PART ONE
When it hits us in life, that something needs to change drastically, it can come like an unexpected jolt. Whether it’s our location, our job, our relationships; this is nature’s way of giving us a big kick in the gusset, and it can become impossible to ignore what we may have been trying to suppress for a long time.
But what is that? Is that intuition? Gut Feeling? Fear? A breakdown? Or a combination of all the above?
For those who have experienced the force of that kick, it’s memorable and most certainly pivotal.
In the book we’re writing at the moment, titled “Social Starters: how to activate your true purpose and change the world” our co-founder and CEO Andrea spoke to five _SocialStarters alumni about the lead up to that life changing moment and what happened when it hit.
Nick, a Men’s Brand Director turned consciously awakened Global Event Producer who undertook _SocialStarters in 2017 went through a period of quite intense pain before waking up to his need for a new reality. His ‘realisation’ came after a period of what he described as “self-destruction and self-sabotage” with a work-hard, play-hard lifestyle and a work/life balance that wasn’t conducive to wellbeing. Working 8 years for a global beauty and luxury skincare corporation, he was regularly pushing himself to his limits both at work and the weekend because he didn’t see what was possible outside of his existing corporate career. Even when his parents told him this can’t go on, you need to give yourself a break, he remembers thinking,
“No, I have to continue in this role, I have no other option, what else am I going to do, I have a corporate career, so it’s either that, or I’m out of a job.”
It was only when he broke down in his boss’ office in tears after the stress caught up with him and he burned out, he was offered a sabbatical. For Nick, this felt rather strongly that this was a do or die kind of situation. What followed was a transformational experience on the _SocialStarters programme, working with a social entrepreneur to pivot her sustainable tourism business. We were running programmes overseas at that time so totally out of his comfort zone, descending into a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Nick adjusted his standard approach and discovered a newside to his personality that the corporate world hadn’t given him space to explore – and with that came a sense of calm and purpose.
Today Nick is the co-founder of an events company, incoporated as a CIC (community interest company) it’s a non- profit with big aims. The Great United CIC unites people young and old to combine wisdom, spark cultural transformation and share stories for the greater good. Alongside that he runs his own marketing and branding consultancy INCK, a ‘business for good’ who focus on beauty and luxury brands ‘with purpose’.
Are you a professional at a crossroads? Would you like to gain new skills, grow confidence and help a social impact organisation to thrive? There is still time to join the programme this June and work on tackling one of our 3 missions: inequality, climate change, or the economic crisis! 6 places left. Find out more here.
_SocialStarters Blog 