When money just isn’t enough
Jess Stuart gave up a well-paid corporate gig to focus on a life that made more sense.
Jess Stuart has stepped away from a high flying job and a fat pay packet to rebuild a life around her passion.
At first the former HR manager didn’t know what that passion was but after taking a year off she figured it out.
‘‘I volunteered and taught English to Buddhist monks in Thailand, I trained to be a yoga teacher and I did my life coaching certificate.’’
As a qualified life coach, Jess now runs her own coaching practice, produces online courses and workshops and works with companies nationwide on leadership development.
The entire focus is on mental potential, resilience, self-awareness and how to achieve success alongside balance through harnessing emotional intelligence, goal setting and mindfulness. It’s a lot to take in, but in a nutshell Stuart says she helps people unlock their potential and achieve their dreams.
And the English-born woman knows all about that.
In her previous role at Fonterra, based in the Waikato, Stuart was part of the senior leadership team and also headed up a senior HR team which meant travelling to sites all over the North Island.
‘‘I spent a lot of time in the car, staying in hotels and in back-to-back meetings. That’s when I decided it was great for the bank balance but not so great for my health or my soul.
‘‘I’d felt that way for a long time, but I got stuck in the trap of thinking I’d spent 15 years of my career doing this, it’s what I trained for, I had money and status, I’d made my parents proud, I’d gotten used to hotels and comfy cars . . .
‘‘Then, physically and mentally, I just hit a wall and that was the catalyst for something to change. I was living a life that was busy and full yet never fulfilled, I wanted a career change but I was unsure what to do and how.’’
So she spent the best part of a year immersing herself in what she loved in the hope it would lead her to the answer, and it did.
‘‘I spent time with Buddhist monks in Bhutan which helped to offset the stress and burnout of my job. I trained as a life coach, I came across mindfulness in every magazine I read which piqued my interest, so I read more books and I went to classes on it, and from that came my first book [A Rough Guide to a Smooth Life].
‘‘Now that Eastern wisdom meets Western business, I find myself doing leadership development training to help people achieve their potential in a way that strikes a balance – they can be their best without burning out in the process.
‘‘I’ve gone full circle, my HR career has met my life coaching, business and corporate experience and with balance.’’
Today Stuart delivers workshops all over the country, as well as online courses. The focus is always on balance, mindfulness, resilience, authenticity and emotional intelligence.
‘‘For a leader these days it’s not just about leading a team of people, it’s about inspiring and motivating others.
‘‘If we turn up to work not at our best we can’t inspire and motivate others.
‘‘So we need to tap into things like emotional intelligence and authenticity, that’s how we build trust, it’s how we can resolve conflict, that’s how we influence people – those are key skills dependent on our success.’’
Emotional intelligence is vital, she says.
‘‘Over the years a lot of importance has been placed on IQ and academic qualifications but what we’re seeing in this day and age is that the difference between success and failure regardless of how clever you are, is emotional intelligence.
‘‘It’s your life skills, it’s your ability to navigate relationships and conflict and build trust and communication. Those are skills you can’t necessarily learn in a classroom, you have to learn from getting out there and doing it.’’
Having no degree herself, Stuart admits suffering from ‘‘imposter syndrome’’ as she climbed the corporate ladder in HR.
‘‘I thought that I couldn’t get a top job without a degree, that’s what people told me even when I was at the highest of my career. So I was always surprised how far my career took me.
‘‘A lot of the time major companies would discard people without degrees when shortlisting, so I’d be sat making decisions on recruitment for real senior positions with them and debate it.
‘‘I’d tell them I didn’t have a degree and they’d look at me as if I was making it up!’’
Stuart has since discovered ‘‘imposter syndrome’’, self-doubt, the peoplepleasing tendency and trying to get things absolutely perfect are all recurring themes, particularly among women.
It’s prompted her to write a second book, called Like A Girl, which she released last month.
Much of her leadership development content is geared toward building resilience and overcoming self-doubt to achieve goals, just as she has.
Stuart’s own career started by chance.
Born and raised in rural England, she decided against university, much to her mother’s dismay, and instead took an administration role in the HR department of a training company.
‘‘I was desperate for independence, I wanted to go out in the big wide world, earn some money and go travelling.’’
She wound up being trained in HR through the same company and during her 15-year career she worked her way up to management roles in Britain, before meeting a Kiwi and emigrating to New Zealand.
These days she is her own boss, and on any given day she can be networking, in meetings, organising events, group coaching teaching anything from mindfulness to women in leadership workshops, or putting together online courses like her most recent on imposter syndrome and salary negotiations.
‘‘I’m in my happy place but working for myself has not been easy, it has been a challenge. I do miss the camaraderie of going into an office and having a team to work with, and financially the income is not as stable.
‘‘But when you’re doing something you love, something that has meaning and purpose, that feeling of giving something to the world and helping other people, that makes the tough times when they come a lot easier to deal with.’’
Stuart speaks of a salary negotiation event she ran for women, where a participant later successfully applied for a promotion and negotiated a higher salary.
‘‘She said she had needed to hear about imposter syndrome and salary negotiations to have the confidence to go in and have those conversations – as a result she said she was getting paid far more than she thought she ever would and they didn’t bat an eyelid when she asked.
‘‘When I get people contact me who’ve read my books or been on my courses and tell me how it’s changed them in some way, that for me is the buzz I get that keeps me wanting to do this.’’
And while she is is busy the difference is she loves what she does, she isn’t in back-to-back meetings and avoids any risk of burnout by not saying yes to everything.
She abides by the values she teaches, including self-care.
‘‘My relationship with self-care has completely flipped, if that’s not there I can’t do all the other stuff.
‘‘Daily meditation, yoga, exercise, eating right and sleep have become the foundation of me being able to perform at my best and still be busy but in a way that’s sustainable and manageable.
‘‘Before I wasn’t living a life with meaning and purpose.
‘‘I wasn’t my authentic self, now I am totally in that space.
‘‘It’s about giving yourself a break and knowing that whatever you’re doing is enough.’’