The Agile Career Podcast

In this episode, Martin Wachters joins me. We talk about how a hobby can turn into a full-time career. We also cover the importance of other skills and interests that can make this a reality.

Martin is the founder of Muziekles Amsterdam, a Netherlands-based music school. He also has several published online courses and resources to help beginners and more experienced students learn and improve the guitar and piano.
 

Key Takeaways

Resources
Martin recommended the following books:

In this episode, Sonja Price joins me. We talk about making your career work for you. This means thinking about the guidance and finesse you will need, and what the decision criteria are for choosing what you do in your career. Very importantly, we talk about getting paid what you are worth.

Sonja is a career strategist and founder of Dynamo Careers. She is passionate about empowering professionals to accelerate their career success, to become financially free, and to make a positive impact around the world.

Key Takeaways

Resources 

We discussed the following resources on the show:

In this episode, Bruna de Palo joins me. We talk about changing your nine to five to your nine to alive. We cover mapping your career, finding your ideal role, considering a career in the non-profit sector, and the importance of neuroscience when it comes to your career.

Bruna is a certified leadership, executive & career coach, keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and founder of Think and Act Differently.

Key Takeaways

Resources 

We discussed the following resources on the show:

In this episode, Jim Barnish joins me and we talk about an alternative to climbing the career ladder. We also talk about how careers no longer follow straight lines; Jim shares how his career didn't follow a traditional straight line either. 

Jim has spent the last two decades growing tech companies as an entrepreneur, operator and consultant. Jim now runs Orchid Black, a growth services firm complete with growth experts, just like Jim, that share an incredible track record for making technology companies worth so much more.

Key Takeaways

Resources 

We discussed the following resources on the show:

I've been coaching youth rugby for eight years now. In that time there have been (and still are) so many lessons that I have learnt. The interesting thing is, these lessons can be directly applied to leadership. In this episode, I dive into more detail on these lessons.

The lessons are:

In this episode, Fiona Hathorn joins me and we talk about the importance of boards in organisations, and how becoming a board member could enhance your career. Fiona shares the benefits of serving on a board, whether it is a commercial or community-based organisation, and how you might get started.

Fiona is CEO of Women on Boards UK and has several board positions. Fiona launched Women on Boards in 2012 to support women, and men, make the right connections and career choices to get to board level within their own company or to take on a non-executive board role. Since its launch, Women on Boards has supported over 1800 women and a number of men get onto boards.

Key Takeaways

Resources 

Fiona recommends the following resources to learn more:

In this episode, Joe Delagrave joins me; we talk about his love for sport and how he was set to make that his career. Unfortunately, a significant, life-altering event changed everything. Joe shares his journey of how he moved on from, probably, the lowest point of his life to representing the United States internationally, at a competitive level.

Key Takeaways

Recommended Reading

In this episode, Tom Rees joins me, and we talk about significant career shifts. Tom is a medical doctor with the NHS and before that was a professional rugby player, playing for both London Wasps and England. Tom shares how he got started with the sport and ended up as a professional rugby player and goes on to talk about how an injury ended his sports career, how he dealt with it, and how he moved on to a new career.

Key Takeaways

Recommended Reading

Tom recommended the following books:

In this episode, Eldon Davis joins me where we talk about recruitment and job seeking. Rather than approaching this from a job seekers perspective, we switch contexts and talk about this from a recruiters perspective. Eldon spent 18 years in talent acquisition roles. He talks about how he brought together several interests to shape his career. Eldon also shares some tips for job seekers and career changers and talks about how he is now in a career transition, mentoring and coaching others.

Key Takeaways

Resources

Eldon referenced the following resources:

In this episode, Felix Wong joins me, and we talk about education, building communities, and passion projects. Felix is APAC Head of Growth at AngelHub, bringing investors and entrepreneurs together. He has an entrepreneurial background which is well suited for his role as well as several side-hustles or passion projects that he is working on. He is very active in the No Code community and sees these tools and platforms as excellent resources to help entrepreneurs realise their goals. In the show, Felix shares how he builds skills, both for himself and others. He also talks about how important it has been for him to allow more people to experience entrepreneurship.

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned

Felix mentioned the following resources:

Today is World Mental Health Day, and in this episode, I focus on mental health and wellbeing. The world is going through an extremely turbulent time and it is taking its toll on people lives, relationships, and careers. In the episode, I reflect on Episode 3 and the insight that David Beeney shared. In summary, be kinder to others and to yourself. I also share some tips and thoughts to help in these times.

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned
I spoke about the following resources in the episode:

In this episode, I talk about the three things that you can do to get promoted or to progress your career. Obviously, there are many things that you can do, and I have taken my experience and the experiences of many others and distilled these down to three key themes. What are they? Let's take a look.

