He was referred to me by a respectable clergy in the society.

His story, when he told it was

pathe8c. He has lost his job as a result of harsh recessions hi;ng the financial sector. His
house rent was due in a few weeks, his kids were at home for not paying school fees. He was
desperate – he needed a job yesterday. Would I be able to help?
The first thing I did was to ask him for his resume, which to my dismay showed the profile of
someone who has seCled for less over the years… and had goCen even less than he seCled
for. He has spent the last 10 years working harder on the job than on “himself” with very few
promo8ons to show for his efforts. Wasted years coupled with the fact that he wasn’t
ge;ng any younger did not make for a cheerful prognosis.

He informed me he wanted a beCer job than the one he lost – anxious to improve his
circumstances, but he had been unwilling to become the kind of person who could make the
cut for his dream job offer. Sadly I had no choice but to inform him that he would only be
able to aCract the kind of job offer he’d just lost. I explained philosophically that a dream job
offer is not something you pursue (through applying for every Tuesday/Thursday tabloid),
but rather, it is what you aCract by the person you become – the person who meets his
dream job advert criteria; the person who has become the kind of person who can perform
the job on offer profitably for the incumbent organiza8on.

He reluctantly agreed to a short term transi8on plan perfectly captured by the phrase –
“who I will be is a con8nua8on of who I have been”. So we developed a well-ar8culated job
descrip8on of the person “he had been” and targeted jobs similar to the one he was fired
from, and sure enough, within a few weeks, he landed an offer from an organiza8on similar
to the previous company he had worked for. I then explained to him that the 8me was now
right to commence work on “the person he wanted to become” rela8ve to the job of his
dreams.

But! Sadly he disappeared for almost 2 years. I ran into him one early morning very close to
my office; he was driving by in a “tokunbo” car he had just bought; his only comment to me,
when he saw me, was that I should please help his wife like I helped him.

Toby’s dilemma, as explained in the words of Sidney Harris is that, “he hated change and yet
loved it at the same 8me”, catch-22 eh? What he really wants is for things to remain the
same and yet get beCer! He is not interested in becoming more than he already is – he just
wants to earn more money. He needs to realize that he cannot package himself beyond the
person that he is, he needs to realize that those who do not create the future they want, as
Draper Kaufman says, must endure the future they get.

Your resume – your value proposi8on or what I call your scarcity value, will always have one
limita8on – you! You can never package yourself beyond who you are - the person you have
become!

to your success

Coach Kay