In 2013, while navigating the diverse and progressing network of London’s corporate world, Anji Hallewell found herself well-adapted to the incessant domain of Talent Acquisition. However, the relentless pace of the rat race left her feeling drained and unfulfilled. The turning point came with a sobering wake-up call: her father’s cancer diagnosis.
This profound event prompted Anji to reassess her priorities, realizing that her well-being couldn’t be compromised for the sake of a demanding job. With courage fueled by uncertainty, she made the bold decision to depart from her toxic work environment, despite lacking a clear path forward.
As she journeyed through the uncertainties of unemployment, Anji found herself at her father’s bedside, grappling with the stark realities of illness and mortality. In the quiet moments of reflection, amidst the sterile walls of the hospital ward, she resolved to pursue a life of purpose and fulfillment, honoring the gift of health she still possessed. This pivotal moment marked the genesis of Anji’s journey into coaching, boosted by a deep-seated devotion to harness her own potential and make a meaningful impact.
Fast forward to 19th June 2018, the inception of Natural Genius Academy in the cityscape of Singapore. Founded by Anji, this esteemed institution is empowering individuals to master their careers and achieve success. With a focus on career mastery and personal growth, Natural Genius Academy offers bespoke coaching programs designed to realize each individual’s innate potential.
Anji—renowned as a Career Mastery & Success Coach—brings a wealth of experience and insight to her role. Her own journey of resilience and reinvention informs her approach, inspiring clients to navigate challenges with courage and clarity.
Join on a journey of inspiration and learning alongside one of the best in the field!
The Boomerang Effect
When Anji departed from the corporate realm, she veered sharply towards mindfulness practice, craving Zen in her life. Yet, the allure of career development proved persistent, returning like a boomerang in her interactions with clients. Despite her initial divergence, Anji couldn’t deny the innate talent for guiding professionals to achieve remarkable career milestones, from industry accolades to coveted promotions.
Recognizing these recurring signs as universal cues, she embraced her calling to assist individuals in shaping their professional trajectories. “It was a natural gift that I couldn’t ignore any longer,” she reflects.
Embracing this realization as an integral part of her destiny, Anji swiftly redirected her focus towards fostering career fulfillment for others. Today, she lends a guiding hand for individuals to realize their full potential in terms of professional growth.
Maximizing Your Potential
Individuals seek Anji’s guidance when their careers hit a plateau, yearning for fulfillment and proficiency in their roles. “The first step is to get clear,” she asserts, emphasizing the transition from confusion to alignment. This entails a comprehensive exploration of strengths, skills and aspirations crafting a career trajectory that resonates with purpose and ambition. “It gives a sense of professional purpose to follow and certainty that they are on the right track,” Anji explains.
The subsequent phase involves standing out, shifting from being overlooked to becoming a noticeable presence. Anji recounts the success story of Emily, a client who engineered her own promotion and subsequently attracted headhunters’ attention through strategic positioning. “A strong professional brand, network and magnetic profile are essential to attract amazing opportunities,” she emphasizes.
Finally, securing employment demands confidence and a profound understanding of one’s value proposition, enabling candidates to excel in interviews and negotiate lucrative offers. Through this transformative journey, individuals realize their full potential, propelling them into superior roles with enhanced remuneration.
Anji reflects on numerous instances where clients have increased their salaries on an average by 65% through leveraging their strengths effectively. “It’s a nice side effect of stepping into your greatness and using your potential,” she states, underscoring the importance of self-awareness and strategic career navigation.
The Power of Tranquility
Drawing from personal experience, Anji acknowledges the perilous path of being excessively career-focused, which often leads to workaholism, detrimentally affecting one’s well-being and relationships.
Paradoxically, this relentless pursuit can impede career progression due to operating below optimal conditions. Anji’s mission is to instill clarity and tranquility in professionals, enabling them to thrive and radiate positivity across their teams, companies and personal lives. The beauty of her online coaching consultancy lies in its accessibility to individuals worldwide.
“Whether you are in Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai, New York, or London, the opportunity to grow your career on your terms exists,” she affirms. Through coaching, individuals can expedite their career growth by addressing blind spots hindering their potential.
Anji’s global reach ensures that professionals can benefit from her expertise regardless of their geographical location, empowering them to achieve success while maintaining balance and well-being.
Breaking Through Stagnation
Anji recognizes the formidable obstacle of feeling stagnant and directionless. Many individuals experience a profound lack of fulfillment and motivation in their current roles, coupled with a daunting fear that change may be too late or too disruptive. “After 10, 15 and sometimes 20 years down the line, it’s hard to see what else you can do,” she acknowledges. The daunting question of “what’s next?” looms large when the answer remains elusive.
Her approach focuses on guiding individuals towards the right career trajectory without necessitating a return to education or a reduction in income, irrespective of age, experience, skills, or salary level.
Rather than abrupt switches, Anji advocates for strategic career transitions, facilitating a smoother journey towards professional reinvention. She illustrates this with compelling examples: a Lawyer embracing yoga instruction, an Event Manager transitioning into floral design, a Procurement Manager venturing into social entrepreneurship, and a PR Director shifting towards employee engagement.
Anji emphasizes that career redirection is indeed feasible—the challenge lies in identifying the optimal path without upheaving one’s life. “And that is where I come in,” she affirms her role in charting a course that ignites enthusiasm and revitalizes professional purpose. Through her guidance, individuals awaken to newfound energy and excitement for their vocation.
