Danny's Case

The Pre-Session Questionnaire

Danny wanted, he wrote, to decide "which career direction to take. Should I continue with a career in the City and reap the financial rewards this may offer me. Or should I take this opportunity to try something new, perhaps utilising the skills and numerous City contacts that I have already gained." Danny was finding this decision hard because, he wrote, leaving "the City, foregoing 10 years of experience, relevant degrees, a good salary and hundreds of useful City contacts is not easy. However, although embarking on a new career could be more fulfilling, there are no guarantees of this."

The questionnaire asked Danny to describe his current situation which he did thus:

1	After 10 year’s of working in the City as a research analyst, Fund Manager and Stockbroker I have recently been made redundant.
2	The investment industry is going through a turbulent time and I feel ready to try something new but am concerned about my finances.
3	The culture of the City no longer appeals to me but I would like to utilise the skills and numerous City contacts in a new and refreshing role.
4	Having been diagnosed with a chronic illness recently, I have developed a strong desire to help people in any future career.
5	Although I am fully able to work, it is important for me to try and avoid extreme stress.
6	I remain ambitious and want to strive to succeed in any future career. However, this must now fit in with my childcare requirements and a more personally rewarding (not necessarily financial) career.
7	The need for stability and gaining control over my life and time have become more important that the primarily financial motivations of working in the City.

The question asking Danny to specify what he would like to achieve with his decision brought this response:

1	An enjoyable and personally rewarding career.
2	The right balance between work, child care and social time.
3	Ideally, work which utilises my current skills or contacts.
4	A career where I could justifiably feel I am helping others.
5	A strong network of friends and family.
6	Financial security and stability.
7	Avoidance of extreme stress at work.

Asked what his concerns were in making this decision Danny listed:

1	My health and any possible deterioration.
2	Lack of income, leaving behind lucrative City earnings.
3	“Throwing away” my 10 year City career and 100’s of useful City contacts + a good income.
4	Accepting a career which will dominate/control my life.
5	Working for someone else who will never understand my rather unique circumstances.
6	Not having enough time to spend with my son.
7	Not feeling good about myself and what I do.
8	Never being about to find the right relationship.
9	Not being able to be open in the workplace.
10	Lacking direction.
11	Making the wrong decisions.
12	Feeling like I’m not going anywhere.
13	Wasting time & money trying to find the right career.

 Danny, asked to think about various options, and their pros and cons, listed them as:

Option 1: Leave the City but use City experience in a different role
Pros	Cons
Use current contacts/experience	Not as financially rewarding
Enjoyable/Challenging	Fear of the unknown
Better time flexibility	May not enjoy it and it will be difficult finding the right role
No commute into City	Starting at more Junior level
Trying something new/learning	More difficult to get back into City in the future if new role doesn’t suit

Option 2: Go back to the City in similar fields to before
Pros	Cons
Financially rewarding/security	Time restrictions, very long days
Its what I know	Can be very stressful
May find an enjoyable role in City	Not a flexible career
Could save towards my own business or some other venture	Same again - no “new experience”
Possible managerial positions	Don’t like environment / can’t be myself

Option 3: Do temporary work for the time being
Pros	Cons
Gives me time to think	Time-wasting
Gives me time flexibility	Harder to get back into City again
Not committing myself	Poor salaries
Can drop out when I want	Little experience / Unfamiliar territory
Pays the bills	May have a bad experience

Option 4: Leave City and do something completely different
Pros	Cons
New, refreshing	All pro’s are unknown
Perhaps more fulfilling	Might not like knew role
Could be more challenging	Big step down financially
Perhaps better work / life balance	Starting again is stressful and I will need re-training
Maybe no commute	Not utilising my existing contacts and experience

 

The Consultation

 Stage 1) UNDERSTANDING THE SITUATION AND THE DECISION

The consultation began by expanding and testing Danny's understanding of his situation the goal being to allow Danny to become aware of the full-picture and remove any distortions in his understanding. Inevitably this examination of the situation also uncovers many of Danny's values and emotions too.

This is Danny's fuller account of his situation:

After 10 year’s of working in the City as a research analyst, Fund Manager and Stockbroker, 6 months ago I was  made redundant. The investment industry is going through a turbulent time and I feel ready to try something new but I am concerned about my finances. I think the investment industry will get worse with not many deals, low share prices, and perhaps10000 more redundancies in the course of this year, possibly with things improving in the next year.

