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Katherine Ann Byam 0:01
This book is a revelation in so many ways that I cannot enumerate. Each chapter had me go to places I hadn’t considered going. To my experiences, my biases, my joys and my gifts, foremost among them. This book doesn’t just recommend what I should consider in my journey to build a net positive life. It puts a steering wheel in my hand, with a roadmap and tangible actions to plot out what’s meaningful to me. I have lengthy notes, I highly recommend it. This was the best review I received for do what matters the purpose driven Career Transition Guide, and I feel so honoured to have received it.

My name is Katherine Ann Byam and I’m your host. What’s your purpose? And how does it integrate with sustaining life itself? For some of us this question is a deep ache that we spend a lifetime trying to find, perhaps shifting direction as we learn and grow from one path to another. For many of us our children give us a clearer definition, providing for them becomes our reason for being. For others it’s about enjoying the present moment, ever so fleeting and ever so beautiful. For still others, it can be financial, status, contribution or impact. In this podcast, my guest and I will share with you tips, ideas and methods on how to build a career that integrates with who you are and the life you want to lead. We will explore the social foundation on which to build your transition and an ecological ceiling, above which we need not climb, so that we live not just for ourselves, but for our collective ability to thrive. Welcome to The Purpose Driven Career Podcast; Do What Matters.

Do What Matters; The Purpose Driven Career Transition Guide, has achieved a number one best seller in the UK under career guides. Across the world, it’s also received best sellers in the following categories: number two environmentalist and naturalist, number two in political leadership, number four in green business, number four in vocational guides, number four in change management, number five in foreign language books in Brazil, number six in unemployment in India, it also received a number one placement in new releases across the following categories in both the UK and the US: career guides, job hunting, human resource management, vocational guidance, environmentalist and naturalist, decision making, mentoring and coaching, ethics, business leadership skills. I’m so honoured to have written a best selling book. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for the last 15 years and I’ve finally been able to realise that. Let me tell you a bit about myself so that you know where all of this is coming from. My name is Katherine Ann Byam and I’m an author, sustainability activist, coach and consultant to business resilience and sustainable change, partnering with leaders committed to a shared future for the planet. I’m also the Managing Director and CFO at Dieple consulting as a professional with 20 plus years change leadership experience in the FTSE top 10. I decided to pivot to freelance consulting in 2019. To support sustainable business development within SMEs and leadership transformation for individuals with responsibility for much larger organisations. I’ve worked with startups from craft and fashion, book authors, social impact product based entrepreneurs, as well as consulting partners, vice presidents, MBA graduates and senior managers across the FTSE and S&P 500 companies. I personally hold an MBA with distinction specialising in innovation management, as well as certificates in ESG, digital strategy and sustainability management from established universities. These include Cambridge Institute of sustainable leadership and Berkeley Law executive education. I’m also a fellow of the Association of Chartered certified accountants. Finally, by way of introduction, I’m also the host of the Internationally aclaimed Where Ideas Launch Sustainable Innovation podcast, ranked among the top 5% globally, achieving the top spot in five countries and the top 10 in 19 separate charts. My mission with this work and Do What Matters: The Purpose Driven Career Transition Guide, is to enlist everyone, no matter what your station is in life, to a commitment to life and community on it for a long, long time. No one is on the fence. When it comes to climate change or sustainability for our planet. We are either working toward that goal or working against it. These are choices that we make every day in our actions and decisions at work or in our lives. Do it matters: The Purpose Driven Career Transition Guide, provides the context and arguments for what’s important, and then provides a step by step approach, which becomes unique to everyone who takes a journey. It helps you find your own path to purpose with truth and with action. I set out to write a book that inspires net-positive action by presenting different ideas, scientific truths, critical inflection points from your own life. My intention is to help and to position the work that I do as an expert. And I want to support leaders on their journey to deliver the change the world needs, I completely understand that there are things that pull us away from a focus on the collective good. The allure of generational wealth for example. Yet if it means that we consume more resource or endanger more lives with our thirst for rapid wealth accumulation, when we use more than we need to and disrupt the very future we seek to protect, all the money in the world left to your children, without a planet to live on does nothing to help anyone. If you want to give your children every privilege, consider an innovative and practical education. Train them to become problem solvers, changemakers, net-positive influencers, give them more options than you’ve given yourself. Don’t be complicit in their demise. No system operates without compromises. After all, animals eat animals in the wild, and water, as beautiful as it is, destroys. You will no doubt continue to face tough calls that sacrifice one thing for another, or diminish the potential of both things. My only wish is that you do this and take these decisions with clarity of your mission, your values and your purpose. And with clear intention in your actions. Every chapter of the book has been infused with the principles of sustainability. Your role as a leader has expanded as much as it has changed. And as we go forward into this new era, more is expected of you. If I can convince you of one thing, it would be that you actually have the power in any career situation you happen to be in. Definitely our colleagues of Generation Z are teaching us that. With that knowledge and some new skills and analysing situations, I hope to help you raise your consciousness and make better and more aligned decisions seeing around corners at every horizon. The book is laid out in the following ways. There is the first section, context and case for change that illustrates three themes. And these themes are the planetary dimension, the socio economic dimension, and governing the system, then the book is separated into three parts. Part one is about your environment and you, and it’s the journey to self mastery. Chapter One, if it’s important build a model, we explore when modelling is helpful. And when it is not. Chapter Two, who are you really? Helps you dive into self discovery journey. Chapter three career models gives you nine approaches toward a fulfilling career. Chapter Four, the Constant Learner, talks about how to pull off constantly learning and growing throughout your life. Chapter Five speaks to your goals needing conscious action. Chapter Six, gives you the nine steps to positive impact career transitions in detail as in how you go from thinking about a change, to actually delivering on your first project. Part two moves away from the self and into how the self interacts with the world around it’s about social credible, responsible and how to become an advocate for change. In part two, we start with chapter seven, which is, what’s the point of your job, really? And then in chapter eight we cover is it persuasion, influence or manipulation, we look into how change is elaborated or affected across large cross sections of people to make things happen and to create a momentum for change, you need to influence others, but how, and that is the question we aim to answer. In chapter nine, we talk about money and wealth, in chapter 10, we talk about your digital twin, and how you elaborate your brand online. In chapter 11. We talk about busting HR myths. Part three, jump but know how to land. This is about your first 90 days. Chapter 12, in this section is about onboarding. And the key here, where power flows, money goes. Chapter 13, habits and context, creating a compelling personal playbook. Chapter 14, how to create the perfect pitch in funding for your projects and innovations. Chapter 15, is better than average, not perfect. It’s already exceptional to be better than average. Chapter 16, that’s on explosives, dealing with a toxic boss or culture. Chapter 17, is support for your journey and how you add all of these skills to your professional toolkit.

I hope this was useful for you. And I just wanted to give you one of the quotes from the book to give you something to ponder as you leave this episode. Children are the future but they are not your future. And it’s an important distinction. I make this point because often our children dictate what we choose to value and show purpose in and I want to emplore you to think broader and deeper than the immediate needs of your children and more long term instead. You can find the book on Goodreads you can find quotes there and see if you want to get more into the detail of the book. You can also find it on Amazon should you wish to, you can write to me on LinkedIn if you’re interested in working with me one to one to explore some of the concepts of the book and to effect your next job change. I’m always here to listen.

This episode was brought to you today by the Courageous Career Club. Have you picked up your own copy of Do What Matters: The Purpose Driven Career Transition Guide Book. To find out how you can get your copy, as well as resources that go alongside it, visit my website, www Katherine Ann byam.com or engage with me on the socials. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.