The Stories Behind the Stories: Elena

How Do I Answer "Tell Me About Yourself"?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES: WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Episode: How Do I Answer "Tell Me About Yourself"? How do I answer "tell me about yourself" is the question every interview opens with — and the answer is your thread: who you are, what runs through everything you've done, and why it leads here. Miranda's career had three chapters that didn't obviously belong to the same book — until one evening at a kitchen table, with three headings and one honest question, turned sixteen years into one ninety-second answer. This is the story of the rehearsal that failed, the question beneath the question, and the interview that followed her map. RESOURCES MENTIONED Get the Job — Professional Self-Coaching for Job Interviews [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/get-the-job?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web] Tell the Three Stories That Reveal Your Professional Value, Character and Potential Work With Me [https://schoolofworklife.com/work-with-me-commissioned-learning-content-speaking-and-residencies/]: Commissioned learning resources, speaking engagements, and organisational partnerships. The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O’ Reilly  schoolofworklife.com [http://schoolofworklife.com]  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/support]

Introducing Get the Seat at the Table

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES: WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Episode: Introducing Get the Seat at the Table Introducing Get the Seat at the Table — the third Professional Self-Coaching resource from School of WorkLife, created for one important professional moment: the strategic conversations where your expertise is used, but your judgement is never asked for. Your work is good. And yet, when the decision gets made, you're the one who provided the input rather than the one who shaped it. Nothing about your expertise needs fixing — what's missing is that nobody can see how you think. Get the Seat at the Table takes you from your experience to three prepared professional stories that make your thinking visible, so it shapes the decisions that matter. RESOURCES MENTIONED GET THE SEAT AT THE TABLE: Professional Self-Coaching for Strategic Influence [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/get-the-seat-at-the-table?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web] — Tell the Three Stories That Turn Your Expertise Into a Voice People Listen To — Make Your Thinking Visible, So It Shapes the Decisions That Matter Work With Me [https://schoolofworklife.com/work-with-me-commissioned-learning-content-speaking-and-residencies/]: Commissioned learning resources, speaking engagements, and organisational partnerships. The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O' Reilly schoolofworklife.com [http://schoolofworklife.com/] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/support]

Introducing Get the Client

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES: WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Episode: Introducing Get the Client Introducing Get the Client — the second Professional Self-Coaching resource from School of WorkLife, created for one important professional moment: the conversations where your next client, collaboration or opportunity is waiting to be found. Professional connection rarely fails because someone lacks credibility. It fails because credentials describe what you do without revealing who you are professionally. Get the Client takes you, step by step, from your experience to three prepared professional stories — your failure, success and passion stories — built for the spoken moment and connected into one complete picture of how you think, what you've learnt and what drives your work. RESOURCES MENTIONED Get the Client — Professional Self-Coaching for Networking and Building Professional Relationships [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/get-the-client?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web] — Tell the three stories that reveal how you think, what you've learnt and what drives your work. Step by step, in your own space and time. Work With Me [https://schoolofworklife.com/work-with-me-commissioned-learning-content-speaking-and-residencies/]: Commissioned learning resources, speaking engagements, and organisational partnerships. The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O' Reilly schoolofworklife.com [http://schoolofworklife.com/] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/support]

The WorkLife Question: Myra

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES Today's Question: What strengths do others consistently notice about you? What strengths do others consistently notice about you? In this episode of The WorkLife Question, I sit with Myra and the question — exploring what it means when the strengths others experience in you are so consistently present that neither you nor they have thought to separate them out. Until someone finally asks. RESOURCES Today's question is from The Longest Way Round for Character Trait Development Question Bank [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/the-longest-way-round-for-character-trait-development-question-bank?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web] — from the section Opening Character Conversations. Myra is the main protagonist in the Story Lesson: How Character Traits Create Trust and Transform Leadership [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/how-character-traits-create-trust-and-transform-leadership?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web].  Her story is featured in the episode: The Stories Behind the Stories: Myra [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/episodes/19144659] Myra's story was told in WorkLife Stories: How Character Traits Create Trust and Transform Leadership [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/episodes/18921271]. (Free to listen). Deepen the practice with the WorkLife Compass Guided Programme: The Longest Way Round: A Journey of Character [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/the-longest-way-round-a-journey-of-character?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web] — How Embracing Your Natural Traits and the Wisdom of Great Storytellers Can Transform Your Path to Purpose. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/support]

The Stories Behind the Stories: Leon

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES The Stories Behind the Stories: Leon The prototype crashed in front of the client.  In the silence that followed — Leon's risk assessment sat open on his laptop.  Every problem they were experiencing.  Clearly outlined.  Four weeks earlier. In this episode of The Stories Behind the Stories, I go deeper into methodical thinking as a character trait — not what it cost Leon to hold firm under pressure, but what it created. For the project. For the team. For the culture that finally understood that speed and quality were never opposites. RESOURCES The Storytelling Newsletter [https://shorturl.at/UCQLj] (Free) Short, focused, and grounded in real WorkLife situations — how we communicate, lead, make decisions, and navigate challenges at work.   WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife (Free). How Methodical Character Traits Create Sustainable Success Under Pressure. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/episodes/18924361] Character-Driven WorkLife Stories That Shift How You Think. Story Lesson How Methodical Character Traits Create Sustainable Success Under Pressure. [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/how-methodical-character-traits-create-sustainable-success-under-pressure?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web] A Story About Conviction, Leadership, and Building Resilient Organisations. Guided Programme The Longest Way Round: A Journey of Character [https://shorturl.at/OMuN2] — How Embracing Your Natural Traits and the Wisdom of Great Storytellers Can Transform Your Path to Purpose  Your Character Trait Takeaway What character trait do you bring to your work that holds firm under pressure —  and what is it making possible that speed alone never could? Which character traits in your team create the foundations that allow everything else to move? And what could your organisation sustain — over time, under pressure — because of what those traits are already building? A Note to Listeners Every Thursday a new episode of The Stories Behind the Stories continues. From May 2026 — each new episode will be free for one week. After that it goes behind the subscriber paywall. One week to listen. One week to experience the learning. One week to build it into your working life. If an episode resonates — pass it to someone who would find it useful. A colleague. A client. A friend. That's how this work finds the people it's meant for. After one week each episode joins the back catalogue — available to subscribers only. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/support]