Shownotes:

Something to celebrate before winding down for 2021. The Elephant in the Room podcast is a year old (slightly over actually:) 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽 When I launched The Elephant in the Room last year, I knew that it was going to be a weekly podcast - that is the sum total of what I knew for certain. Beyond determination and hard work there was nothing else to recommend me or The Elephant in the Room. But, here we are 52 weeks later ......... And what a fantastic journey it has been 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽

I am full of gratitude for how far in my learning journey I have come, because people were willing and supportive of a newbie podcaster like me. I would like to thank each and every one of my guests for being an enabler, willing to share their knowledge and learning.

With eagerness and anticipation I am now, looking forward to embarking on the next 52 weeks - to continuing to push the agenda on inequity and exclusion in our industry, in our workplaces, in society and in our personal lives. And to ensuring that I stay true and rooted in the purpose of the podcast. 
But, before that I am going to take a break, the year has been brutal and it has taken a toll on all of us including me. I am going to revive and recuperate with my cheerleaders (my wonderful children), count my blessings and be back in the new year with some exciting announcements.

Meanwhile, if you are passionate about doing something, step forward and seize the moment. If I can, you can.......Don't let fear stop you.

Memorable passages from the podcast:

👉🏾 Hey everyone, welcome back to the 52nd episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast. I really wanted to use this opportunity to review the past year. And what a momentous year it has been, with unexpected highs and some expected lows; of amazing friendships and brilliant networks; of saying yes to many things and being assertive about saying 'No'; of speaking up and leaving the reticence behind; of being awake and mindful to doing good and being a facilitator for positive change; of trying to rid myself and others of self limiting beliefs and giving myself the permission to fly. Yes, it has been a wonderful journey and I am full of gratitude.

👉🏾 A year and some days ago I launched The Elephant in the Room podcast. I was nervous, as expected and there was a huge amount of trepidation in my mind about launching the podcast. It was to do with the purpose of the podcast - this was to be my learning & listening project, but it was also an opportunity to create a platform for people to speak about their lived experiences, hear from experts on issues that are taboo and deserve to be mainstream. Did I have what it takes to successfully run such a huge project - to make a commitment to turn up week after week with good content; stories that people wanted to hear; advise that people would want to take on board. Would I be able to attract listeners and followers with my credentials and credibility? Then there was the sheer logistics, background research on the topics, identifying and lining up guests week after week, the technology - what sort of mic should I have; what platforms should I host the podcast on; what were the steps...... It all seemed liked a lot of risk to take; too much learning to do; too much faff....

👉🏾 What kept me focused was the accountability to Janet Murray's wonderful network that I have had the privilege to be a part of. Janet is a fabulous leader, who believes in leading by example - she is committed, hard working and is constantly engaged in trying to figure out how best to bring value to the members in the network. In times when we are a bit lost, there is something to be said about being a part of something bigger - which helps you take one step after the other. So, definitely a big shout out to Janet. And I don't have to repeat how horrible COVID has been for people across the world especially for marginalised communities. For me it helped me focus my mind on my newly founded purpose; launch my podcast The Elephant in the Room and also my consultancy The Purpose Room. What was incredible was that I did not get asked questions anymore, on why I had decided to launch a virtual consultancy - the move to virtual workings and meetings validated my conviction about the future of work being hybrid.

👉🏾 I don't think it was just for me but the year has been hyper busy - perhaps it was to do with the uncertainty; the constant state of flux... There was a sense of urgency. It felt like everything needed to be done as of yesterday. Like millions of people across the world I spent an inordinate amount of time learning. This was fuelled to some extent because we had opened up our world to possibilities and also perhaps because we had taken back some time. And that has been great all around, everybody comes out a winner.

👉🏾 Continuous learning and upskilling is how organisations have kept or are keeping employees up to speed with the necessary skills to do their jobs efficiently in the world today, but are also equipping the workforce with future skills. And it has been a great way to keep them committed and engaged. It has not been smooth sailing all the way, we know that organisations have had to adapt their employee learning portfolio, some things have fallen by the wayside but on others there has been a huge opportunity for innovation., which is very important for organisations. But it is also important for organisations to be conscious of the fact that not everyone has had the time or the mind space or the drive to engage in learnings. The last year is strewn with anecdotal accounts of people being burnt out and struggling with just getting by from one day to the next. Smart organisations will keep that in mind while designing future learning programmes.