I don’t want the same sort of job as I had, and anyway it is hard to get one in this market. It is difficult to get different work in the City as agents only look at the last job, especially in the current economic climate - so even though I have a range of backgrounds in the City my work choices are limited. After being made redundant, and hunting for jobs and did find a market research job, but I was made redundant on my first day of turning up. I didn’t really want to do that job. This was my option 1 but it didn’t excite me and couldn’t see the viability of role. There is also an ageist element in City.  I am 33 and there are not many working over 40.

The culture of the City, which I find unfriendly and cold, no longer appeals to me. I think about things now I’m older. My time in the City has been useful to me for a number of reasons. I have developed a wide range of skills such as sales skills, negotiation skills, managing accounts & client relationships, people skills, presentation skills, arranging conferences, written skills, research skills, forecasting skills, and self-confidence, including the ability to deal with very senior people. I have also developed a wide network of contacts (especially with fund managers) and some financial security, as well as being able to have a family.

I have been changed by my illness as I am now less materialistic, I realize my own mortality, and I want to help people. I want to get it right now. Although I am fully able to work, it is important for me to try and avoid the extreme stress of very long hours which is so prevalent in the City. The need for stability and gaining control over my life and time have become more important than the primarily financial motivations of working in the City. My financial needs aren’t that great (so why kill myself by going in at 7:00 am to the City) and I can keep my cost base fairly small. I should have left my job, if I were not made redundant.

I remain ambitious and want to strive to succeed in any future career. Success is not a financial thing, but rather more about taking something from start to finish, being creative, seeing the whole picture, doing something with a tangible, worthwhile end product, with potential for growth and  learning.  However, this must now fit in with my childcare requirements and a more personally rewarding (not necessarily financial) career. I am amicably separated from my past wife and have a young son. I’ve set up a mail-order business providing medical equipment which I'm very excited by. It is doing OK but I wouldn’t want this to be my main job as its not a great revenue earner.

An investigation of Danny's emotions also revealed that they were providing him with many existential messages:

Emotion	About	Existential Message
Relief	Being made redundant as not happy in role in the City (not helping & not believing in the weak product we had)	Do work where I am helping and I believe in what I am doing
Concern	The future when I was made redundant – financial & career	Engage in a careful decision-making process
Demotivated	Lack of viability or value	Do work where I am helping and I believe in what I am doing
Strong desire	Make the most of life (after illness) ‘Life is not a dress rehearsal’.	Carry through the decision-making process and act upon it
Fear	Being pressed into the wrong, hasty decision due to financial pressures	Engage in a careful decision-making process
Anxiety	Taking the wrong job	Engage in a careful decision-making process
Excited	Change –doing something new, learning	Do something new, or that requires learning

This exploration of the situation and Danny's emotions about the situation accomplished the following:

• analysis of the current and future job market in the city relevant to Danny

• clarification of Danny's attitude to working in the City

• uncovering the skills and resources that Danny had developed through his work in the City

• exploration of Danny's concern (expressed in the pre-sesion questionnaire) that he would be 'throwing away' his time in the city and identifying what Danny had achieved through his time spent there

• what 'success' now means to Danny

As a result of this exploration Danny reconceptualized the decision he wanted to make thus:

I want to decide which career direction to take.  I don’t want to continue with a career in the City even if this means reaping the financial rewards this may offer me. I want take this opportunity to try something new, perhaps utilizing the skills and numerous City contacts that I have already gained. The question is what?

 

 Stage 2) UNDERSTANDING WHAT MATTERS

Step 1: Generating Potential Values

Crucial to making a wise decision is basing it upon what really matters to us. The first part of this stage was to get Danny to think deeply and creatively about what sorts of things mattered to him. This was accomplished in the following ways:

• Using Danny's lists of (i) concerns and (ii) what he would like to achieve from the Pre-Session questionnaire

• Using values uncovered through the analysis of the situation

• Using the existential messages from Danny's emotions 

• Using value-generation exercises

• Asking key questions

Danny was asked to engage in the following value-generation exercises (some of these were also given as pre-session exercises):

Value-Generation Exercise 1: Who do I admire/envy?

