2. In 2005, I developed with Zoonie the Ideal Career Framework (ICF) workshop, to help women clarify WHAT they want in an ‘ideal’ career, and organize their efforts to REALIZE that career.
3. The workshop was so popular with women that we decided, at the beginning of 2006, to create a company, Talentelle ( www.talentelle.com ), exclusively dedicated to helping women VISUALIZE their ideal career and REALIZE it.
4. However, I realized recently that many men are suffering at work. They are not fulfilled. They endure the monotonous routine every day, without complaining and without blaming anyone.
5. These are responsible workers who work diligently in order to pay the bills, but more importantly, to support the work of coworkers and ensure the company is successful.
6. At the same time, they feel something is wrong. They feel that there MUST be something more in life than just showing up every Monday morning, and going through the same old routine every day, every week, every year.
7. I know EXACTLY how they feel. I felt the same thing, the same subtle uneasiness, the same dark shame of not being able to figure out what I wanted REALLY out of my working life.
8. I felt that way in June 2000. So one fateful morning, more than six years ago, I summoned the courage to convene a meeting with my boss, whom I greatly respected and admired, in order to announce my resignation.
9. This was absolutely a crazy decision: I was working for a great company (which won an award for being one of the top 50 best managed firms in Canada), I had a great boss who was so nice to me, I had great coworkers. I definitely had a great future ahead of me.
10. Yet, I quit. I felt I was at the wrong place, and that my destiny was somewhere else. My quitting felt like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane – without a parachute.
11. My boss asked me to describe the ideal job, and said she would do her best to create that job for me in the organization. I was touched and moved by her concern for my career and how much she cared.
12. The problem – the tragedy, in hindsight – was that I HAD NO IDEA WHAT MY IDEAL JOB WOULD BE!
13. So for the next 5 years, I explored several options: freelance translator, marketing agent, manager of a design firm, etc.
14. It was only in 2005 that I was able to synthesize all the career-related books I had read into an Ideal Career Framework (ICF) to guide myself and other people in their career explorations.
15. It was thanks to the many discussions I had with my sister Zoonie that I was able to formulate such a powerful yet simple framework.
16. Because she was open-minded, supportive, and above all a true believer in the power of conversation to express oneself and connect to another human being at a deeper level, she was the perfect thinking partner for me.
17. As ICF co-developer, Zoonie pushed me to further develop the framework not only to be a exploration and visualization guide (like a compass) but also an integrated management tool to help people manage their careers in real-time.
18. There is no doubt to me that ICF will become tremendously successful and popular with women worldwide, no matter what language they speak or on which continent they live.
19. But because it is such a powerful tool in liberating a person’s imagination and guiding her as she progresses in her chosen vocational path, I feel a strong desire to share it with men too.
20. I feel it would be a crime against humanity to hide valuable knowledge that could help people find a better path through life, a better way to find happiness at work.
21. At the same time, I’m aware that men are more results-driven, and will not wholeheartedly or enthusiastically embrace the Ideal Career Framework as much as women did.
22. Fortunately, the ICF is not touchy-feely or Oprah-like (although I admire Oprah). It is immensely practical and it does measure results.
23. So I’ve decided to use Slideshare to make available to men all the ICF materials developed for women at Talentelle. Men can then take the ideas and tools that they find relevant, and use them the way they want to.
24. So I’ve decided to use Slideshare to make available to men all the ICF materials developed for women at Talentelle. Men can then take the ideas and tools that they find relevant, and use them the way they want to.
25. The Ideal Career Framework (ICF) basically has 4 axes: - Passion - Talent - World’s Need - Meaning
26. The Ideal Career can only be achieved if you fulfill the requirements of these four axes.
27. In other words, you have to feel alive at work ( passion ), you have to excel at something ( talent ), you have to serve a real need experienced by real people ( world’s need ) and you have to find meaning in the work you do.
28. Take Bill Gates, for instance. His career was quite exceptional. He had passion, he had talent, he obviously fulfilled a real need in the world. He was only missing the requirement for meaning (which he fulfilled by deciding to step down from Microsoft and head his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fight poverty and illness worldwide).
29. Warren Buffett basically fulfilled the same requirement for meaning , by giving to Bill Gates’ Foundation over 30 billion dollars!
30. To see more of this presentation, please look for slideshows in my Slideshare portfolio with “ICF for Men” in the cover page. For more information on consulting or coaching or public speaking on ICF, please contact me at [email_address] You can also subscribe for FREE (value of $800) to my success secrets blogzine at www.realtimesuccesssecrets.blogspot.com
