After graduating from the University of Natal with a B.A and a H.D.E., Mark Campbell started his working career as a high school teacher in 1983. Whilst teaching, he completed an Honours degree in History through UNISA Leaving the teaching profession after six years, Mark then spent more than seventeen years in the corporate Human Resources arena, primarily in the Sugar Industry. Following an exercise in self-awareness and understanding in 2000, he was encouraged to further his studies and registered for a Masters’ Degree in Organisation and Management Systems. It was this experience that was the catalyst for the subsequent journey of self-discovery, a critical step being the decision to leave the corporate world to follow his dream of wanting to make a real difference in the lives of others. Since 2007 he has worked as a consultant in the field of organization and people development, focusing on the areas of strategic alignment, change management, employee engagement and personal development and coaching. He has consulted to a range of clients in both the private and public sectors and has worked in several African countries, working from Executive to shop-floor levels. Mark’s passion is ‘Purpose and Meaning’ and he is convinced that this is the key to a life of which one can be proud. He believes that everyone has a special contribution to make and that we owe it to ourselves to find out what it is that we can offer our world. This is true of both individuals and organisations. Mark also believes that the organisations which will prevail in the future will be those that have a clear purpose at the centre of their strategy and decision-making processes, and which deliberately seek to enable their people to develop and fulfill their potential through their work. In fact, he believes that the key to sustained employee motivation is to connect the purpose of the organization with that of the individual employee.
His consulting/coaching approach can best be described as a ‘partnership of equals, the aim of which is to achieve sustained effectiveness through focused self-development in every aspect of the client’s business/life. Working to the client’s agenda, the aim is to facilitate self-awareness and the identification of choices to close the gap between potential and performance.
In November 2015 Mark was accredited as an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and since 2016 has been affiliated to the LMI Group, giving him access to their range of leadership development programmes.
In addition to the lessons learned in his professional career, Mark suggests that his most important lessons are those that he has learned (primarily through the mistakes he has made) in being married to Lyn since 1986 and helping two children to become responsible adults.