I enjoyed my 61st Birthday on Tuesday this week, or at least as much as is possible under lockdown conditions. Age really is just a number to me and in all honesty, I am thoroughly enjoying my sixties. I am already 21 years older than my Father was when he died, so perhaps it’s a case of enjoying life for both of us. I made the decision to resign from my last job back in February and it was a hugely difficult thing to do. I have always believed that if you have great people, great products and a great culture, then you are a large part of the way to being a great business. Unfortunately, the culture piece was just not being dealt with or even being given the focus it needed. This was compounded from my personal perspective by the lack of trust, inclusion and empowerment (TIE) afforded to some of the best professionals I have ever worked with. Leadership is very important to me and I regularly say to my staff, we all have two options, get on with it or get out of it, but we must do so in full knowledge of the circumstances. I guess I categorise this position by recognising that the only time I would be likely to take the latter decision is where I am forced to recognise that I can’t influence a decision I consider to be unjust, detrimental to the staff, business or both. That was definitely the situation in my last job and as a Board member, I had a responsibility to act and I did. I don’t do regrets because life really is too short, but I was certainly deeply disappointed to find myself in that position, as I am genuinely convinced that the business I was walking away from had the potential to dominate its space and grow its business beyond anywhere I have worked previously. However it was not to be, so I moved on.
The timing of my decision clashed directly with the onset of COVID-19 and the lockdown, but I do realise how lucky I am having gone straight on 3 months’ Garden leave post-resignation. I’m not good at sitting around and in the time I have had in lockdown I have realised a number of lifetime ambitions. I am now a published author of Children’s Storybooks, I have a book of Poetry under review with a national publishing house, have started this Blog and am working hard on my Biography which is one of the most therapeutic things I have ever done. On my birthday I also decided to push ahead with another lifetime ambition and incorporated a new business, getITright, an IT & Management Consultancy, which I am hugely proud of. In this business I will work with some of the best friends I have ever had, we will bring something new and powerful to our chosen sectors, Public Safety and Defence, through a business built on Integrity, Openness and a true partnering ethos; simplicity will feature highly in everything we do. The business will commence trading from 1st August 2020 and irrespective of my age, I am hugely excited at the prospect. There is no such thing as being too old and I think my recent experience just shows that all you need is a bit of quality time to think things through to realise that dreams are achievable; take some time to do this, the very least you will achieve is the satisfaction of undertaking the exercise, the best……who knows till you try.
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