A WorkLife Lesson: Liam’s Story: The Importance of Character:
Liam had quite a creative upbringing. He learnt to stitch and sew before he could read and write. He loved nothing better than working alongside his dad, Bill, and granddad, William, at the family tailoring business that had been established by his grandad out of a room of the family home. The business had grown from strength to strength when his dad and grandad had opened a Tailoring Shop together - a first for the family and the local community. Both men were known for working magic with their needles - their ability to fix a whole host of clothing problems, and their talent for creating hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind suits, brought men flocking from near and far - for their alterations and their bespoke suits.
It was always a given that Billy was going to follow at their fingertips. And so, going to Fashion School was an easy choice for him in taking the first steps to building his WorkLife around what engaged and inspired him. But having been accepted onto the Bespoke Tailoring course at The London College of Fashion, he had to turn it down when his dad suffered a heart attack. His granddad came out of retirement to help out to try to keep the business afloat, while Bill focused on his recovery. But Liam knew it was too much for him on his own, and as much as his dad and grandad protested to him not taking up his place at college, he knew it was the right thing to do.
And so, when he should have been leaving for the bright lights of London, Liam stayed in his home town in Ireland, where he soon discovered the lights weren’t burning so brightly. He came to learn that the tailoring industry was in decline. It had suffered at the hands of the rise in fast fashion. His dad had actually been struggling to keep the lights on, causing him considerable stress, which his doctor said had been a contributing factor to his heart attack. He hadn’t told Liam because he knew he would have wanted to help out by staying at home and doing what he could, rather than going off to college.
In this lesson, you will learn how Liam adopted a slow fashion strategy to tackle fast fashion.
In this lesson’s WorkLife Learning Assignment, you will adopt an opposite approach strategy to guide you through a setback in your WorkLife.
In this lesson’s Continuous WorkLife Learning Assignment, you will remember character predicts your future.