The Career Curveball Paradox...

...being Fired was a defining moment...

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By the age of 30, I had been trained as a Weapons Engineer and spent 6 years building my career in the Military Subcontracting, Logistics and Supply Chain sector - I had been the youngest Supervisor and Manager in the Company and had recently been "head hunted" by a competitor to be their youngest Operations Manager...

Life was good, I was confident, ambitious and effective; my career was on track, with a great salary and a golden opportunity to get a seat on the Board within a couple of years...

So it came as somewhat of a surprise, after just 10 months to be sat down by the Chairman and simply "invited to resign"; it appeared that making changes had ruffled the feathers of the other Managers and they didn't like it - I had made them look bad...

This meant that of the two big players in the Industry, I had resigned from one and been fired by the other - my options were somewhat limited...

Ouch...!

I remember going home and lying on the bed staring at the ceiling wondering if my "glittering" career was over, if I would ever find a job again or if I would end up flipping Burgers...

Looking back and joining the dots - this #careercurveballs was actually a defining moment that enabled (or forced...) me to make changes in my career that would propel me towards achieving the business and lifestyle of my dreams.

That feeling of negativity, anger and fear actually drove me on to find opportunities that otherwise I would have missed. Most people in my experience wait round for their "Old Job" to simply reappear somewhere else, and of course it rarely does..

From Guns to Dresses and Planes...

I chose to reinvent myself and my career - from Weapons Engineering I went to work at the Worlds No1 Ballroom Dancing Dress making company (slight change of path...) then ran Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Airports for an Aviation Business.

With my wife, Lynn, we started a Recruitment Agency and formed our Business Coaching and Training Company 12 years ago.

We have lived and worked in the UK and the USA - based out of Las Vegas - and have achieved life and business goals that would not have been possible had I not been fired...

We now live in France and travel the World working with Entrepreneurs, Executives and Business Owners - we are fortunate to be able to do what we love with people we like...

Being fired was the best thing that happened to me - it didn't feel like it at the time, but with the benefit of 20:20 hindsight, it was the darkest of days that simply allowed a new dawn to break...

My learning from that experience is that even when Life and Business throws you a curveball, it's not the end but the opportunity for a new beginning - but you have to be prepared to change and embrace the new path, hoping that your old job or career will somehow resurrect itself is in my view a waste of precious time...

When life throws you a Curveball - which it will - treat it as an opportunity to change rather than an excuse to withdraw...