Thriving in the AI Age
The looming transformation of the workforce heralds significant disruption, particularly within the skilled sector, with middle management positions bearing the brunt. Anji observes this trend manifesting through reorganizations within major corporations.
As AI has a more prominent role, individuals must pivot towards harnessing AI’s capabilities to execute ideas and refine strategic direction. However, the essence lies in maintaining human expertise, serving as the discerning eye that validates and enhances AI-generated outputs. “This enables you to bring a higher level of insights and value greater than the AI tools itself,” Anji asserts.
Strategic thinking and adaptability emerge as indispensable skills, crucial for navigating the business realm. Meanwhile, the chasm widens between technological proficiency and human connection, underscoring the irreplaceable importance of qualities such as empathy, emotional intelligence and influence to ensure business growth.
These attributes become pivotal for career progression into leadership roles, as AI inherently lacks the capacity for genuine human interaction. Anji underscores the imperative for individuals to prioritize the cultivation of these interpersonal skills, positioning themselves for leadership roles in an AI-driven future.
Tailored Tools for Career Clarity
Anji describes three fundamental pillars essential for delineating one’s career trajectory: mindset, skills and potential, collectively termed as their ‘zone of genius.’ Through personalized coaching tools, assessments and frameworks, individuals gain clarity and certainty in these domains, boosting them towards purposeful advancement.
Anji elucidates how these tools facilitate the identification of professions aligning with an individual’s unique character, recognizing that diverse inclinations lead to varied vocational preferences. “When you know what the right things are, it enables us to refine down the best path for you,” she emphasizes.
By leveraging these tailored resources, individuals gain insight into their innate strengths and capabilities while honing on the most suitable career avenues. Anji’s holistic approach empowers clients to navigate their professional journey with confidence and direction, ensuring alignment between their aspirations and chosen paths.
Strategic Solutions
Although the overarching challenge of feeling stuck remains consistent, the path to overcoming it varies depending on individual circumstances. For those grappling with uncertainty regarding suitable job roles, guidance is essential in identifying pertinent skills, areas of interest and avenues where their contributions hold the most value.
Conversely, individuals encountering silence from the job market necessitate a focus on refining their positioning and enhancing their self-marketing strategies. Anji underscores the importance of tailoring her approach to meet the specific needs of each client during the onboarding process. “I go to great lengths to pinpoint what’s needed and to set agreeable outcomes for us to achieve,” she affirms.
By meticulously assessing individual requirements and establishing clear objectives, Anji ensures a tailored and effective coaching experience, equipping clients with the tools and strategies needed to navigate their professional challenges and realize their career aspirations.
A Clear Path Forward
Anji identifies a common pitfall hindering the challenge resolution—becoming entangled in the challenge itself. She highlights how stress and exhaustion narrow our focus, making it challenging to perceive beyond the immediate problem. “When you are stressed and have no time for yourself, it’s difficult to think clearly because you are overwhelmed, overworked, or frustrated,” she explains. In such states, empowered choices and decisions are elusive.
Anji’s role is to facilitate a shift towards clarity and empowerment. By guiding individuals to cultivate a calm, relaxed state of mind, she enables them to perceive challenges from a fresh perspective. “My job is to shift you into a clear headspace so you can see the challenge through a different lens,” she affirms. Through this shift, individuals can discern positive actions to address the issue effectively, ultimately improving their quality of life. Anji’s approach emphasizes the importance of mental well-being in navigating professional challenges and fostering personal growth.
Achieving Real-World Results
Anji underscores the symbiotic relationship between personal growth and professional advancement. While enhancing hard skills like project management or financial literacy is crucial, she emphasizes the equal importance of nurturing softer skills such as self-awareness. “It is these skills that amplify your ability to lead,” she asserts. Drawing a parallel between leadership and elite sports, Anji highlights the necessity of being at one’s best, both professionally and personally, to compete effectively.
In her coaching approach, Anji emphasizes the importance of continual progress evaluation. Each coaching session represents a stage in an evolving process, with insights and awareness gained translating into real-world changes and improvements.
“A debrief at the start of every session helps measure progress by assessing how things have changed, improved, or evolved,” she explains. This feedback loop informs her approach, enabling her to tailor coaching sessions to focus on areas that will facilitate desired outcomes.
For clients, it serves as a valuable tool for tracking their growth journey, fostering a sense of accountability and empowerment. Anji’s holistic approach to coaching ensures that individuals acquire new skills and experience tangible personal and professional development.
Power of Possibilities
Anji’s primary advice for those contemplating a career transition is distinct—don’t halt your aspirations before even taking the first step. She challenges the common tendency to dismiss dreams or ideas as impractical or untimely. “Have you tried? Have you tested your assumption? Probably not,” she points out. Anji shares the story of her client, Malar, who defied age-related doubts to pursue her dream of acting, ultimately achieving recognition and success.
“The world of work is changing and there are so many possibilities available to you that weren’t available before,” Anji emphasizes the abundance of possibilities awaiting exploration. She encourages individuals to embrace courage and curiosity rather than succumbing to self-imposed barriers and skepticism. Such limiting beliefs only serve to impede progress, hinder happiness and stifle personal growth.
Anji urges individuals to challenge these barriers and envision the life they could be living. “The reality is that if you are in your 40s or 50s, you could still have another 25-30 years ahead of you to do something you enjoy,” she affirms. This perspective underscores the value of exploring new avenues and seizing opportunities for fulfillment and joy. Anji’s message resonates with the notion that it’s never too late to pursue one’s passions and carve out a meaningful career path.
