Mark Franklin MEd, PEng

Practice Leader and President

I love to help people make well-informed & inspiring choices. After gaining over 10,000 hours of direct counselling experience, what I really want to do now is help society by helping the helpers influence their clients, students or employees more effectively with practical and inspiring storylistening tools. I enjoy using my strengths of creative collaboration, generating ideas, and storylistening.

People often ask me about my career change from engineering to career development. Really I never left engineering! In my work leading CareerCycles and OneLifeTools I “redeployed” my systems thinking and structured problem solving skills to focus on the “wicked problems” of dissatisfaction and disengagement.

I draw on my assets of a Masters in counselling psychology, my engineering background, and insights from thousands of stories from clients, Career Buzz guests, and the many helping professionals I’ve trained. Whether you’re a helping professional seeking new tools or a working professional seeking a better career, I look forward to helping you!

Contact

416-465-9222
mark@careercycles.com

Mark’s client testimonials

It has been a fun process and so helpful to have support through this transition. I feel like I am really listening to and honouring myself by not going back to an agency and excited that I’m on the right path and that it will lead to me feeling more connected to (and passionate about!) my professional life. Thank you for all of your professional help and advice through this process. It has been invaluable. I’m so pleased with where I’ve ended up.”

– Alexis Clarfield-Henry

I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have sought out career counselling, and even more pleased that Mark was my counsellor. I didn’t expect that the results would be so ‘life-changing’ for my entire life — truthfully, I expected the sessions to affect only the ‘career’ side of me!”

– Mila F.

Mark’s Career Statement

Desires iconMy Desires, which are what I’m wanting and what’s important to me include:

  • Helping people – to make well-informed & inspiring choices
  • Creativity – let the sparks fly!
  • Variety – enough to keep it interesting, not too much that I’m spread too thin
  • Intellectual stimulation – live and breathe on planet Ideas
  • Helping society – by helping the helping professionals influence their clients more effectively

Natural Interests iconI’m Naturally Interested in:

  • Insightful radio shows like CBC’s Metro Morning and Spark
  • Insightful podcasts like RadioLab, Hidden Brain, This American Life
  • Astronomy & cosmology – are we alone? what’s the structure of the universe? what happened before everything? where does it end?
  • Cycling – commuting, cycle touring, advocacy
  • Human history & evolution – cognitive revolution, agricultural revolution, and how we came to be the way we are

Strengths iconThe Strengths I want to use are:

  • Creative collaboration – with like-minded colleagues to design engaging products and implement successful go-to-market strategies
  • Teach and train – share ideas so learning is engaging, effective and worthwhile
  • Generate ideas – I love to weave existing ideas into new and novel concepts, products, processes
  • Interviewing – access interesting guests, and elicit their stories and insights
  • Career counselling & storylistening – I love to listen to people’s stories and ideas then generate novel and meaningful possibilities

Assets iconMy credibility and impact come from my Assets of:

  • Master of Education – counselling psychology – and over 10,000 hours of direct counselling and coaching experience
  • Bachelor of Applied Science – industrial engineering – and P.Eng. license
  • Diverse experience: Management consulting. Leading travel programs in Canada, Cuba, Nicaragua. Volunteer board member of Cycle Toronto, Toronto Bay Initiative, 3CD
  • Freestyle travel and cycle-touring adventures in Vietnam, Cuba, Colombia, East Africa, India, Nepal. Working knowledge of Spanish, French and bicycle repair
  • Grateful to have received Stu Conger Leadership Award

Personal Qualities iconMy Personal Qualities and how others describe me include:

  • Idealist – I tend to be enthusiastic, value authenticity and act as a catalyst for change
  • Rational – I’m logical, like abstract ideas and value knowledge
  • Curious – I like to look at new ideas and ask, hey, what’s that all about?
  • Creative – I weave together existing ideas in new ways

Other People iconOther People who influence me include:

  • CareerCycles colleagues Jennifer, Jayne, Angie, Penny, Kerri – enjoy collaborating to help clients
  • OneLifeTools colleagues Evan, Yukari, Rupal – enjoy designing and launching narrative tools
  • Rich – learn so much in our business and creative partnership
  • Karen – so important to have a smart sounding board
  • Al – lucky to have a supportive father who demonstrates off-the-charts optimism and persistence
  • I’m lucky to have supportive friends, family, colleagues who enrich my life:Sara,Karey,Judy,Jonathan,Dean,Kevin,Claudia & smart, capable ILead team
  • Thought leaders/creatives:Wade Davis,S.Lyubermirsky,B.Fredrickson,Seth Godin, Y.Harari‎,Jad Abumrad,Ira Glass,de Botton,D.Whyte,Springsteen

Possibilities iconI’m most curious about exploring the Possibilities of:

  • Even better results with CareerCycles career management social enterprise. Hit a home run with OneLifeTools
  • Teach more courses in career management embedding the OneLifeTools suite
  • Take a course to improve podcasting skills & knowledge
  • PhD in the changing world of work
  • Cycle touring in different places like BC, Bali, West Africa