Diana YK Chan: Consultant To Coach
In episode #13 of My 2.0, guest Diana YK Chan, Founder and CEO of My Marketability, shares her transition from a career as a consultant to career coach.
Diana experienced multiple pivots along her career path. She started with a rotation program in operations, training, marketing. And eventually pushed to get her MBA and landed a top job as a management consultant. She wasn’t too happy though, with crazy hours, and a feeling that something was missing and that she was a failure. She went on a soul searching journey, including walking on fire! She gained clarity that she was meant to become a speaker, trainer and coach. As she moved into recruiting, she understood it as being one step closer to the dream job. And then she found herself let go of, two months before her wedding. She had been planning to start her own business but that timeline came sooner. She felt like she was an emotional roller coaster, with a feeling of shame that she wasn’t good enough. But the fire in her caught spark and she decided to start her business in a week. And was hired by Google Canada later that month.
Diana talks about the challenges during career transition. She struggled with whether she was doing what she was meant to do. With her career identity and with fitting in.
Her advice to her pre-transition self is to trust yourself. To trust our intuition, to follow our heart and our gut. Even if we don’t know what it is, we should search for it. She feels very grateful for all her career transition experiences since they help her guide her clients.
Some transition myths she would like to debunk are.
Do we have to start from the bottom?
Are we going to make less money?
Do we have enough experience to make the change?
I also talked to Diana about her coaching practice on the topics below.
Discover our greatness.
Most people are not comfortable talking about their greatness, and in claiming it. We should recognize, believe and convey our value. Diana uses her D.I.S.C.O.V.E.R framework to help clients identify their core values.
Branding and women.
Diana feels her female clients can lack the confidence required to recognize and own their greatness. She believes that when we start recognizing our own value and appreciating our own value, we are actually being of greater service to the world.
How does one know when it’s time to stop doing, even at the cost of failure. What are the next steps?
Diana says that deciding is the hardest part. Most people say they wish they’d done it sooner. We need to get clear on where we are going after, including mapping out the vision. And if that vision is clear enough, we will naturally start attracting the right opportunities.
How do we future proof our career?
We need to be the CEO of our career. We can control how we feel, think and decide on what skills are required. And get comfortable with being uncomfortable.