Easy, right? Take a listen to the episode and hear more!

In this episode, I am joined by Anita Toth who traded her career as a university researcher for a career of self-employment. After completing both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, Anita took on a job at the university. After 16 years, the role was made redundant and Anita needed an alternative. In this show, Anita shares how she applied for over 20 jobs before starting on her own. She shares how she used the skills - especially those she had developed by running several side hustles - to start her new career, the challenges she faced, and ultimately, how she found her niche.  

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned
Anita spoke about several resources:

In this episode, I am going to provide a little "behind the scenes" view of the podcast. Quite a few listeners have been asking what it took to get the show running and what it takes every week to get each episode produced. I thought I would share some key points in this short episode. By no means is this a complete guide but hopefully, it will give you an idea of what is involved. 

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned
These are the resources I spoke about in the episode:

In this episode, I am joined by Hanlie Smuts who is an associate professor at the University of Pretoria. Like many professionals, Hanlie completed her undergraduate degree before entering the corporate environment as a software developer. For many of us, this would have been the end of our academic career but Hanlie went on to complete both her Master's degree and her PhD whilst working fulltime jobs as a senior executive. Hanlie shares her story about how she didn't choose between the academic and corporate worlds, but instead, wove the two closely together. She shares how she applied learnings and skills gained in academia to her corporate career and vice-versa.

Key Takeaways

Connecting With Hanlie
Listeners can find out more about Hanlie and connect with her by visiting her:

In this episode, I am joined by Mark Colgan. After completing his business studies at university, Mark aspired to a job in the marketing industry but finding no suitable roles, he began working as a recruiter. Mark talks about the transferable skills that he developed and how working as a recruiter allowed him to spot a new role that was emerging, that of a digital marketer. He shares how he then changed direction in his career and moved into the digital marketing space. Mark also talks about a moment of realisation whilst travelling South America that led him to develop his career and bring him to a point where he has simultaneous roles helping both organisations and individuals. 

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned
We spoke about the following resources:

In this episode, I am joined by Helen Peatfield who gave up her secure job in London and moved to Thailand. Not only was it a change in location, but also a change in career. Helen shares her story and we talk about her early working years, her big move to Thailand, and how she found her niche and shaped up her new career. She shares plenty of insights about a career in copywriting and generally, changing careers.

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned
Helen shared the following great resources:

In this episode, I talk about the steps to take to build a skills inventory. I'll cover some of the resources that we spoke about in Episode 17 as well as the specific approach for creating your skills inventory. We'll also talk about why having a skills inventory is important and how you can use it to support your career and learning journeys.

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned
I used the following resources in this episode:

In this episode, I am joined by Jamie Mackay. Jamie is an employment professional and works with organisations and learning institutes to help them offer relevant learning opportunities to individuals. His work is very focussed on the skills that people need to find suitable employment and build their careers. Jamie shares not only his career story on the show but also some tips, ideas, guidance, and resources that people can use to continue their learning journey. 

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned
Jamie shared many resources during the interview:

In this episode, I talk about coaching by briefly explaining what coaching is, answering some common questions about coaching and finally, tackling some coaching misconceptions.

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned

In this episode, I am joined by Tim van Aarde. Like many of us, Tim started his career in a corporate environment, working for one of the big accounting and auditing firms. He soon found himself thinking that this was not the career for him, as it lacked purpose and he wanted something deeper and more fulfilling from a career.

He set out on a journey, back to university, studying humanities before shifting his focus to theology. 

After university, Tim took up a position at a local church and a chance meeting led him on the next step of his journey, which was a move to Burundi in East Africa. Tim shares his wonderful experiences and learnings and how he found purpose in what he was doing.

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned
Tim shared the following in the interview:

In this episode, I interview Steve Stewart-Keene. Steve shares his story with us, that begins with a life-changing motorcycle accident and how he had to consider the career options available to him. He talks about some of his earlier jobs before taking on a role with The Prince's Trust, helping vulnerable young people get their lives back on track. Steve then shares how he took a great leap and left the United Kingdom to start and run a resort in the South African bush. He shares some of the challenges that he needed to overcome to make this a reality.

Having made a success of the resort and running it for nine years, Steve talks about his return to the UK and how, after several jobs, found a massively fulfilling role, co-caring for a disabled young man.   

Key Takeaways

In this episode, I interview Matt Roadnight, an Agile and Scum coach. Having developed an interest in IT, Matt completed a BSc. degree and went on to begin his career in a corporate environment. After a stint of travelling, he then went on to join a niche IT services company. It was here that he was given that latitude to work in a way and develop himself that he enjoyed. Acquisition of the IT services company by a large corporate got him reevaluating his position and coupled with an opportunity to provide some Agile coaching independently, Matt left to establish his own business. 

