Case Study   The doctor who swapped hospitals for houses The background Susan is a practising doctor working at a London hospital. A naturally high achiever and brilliant student, she was actively encouraged by her family and teachers to study medicine. Although she would not actually describe this as ‘pressure’ Susan did feel that she would be letting people down if choose the medical route. So she did, qualifying with flying colours and enjoying a successful career. The issues Susan had been feeling for some time that the medical profession was not for her. This was hard for her to face, but her discontent became inescapable. She did not enjoy being in a hospital, being surrounded by illness and operating within the constraints of the establishment. She wanted to express her free spirit, her natural talents as a leader, her visionary ability to bring about change. She consulted us to help her navigate her decision, as she had deep concerns about making the wrong one. She was also extremely worried about what her family would think about her abandoning her profession after the many years of investment and training. The process We worked with Susan to establish what she really wanted from her work. She was deeply attracted to working in Development Work with less privileged communities overseas and was considering doing a Masters in Development Studies. She has a strong philanthropic leaning, wanting to use her talents in a way that actively supported the community, most likely in South Africa. It however became apparent very soon that in fact her strongest pull was her natural entrepreneurship - having built up an impressive property portfolio during her work as a doctor. The results What emerged was that Susan actually wanted was to be a property tycoon, devoting herself full time to developing her portfolio. She realised that she would prefer to fulfil her strong philanthropic side through FUNDING developmental work from the profits of her property business. This would give her the power to effect real social change through being able to control community projects of her own creation rather than be caught in a maelstrom of government red tape. Most importantly the process gave her the permission and courage to do what she really wanted rather than what was expected of her. She is now planning her exit strategy with a vision to bring real change and opportunity to her South African community What Susan says "I feel to my own surprise that I have a clear direction as to where I’m heading now. I feel my destiny, of which I’m the catalyst, is right in sight and am confident that together we have refined the steps needed to be taken to reach it.  Ultimately I don’t think that one can put a price to good quality coaching. I’m thankful we were a match’ Content copyright © 2006 One Smart Step