The Key Learning Points:

1. The difficult balance between work and motherhood, accentuated by workplace cultures and societal pressures 

2. The impact of chronic stress on the body, leading to eventual burnout

3. The role of coaching in developing self-compassion and getting clarity on the things we really care about

Today on the remote Risky Mix podcast, we’re thrilled to be joined by the inspiration that is Eilish Jamieson. Eilish has a hugely impressive background, with a successful career in financial services with names such as KPMG and Goldman Sachs. She pivoted from the fast-paced corporate world to establish her own coaching business in 2018 and now works with high performing women from all kinds of industries, but who share a common desire to transform the path they are on, and for the women coming behind them.

Eilish started her career with KPMG, training to become a chartered account: “I was one of these people that did accounting at A level. And then did accounting as a degree. And then joined an accounting firm!” After a three-year stint in Australia with KPMG, Eilish decided that it was time to try something different. A Headhunter approached her about joining Goldman Sachs and shortly after she found herself developing the audit strategy for the bank: “I pretty much worked my way around every team within Goldman Sachs in audit over the 12 years I was there.”

Eilish had an impressive, and varied, career with Goldman, but adds that “every good story has another side to it.” Eilish had applied herself 100% to her job, but when she had her first child at 32, Eilish explains that things needed to change: “That was really the start of me having to confront aspects of my role and how suited it was to my life and my needs.” Eilish went on to have two more children over the next five years and tells us the story of how tricky it was to balance work and being a mum. She was conflicted and wanted to spend more time with her family but felt this pressure to work at the same pace, almost as if she was being forced to do so: “That pressure that you can put on yourself, alongside an organisational culture and a societal pressure. All of that, when you bring it together, really can leave you feeling like you don’t have choice.”

The tipping point for Eilish came one night in January, when at age 39, she woke up to the scary realization that she couldn’t move her arm or legs. In A&E the doctor asked: “Are you stressed by any chance? I think it’s likely that you’re very stressed.” This came as a huge surprise to Eilish, because she’d been operating for years at this plateau level of stress and elevated cortisol - it had become her norm: “In that stage of my career I was living from my neck upwards.” This surprising insight was the push Eilish needed to resign from her job at Goldman.

“When I left Goldman, the biggest challenge I faced was an identity challenge.” Eilish had had 20 years with two organisations and after leaving was left understandably thinking “What am I? Who am I?” She spent her first year desperate to create something and explains that her brain was like “popcorn” – coming up with weird and wonderful business ideas: “I was all over the place”. For Eilish, this time felt quite panicked and chaotic.

Eilish went on to work with a fantastic coach who helped her to better understand how she’d been working and, at the same time, she recognized a passion for the line of work so she completed a coaching psychology postgraduate and launched her own business.

Eilish will be joining us back on the Risky Mix podcast to discuss vulnerability and career pivoting, so join us in a couple of weeks for more fascinating insights!