Matt now owns and runs SprintAgile and is a founding partner of BeLiminal LLC. Both organisations focus on developing individuals and teams.

Matt shares his journey and the values that he developed that shaped his career and choices. He also talks about the enablers of learning and shares some great resources.

Key Takeaways

In this episode, Peter Robinson joins me. Peter has more than 20 years of experience in the corporate world with recent roles as the Head of IT at Specsavers and the Head of Retail Applications at Dixons Carphone. Peter shares his experiences of entering the corporate world and how he grew alongside a growing organisation, before moving to an even larger organisation. He shares the challenges of delivering change in large organisations and how this ultimately led him to the realisation that working in a large organisation wasn't what he wanted to do.

Peter talks about deciding to join another corporate or go his own way. He shares his experiences of starting on his own and the says the advice that he gives to his 18-year-old daughter, starting her career, is the same advice he would have given to himself at that age. 

Key Takeaways

In this episode, Crystal Metcalfe joins me. Crystal is the UK VP at RGP, a consulting firm that helps customers implement their business strategy. Crystal shares her career journey and talks about how she used a growth mindset that helped her develop the skills she needed when making career transitions. She also talks about moving countries and how she dealt with that.

Key Takeaways

In this episode, I cover the importance of focus and some of the tools that we can use to create and maintain focus. I first talk about focus in the broader context and how we can approach goal setting and track our progress. Next, I speak about focus at a more granular level and share some tips and tricks on how we can maintain focus and avoid distractions.

Key Takeaways

Resources Mentioned

In this episode, Doug McGeachie joins me. He is Sales Director at Snowflake, a cloud-based data platform company. Doug has built his successful sales career for close on 20 years and in the show, he shares the skills, mindset, and motivation that helped him do this. He talks about the traits that good salespeople need and the approaches that he has used to build new skills and grow existing ones. Doug also talks about the transferable skills that help him coach children's rugby.

Key Takeaways

In this episode, Foti Panagiotakopoulos joins me. He is the VP for Growth at euroVPS and also the founder of GrowthMentor. In the show, Foti talks about how he started his career as the only non-technical hire at a very technical company. He shares how he used this opportunity to create and shape the role that it is now.

He also shares the challenges he experienced and how he tackled these in a very surprising way. Take a listen and find out how!

Key Takeaways

In this episode, Llewelyn Fernandes joins me to talk about making career shifts and how you can equip yourself with the skills and the knowledge that you will need. He shares his journey and how he used an approach of "just-in-time" learning to develop the new skills that he needed.

Llewelyn talks about how he created a niche for himself by bringing together his skills and interests in computing and creativity and becoming a freelance educator. He also shares the importance of having a shed. Listen in for more!

Key Takeaways

Books Mentioned
Llewelyn recommends reading

In this episode, Jessica Pybus joins me to talk about the importance of understanding yourself. Jessica shares how she used this skill to make choices when choosing a career direction, when making tough career decisions, and when growing her career. She talks about how knowing your strengths and weaknesses and how this allows you to focus on what you need to.

Jessica also shares how understanding herself has enabled her to understand others, and why this is an important skill to master in the modern workplace.

Key Takeaways

In this episode, actor, Alastair Thomson-Mills joins me. He talks about the tough and, often, not so glamorous journey to becoming a professional actor. Alastair shares the steps he took and the hard work involved in ultimately making his dream come true. He talks about the skills that he has learnt as an actor and how these serve him in other aspects of his life and career. Without giving too much away, Alastair talks about some truly heartwarming experiences. 

Key Takeaways

Interesting Things That Alastair Shared

In this episode of The Agile Career Podcast, I speak to Romey Jacketts, who after a career of 26 years with British Airways started her own business. In the show, Romey talks about the wealth of available opportunities, making the most of these opportunities, and using them throughout her career and life. Romey also shares some of the setbacks that she faced and how she dealt with these.

Key Takeaways

Books Mentioned
Romey recommends reading:

In this episode of The Agile Career Podcast I interview David Beeney, founder of Breaking The Silence. In the interview David talks about his journey from a commercial role in the publishing industry to his role as a counsellor and champion for good mental health. He describes the challenges he faced, particulary his mental health, and how this lead him to find his purpose and establish himself as a counsellor.

David shares how his coping mechanisms set the foundation for the transferable skills he built and he also shares some insight into how we can improve our mindset.

Key Takeaways

In episode two, I talk about a number of tips for taking stock of your current situation. This is important because understanding where you are, is your first step in determing where you want to end up. These tips and approaches will help you 

Ultimately, this will help you identify a sort of baseline to get started and to continuously measure progress against.

Welcome to The Agile Career Podcast. In this episode, I talk about the thinking behind the podcast and why it is important that we take control of our careers and the skills that we need to develop in order to become employable for life, rather than employed for life.