My Story
When I was 6 I wanted to be an actress and when I was 16 I still wanted to be an actress, but life got in the way.
So I got my English MA, became a marketing director in the finance world, then a communication consultant and MD of a consultancy - then an executive coach. Along the way I acquired another Master’s, this time in coaching and mentoring practice, with distinction. So now I was highly qualified to talk about authentic leadership and I loved coaching yet…. I still wanted to be an actress. I didn’t realise how much until a dinner party – remember those? - and someone said – if you could be 18 again what would you be?
That started the itch again, but that reality seemed too hard to grasp. So when an invite from the International School of Storytelling came through my email inviting me to learn the art & craft of storytelling I just had to do it. 3 months intensive play and performance, followed later by another 3 months of autobiographical storytelling, left me with the ability to play very silly wizard games and sing songs about bears. It also gave me a profound understanding of the power of stories well-told, both telling them and listening to them, to create personal change and to bond a group in the most powerful way.
It also underscored and breathed life to my research into authentic leadership in how to show the openness and vulnerability that generates trust. But I struggled to link my storytelling and the coaching and organisational life until I realised that actually it’s the listening that counts…
It’s the magic that comes from interaction when someone holds the space for you to tell your story.
You can have the best story in the world but if no-one wants to listen then it’s wasted. Harness the Power of Listening. This is what I do when I coach and when I help people find and share their stories in a way that inspires others to listen to them and connect with them.
I don’t want to be an actress anymore, but I do want to coach and create the conditions where stories can be heard and shared. I love seeing the magic that happens when people tell each other their stories and how shucking off the damp, tired blanket of the bad stories of our worlds* and creating new stories of belonging and energy can open possibilities for sustainable healthy growth in whatever world we find ourselves.
*Paidraig O Tuama