Crafting a Purpose-Driven Next Chapter features Seth Cohen, Founder and Managing Partner of Eleven Canterbury, who shares his experiences transitioning from a senior leadership role at UBS to founding his own company. Seth discusses the challenges and thrills of moving from a structured corporate environment to an autonomous entrepreneurial role. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining routines, setting personal goals, and networking during such career transitions. Seth offers advice on finding a balance between freedom and structure and stresses the significance of understanding one’s passions and skills. The conversation also highlights the value of networking and the proactive efforts required to build and sustain meaningful professional relationships during transitions.
Video Transcription
Chapter Two: Creating New Beginnings
Episode 1: Crafting a Purpose-Driven Next Chapter
With Seth Cohen and Dan Martin
Introduction
Dan Martin: It’s a real pleasure to talk with Seth Cohen, the Founder and Managing Partner of Eleven Canterbury. Seth created Eleven Canterbury after a very successful career in banking. He led a major part of the foreign exchange group at UBS and then did the offshoring work for UBS, which is quite dear to my heart because I met someone who worked with him, and that’s how I became part of Eleven Canterbury.
So, Seth, it’s quite a significant change to go from a senior-level position of a huge bank, you know, doing something else. I mean, how did, how did that feel?
Making the Transition from a Corporate Career
Seth Cohen: Well, Dan, thanks for the warm introduction. Transitioning from a world where everything from my daily schedule to strategic decisions was somewhat predetermined to then having the autonomy to shape my own activities and time was both thrilling and daunting.
Even though it happened 15 years ago, it still feels like it happened yesterday. I remember thinking to myself when I was knee-deep into Eleven Canterbury that it might take me a year or two to unlearn the behavior that made me successful at UBS, to begin to be successful in my new company.
It’s a major shift from having goals and priorities set by corporate objectives to now establishing my own based on my own personal interests and my own corporate objectives. I’m excited to share the insights that I gained from that transition and discuss strategies and how we could all navigate this significant change effectively.
Navigating Life’s Transitions
Dan Martin: As we go through life, we go through many stages and transitions. We grow up, we go to school, we go to college, we get married, we have children, and the children leave. You know, I think in every stage of life, you have transitions. My grandson was complaining when he moved from 3rd and 4th-grade basketball to 5th and 6th-grade basketball that it was much easier and much more fun winning as you towered over the 3rd graders than it is in losing as the 6th graders tower over you! So it sounds like this is one of the bigger changes, in fact, that we go through in life and our career. It’s a big change. How did you do that?
Finding Purpose After Corporate Life
Seth Cohen: Well, first of all, all of those steps that you mentioned are all big changes and they all have something in common. You’re going from one routine, one clarity of defined goals to another. I’ve observed that many people struggle with finding a new purpose or direction, particularly when they leave the corporate world.
My advice is to maintain a kind of daily routine, set achievable personal goals, and actively connect with peers who are also navigating their own transitions and peers who have already successfully navigated those transitions.
Balancing Freedom and Structure
Seth Cohen: It’s critical to find the right balance between embracing the newfound freedom and maintaining some structure to guide your journey into this new exciting phase of your career.
Dan Martin: That sounds really interesting. I mean, it is an opportunity to plan your own day. And, I think, for a lot of people, it’s the first time they have control over how they do things, which can be a challenge.
Exploring New Opportunities
Dan Martin: When we talk to the people in Eleven in Eleven Canterbury, they do a whole variety of different things. Most of them aren’t looking for another full-time job. They may be working for nonprofits, as expert witnesses, which is dear to our hearts, as executive coaches, or working in the education field; it’s a portfolio of activities. We’re going to have a series of videos from people who have done all of those things.
I think what you’re talking about is more about finding what you are really good at. Is that the most important thing that people should do as they leave their full-time jobs? How do you go about it?
Seth Cohen: Well, Dan, it’s not only figuring out what you’re good at, but it’s also equally as important to figure out what you truly love to do and what skills you have before you make a commitment. Now, you could be a teacher and be a good teacher, but you might have extremely specific skills about the way you interact with children or adults, and how to create a syllabus. It’s important to figure out those subcategories of what you love and your expertise when you’re starting to think about what to do next. Whether it’s consulting, joining boards, or getting involved in educational roles, make sure it aligns with your passions and your expertise.
The Importance of Networking
Seth Cohen: Networking is also essential. Continue to expand your connections both within and outside your existing network to explore new opportunities and gain diverse insights. And importantly, and a lot of people that I meet do this, avoid the common pitfall of over-committing too soon in your transition. Give yourself enough time and space to explore and find what really fulfills you in the long term. I’m not talking about 3 weeks. I’m talking about 6 months to a year of reflection to figure out how you want to spend the next 10 years of your professional career.
Personal Reflections and Advice
Dan Martin: Well, Seth, it would have been nice to talk to you when I left HP! Your point is well taken. I just wish I had done it at the beginning. It was a bit of a challenge to look at what I didn’t like about HP and see if I could find something that was as far away from that as I could, but I just had different challenges, and I didn’t think about what was best for me.
Seth Cohen: Keep in mind, Dan, that when you joined HP, there was something there that you wanted to do, probably some things that you love to do, so getting granular about what those specific things were, as opposed to painting the whole situation black is what I’m talking about.
Dan Martin: I think that’s really good advice. And, in fact, that is something that I did do. I did take time to reflect. But I didn’t do it right at the beginning. It took after that. But the other thing you mentioned that I think is really important is networking. I look at you, and I look at Eleven Canterbury; it is a network you’ve created, a network of really interesting people. You’ve certainly enriched my life with the people that I get to interact with as a result of this network.
It seems that networking is different when you’re not the senior person at UBS who people are coming to; I mean, are there some secrets to networking that you’d like to share? Or is that something for another conversation?
Seth Cohen: No, I’d have to say that networking has always played a very important role in my career. In fact, the vision for Eleven Canterbury came out of a conversation about networking and thinking of ways to commercialize solid networking. After leaving my senior role at UBS, I found it a bit challenging to shift from being the one people sought out to being the one who needed to establish contact.
I adapted by becoming much more proactive. At that time, I regularly scheduled coffee meetings. I attended industry events. I participated actively in both online and in-person forums, and I understood who the important people were in my world and in my network. I tried to segment my network into various types of people and focused on the ones who I felt I had the strongest relationship with and the ones where we could be mutually beneficial to each other if we continued that networking.
But that said, it’s about giving as well as receiving. Being open to sharing your experiences and seeking advice from others who are navigating similar changes or those who have already navigated them. The proactive and reciprocal approach to networking not only keeps me connected but also opens up opportunities that I hadn’t anticipated.
Emphasizing building and nurturing relationships has been the cornerstone of my successful transition.
Dan Martin: It’s a key thing. You never know what you’re going to learn from networking. And I think it’s a testimony to you that you were able to transition to networking in a different way and create a wonderful network of people while you did that.
Dan Martin: Thank you for this conversation. I think there’s surely more we can talk about. I always enjoy talking with you and we’ll follow this up with more discussions. Thank you, Seth.
Seth Cohen: I appreciate it, Dan. Thanks for having me and for setting this up. I really enjoyed it, too.
