How a British Accent Changed Judy Knight’s Career – And Life

Ever since humans developed language, we’ve spent countless nights debating life’s most confounding mysteries. How did we get here? What’s responsible for the rise of the sun and the moon? What happens after we close our eyes for the last time?

All which begs a fundamental question: Why do specific thoughts and desires arise in our minds in the first place?

That’s something Judy Knight wonders about from time to time. Years before she became a successful executive coach for corporate leaders, as a child growing up in Northern California, she dreamed of being a teacher. But why?

“There wasn’t influence from my family or neighborhood kids,” Judy says. “It was always there. I have no idea where it came from. It was just in my soul, I suppose.”

Judy followed that gut aspiration, teaching history, typing, and psychology at a private high school for seven years. But a divorce compelled her to find more lucrative work. A friend then connected her to a customer service job at Pacific Telephone Company. “I had a wonderful boss,” Judy says. “This was in direct contrast to a retail job I had after college where the environment was toxic; I had a boss from hell. So the job at the phone company not only advanced my career, I got to see the good side of leadership.”

One opportunity led to another: A Pacific Telephone customer appreciated how Judy handled business – so much that he convinced her to jump ship and join the customer training department at his microcomputer company. From there she worked at a few more tech companies, eventually landing at a telecommunications firm as their Director of Customer Training. With every step Judy climbed higher on the career ladder.

Yet as a woman who always listened to her instincts, she now craved a different type of move. Judy had a lifelong desire to live in Europe, and at 42 years old she felt it was now or never. Resourceful, confident, and a natural salesperson, she convinced management to send her to the company’s London office for what was supposed to be a 6-month assignment.

“As I was planning my move, a British colleague of mine named Steve offered to pick me up at the airport,” she recalls. “I politely said no. I’d be a 10-hour flight, I’d look horrible and have a lot of luggage.” But Steve insisted; he picked her up and, upon realizing there wasn’t an elevator, happily dragged suitcase after suitcase up to her apartment – at the top floor of the building.

“I took Steve out to dinner a few weeks later to thank him. After that we spent more time together and six months later we had fallen in love. As charming and sweet as he was, it was that lovely British accent that really hooked me.” They got married in 1994.

Then one morning Steve went to a business breakfast networking event, where he sat next to a woman who was a principle of The Oxford Group, a training and consulting company. She mentioned that while everybody in the company had HR expertise, they were now looking to hire people with a business background. “I think my wife could be perfect,” Steve told her.

Steve was right. Not only did Judy have a sharp mind for business and sales, she complemented that with the facilitation expertise she gained as a teacher and trainer. Oxford found the exact person they wanted.

The job was ideal for Judy as well. “It was the first time since I left teaching that I could be myself,” she says. “In high-tech in the 80s, being a woman, I had to be data driven, I had to be analytical, which isn’t me at all. I had to repress my personality. But The Oxford Group appreciated me for being my true self, which allowed me to flourish professionally. They taught me all of the skills I needed to be an effective coach, and I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity they gave me.”

Steve and Judy moved to the U.S in 1998, and two years later Judy founded Thumbprint Coaching. More than a business, Thumbprint re-connected her to the goal she had as a teacher all those years ago: To make a positive difference in the world. “My purpose is to make workplaces more humane and to have a lasting impact on people,” she says. “I love helping leaders gain awareness of how their behavior affects those around them. Everyone’s happier, more engaged, which ultimately leads to better results.”

Like many people, Judy isn’t sure whether or not we control our mental destiny: Do we choose our choices, or do they come to us randomly? What she does know, however, is that her childhood ambition turned out to be the stepping stone to a career she didn’t even know existed. All because she accepted Steve’s offer for a ride from the airport.

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