Apart from the first six months of his professional career, which he left due to a dream he had, Dr Clive King has spent the whole of his career supporting global technology clients for Oracle, one of the largest technology companies, from his home base near Aberystwyth at a time when working from home wasn't a thing.

A self-confessed contrarian who loves challenging goals and working to solve highly complex technology problems with others, Clive discovered that becoming a specialist expert in a particular niche area makes you highly sought after. He also found time to pursue his love of the outdoors and take on climbing/ultra-running challenges.

Discover how his default position of saying yes to opportunity led him to a life-changing chance to learn a method of rational thinking to solve problems, which he applies to every part of his life, and how opportunity helped him to retire from corporate life at 55, a goal he had set 15 years before he achieved it in 2023.

Now working as a contractor on solving complex problems for clients, Clive spends more time doing what he loves – being a dirtbag rock climber, training his spaniel and continuing to be the curator of TEDx Aberystwyth, exploring interesting ideas.

He also does the rewarding work of supporting the next generation of aspiring computer scientists as an honorary fellow of Aberystwyth University and listening to a Swedish psychedelic progressive rock band!

Dr Clive King can be contacted via:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clive-king-90a847/

SHOW RESOURCES:
Change Your Story – my new research-backed book on career change.

https://kepner-tregoe.com/gbr - rational thinking methodology .

Thinking, fast and slow’ – bestseller by Daniel Kahneman.

Blink – bestseller by Malcolm Gladwell

“Feet in the Clouds: A tale of fell-running and obsession” – classic running book by Robert Askwith, focussed on the sport of fell-running.

BCS (British Computer Society) – the chartered body for Information Technology

TEDx Aberystwyth - interesting ideas from across the globe

For full show references, please visit:
https://www.careeralchemy.co.uk/episode-shownotes.html

TO CONNECT WITH / HEAR MORE FROM CAROLYN:

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Find out more about Carolyn's new book:

'Change Your Story: Escape from a job you hate and create a career you love - on purpose.'

Interested in hiring Carolyn as your coach?

Why not book a free 30-minute discovery call with Carolyn to discuss your needs and find out more about how she can help you to change your story?

https://bit.ly/Coffee-with-Carolyn

The son of a mechanic Dad and secretary Mum who together went on to run a business, Steve Keith’s career journey has taken him on a quest of curiosity and learning to become his authentic self and stand in his own power.

The first member of his family to go to university, Steve graduated from the prestigious Durham University and became a Teach First teacher in an inner-city school before life eventually led to him to a new challenge and a space where he could come out as a gay man at the age of 25. A chance conversation led him to join the early careers recruitment team at international consultancy firm EY, eventually becoming a senior manager where he championed inclusive recruitment for graduates and apprentices.

One day when he was struggling with the pressures and challenges of success and delivering award-winning campaigns, a key conversation with his boss released something within him and led to him taking some time out to deal with his anxiety and mental health challenges. This gave him the time and space to be curiosity led and ultimately gain clarity about what really matters to him. He now runs his own business, Curious Consulting, as an early careers consultant specialising in LGBTQ+ inclusion and mental health, and social mobility in the workplace.

As part of this, he set up and runs the Queer Student Awards (QSA), an annual hybrid celebration of talented young LGBTQ+ people in the U.K. and beyond, who are proudly leading in their lives and the communities around them.

Hear how his firm belief in the power of following his inner voice, curiosity, and learning has led him to develop the courage, persistence, and belief needed to deal with imposter syndrome and say yes to opportunity, including becoming the creator and podcast host of My Career Story, QSA awards creator and host, and running a successful consultancy.


Steve can be contacted via:
Website: https://www.curiousconsulting.co.uk/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevejohnkeith/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getcuriouswithsteve/

SHOW REFERENCES:
Black Box Thinking - the surprising truth about success and learning from mistakes by author, Matthew Syed.
Teach First - an education charity that places and trains talented people to lead, advance, and inspire in some of the UK's most deprived areas.
Daring Greatly - an exploration by Brené Brown of how the courage to be vulnerable can transform our lives.

This episo

TO CONNECT WITH / HEAR MORE FROM CAROLYN:

Connect with Carolyn on social media:

LinkedIn Twitter

Why not sign up for her career change newsletter on LinkedIn:

Change Your Story

Facebook Group

Find out more about Carolyn's new book:

'Change Your Story: Escape from a job you hate and create a career you love - on purpose.'

Interested in hiring Carolyn as your coach?

Why not book a free 30-minute discovery call with Carolyn to discuss your needs and find out more about how she can help you to change your story?

https://bit.ly/Coffee-with-Carolyn

By the age of 15, Lorna already had an exciting equestrian career in front of her and represented Great Britain several times successfully in junior eventing. Passionate about speed and with a Dad who was a champion jockey, at 16 she set herself another goal – to become the first woman to win the Grand National. She was also on track to become a student at Cambridge University. Out on the gallops one day, disaster struck, and she had an accident that almost killed her.

Her catastrophic brain injury led to her developing a number of psychiatric illnesses including an eating disorder as a coping mechanism, resulting in frequent hospitalisation over the course of the next twenty years.

Despite this, as a highly functioning and very bright polymath, Lorna still managed to study, eventually gaining her Ph.D. from Cambridge. More study later led to Lorna securing her dream job as a creative health lecturer at University College London.

In this inspirational story of survival and growth, hear how Lorna’s art and natural creativity became her medicine helping her to find her voice and recover, how she uses a growth mindset and persistence to overcome challenges and create opportunities, and what led to her deciding to leave academia to follow her passion and become a writer and artist as she turned 40.

Her first children’s novel, “Squawk – a book of bird adventures” has recently been published by Vanguard Press.

Lorna can be contacted via:
Website: https://lornacollins.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sensinglorna
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sensinglorna/

SHOW REFERENCES:

Squawk – a book of bird adventures – Lorna’s first children’s book, published in February 2023.

How Creativity Revived Me– Lorna’s TEDx talk in which she discusses how we can all be creative and initiate our own everyday revivals.

Imposter Syndrome–a sense of feeling like a fraud, even when the evidence indicates otherwise.

Flow– the psychology of optimum experience written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, one of the pioneers of the scientific study of happiness.

Mind- the mental health charity where Lorna volunteered.

Gilles Deleuze – philosopher and metaphysician, author of “Francis Bacon, the Logic of Sensation”.

TO CONNECT WITH / HEAR MORE FROM CAROLYN:

Connect with Carolyn on social media:

LinkedIn Twitter

Why not sign up for her career change newsletter on LinkedIn:

Change Your Story

Facebook Group

Find out more about Carolyn's new book:

'Change Your Story: Escape from a job you hate and create a career you love - on purpose.'

Interested in hiring Carolyn as your coach?

Why not book a free 30-minute discovery call with Carolyn to discuss your needs and find out more about how she can help you to change your story?

https://bit.ly/Coffee-with-Carolyn