Ingrid Jack - Corporate Leader to Change Consultant (Portfolio)
“I could kick myself for not having the guts to make the change and step out earlier. I could have gained three or four good years of working as I do now. But I’m so glad I did it.”
“I will never get myself in that situation again where my career, my stress levels and my health are at the mercy of company decisions.”
“Although I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I did know what I didn’t want to do.”
A working lunch in Ingrid’s new career!
Overview of earlier career.
After completing my MSc and studying for a PhD, I realised that I couldn’t remain a student for ever! I wasn’t quite sure which direction to go in my career, so I applied for IT training roles on the basis of having taught students basic computer skills whilst at Uni. Much to my surprise I fell in love with the world of IT and technology because of the way it can solve problems. I was recruited to join an global technology business as a junior consultant by a friend who already worked there, not really knowing where it would lead, but I was excited by the prospect of working for a fast-growing tech giant and two decades later I was still in the same organisation.
On the whole, I had a brilliant time. It was a big organisation in a time of rapid technology development and working with great people, so there were endless opportunities for me to grow. I started as a hands-on technical consultant, then managed technical teams, then bigger people management roles, then people and business leadership.
For about 15 of the 19 years I spent there I felt I was in just the right place, I was aligned with the company goals and values and we evolved and developed together.
The trigger for change?
On reflection, as it wasn’t clear at all at the time, the shift started to occur in the last three or four years. The organisation had begun to change and my roles were becoming less people focussed and more KPI and spreadsheet focussed.
The final two years my work revolved heavily around re-organisation and performance management of my team. Some of this was the right decision for the development of the company, but towards the end, I felt my values and moral compass being challenged. In the past, I could always be myself and STILL be successful but that became harder. The organisational definition of what “good” looked like had shifted and I was trying to support my team to manage the changes, whilst feeling the pressure to manage people out of the company and still do a great job in my day to day work.
I had always worked hard but enjoyed it. Now I was working 60-70 hours a week yet felt like I was constantly under-performing. It was taking a toll on me but I kept trying to do the right thing by helping my team and my colleagues who were leaving the company in any way. Most of these colleagues and team members were in their 40s and 50s, but I felt safe, as I had a track record of always ‘doing the right thing’.
Then, even though I had understood that my part of the business was safe from redundancy, my role was made redundant. I realised the organisation didn’t want me, my face didn’t fit anymore and they wanted new blood and new ideas. But it felt unfair.
Ingrid Jack - Corporate Leader to Change consulting portfolio career. “I rarely say “No” to work that comes my way as a freelance consultant but I revel in the freedom to do so.”
What Ingrid learned
Figuring out what we want is hard
But a good place to start is figuring out what we don’t want and work from there.
Seeking out others who have made the transition was enlightening.
I sought out anyone in my network or beyond who had changed careers or made a transition successfully. I had lots of conversations. Sometimes I went down rabbit holes or blind alleys but I always learned from their stories and came away with something else to read or investigate.
Taking action was really helpful.
In the beginning I kept an open mind, applied for all sorts of positions and looked at all sorts of ideas to try to understand the possibilities. I read books and blogs about figuring out career options and I talked to so many people. Over time, all of these actions allowed me to get clearer on what I wanted to do and what was possible for me.
Reducing our spending gave us more time for me to figure out my next steps.
My husband and I took a good hard look at our expenditure. We had been cash-rich and time-poor and realised that our expenditure could be reduced by approx 40% if we needed to. This gave me the freedom to make sure I didn’t jump straight from the frying pan into the fire. I now earn more than I did in my former career but it took a little time to get there and it was great to not have the pressure during the first few years.
Talking to others who’ve made a transition was enlightening.
Every conversation I had provided me with a little part of the puzzle of working out what my new career should look like. Some provided lightbulb moment and others were rabbit holes or blind alleys but I always learned from their stories. Lucia’s blogs and other stories of successful career change in mid-life were really encouraging.
Freedom to me is the ability to say “No”
I rarely say “No” to work that comes my way as a freelance consultant but I revel in the freedom to do so. The joy of being freelance is that if a client asks me to work on a project and I’m busy, we can discuss their needs and my constraints and nearly always get to an agreement that is mutually beneficial.
Doing work that fits with my values is really important to me.
It’s always been important to me but it was only when I spent time doing work that didn’t fit with my values did I understand the toll it took on my body, mind and stress levels. When I do occasionally work long hours now it is because I have chosen to do it and I am doing work that energises me, so I no longer have that pit-in-the-stomach feeling as I wake up in the morning, and I can take the time afterwards to catch up with the rest of life.
I now have the time to do the work that I commit to...and do it well.
It has been great to get back to working directly with clients, rather than being the broker between client and organisation. There is a real satisfaction in knowing that I have played a key part in solving my clients’ problems. And it feels great to be able to do good work and take the time to do it well for my clients, now that I have control over my schedule to make sure that happens.
Having control over my work feels great
Having made the choice 3 years ago to run my own change consultancy, I will never get myself in that situation again where my career, my stress levels and my health are at the mercy of company decisions.
20% of my time I work for charities
By creating the situation where I choose my clients, I can now choose to offer some of my skills and time to charities whose work I believe in. That’s really satisfying, and it is great to be able to do that work in my working week, instead of squeezing it into family time at the weekends
“I was rarely properly present with my family and friends - in both body and mind!” Not anymore…Ingrid enjoying time with her children.
How it feels on the days when Ingrid knows she has made the right decision?
Those days are every day. I’m so much happier than I was and have no doubt that leaving a big corporate role was absolutely the right thing to do. Redundancy was the best thing that could have happened to me, because it provided the push I needed to be able to shape my working life rather than having it shaped by the needs of the corporate beast.
In my former career, I didn’t have any time when I wasn’t either working or really aware of all the work that I needed to do. I was rarely properly present with my family and friends - in both body and mind! Now I work from home a lot more and I rarely work in evenings or weekends - so I have more time to be present and available for my kids and my friends. My kids are teenagers, so this is now on their terms, but if they want me I’m there.
Life has evolved really dramatically. I feel like a different person now. I tackle my work now with the same joy that I did in the early part of my career, and instead of dreading the thought of many more years of work, I am excited to see how it will continue to evolve, with my portfolio changing over the years.
Regrets?
I could kick myself for not having the guts to make the change and step out earlier. I could have gained three or four good years of working as I do now. But I’m so glad I did it.
A photo from one of the many books Ingrid read on career change with a quote that really resonated with her…and with me!
