How would you describe yourself? Who is Márton?
I’m finding it hard to define in a sentence or two. It’s a set of values and feelings that determine my direction.

Close friends describe me as someone with a big heart. I love to be there for others, to work for others, not from a place of altruism, but because I get a kick out of enabling others to believe in themselves, to achieve things.

I also enjoy getting my hands dirty. I’m passionate about looking beyond pure profit and rationalism and about going big. Hence as I’m also passionate about Hungary (my home) and there definitely seems to be room for improvement in how the country and her people are, my vision could be described as “realizing Hungary’s potential”. Don’t ask me how and when I’m going to achieve it, but I’m working on it.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working in a leadership organization called Common Purpose. We aim to develop civic leadership across the globe. My role is to ‘sell’ the idea abroad. We aim to improve the way society works by expanding the vision, decision-making ability and influence of all kinds of leaders, from all walks of life.

We bring together people from all backgrounds, cultures, disciplines and sectors. The aim is to improve their capacity to lead and for them to work more effectively together to build a more active - and cohesive - society. This is a powerful and timely combination, given the increasing recognition in both the developed and developing world that complex problems cannot be solved by organisations or agencies acting alone.

I develop the programme in countries where it doesn’t exist yet. My focus is Germany and Hungary. My role is to create local ownership for the idea, to get backing from all the sectors and key people and to raise start-up funds. It’s my role to get every single side on board, and do the pre-work of finding local champions and multipliers to make the programmes happen. This includes meeting very high- powered people, such as CEO’s, ex-President’s, Mayor’s, etc, which is amazing fun (and sometimes scary too!)

What has been your journey to what you are doing now?
Education always seemed very important to me, so I made sure that I finished this. But after that, I wanted to get away from my normal environment and to see what else is out there.

I was born and brought up in Hungary. In high school I got a one-year scholarship to the US, in the beautiful, but also strange state of Utah, the land of the Mormons. This was a complete eye-opener for me. I had difficulties reintegrating to Hungary, people and things just seemed different, and somehow we didn’t speak the same language. I wanted to see more of what’s ‘out there’, what other ways of being there is.

This is how I found AIESEC at university, which has given me a fertile soil to learn about the world, people and myself. After finishing my degree I got an internship at Siemens in Germany for six months, partially to be abroad, to be close to my then girlfriend, but also to experience a huge multinational organization.

I soon realized that although the place was interesting, it wasn’t a place where I could easily realize my dream of doing something with developing people and doing this in Hungary.

I then came to the UK and helped to start up a company with a strong social direction – providing education and community development through building schools that would have a dramatic effect on learning. Creating a small social enterprise, that is on the other extreme to Siemens seemed just right and I did enjoy it a lot.

However after about two years of doing this, I felt that something was missing. It was a good job, very interesting people, but I felt somewhat limited. I wanted something more international and more direct contact with people.

I’ve known for a while that I want to go back and do something with leadership back home. But like I said previously, I felt like I needed to get out of the bubble and look outside in order to know what I could do and how.

So I started talking with a variety of different people about my ideas. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I decided that by talking I could explore what possibilities there were. At one networking meeting I met a guy from Common Purpose who told me about the organisation. It sounded very much like an organisation that would help me to put some of my thoughts into action.

So I emailed the person in charge of international expansion and told her about my thoughts and what I’d like to do. We met and continued chatting, but there were no job openings at the time.

At some point she asked me if I spoke German (which I did), as they’d just got money to do some work in Germany. A few months later I started working as the Development Director for Germany.

And now 18 months later it looks like we will have money for Hungary as well, and I will start work there from January. This hadn’t been part of their expansion plan, but as I expressed an interest and commitment to do something there, it became a fundraising priority as well.

So in a way I created this job for myself.

What were the questions you had? Any insecurities or doubts?
Sure, loads of them! I had difficulty getting some of my friends and colleagues to understand why I’d want to change, why the sudden urge. For them it was sudden, for me it had been “cooking” for a while, internally. They kept on telling me: “You’ve got a good job, there’re great opportunities here.”

At the same time my friends in Hungary asked me why would I want to come back, “it much be so much better over there”.

I too wondered: Do I want to change? Is this the right thing to do, or is it just that the grass is greener in the neighbour’s garden? Will I regret it once I make the move?

But it felt right, and my sounding boards (the ones I really trusted) advised me to go with what felt right.

It’s still all a bit organic and the end goal isn’t clear, so I wonder how realistic I’m being. I’m also wondering how well these types of ‘models’ transport themselves across countries. I ask myself a lot: does this type of thing work in Hungary?

I have self-doubts, but I constantly want to develop, and I make sure that my mentors in and outside of the company keep me sane and asking the right questions to keep me realistic about the progress I/we can make.

How are you feeling now? What questions do you have? How do you see the future?
Good, positive, things seem to be working out. I have a growing number of meetings, and people who we’re going to see the second or third time saying: “so, you really are serious about doing this.” We’re gathering momentum.

At some point it has felt daunting as the more I do talk about it, the more I think: I’ll have to do this!

And I wonder often about the saying: You can’t be a prophet in your own country. In some respects it is easier for me to do this type of work in Germany. I’m on outsider and you can be more naïve as an outsider and ask ‘stupid’ questions. But in Hungary people expect me to know and I can’t test the ground as much.

Would you do anything differently?
Two things.

I’d speak without the fear of sounding stupid or caring about what people think of my thoughts. They’re just thoughts.

This leads to the second thing: I’d change the terms that I parted my old company with. I have loads of respect for my previous boss, and because I worried about his opinion, about “looking good” before him, I didn’t talk as openly about my ideas and plans. This lead to a sour departure. I regret having lost him as a friend, at least for a while.

Wednesday, February 1st, 2006
6.30 - 9 pm, Central London venue

ESCAPEE NIGHT

Following the success of the first Escapee Night last month, I'll now host tese events on a quarterly basis.

Come and join fellow like-minded individuals and:
* Hear the story (and ask questions) of somebody who has made the leap and is on her escape journey
* Learn what other people are doing to get their escapes off the ground - what's worked, what's failed, what's being tried out!
* Gain access to a great support network who are in the same boat and are more than happy to help you!

Is 2006 your year for change?

We're still working on the full workshop programme, but here are our initial offerings.

Working in...
Four evenings March - April 2006, 7 to 9 pm, Central London venue

Do you find yourself daydreaming about what it would be like to work in international development, politics, a think tank or in the non-profit sector?

For more information, email Satu

Make a Difference - and a Living - in CSR
Saturday, February 4, 2006 - 10 am to 4.30 pm - Central London

Are you one of the many people who are unsatisfied or unfulfilled in their current work – tired of contributing to something you don’t believe in – like your company’s profits?

You know how some successful professionals stay in jobs that don't fulfill them waiting for the perfect job to land on their lap, or to have enough money to leave and do what they 'really' want to do

Which means that they have some good days, but most days they aren't living or working to their potential, and start being more and more unhappy with their work, which then reflect on their lives

What I do is help these people create an escape plan doing what they want (not what they feel other people want)

Which means they have clarity about the type of work that would bring them the satisfaction they crave for - and a plan to get the work too

Do you know of anyone who you think has an inspirational escape story to tell?
Someone who's moved to or stayed in the corporate sector and doing fulfilling and meaningful work?
Someone who's started their own organisation and is making a visible difference every day?
Or someone who you find inspiring and who's clearing 'fulfilling their purpose'?

I'm constantly on the lookout for interesting stories both for Escape Stories and other publications - so if you know of anyone - please don't keep them a secret - and email me who you think I should get in touch with!