How Developing Self-Awareness Transforms Defensive Reactions Into Professional Growth

New: The Essun Practice: How to Stay Effective Through Change and Ongoing Uncertainty Online Live Class

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES The Essun Practice: How to Stay Effective Through Change and Ongoing Uncertainty is the newest School of WorkLife Book Club online live class. It draws on N. K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season — and a framework exploring what endurance and adaptive leadership actually ask of us, not when change is temporary, but in the periods when instability becomes ongoing and where learning to function within it makes all the difference. It's a class for anyone who has stopped waiting for stability to return — and is trying to work out what to do instead. Here at the details for how to reserve your place: https://schoolofworklife.com/school-of-worklife-live-classes/ [https://schoolofworklife.com/school-of-worklife-live-classes/]  Scroll Down on School of WorkLife Live Classes to Reserve Your Place [https://schoolofworklife.com/school-of-worklife-live-classes/] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/support]

The WorkLife Question: Sarah

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES Today's Question: What signals indicate engagement or disconnection? What signals indicate engagement or disconnection? In this episode of The WorkLife Question, I explore what Sarah discovered about reading signals — not in her own breakthrough moment, but in the three leadership situations that followed. The acquisition. The Tom conversation. The leadership development programme. Each one taught her something more precise about what engagement and disconnection actually look like. RESOURCES Today’s question is from Creating Three Fundamental Stories That Define Your Identity: Success, Failure and Passion Stories Question Bank [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/creating-three-fundamental-stories-that-define-your-identity-success-failure-and-passion-stories-question-bank?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web] — from the section Adapting Stories to Context. Sarah is the main protagonist in the Story Lesson: How to Lead Authentically Through Storytelling [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/how-to-lead-authentically-through-storytelling?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web]. Her story is featured in the episode: The Stories Behind the Stories: Sarah [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/episodes/19038115].  Sarah's story was told in WorkLife Stories: How to Lead Authentically Through Storytelling [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/episodes/18918691]. (Free to listen). Deepen the practice with the WorkLife Compass Guided Programme:The Art of WorkLife Storytelling: Creating Three Fundamental Stories That Define Your Identity Programme [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/the-art-of-worklife-storytelling-creating-three-fundamental-stories-that-define-your-identity?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web] Crafting Success, Failure, and Passion Narratives with Powerful Beginnings, Engaging Middles, and Memorable Endings Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/support]

The Stories Behind the Stories: Myra

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES The Stories Behind the Stories: Myra Three department heads mentioned her name.  Not the system she had built.  Not the reports she had delivered. Her. In this episode of The Stories Behind the Stories, I go deeper into reliability as a character trait — not only what it does for Myra, but what it creates for the people around her. And why reliability as a character trait creates something no process, system or leadership framework can replicate. 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 Character Traits Create Trust and Transform Leadership [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/episodes/18921271]. Character-Driven WorkLife Stories That Shift How You Think 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]. A Story About Reliability, Influence, and Sustainable Professional Impact 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 have you been expressing consistently throughout your working life — and what has it been building that you may not yet have fully seen? How does the trust you build through that trait shape what your team is capable of? And what more could your organisation achieve because of what that trait is 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]

How to Recognise Resilience as a Character Trait to Transform Your Professional Value

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES: WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Episode: How to Recognise Resilience as a Character Trait to Transform Your Professional Value Learning how to recognise resilience as a character trait to transform your professional value begins with paying attention to what emerges in you when everything around you stops working. Ger had spent five years as a logistics coordinator, maintaining the steady rhythm of shipments, schedules, and supplier relationships. This is the story of the morning everything stopped — and what that revealed about a character trait he'd been taking for granted his entire career. RESOURCES MENTIONED 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.   Story Lesson: How to Recognise Resilience as a Character Trait to Transform Your Professional Value [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/how-to-recognise-resilience-as-a-character-trait-to-transform-your-professional-value?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web]Discover how recognising what activates in you under pressure can unlock deeper impact, stronger leadership, and your most powerful professional contribution. Guided Programme: The Salt of the Earth: A Journey of Character [https://school-of-worklife.myshopify.com/products/the-salt-of-the-earth-a-journey-of-character?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web]— How Embracing Your Natural Traits and the Wisdom of Everyday Heroes Can Transform Your Path to Purpose Commissioned learning resources, speaking engagements, and organisational partnerships: carmel@schoolofworklife.com [carmel@schoolofworklife.com] schoolofworklife.com 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 Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/support]

New: The Evelyn Practice: How to Develop Systems Thinking and Solve Complex WorkLife Problems Online Live Class

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/fan_mail/new] SHOW NOTES The Evelyn Practice: How to Develop Systems Thinking and Solve Complex WorkLife Problems is the newest School of WorkLife Book Club online live class. It draws on Taylor Jenkins Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo — and a framework exploring what systems thinking actually asks of us, not when problems are obviously connected, but in the moments when they keep returning and complicating each other in ways that solving them individually never quite resolves. It's a class for anyone who has ever fixed a problem — and watched the same problem come back somewhere else. Here at the details for how to reserve your place: https://schoolofworklife.com/school-of-worklife-live-classes/ [https://schoolofworklife.com/school-of-worklife-live-classes/]  Scroll Down on School of WorkLife Live Classes to Reserve Your Place [https://schoolofworklife.com/school-of-worklife-live-classes/] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2564103/support]