If you could start your career again, what advice would you give yourself?
We ask all of our podcast guests this question... and here we are again with the answers from guests #021 - #030. That's ten more pieces of advice for you to compare against what you might tell yourself. Do you agree with any of our guests?
- Read on for the answers we heard in podcasts #021 - #030
- Read the advice from podcasts #001 - #010 here and #011 - #020 here
- Scroll down for a video of highlights from the entire series.
Sahar Muhsin Laufman
I would say, you're doing great. Everything is going to be all right. I'm rooting for you.
Sahar Muhsin Laufman from Equity Alchemy joined Dan to talk about wellbeing, resilience and mitigating burnout.
Darren Evans
That's really easy. Grow others to grow yourself. Why do I say that? You master things when you have to teach them to other people. You also enable them to grow and that will push you up to do the next task on the ladder. So if you're giving someone a hand up that forces you to take a step out. So yeah, grow others to grow yourself.
Darren Evans is CEO at Calder Stewart. Having led the construction firm successfully through Covid just six months into the role, made him the perfect person to talk about leading organisational change.
Ségolène Brantschen
When running into difficult or uncomfortable situations, be fascinated rather than frustrated.
Ségolène Brantschen from Ageas Group joined our podcast to talk about shiny penny syndrome and how it affects individuals and organisations.
François Wang
The one sentence I’d give to the young me is: don’t worry. Don’t worry about the final result and what it will look like. Go ahead and make a start.
François Wang is Senior Human Resources Director at Revlon and in his podcast explored the changing world of HR.
Paul Rose
This is something I've thought about - I would say to myself, Paul Rose, you're really good at getting your head down and running at things, but just remember that life doesn't have to be a battle. It's okay to be in your comfort zone - at least some of the time!
Paul Rose is one of the world's most experienced divers, field science and polar experts. He's also one of the most energetic people we know and his podcast reflects this. Tune in to his discussion on exploration, ecology and values.
Laura Chase
I wish I had pushed myself out of my comfort zone a bit more, sought out things that felt slightly more uncomfortable, because I can say now I found the biggest learnings and the biggest lessons in these places. But I'm a big believer in everything happens for a reason. And I'm here with the experience I've got right now at this moment for a reason. But maybe, I wish I was a bit braver every once in a while.
Laura Chase is Managing Director at WeAre8 the latest social media app battling to find a space on our phones. She was our first choice to talk to about disruption for positive change.
Thimon De Jong
I always liked speaking, even at university. I got my best grades when I had to present something instead of handing in a written report. And in all my roles I always did a little bit of speaking, but I thought it was a side hustle. 11 years ago, when I was 35, I became a full-time speaker, and I never realised that could be a profession. And the advice then would be: this can be a career, so start upskilling your speaking skills, your moderating skills, everything that has to do with live groups of people as I wish I'd known earlier that this could be a job because that's what I like doing best.
Thimon De Jong is a keynote speaker and author. Catch up on his podcast about navigating the polycrisis.
Dani Saadu
I wish I had known when I was younger about the power of personal branding and the power of your network. It’s only been in the last seven or eight years I've really focused on my network, but it's led to multiple opportunities for me. I wish when I was younger, I was consciously unafraid to form a network. I could network, talk to people ... but I didn't keep contacts, getting people to mentor me, keeping people in, offering them support, all that stuff. So then whenever opportunities came, people came to me for opportunities and vice versa the other way around. So I would say: stay connected.
Dani Saadu is Head of People & Culture at Wavemaker and recently published author. He joined Dan to talk about how to build a learning culture that drives business forward.
Chiara Fregonese
All right, this is hard. First, answer is: I don't know! The second though, is try to be a bit more daring. Because in moments when I felt that I needed courage to speak up, to show up, to imagine, to go a little bit further, that meant that in those moments I was learning the most because I was crossing a boundary.
Chiara Fregonese is a Senior Consultant at Impact Italia and joined us to explain what experiential learning is and why Impact's approach is unique.
Simon Henzell-Thomas
I love this question. I think I would say take life less seriously. I would also say be happy and comfortable being the youngest person in the room. I always remember when I was at the beginning of my career, I used to feel a bit awkward and think, oh, everyone else seems so much more experienced than me, but actually it's a gift to be the youngest person in the room. It doesn't last forever, so enjoy it. There's also a big thing around self-care for me. You don't have to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. There's plenty of really good people working on this [sustainability] area together, you won't do it alone. I often find with with sustainability people they take the job home, you know, they wear it, which is good. It's good to be passionate, but you've also got to look after yourself. And finally... maybe I'd say invest in Tesla, before they were very successful!
Simon Henzell-Thomas is Global Director for Climate and Nature at Ingka Group (IKEA). Catch up on his insightful podcast on balancing profit, people and planet.
Never miss our podcast again
Follow Impact on Spotify and subscribe to our channel on YouTube