Doug Glenwright mini biog
Innovative Customer Centric Propositions. Multiple award-winning leader with 20 years’ transformation experience across retail and leisure. Passionate about customers and transforming tangible experiences by developing a strategic vision and delivering it holistically and with integrity. Visionary, vivacious and versatile with strong communication skills and creative flair, balancing commercial and customer needs whilst engaging people with a sense of fun.
What are the components of your portfolio career e.g. study, paid freelance work, part time job, volunteering etc.)?
Paid freelance work (plus a little dabbling in creative art)
How did your portfolio career come about?
I was very lucky to be offered redundancy following the relocation of my office after 14 years in a corporate role. After so long in one business, this was a scary prospect and I was fortunate to be offered a seconded role which allowed me to test my new commute (and ultimately prove I didn’t want to be spending so much “wasted” time in the car) and allowed me to prepare myself for a significant change, by working with Rachel Brushfield as a coach to understand more about the value I bring to a role and what I was looking for at the time of change. I did not seek out a portfolio career and was perhaps even a little resistant to it – this felt so different from the structure and (perceived) control of a regular career – however I tried to remain open to it as one of a number of possibilities. After a month or so off, I started talking to contacts and was approached to be an SME for a top consultancy firm as they developed the strategy for a Middle Eastern travel company; there was no contract, there was no job description and ultimately there was no risk, it was 2 to 3 days a week, which still left me time to apply for other roles, so I agreed… To an extent, I do believe we make our own luck, however I was fortunate to know of some big projects coming up in various businesses and was therefore able to position myself well to be of assistance.
How has your portfolio career changed over time?
During this initial assignment I was still actively applying for permanent roles, going to interviews and even got offered a few positions, but each time I compared them to what I was currently doing and proactively chose the instability, flexibility and variety of a potential portfolio career – however it cannot be a portfolio with one role, right? So I started reaching out to other contacts to understand if there were things I could help with. Mostly this led to nothing, which can be disheartening, but I reassured myself that it did remind people I was here and available and hopefully keeping me front of mind – a good marketing strategy; I picked up some piecemeal jobs and learnt more about my processes, what I enjoy, what I actively need to avoid and I started juggling larger projects.
When people ask you ‘what do you do?’ what do you reply?
Knowing what to call yourself is one of the challenges I have faced since I stopped working in a full time corporate career – we are all capable of much more than our job titles give us credit for, then there is what we are known or famous for and then there is what role you are being asked to play within each assignment…whilst you want to be flexible enough to adapt to the needs of any assignment, it is still important to have a clear sense of self, what your unique selling points are and what you can personally deliver for that role. At a high level when describing my role, I tend to use the term “Customer Centric Contractor” but this is a really grey area with many different disciplines focusing on customer experience, so this still doesn’t feel that ownable, but I explain this as “delivering strategic propositions and holistic transformation whilst balancing both customer and commercial needs”.
What do you most love about having a portfolio career?
I love getting the 3+ hours back in my day when I was previously commuting and using this time for something constructive – exercise, art or even chores. That said, I do still feel guilty when I take off time in the middle of the day to enjoy a sunny walk… it’s interesting how ingrained the corporate structure has been in my life!
Coming soon, part 2 of Doug Glenwright’s guest blog about his portfolio career.
More
View Doug Glenwright’s LinkedIn profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-glenwright-18a2234/
Browse Doug Glenwright’s web site:
http://www.dougglenwright.com/
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