Force for good

Got a heap of lovely comments for the return of Corporate Escapologist – thanks a million.  And it’s been great to reconnect with a bunch of you over email to find out where your journeys have taken you.  I’m looking to speak to some of you for the new Corporate Escapology podcast…more to come.

The book, Corporate Escapology, is very intentionally not anti-corporate or a complainathon about all the bad things you get working for big companies.  Quite the opposite. It’s more of a celebration of what you get from working for a corporate - and what you can do with it.

There are tonnes of books telling us how to think like an entrepreneur, or a consultant or a CEO, but nothing that I’ve seen that acknowledges the amazing things anyone working for 10+ years in big companies knows and does.  And how they could use their skills, knowledge and experience to build an even more exciting next ten years.

Hence, the need for Corporate Escapology: to help people move quickly through the changes in mindset, identify new options and opportunities, redesign their offer to the world and help reposition them to deliver.  And Corporate Escapology the podcast will illuminate the pathways others have taken, so we can be inspired and draw confidence from the actions of others.

I’ve built and adapted a number of tools to help people understand where they’re at – and their gaps – so they can accelerate through the change necessary and package up all the great stuff they’ve learned in corporate life ready for a new future; one potentially filled with greater reward, more purpose and more enjoyment.

With each blog I’m going to try to provide one practical activity for someone trying to understand what life outside their corporate job might look like.  This week, I’m going to start with something for the engineers out there: the Four Forces model.

It’s a great tool to help understand your customer better – and their willingness to switch to a new solution or stay put (aka stuck).  But it works equally well for someone looking to make a significant change in their life.

• Push: the force that makes us move away from our current world.

• Pull: the force that moves us to make progress in a new world.

• Habits: the force that keeps us stuck to our old ways of doing things.

• Anxieties: the force – or fear - that keeps us from embracing a new solution.

The simple equation states that no-one will switch to a new solution, career, way of working etc., if Habits + Anxieties > Push + Pull.

Or more positively

Push + Pull > Habits + Anxieties => Switch.

(I may have overstated the engineering rigour here).

Your Turn: Complete your own Four Forces model. What’s making you change? What’s holding you back?

I’ve dropped in mine from a few years back in case it helps:

How hard was that?  How well do you know what keeps you stuck and what’s pushing you to a new future?  Maybe you need to do more work on what’s pulling you forward – to get clearer and more articulate.  How valid are those anxieties?  Do the habits make you proud or uncomfortable?

Number 1, You are not alone.  More and more people (maybe as many as 56% according to one recent survey¹) are questioning whether the 9to5 really does it for them anymore and if a different way of working could feel more purposeful, rewarding and enjoyable.

And Number 2, You’ve got a friend in me.  Corporate Escapology is here to help people just like you prepare to leave corporate life, develop the right mindset, figure out options, build their offer & reposition for an exciting new future.

If you know anyone thinking about leaving and starting something new, please share this blog with them, I’m keen to help.

All the best,

Adam

1. https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/job-seekers-survey (2023)