👉🏾 In 2018 when I was forced to reassess my professional life because of the barriers to entry as well as progress for leaders like me, I decided to hit the pause button. It was a deeply depressing time, full of angst but I was forced to consider the good that came off it. The pause gave me time to focus on some very important personal issues but also freed me up to make commitments that I had been thinking about for the longest time but not acting on. People of colour and particularly women are shy about bringing attention to themselves with conversations about gender, race or colour, leadership. While, my clients and teams will know me as a confident articulate person, I have always been hesitant to draw any attention to myself and keep out of the spotlight.

👉🏾 As a leader my advice to peer groups, colleagues and friends has been face your fears and last year I decided to follow my own advice. I stepped into active volunteering and made a commitment that henceforth I would spend a percentage of my time using my knowledge to do better and be better. To supporting things I was passionate about - that is when I became an advisor to PRADAN; a volunteer campaign champion on Justice for Rohingya Children for Save the Children; and last year I put my hand up to be a founding member of the Race and Ethnicity Equity Board at the PRCA and this year to be the Co-Chair of the PRCA Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council. It has been an incredibly rewarding journey and I cannot think of a better use of my time.

👉🏾 Letting go of the idea of a linear career path to leadership, is one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life. The idea that an alternate and equally or more satisfying career existed was not something I was ever interested in exploring. To a large extent I would say that was to do with me being generally risk averse; or fearing the unknown. It is also to do with our socialisation, our culture which creates that bind for us. For most people their identity is largely tied to their work or occupation, to what they own and what they earn. In hindsight that seems like a totally messed up way to define ourselves. But, it took me two to three years to unlearn and create a new path for myself and to accept that that there are different routes to leadership and fulfilment; embrace my identity; my choices and also my newly founded purpose. I discovered that in my 50s purpose has a very different meaning to what it was a decade ago. Now, it is about being intentional and authentic towards reaching a desired goal, towards challenging the status quo. In my 30s and 40s(like millions of other women) my purpose was about maintaining the status quo for fear of upsetting the fragile balance that is our daily lives. Today, it is something that drives me to be brave, to dream, to push the envelope every single day on things that matter.

👉🏾 As I look back to the year gone by, I take a moment to pause and reflect on the purpose of The Elephant in the Room podcast, the what, the why and the how. Most podcasts start with the end goal of monetising the podcast. Since money did not enter the equation for me - it freed me up, in a sense that I was neither chasing numbers, awards, nor sponsors. A key principle for me, has been since I conceived the idea or I thought of the idea of starting a podcast, was to not compromise on the integrity of my endeavour - so no sponsors or partners - telling me what to do or stymieing my style:) Like I have said earlier, The Elephant in the Room is my listening and learning project. And how brilliant is it that I get to share this learning with everyone. The end goal for me is to ensure that I am able to get in diverse voices on issues that are important for me but also for broader society. So, brilliant most of the time. But, occasionally it has been difficult putting in all the hard work and not seeing any money flow from it. I am aware that this has to do with our attitude; our conditioning, our expectations. Of course, the ubiquitous social media and the need to compare does make it harder. However, I am very happy to say that these were momentary blips - I have a mantra, and my purpose written down in bold and upper case and I review it when I feel overwhelmed and that helps me get back on track. You could try it:)

👉🏾 So, 52 weeks later, it is not difficult for me to encapsulate the good that came from launching the podcast - there is not just one thing, there are many , many good things actually. There has been so much learning from each of my guests, the topics we have covered, the issues we have discussed - whether it is to do with racism; climate change; inequality; inclusive leadership; purpose; fairness; equity............the learning has been phenomenal. Since The Elephant in the Room is a weekly podcast it has meant that I need to reach out to people who I admire, but in my previous avatar would have never dreamed of talking to. It has meant feeling uncomfortable asking people for their time, to believe in what I was doing or trying to do. The learning is that people are kind, generous and supportive - I cannot thank my guests enough for taking a chance on a newbie podcaster like me. One of the biggest positives for me has been the discipline that is required to turn up week after week - it's a lot of hard work. I edit the transcripts, create the show notes, the social media posts, the updates to the guests - there is no work around that. But, when it is done there is a sense of pride and achievement. And I love, absolutely love, hearing feedback from people - it is motivating and energising.

