Inspiring Parent: Career Change after Relocation

I’m sure it’s no surprise that I am rather a fan of LinkedIn and all it offers in the world of online
networking and connections. It was through this wonderful platform that I came across the work and
musings of this month’s Inspiring Parent.  Since that cheeky connection request in 2018, I have learned more about Brian’s take on life as a working father, his views on diversity and inclusivity, and how his passion helped changed his career path.
I wanted him to share his journey, in his words, through the Inspiring Parent blog series.

Over to you Brian!

Hello, I am Brian Ballantyne, I’ve worked for 20 years mostly in Product Marketing (at Heinz, Vodafone, and Amazon), with some sideways forays into Commercial Finance and Procurement, and then in 2018 moved into a Program Manager role for Inclusion and Diversity. I always enjoyed the customer psychology, metrics, and creativeness of Marketing, having done a combination of Maths, Physics and Art & Design at A-level, before doing a Marketing degree at University.

 

 

 

I am really interested about your career changes; could you talk us more through them?

So the change into Commercial Finance was when I followed my wife to Luxembourg and had to get a new job here. There wasn’t really anything in Marketing at the time, so I re-joined Vodafone in this sideways role. It was OK, but I didn’t really feel that it was for me, so when we moved back to London, I took professional coaching (thank you Nicola Lowe!) to get me back into Product Management. The move into Procurement came about because after three years back in London with two small children we really missed the quality of life in Luxembourg and decided to move back. I did a transfer into the procurement team in Vodafone Luxembourg, then a year later moved to my current company. For my latest move into Inclusion & Diversity, I’ve done it as a voluntary sideline for a decade, and always thought it was best to keep it aside from my main role, but after a 3 month sabbatical (travelling with my family around Malaysia and India in summer of 2017) I realised that (especially turning 40!) it wasn’t enough for me that my work in product marketing was intellectually interesting, I wanted to focus on doing something more meaningful, and hence the move into inclusion and diversity as part of my full time role.

For my current role, I don’t have any relevant qualifications or training! I think having demonstrated my passion for this area, and being involved in organising various events and initiatives, made it possible to make this shift within my current company. If I had applied directly to it, or to a similar job in another company, I think it would have been harder to convince them that I had the skills for the job. I was recently told that I seem “authentic” in this area, that lots of people don’t really care about this area personally, and so that has helped when doing talks and telling my story (why I care). Certainly, I think having people skills and a degree of emotional intelligence helps, combined with clinical mathematics skills so you can keep it on the numbers (especially if you need to give your emotions a rest sometimes!) I like making connections with people around the world, inside and outside of the company, and I think that openness and humility helps to make a difference.

It’s great to see how volunteering AND personality have helped with your direction change; which existing skills do you think have helped you transfer into this new area?  

People skills, whether that is introducing yourself to people and making them feel they can trust you to share their experiences and insights with you, or whether that is working with senior VPs and Directors and balancing composure with authenticity.
Communication skills from Marketing have certainly helped, making it easy for people to get engaged, tracking metrics and driving towards goals, despite any obstacles that come up. I think that business drive, having regular data flashes etc., is really a boost to the work we are progressing, which people coming from the HR space don’t always have the same drive for.
And of course, preparing all those metrics requires skills of manipulating and analysing large data sets, benchmarking, and presenting data in a compelling way, highlighting insights and recommendations on what we call the “path to green” for anything that is yellow or red against the goal.

 

 

 

What has been a challenge? How have you overcome it?

When I worked on inclusion and diversity as a volunteer, I was surrounded by people who “got it” and cared about it. A challenge of moving into it as your day job is that not everyone is in the same space, and that can be disheartening at times. I try to be self-aware and notice when my emotions are rising in certain situations, and then taking a break from that situation, whether that is physically moving away from it for a while, breathing exercises (in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4, etc.) or doing something different, once I even went to watch a movie during the day to clear my head!
Having wonderful people around you helps, trusted friends, colleagues, and mentors you can speak to when you need to recharge your energy, motivation or ideas. And also trying to ground yourself in the metrics of the specific problem you are trying to solve, and keeping some of the emotion out of the project updates, to protect your own vulnerability, and also to keep it objective and factual. That’s working so far!

What has surprised you since your move?

I was pleasantly surprised to lose a whole load of guilt from my shoulders when I started doing this work officially. Previously doing this voluntarily I really felt guilty about sneaking around organising these events, whether you let your manager know or not, etc. And doing this role as my job has made all of that guilt totally disappear. What’s more, getting past the imposter syndrome of being a straight white man working in diversity! (and many people find it surprising), I have become more emboldened with confidence to do more, speak at more events, blogs, podcasts, and there’s a real snowball effect that the more you do, the more you feel confident, and so the more you do. I really feel that 2018 has been a great year for building my confidence, learning a lot, and laying foundations, and I hope to start making an impact in 2019!

What advice would you give to a parent in the same position?

Go for it! I am totally underqualified for the role I am doing, I work from home a couple of afternoons each week to be with my kids, I am rarely online much after 5 pm, and yet through caring about the work I do, being really productive when I am working (top parent skill!) and leveraging the communication and negotiation skills that I develop through being a parent, I seem to be making an impact and building credibility with my senior level stakeholders and our wider community.
If I can do it, so can you!
Try not to be intimidated by large corporate companies, or be distracted by potential peer paranoia if you don’t keep your office seat warm as much as others do. Just keep your own counsel on whether you think you are working hard and delivering value, give yourself rewards and permission to take time out, and that strong level of self-respect and self-love will shine through and get you the respect from the people who matter. And your kids will be proud of you too! (Ok, well currently mine are mostly embarrassed by anything I do, but here’s hoping!)

What great advice from Brian. If you have something you are passionate about, showing up in the space, volunteering and letting your wider team know about your interests can not only motivate you, but can help shape your future career path.

If you would like to connect with Brian, feel free via LinkedIn. You can also find out more about his life and views in his book “Confessions of a Working Father”.

Want to read more from Inspiring Parents, check out the link here.

Join over 500 working parents developing a career they enjoy not endure in The Balance Collective with Clara Wilcox on Facebook.