Sam Houston is a highly experienced Executive Director, Senior Vice President, PMO Consultant and valued member of the In Touch network. He recently spoke to us about his push to undergo a career transition and the success that followed.
The start of something new
After spending some time working in a mid-tier gold mining company, Sam felt there was a cultural misalignment between the organisation’s values and his own. Reflecting on his situation, Sam explained that he desired more of an inclusive, collaborative and engaging work environment: “I like listening to other people’s ideas and brainstorming as I feel like a better solution is developed if we allow people from diverse backgrounds to input.” As a result, Sam decided to take matters into his own hands and embark upon his career transition.
Working with In Touch
Throughout his career transition, Sam has worked closely with In Touch, taking on a multitude of courses and collaborative sessions with In Touch Executive Coach, Paul Starbuck. He describes the sessions as insightful, and believes that they have helped him “prioritise where [he] actually wants to work, who [he] want to work with, and how [he] wants to work.” Sam has also taken our ‘Finance for Non-Financial Non-Executives’ and ‘Passport to NED Success’ programmes, actively building upon his already-impressive portfolio of transferable skills. Sam now feels as though he has a greater understanding of what the realistic requirements for non-executive roles look like going forward.
What the future holds
Sam has now launched his own advisory business, Strategist Solutions, with the aim of providing practical, people-centric and agile solutions to the problems clients are facing when trying to deliver major investments. By ensuring people and organisational culture are at the heart of execution, Sam aspires to make complex delivery less complicated.
Sam is also working towards his ILM 7 accreditation through our Corporative Coach International (CCI) course. He explained: “if you’re in any NED or advisory type role, coaching skills and experience are always going to be necessary.” Despite his advisory plans, Sam is definitely open to the idea of becoming an accredited coach or taking on additional non-executive roles in the future. He told us that one of the biggest takeaways from his experience so far is that you do not have to be in a traditional corporate role to be successful.
A piece of advice
When asked what piece of advice he would give to somebody considering a career transition, Sam explained the importance of understanding your own strengths and weaknesses through self-exploration and self-reflection, alongside the consideration of current opportunities and threats in the market. He made it clear that you should avoid making rash decisions if you do not have a safety net, which is something he was fortunate enough to have. Reflecting on his experience, Sam told us that “the journey that I’ve been on so far has been really fun. It’s exciting – still scary – but you’ve got to be able to back yourself to achieve what you want to achieve – nothing in life that’s worth doing comes without some degree of risk.”
You can access Strategic Solutions’ newly launched website here: https://www.strategistsolutions.com/
You can contact Sam Houston here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samhoustons