Person I admire/envy	What I admire/envy about them	Values implicit in envy/admiration
my brother and his job	Works as carpenter	Following your own lights Being Creative Contact with ordinary people – (helping them even better) Produces a 'Real' product
Friend who teaches in primary school	Good balance between work and home Rewarding job Worthwhile job Time to do other things	See left column
Friend who runs own business	Control over life – no constraints	Autonomy
Relative	Not worrying about the future, living for the now	Being well-rounded, down to earth, not too materialistic, not too idealistic either!

Value-Generation Exercise 2: Who do I feel is missing out?

Person I  feel is missing out	What I feel sorry for him about	Values implicit in feeling sorry
Workaholic stuck in a rut	Lack of balance between work and family Long hours hours and stressful He doesn’t enjoy it Money creates new desires Treadmill	Getting balance right between home and work Being able to have time to have new experiences (in work and out of work) Mixing work and pleasure (eg networking) Not being obsessed by money, it taking over your life.
Person living on benefits	Lacking right amount of ambition Making a contribution	See left

 
Value-Generation Exercise 3: Imagine a perfect day. What would you be doing, where would you be? What does this suggest about what you value?

My perfect day: Having had a productive and successful day at work. Meeting a friend/work colleague for lunch and discussing business. Coming up with some new exciting ideas to be implemented. Going for a light swim after work, having friends around for dinner and listening to music, taking my son to school the following morning. Planning a future trip abroad. Trying out a new activity or interest. Feeling well and alive after an eventful day.

Implicit Values

Achieving and moving ahead in work is important to me.

Combining business and social life - networking.

Being creative and imaginative at work.

Having the time to balance work and social time.

Having a degree of financial security (planning for a holiday)

Trying out new things that I have an interest in.

Value-Generation Exercise 4:  Look back from the end of your life. How would you have liked to live it? What does this suggest about what you value?

How I’d like to look back on my life: Proud that I have achieved as much as possible. Seen the world and experienced many things. Had fulfilling friendships and relationships. A close bond with my son and his family - seeing him grow up and be happy/content. Had the time to do the things I want to do and not feeling like I “missed out”. Developed/learnt or tried to develop/learn the skills or activities I am interested in.

Implicit values and goals:

Want to achieve and feel like I have succeeded.

Curiosity about things I haven’t seen or done - a strong desire to learn.

A close network of friends and family who care about each other.

Seeing the next generation succeed and flourish & helping him achieve this.

Do the things I want to do.

 

Danny was asked the following key questions giving these replies

Key Question	Reply
What would you like to happen regarding the difference you are making in the world?	Making a contribution
What do you think a good and well-informed friend would advise you?	Leave the City. Be a teacher. Just do some work to ease pressure.
What do you advise a good friend placed in a similar position?	Think creatively and broad-mindedly about it. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
What sort of person would you like to be in your job?	Well-rounded, likable, not too materialistic, successful, creative, doing something that brings value to people, team worker, having a connection with people.
Who else is involved in the decision and do they have any interests and rights relating to this situation	1. Ex wife – child care (don’t feel too pressurized as she is now relaxed about this decision) 2. Son (time with son)

Step 2: Assessing Potential Values

After identifying the potential values wise decision-making requires assessing these values for how important they are to us. This was done in the following way:

• Building the values into a comprehensive list

• Assessing how much each potential value mattered

• Reducing the list by analysing how the values were related 

The values that these tasks enabled Danny to identify  were built into this comprehensive list and Danny stated how important he felt these values were to him:

	/5	What Matters - Values and Objectives
1	5	An enjoyable and personally rewarding career. Actually enjoying work (can be helped  by mixing work and pleasure creatively)
2	4	The right balance between work, child care and social time. Would like work to be part of my life
3	3	Perhaps (not ideally) work which utilizes my current skills or contacts. (but wouldn’t be completely thrown away as have the money) More about having the right aptitudes for the job and having the confidence for it.
4	4	A career where I could justifiably feel I am helping others. (more providing something valuable to others, making a difference)
5	2	Strong network of friends and family. (bonus if comes from job)
6	4	Financial security and stability – paying the bills  - absolute minimum of £12000 a year take home. Feel comfortable with post tax £16000 – would like potential to earn more
7	5	Avoidance of extreme stress at work.(unrealistic targets, lack of clear targets, lack of time, too much time spent at work, people looking over you,) – connects with objective 11.
8	4	Doing new things (at work and outside)
9	3	Flexi-time to some extent
10	5	Being proud of what I do and being a success (taking something from start to finish, being creative, seeing whole picture, tangible, worthwhile end product, potential for growth, learning)
11	4	Friendly and open and trusting working atmosphere/environment
12	3	Helps to have targets and to hit them – achieving things in general
13	4	Value and viability of the job
14	4	Learning (personal development)
15	4	Autonomy
16	4	Being tested and challenged
17	5	Work is worthwhile in itself – not just a means to an end
18	5	creativity – coming up with new ideas
19	3	Having a connection with people (co-workers, clients, everyone)