👉🏾 I say this all the time but the last year has reaffirmed my faith in humanity. I truly believe that the world is full of wonderful people - kind; generous; who open their hearts and mind to you. And along the way I have met with amazing and brilliant people who blew my mind with their knowledge and more importantly empathy. For every one person who rejected the offer to be a guest, I had two who were happy to come with me on the journey; who were willing to share their knowledge and experience. The Elephant in the Room podcast would not be what it is, and I would not achieved my purpose if these wonderful human beings had not made the time for me - so forever grateful for their contribution and getting us to where we are today in our first year.

👉🏾 A lot of people ask me if I had everything figured out when I launched the podcast.

Ha ha, and I would like to say, No, Not at all. I had misgivings right until the time I published the first episode.

I am a big planner. If I could I would plan my life to within an inch, I would.

So, I was nervous about the technology; the actual recording; the entire process because all of it was new to me. Should I use a mic, should I not use a mic? What platform should I record on - some of the decision making on this was taken away from my hands due to COVID - which was wonderful - I did not have to think of a recording suite after that.

The Intro/Outros; the name; who was going to be the first guest, who would be the right choice for this episode or that episode; the format, Q&A or just talking. I knew for certain that I did not want seasons; that I wanted to have a weekly podcast because that was the commitment I wanted to make.

👉🏾 So big No, I did not have everything figured out on the podcast or when I launched my consultancy The Purpose Room. I am still figuring some things out; learning; adapting; fine tuning every single day. And I think, it is okay to do that and give ourselves the permission to do that. We often let the fear of failure and the unknown hold us back - my advise, if you feel passionately about something go do it - at best it will be a success, at its worst you will know it doesn't work. The truth is - the learning and experience will set you free. Free to not be held back by your fears.

👉🏾 Aside from the occasional angst, I can confidently say that The Elephant in the Room podcast was the single biggest thing that gave me a sense of pride and also satisfaction. Does that mean that I have everything right and have everything figured it all out? Of course not. So, I am going to try and do better on all aspects, on topics, guests, how we engage with the content, how we reach more listeners and perhaps enter an award or two - though I am not entirely convinced. But, what I can say with utmost confidence is that I will work hard to do my best. And I am looking forward to announcing some exciting content partnership in the new year. The partnership will help The Elephant in the Room live up to its commitment to mainstream conversations that deserve to be mainstream, for how critical they are to all our lives.

👉🏾 In the first year The Elephant in the Room podcast was about new and diverse voices on issues of inequality and inequity. We are getting into year two with a bit more structure, more focus on best practice; success stories; pushing the agenda on women leadership; ageism; climate change etc and at all times considering all of the above through an intersectional lens. There is tons of exciting stuff and I am looking forward to the next 52 weeks. But, before that I am going to take a break to recover from the exhaustion and the continuous need to be present; I spend quality time with my children who are my constant cheerleaders, reinvigorate and renew. I will be dropping in new episodes during the coming weeks but meanwhile, take a break, breathe in and relax. Adieu, Au revoir and Namaste from The Elephant in the Room podcast

Follow Sudha Singh on:

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudha-singh-424ba53/

Twitter: @Sudha1404

Podcast: The Elephant in the Room : https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-elephant-in-the-room/id1540074396

Website: https://thepurposeroom.org/

Important Links:

👉🏾 https://www.provokemedia.com/ranking-and-data/innovator-25/innovator-25-2021/innovator-25-emea-2021

👉🏾 https://www.provokemedia.com/ranking-and-data/innovator-25/innovator-25-2021/innovator-25-emea-2021/sudha-singh

👉🏾 https://www.vuelio.com/uk/blog/fairer-representations-of-disability-in-pr-starting-the-conversation-with-mark-webb-and-sudha-singh/

👉🏾 https://www.communicatemagazine.com/industry-updates/moves/2021/sudha-singh-annoucned-co-chair-of-prca-diversity-network/

👉🏾 https://www.prca.org.uk/REEB-Story-QandA-Sudha-Singh

👉🏾 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-elephant-in-the-room/id1540074396?i=1000536469957