer to the world?"
Despite the voices, she says it's been absolutely clear that this
is the work she was born to do. "Yoga really helped me, in terms of
mood management, in terms of managing fear and seeing how far I
could push my body, and relax into this new world. Suddenly there
was no structure. Suddenly my days were my own. I mean, I have
workaholic tendencies, so getting up at seven to start work was not
a problem. However, how did I want my days to look? What was I doing
to make my heart sing? It's all very well being there for clients,
but how can I be there for them, if I'm not there for me? So that's
been my biggest, biggest battle. But most of the time, I pinch
myself, because on occasion I need to go into town at rush hour, and
I see that people are doing this all the time, and that's what I
used to do, and my God have I freed my life up!"
She describes her future as: "Incredibly bright. It's so
fulfilling to help people change their lives, or open their eyes to
new ways of seeing things."
Advice she would give:
· As a self-employed individual, it's easy to get pulled into
working too much for one client, and the danger is, that you could
quickly be yesterday's favourite.
· Be financially secure enough to go and get business. If people
sense an air of desperation, then they will not have confidence in
you.
· Have a real conversation with yourself about how you want your
life to look
· Pace yourself, do it step-by-step - you don't have to do
everything now
· Make sure you have a support network - and treat it well!
· Do not give up
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Escape Club Events |
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NEW! Tune Into Your Own Escape
Thursday, April 1, 2004 from 6.30 pm
Central London venue, 15 pounds payable at door
All escapees and would-be-escapees welcome to get in touch with
their personal escape journeys, meet other people in a similar
place in life and connect with how the Escape Club can support
you and what you can give it - over cheese and wine! To register
or for further details, please email:
tunein@escape-club.org
We are also running several workshops and evenings in the
next few months. Download our workshop programme for more
information, by
clicking here. |
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Inspirational Books |
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To Cut A Long Story Short by Jeffrey Archer
"The Grass is Always Greener": This story goes through the lives
of many people related to a big corporation... from the homeless
person that usually sleeps in the entrance of the company,
passing through the security guard, a secretary... all the way
to the CEO. All of them thinking that their problems are too
much to juggle with and wishing that they could be somebody
else. I liked it not only because Archer is a brilliant
story-teller, but also because it shows how human nature tends
to make us believe that our problems are the worst problems in
the world.
-- Alfredo Angel - Oslo, Norway
To buy this book...
Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
My sister gave me this book as a present right before I left
Spain. And it has been with me ever since. I have read it a few
times, and every time it gives me the message that I need. I
believe in destiny and in dreams. It is a simple story with a
very strong message: always remember your dreams and follow
them. I don't want to look back and think I missed something.
-- Loli Cenalmor - London, UK
To buy this book... |
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Other London-based Events |
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Proud to Be Young - Watch Out World
March 13, 2004 and April 17, 2004 (two separate workshops)
Central London venue (W1)
Young and talented, but already FEELING STUCK in the Job Market?
Do these feelings sound familiar? Is your self-confidence being
threatened? Are you starting to lose hope and feel frustrated?
You are between 20 and 30 years old, and you're feeling stuck in
your first or second job, professional coaches Geraldine Morel
and Satu Kreula can help you overcome these challenges in this
one-of-a-kind workshop.
For further details or to
register email
geraldine@geraldinemorel.com
Making a Difference - and a Living
April 24, 2004 Central London venue
Following the first successful event, we are hosting this
workshop again. Find out what your contribution to the world
can look like and how to make a living out of it as well.
Others have done it, so can you! For more information or to
register, email
holly@hollycrane.com or
satu@satukreula.com
Strozzi Institute and Future Considerations present:
Leadership in Action I
May 19-22, 2004 Central London venue
We know leadership is not just about thinking. We know that
there is more to getting people into action than just reasons.
We know that vision and values need more than just talk. We know
that change is about action and movement. Yet just "knowing" all
this makes little difference...
In this course you will:
Identify your natural strengths
Reveal and enhance your leadership style
Transform self-limiting beliefs and habits
Make requests that produce results
Give and receive effective assessments
Stay centred in the face of conflict
Be a more receptive listener
For further details email
peter@futureconsiderations.com
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What is Escape Stories? |
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Escape Stories is published the last Thursday of every month. We
aim for it to be relevant for anyone trying to escape, and we
welcome readers from anywhere!
In each issue we give you ideas on how to make change happen in
your life. We provide you real-life stories of people who said
'okay' isn't good enough and went on to pursue what inspired
them in their lives. You'll read not only about the change they
made but you'll also find out what their journeys were like,
what obstacles they faced, how they overcame these and what
advice they'd give to anyone contemplating a career change.
We'll also provide you with inspirational resources (books,
movies, etc) that have sparked a change our readers who've
wanted to share their experiences. And we'll give let you know
of workshops and courses you can attend that could support you
even more on your 'escape journey'.
We grow by referral, so if you know of anyone else who would
find this useful, please forward them this newsletter.
To subscribe... »
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More about the Escape Club |
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The Escape Club was born from seeing many of our friends being
unhappy with their work and realising that there were many ways
to help them and others to truly enjoy what they do.
It is a collection of ideas, resources, support and like-minded
people for you, who wants to make a change in your working life,
but also for you, who also is not always quite sure where it is
you want to or how to get there.
Our aim is to provide you with what you need along your journey,
whether it be specific tools, courses, connections with people
who can help, real-life stories, etc. We aim to continue
developing everything we do and offer based on feedback and
comments we get from you! Our website
www.escape-club.org,
the hub for all our activities, will be launched in the next few
months.
Satu Kreula is a coach and facilitator working with
professionals from around the world who are unfulfilled with
their jobs, and who want to explore their potential, overcome
their fears and create work that is meaningful and makes them
happy. She has a background in both global youth leadership
development and career guidance & management, with work
experience in both private and not-for-profit sectors across 6
countries and 3 continents. She is the co-founder of the Escape
Club, editor of Escape Stories and can be found at
www.satukreula.com.
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Thank You! |
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The Escape Club and Escape Stories would not be possible without
the continuous support and feedback from the Escape Club
Inspiration Team: Alok Singh (co- founder), Fabio Sgaragli,
Ivana Bozicevic, Loli Cenalmor, Sandra Ribon Christensen and
Sanna Anderson. Also a big thank you to Grant Neville for
working on the website and Charles Meaden for hosting it. A
HUGE thank you to you all!!!
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Feedback and Comments |
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Do you know of someone we should profile?
Do you want to share with our readers a book or movie that has
inspired you to take action?
Do you want to profile an event you feel our readers would
benefit from?
Do you need something for your escape journey that we are not
currently providing, let us know!
Do you have feedback, questions or comments you want to share
with us?
Please email them to me at
satu@escape-club.org
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Quick Links... |
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