Changing Gear, a book by Jan Hall and Jon Stokes

‘Changes occur all the time. They can be identifiable and dramatic, or they can emerge imperceptibly, creeping up on you until one day you realise your foundations are less solid than you imagined. At this point in your life, you need to find a new path.’

An accessible and practical look at how to step away from a full-time career to create and transition to a new pattern of life and work.

Changing Gear looks at why work is such an important part of a person's identity. The book is filled with case studies of people who have transitioned from one career to another, or stepped back from work to embrace retirement, and shines a light on the underlying, and sometimes unconscious, psychological and social dynamics involved.

The book offers insight, advice and a practical 8-Step Transition Plan to help the reader make decisions and take account of their domestic and professional situations, looking at what's important and how to cope with change, and providing a road map for the future and all the different opportunities it may bring.

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Now, more than ever, our working lives have changed and we are all getting used to a new way of doing business.

Coping with transition is hard and this book will help the reader to navigate new ways of working, by tapping into the current issues being faced by all workers.

Meet the authors

Jan Hall

Jan has been a successful entrepreneur and business leader. She is now an adviser to CEOs and chairmen. Overall, she spent 20 years as a headhunter, founding JCA Group in 2005, which became a leading global CEO and board search firm. Jan and her partners sold the business in 2016. Previously, she was a senior partner at Spencer Stuart, the European CEO of a mid-sized PLC and the CEO of a successful private company, having started her career as a brand manager for a global business. She has over 30 years’ experience of being a non-executive director and is also a qualified executive coach. She was awarded an OBE in 1996 for her work with government, has regularly been a speaker on leadership and boards and is the author of Dementia Essentials, a guide for loved ones who find themselves becoming carers. She has an MA in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford.
www.no4.co.uk
Jon Stokes

Jon is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and leadership coach. He trained and worked at the Tavistock Clinic, where he was chair of the Adult Department and the founder of Tavistock Consulting. He taught for many years at Said Business School at the University of Oxford, where he was a Senior Fellow, and is a member of St Antony’s College. He is a Director of Stokes & Jolly, a leadership advisory firm. He has advised and coached many leaders from a wide range of businesses and organisations, both in the UK and abroad, with a particular interest in the creative industries and professional service firms. Among his recent publications are ‘Defences against Anxiety in the Law’ in Social Defences Against Anxiety (Karnac, 2015), ‘The New Landscape of Leadership: Living in Radical Uncertainty’ in The Tavistock Century: 2020 Vision, (Phoenix, 2020) and ‘From Ego to Eco: Leadership for the 4th Industrial Revolution’ (Said Business School, 2020).
www.stokesjolly.com