Career Relaunch®
Joseph Liu
Podcast
Episodes
Listen, download, subscribe
Fostering Strong Relationships with Luke Parker- CR110
In this episode of the Career Relaunch® podcast, Luke Parker, a British Army Officer turned Google Cloud delivery executive shares his thoughts on how professional relationships can open doors and the importance of self-marketing during career transitions. I also share my reflections on the state of modern day friendships and glimpses into.my personal story of how people I’ve crossed paths with in life have had a huge influence on my career. 💡 Key Career Insights Self-marketing matters. Proactively driving visibility for yourself and what you want to be known for can open new doors. Maintaining relationships is critical, but it takes work. You never know what a connection of yours may create for you in the future. Your nontraditional background isn’t necessarily a liability. In fact, it may be the precise reason you’re able to add unique value in environments where people have more traditional backgrounds. ✅ Share Thoughts on Friendship with Joseph 👉🏼Complete friendship survey👈🏼 📚 Relevant Resources A few friendship resources I’ve compiled. I mentioned The ABCs of Networking by Thom Singer who said that if people don’t immediately respond to you, you should not take it personally. 7 Practical Ways To Add Value To Your Professional Network– my Forbes article about giving back to your network During the Mental Fuel® segment, I ended with a quote from Robert Waldinger who wrote the The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study on Happiness. 💪🏼Listener Challenge From today’s Mental Fuel® segment, I’d like to challenge you to reconnect with someone in your professional or personal network with whom you’ve lost touch. Start with someone who’s been consistently energizing, helpful, supportive, or even inspiring to you. Instead of just sending a text message or email or LinkedIn message, pick up the phone and call them, send them a voice note, record a video message, or even drop a card in the mail if you really want to change things up. 📖 Episode Chapters 00:00:00 Epsiode preview 00:01:07 Introduction 00:02:23 Chat with Luke 00:04:14 Luke’s military career 00:13:03 Transitioning to the private sector 00:18:24 Networking & self-marketing 00:23:31 Life at Google 00:30:06 Antebellum Angels 00:32:44 Mental Fuel®: nurturing relationships 00:39:58 Listener Challenge: reconnect with someone 00:44:22 Wrap-up 👤 About Luke Parker Luke Parker is a Delivery Executive at Google Cloud, where he manages complex, Air-Gapped programs for strategic clients. A former British Army Officer with over 11 years of service, Luke brings a unique perspective on leadership, having transitioned from commanding Royal Engineers Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search (EOD&S) teams to driving digital transformation in the public sector. Beyond his role at Google, Luke is a DataIQ Top 100 influencer and the Co-Founder of Ante-Bellum Angels, a network investing in early-stage defense technology. He also holds a Master’s (Msc) in Geospatial Intelligence, and is a Chartered Engineer (CEng). Connect with Luke on LinkedIn. 👍🏻 Did You Enjoy This Episode? Please Let Us Know! Review: I’d also love for you to leave a positive review and rating for the podcast on Apple Podcasts, which helps my show reach more people who want to relaunch their careers. Follow: Be sure to follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or Android so you can automatically get each new episode on your device. Full instructions. Stay in touch: Follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can also follow host Joseph on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky. 💬 Comments, Suggestions, or Questions? If you have any lingering thoughts, questions, or topics you would like covered on future episodes, record a voicemail for me right here. I LOVE hearing from listeners! Leave Joseph a Voicemail You can also leave a comment below. Thanks! 🙏🏻 Thanks to Wise for Supporting the Career Relaunch® podcast Wise is the world’s most international bank account. It lets you hold and convert multiple currencies all in one place, offering a smarter, easier way to move money internationally without the typical bank fees or foreign exchange commissions. I’ve used it for years myself to handle many of my own international transactions. Try Wise for free at CareerRelalunch.net/wise. 