The Value of the Third Dimension Cate Lyon Cate Lyon faced a dilemma - how to reconcile a completely new ambition with a successful existing career, when the pursuit of one seemed to mean ditching the other. Cate worked in retail, as buyer and consultant for some big names and consortia. This involved wide travel and contact with a rich variety of people. "Whether these experiences prompted my interest in philosophy and the inter-relationships of people, I find difficult to tell. But the fact is, I was restless to become involved in a study of the more philosophical issues about how people live and work." She went to see Jo Ouston because she was finding it difficult to see a link between her work-a-day career and her new ambition. She was, as she expresses it, "filled with fear of change and the thought of starting again from square one". During the one-to-one sessions and courses she attended at Jo Ouston & Co, Lyon came to realise that a new direction did not mean de-valuing everything she had done so far. "I came to the realisation that change doesn't mean everything before has been a mistake. I did not have to jettison my past. In fact the opposite was true. I could bring new worth to everything I had already achieved, by building on it. I could utilise in my new work what I had learned in my old, and transfer to my business career the insights gained in my new role." Cate Lyon is studying for the Diploma in Philosophy at Birkbeck College and has now been accepted for the Advanced Diploma course in psycho- dynamic counselling at the Westminster Pastoral Foundation. She plans to continue her business career during counselling training, with a view to combining her academic and business work. The change is one of emphasis. "My most valuable asset - which is also at the heart of Jo Ouston's work - is my understanding of how a full, three-dimensional life and a corporate life can go together, if companies realise the added value to them of the third dimension. In truth, there is no such thing as an 'outside' interest. All interests contribute to making a more complete person, and a complete person makes a better executive." >back to top Copyright Jo Ouston & Company Limited 2000-2008