 As well as identifying some potential values the list also enabled the identification of what matters about how to make the decision. In the process of making this decision these matter to Danny:

1	Not feeling pressurized by others when making the choice
2	Try to be as well-informed as possible about possible jobs (talk to people, get some experience, read)
3	Don’t be so hard on yourself

 

The list of values were reduced to a more manageable list of 5 key values in the following ways:

• identifying the means-end and constitutive relationship among the values and grouping them by these relationships

• removing values that were not relevant to this decision

• removing values that were not important

Obj	/5	Objective
1	5	Actually enjoying work which is helped by  mixing work and pleasure creatively in a friendly and open and trusting work environment having autonomy (not having people looking over me) having and hitting targets (avoiding too much stress by avoiding unrealistic targets, lack of clear targets, and lack of time to accomplish targets) feeling I am achieving something,  being creative, having a connection with people and not spending too much time at work
2	5	Being proud of what I do, and being a success, which is helped by: a job which is worthwhile in itself, not just a means to an end being creative a career where I could justifiably feel I am providing something valuable to others and making a difference  taking something from start to finish,  being creative seeing whole picture, with a tangible, worthwhile end product potential for growth, learning, hitting targets, achieving things, and autonomy having the right aptitudes for the job and having the confidence for it.
3	5	Financial security and stability – paying the bills  - which requires absolute minimum of £12000 a year take home. Feel comfortable with post tax £16000 – would like potential to earn more helps if have confidence about the job and its viability.
4	4	The right balance between work, child care and social time.  would like work to be part of my life, not all of it helps if some flexi-time
5	4	Doing new things & learning  personal development at work and outside being tested and challenged

 

Stage 3) SEARCHING FOR OPTIONS

The gaol of this stage is to generate possible options.

Danny had originally listed the following options: 

Option 1: Leave the City but use City experience in a different role

Option 2: Go back to the City in similar fields to before

Option 3: Do temporary work for the time being

Option 4: Leave City and do something completely different

Option 5: Teaching business or economics or finance (A level up)

The exploration of his situation and what matters had meant that David had eliminated option 2 from consideration. 

Brainstorming of possible career opportunities produced the following list: 

• Charity – fund-raising, research 

• Starting up own business          

• Financial PR                  

• Recruitment consulting        

• Corporate Training              

• Advisory work (business advisor)      

• Working in medicine          

• Event management                   

• Research                        

• Estate agency                  

• Public sector work                    

• Carpentry                         

• Plumber                          

• Fitness trainer                    

• Physiotherapy                    

• Graphic designer             

• Raising finance for films                

• Starting up a nursery                    

• Retail (Open café, bar,shop)     

• Medical Profession           

• Human resources         

Stage 4) CHOOSING THE BEST OPTION

Danny identified the options which most appealed from this list and tested these options against the refined list of values:           