📄 Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Luke: If you expect something to happen straight away, then you’re thinking in a transactional networking mindset, which is not a healthy mindset. Networking is a long game. And so the earlier you can connect with someone and the more that you can keep that engagement going, the better. [00:00:16] Joseph: Welcome to the Career Relaunch® podcast, where my mission is to inspire you to pursue more meaningful work. My name is Joseph Liu, and I’m here to help you gain the clarity, confidence, and courage to overcome the challenges of reinventing your career so you can truly enjoy your professional life. In each episode, I feature people who have stepped off the beaten path to reinvent their careers. We talk through their unique personal journeys, the challenges they overcame and the lessons they learned along the way. To help you understand what it takes to relaunch your own career. Today, my guest is going to share his story of going from serving in the British Army to working at Google Cloud. We’ll discuss how professional relationships can open doors in your career and the importance of self-marketing during professional transitions. Afterwards, during today’s mental fuel. I’ll share my thoughts on maintaining strong relationships in your career and life. Today, I’m speaking with Luke Parker, a delivery executive at Google Cloud, where he manages complex airgapped programs for strategic clients. A former British Army officer with over 11 years of experience, Luke brings a unique perspective on leadership, having transitioned from commanding Royal Engineers, explosive ordnance disposal and search teams to driving digital transformation in the public sector. [00:01:30] Joseph: Beyond his role at Google, Luke is a DataIQ top 100 influencer and the co-founder of Antebellum Angels, a network investing in early stage defense technologies. He also holds a master’s in geospatial intelligence and is a chartered engineer. Now, I first crossed paths with Luke when I heard him speak on a career change panel that followed a talk I gave at Warwick Business School, where he’s completing his executive MBA. I decided to invite him to come on to the show because I thought his comments on the panel really stood out as being very thoughtful and practical, and his perspectives of shifting from the military to the tech sector can be useful to anyone who is considering a major career pivot, but is not exactly sure how to lay the groundwork for your transition. You can get all the show notes from today’s conversation at careerrelaunch.net/110. Luke spoke with me from London. [00:02:23] Joseph: Hello, Luke, and welcome to the Career Relaunch® podcast. It’s great to have you on the show. [00:02:27] Luke: Hey, it’s great to be here. Joseph. Thank you for inviting me. [00:02:31] Joseph: Before we get into your whole career history, I’d love to start off by just finding out what you have been focused on and what’s been keeping you busy in both your professional life and also your personal life. Just to get us started. [00:02:42] Luke: My day job. I am a delivery leader at Google Cloud and that keeps you quite busy on its own. I also am finishing off my executive MBA at Warwick Business School currently. And so my thesis has been submitted in the next 4 to 5 weeks. So every spare moment I’m not working, I’m diligently typing to hit the required word count. On top of that, I’ve got a two year old. For those parents in the listenership that have a two year old, you know that that’s a full time job in itself. But I have a fantastic wife that helps there or does most of the work. [00:03:21] Joseph: Now, I should also mention that you and I first crossed paths at Warwick Business School, and I was doing a workshop on personal branding. I heard you on a career change panel that followed my workshop, and I know that you did talk a little bit at the time about what a. I guess your official title is Delivery Executive at Google Cloud. Could you just give a glimpse into exactly what that means to somebody who maybe isn’t familiar with Google Cloud, or even what a delivery executive does. [00:03:51] Luke: At Google Cloud, a delivery executive leads multifaceted teams delivering the most complex cloud transformation programs. And so although the term has executive, you are not an executive in the formal sense, but it’s a senior delivery role that brings together multiple teams for lighthouse customers. [00:04:14] Joseph: Great. Now, you haven’t always been at Google Cloud, and I would love to just go back in time a little bit. And first of all, just get a sense of where you grew up, where you’re from, maybe a little bit about your upbringing and your childhood. And then after that, we can talk about your time in the British Army. [00:04:31] Luke: I am from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, which is in the north of England. I lived there until I was about 16, so I had a very good upbringing. South Yorkshire is, I would say, quite a deprived part of the UK. The history of the area. It used to be quite an industrialised steel and mining part of the UK, which suffered a lot through mining and steelworks shutdowns. But I think I was relatively insulated from that. I went to a great school at 16. I decided that I was going to join the Army, the British Army. [00:05:08] Joseph: And how did you come to that decision, Luke? Because that’s a bi
Career Relaunch® RSS Feed
