Twenty years of medals.
Heavy yet?
Meet Andri
I spent twenty years proving I was good enough.
It worked.
That was the problem.
Ready for the shiny side first? 🙂
Got my Particle Physics PhD at Imperial College London, on a full scholarship I wasn't even eligible for on paper (not a UK citizen, hadn't studied in the UK). Then, did eight more years of research at Oxford University and CERN. Turned down a permanent contract. Then turned down a second one.
And somewhere in there I double-clicked: why the f* am I saying no? Isn't the permanent role "the dream"?
So I took the leap 🙂 In my early 30s, mid-Covid, locked in a house with a one-year-old (and my husband! 😛), applying and interviewing behind a closed door. My Goal #1 was getting into P&G. And … I made it. And I was so happy about it!!! Worked there for almost six years as Senior Data Lead working on their biggest brand, and I learned so much! About business, about people, and … about me! (more on that later! 😛)
Somewhere in there I also got my 3rd Dan in a full-contact martial art. That's breaking through three bricks with my bare hand (kkkiiii-aaaah!!!), training in a car park because the dojo was shut (because Covid).
Then, in my late 30s I also decided to pursue my childhood dream! So I got myself a skydiving license and jumped out of a plane 75 times. And opened a sold-out TEDx Geneva.
Impressive, right? I know 😉 🎉
When I was a child, my Dad wanted me to become a Doctor, while I wanted to be a Physicist. I became a Doctor in Physics, and now we are both happy!
Ready for the other side of the coin now? 😛
In every single performance review I ever had, if I'd heard nine good things and one "opportunity for improvement" … guess where ALL my energy went? Yep. The one. I'd go home and replay it. Find a way to have it fixed by the next meeting.
I called that "being coachable." 🤦♀️
When I finally got the promotion I'd been running for? I didn't smile. I felt … deflated. And then, almost immediately, asked for more money.
And a few years later my husband had to walk me to the car park, because I couldn't do it on my own. Because I was already burnt out. I just didn't realise it yet.
So what the heck was going on?
I was running a program installed a long time ago, without my permission: achievement = worth = love.
It's not ambition. It's a pattern. Welcome to the world of … the insecure overachiever 🙋♀️
Aaaand the good news?
Patterns. Can. Change. 😉
Enter coaching!
So what do I actually do?
I work with a very small number of exceptional people who look incredible on paper and privately wonder whether they can really do this for another 10 or 20 years.
I listen. I REALLY listen. Then I ask the questions nobody's ever asked you, the ones you've never asked yourself. And I hold up a big, huge mirror. Honest. Sometimes uncomfortable. Always on your side.
And not always from a little box on a screen. Sometimes we drive to the top of a mountain and talk about your life over coffee, with a view so good you have no option but to breathe. Sometimes it's with our feet in a river. Sometimes we jump into Geneva's lake, because it's a lot less ea-ea-eassssyyy to keep lying to yourself about what you really want when the water's THAT cold 🥶
I take very few people at a time, so I can go all in on them.
For the record
EMCC Global EIA Practitioner (the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, an internationally recognised accreditation body. In laywoman terms: my practice has been independently assessed against professional standards.)
Coach training at the University of Cambridge (ICE) and Optimus Coach Academy (ICF/EMCC/AC accredited).
Over 1,700 documented hours of continuing development, against a 16-hour-a-year requirement. (Yes. I'm aware of the irony. 😄)
