DR ROBERT HOLDEN describes himself as a success coach. Aged 41, he is the author of 10 books, has produced a BBC documentary and just a few weeks ago was training the UK Government’s cabinet.

‘I coach people. It’s a very broad range – CEOs, nurses, sportsmen – but I apply the same principles to each area,’ he said.

Dr Holden was invited by the Guernsey Training Agency to speak at a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development lunchtime seminar about his new book, Success Intelligence.

He believes the concept of success is becoming more alien to people and that maintaining a balance between profit, positioning and purpose in business and life is an essential ingredient to happiness.

‘We now live in a manic society,’ he said.

‘We are living and working faster than ever before, but is it better?

‘Many of us live non-stop in the fast lane in an effort to enjoy ourselves more – but why do so many of us complain that we are unhappy?

‘We need to be able to stop and define what success is.’

Dr Holden believes changes to work ethics have blurred ideas of what actually represents success.

‘We are currently in a hyperactive workplace – we are overworking to the point of exhaustion and burnout and our quality of life is suffering and so too is our performance at work.’

To counter that, Dr Holden said people were changing their view of what work actually represented.

‘We are moving from a work ethic – which is trying harder – to a success ethic – which is working smarter.

‘We want our work to be meaningful and enjoyable, not just something that pays the bills.’

Dr Holden is very satisfied with his own job.

‘I meet such interesting people and I get to travel quite a lot. But if I ever did anything different, it would be fiction writing on a desert island,’ he said.

GTA training coordinator Kate Winter said the event had been a resounding success.

‘It offered the audience of over 70 delegates the opportunity to think about approaching their work and life in a totally new way,’ she said.

‘We were lucky to secure an international speaker of such high calibre as Dr Holden, who is a leading-edge thinker in his field.’

The seminar was sponsored by Leapfrog recruitment consultants.