A Personal Story by Ian MacLeod
If I look back on my professional career, I have always had an inclination for Thinking Differently. When I was doing well at high school I was told “You should become a doctor or a lawyer.” Instead, I followed my heart and studied Naval Architecture and Small Craft Engineering at University. When it became obvious that I was destined to get a First-Class Honours degree I was told “You should stay at Uni and do a PhD.” Instead, I turned away from research and academia to become a ship surveyor (simply I did WoF’s on ships).
As I progressed through my career and showed signs of leadership attributes I was told “You should move to Asia and manage a regional office through their shipbuilding boom.” Instead, I moved to New Zealand….
And so it went on until I find myself joining Phil Pickford as part of the Think Differently Group. I have known Phil for quite a few years and having already made the career change from being an employee leading a single company to a self employed consultant working with a number of different companies I was excited by the opportunity to become part of the newly created Think Differently Group.
Over my professional career I have discovered that I have a passion for helping people reach their potential through coaching and mentoring – this insight was a revelation to someone who studied engineering and thought for many years that he was a numbers person and definitely not a people person.
Catalyst:
“A person or substance that causes a change or event to happen, acting as the stimulus in bringing about or hastening the result”
My role with Think Differently Group is as a Business Catalyst, I am here to coach business leaders and cause a change or an event to happen. Normally the change involves those business leaders thinking differently to enable them to overcome their problems, achieve their goals and have the time to smell the flowers.
If your business is not achieving its goals, get in touch and we can see if I might be the catalyst that can help you change.
Ian MacLeod
Business Catalyst