Options	Enjoyment	Pride /Success	Finances	Work/home balance	New challenges
1. Charity – fund-raising, research	Maybe. Fund raising could be sole destroying. Need more info.	OK. Depends what role.	OK. Fund raising can be lucrative.	Yes. Hours tend to be OK.	Yes. But for how long?
2. Starting up own business	Yes. Very stimulating.	Yes. If it is viable.	No. At least in yr 1	Yes. Although not in Yr 1. Long hours to get it working.	Yes. Very challenging.
3. Teaching	I think so. Depends on what I’m teaching, type of school. Need to find out more	I feel pride. But don’t seem to get much positive feedback from others. Will this wear me down.	OK. Not great, but should be just manageable.	Yes. Holidays make up for weaker pay to a large extent.	Yes. But will it be challenging after a while. Age group?
4. Corporate Training	Yes. After I gain confidence. Material must be relatively interesting.	Yes. Again depends on what I teach/train.	Yes. Can be quite lucrative.	OK. Depends on firm, culture.	Yes. Lots to learn.
5. Advisory work (business advisor)	Maybe. Could be a bit vague and unstimulating.	OK. Reasonable, wouldn’t be that proud.	OK. If small business advisor, the money is not that great.	OK. Should be able to find a 9 to 5 type job.	Yes
6. Retail (opening shop)	Yes. Like starting up your own business. Although worried about being tied down. Must be able to see viability.	Yes, provided the shop worked. If can see viability.	No. High risk and capital intensive.	Very long hours. Need someone to cover.	Yes. Lots to do.
7. Stockbroking	No. Only the money and prestige make it enjoyable. Although it does have some good moments.	Yes. Always liked telling people I was a stockbroker.	Yes. Very.	No. Not at all.	No. I could make it a bit different by broking other products, but overall it would not be a refreshing change.
8.Financial Advisor	Not sure. Depends on type of firm. Could eventually work for oneself which is advantage.	Not really. Unless was working for myself. Own company.	Yes. Although commission based. Depends on how successful you are.	No. Not really. Unlikely.	For a while. Not convinced it work push me 2 years out.
9. Medical Profession.	Maybe. Need to find out more. Saw a role which looks interesting that I have applied for.	Yes	No. Just about manage to pay bills.	Maybe. Many roles can fit this.	Yes. New and refreshing. Lots to learn.
10. Graphic Designer	I think so. Could do with learning more.	Maybe. Depends what type of company.	OK.	Maybe. Not sure.	Yes. Very different to what I have done.

 Danny’s assessment at the end of the session was that:

Starting up my own business and teaching are the most promising options – maybe with combining them and/or moving into corporate teaching at some stage. 

Stage 5) IMPLEMENTING THE DECISION.

Danny left to further investigate his options, to find out more about their viability and how well they would fit his refined list of values. He was  meeting a business studies teacher next week had enrolled on a teacher tasting course and was going to the teacher fair at Olympia. He had also applied for a job in a hospital as an ECG Technician. This, he wrote in an email would " surprisingly, ... fit in well with the above [his values] and after a conversation with the person offering the role I actually feel like I have a chance !" 

Asked, by email, what follow-up activities he needed to do to carry out his solution Danny wrote that:  

I need to find out more about teaching and about the charity sector - I am doing this. In particularly, I feel worried about my interest in teaching. Most people that I talk to are very negative about it. I need to assess this much deeper. Corporate training appeals. I have always admired the company “Hyperian training” and have wanted to work there. But this is not easy and will require more learning/courses beforehand. I also need to keep my mind active about business start-ups because if I could find something here that was viable, I know it would be most fulfilling.

 In answer to the question what obstacles might hinder carrying out the solution and how can they be overcome Danny suggested that:

One of the biggest obstacles is financial. But if you “bite the bullet” and budget, you can avoid getting into serious trouble. Other obstacles are a lack of skills or training in some of the areas. Other obstacles are the state of the industry.

The question "What do you feel about the solution and does this suggest further obstacles or motivators? brought the response:

I do have this nagging feeling that if I could teach something interesting, it would stimulate me and would be a bit like running your own business. It also wouldn’t dominate my time and life, releasing time to carry out outside work activities, childcare and continue to look for that illusive business start-up. The other major advantage is that you can leave teaching and come back to it at a later stage if you want to. I think people forget this. My main obstacle with teaching seems to be a) what other people think (does this matter? - it damages my pride element) and b) I need to find out more, and c) maybe I’ll get bored of it - perhaps the material won’t be stimulating enough - am I not more intelligent than this? Spoke to someone yesterday who said “Teaching. You’re better than that Danny”. This kind of comment really makes me have doubts. But is he wrong. His father was a teacher for 30 years and he said he got stale. Well, of course, anyone would get stale after 30 years in 1 profession - sounds like prejudice to me.

After a brief period working in a hospital which Danny found disappointing he enrolled on a teacher training course, planning to teach business studies, while running his own small-scale business. He has now completed the course and is happy in his new post teaching business studies to 6th form students.

 

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