DR AUDREY TANG – Since taking the stage to play a chicken at the age of 3, Audrey knew that drama gave her something special. Working at it meant she could develop the emotional agility to get everything she wanted. Combining her Equity membership with degrees in Psychology, Law, and Teaching followed by her PhD focused on training customer-facing professionals, and number of management positions – she knows how important soft skills are. Plus, she can tell you how exactly to refine them.

She published some of that knowledge in her book BE A GREAT MANAGER NOW grabbing the top spot of “Business Book of the Month” in WH Smith Travel – now translated into Russian and Chinese. The rest she keeps for the talks and workshops…let’s not spoil the surprises! Audrey is a FIRO-B and NLP Practitioner, and has Chartership with the British Psychological Society. She is the resident psychologist on The Chrissy B Show (My Channel, Sky203)….and you might catch her and the CLICK Arts team occasionally revisiting their theatrical roots. [email protected]

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What book have you gifted the most? Why?

Mine! Actually, there is a bit of truth to this as there was a real novelty value…but now most of my friends and family have bought a copy. At one point I wanted to gift the book to a presenter interviewing me, but I’d run out of my own copies – I managed to buy one last minute from a friend (at slightly more than RRP – I insisted – as neither of us had change!)

Otherwise – I always recommend Oliver James’ “They f*** you up, your mum and dad” as it’s a wonderful read about parental scripts and how we can still choose our own path, even if there are obstacles to overcome first.

What is the one productivity tool you use every day? Why?

I’m quite “old school” – so it’s the “To Do” list. I like crossing things out. I also sometimes write them on post-it notes so that I don’t have to re-write when I turn a page in my diary. I also tend to keep post-its by my bed so that I can write thoughts down at night if I need to – just so I don’t have to keep focusing on them to remember them.

What word do you misspell most often?

If using spell-check – then “form” instead of “from”…but otherwise it’s “focused” – for some reason I keep wanting to add an extra “s”.

 What three things do you do to be a successful writer?

* WRITE!! It’s not about getting it spot on right away – but about getting it “on”. It’s much easier to edit or make changes later, or even look at it and try something completely different…but at least you know the first choice didn’t work. Also, I never delete old writing – I save it as I can often find a place to use it later on.

* READ – I read a lot. It’s great to see how others explain things, or to grasp their take on concepts. There’s so much information accessible to us now (although you have to be a little discerning!)

* TEACH – as a non-fiction writer with a huge focus on the practical, I will often have taught the sessions which form the basis of my chapters. That way I can tell if the theory makes sense and if the exercises are going to work.

 

What are the titles of the last two books you have read?

“Gateway to Perakanan Culture” by Catherine GS Lim – my grandparents were Baba-Nyonya (or “Perakanan”) and I never really spent the time learning about their history; and “Skin in the Game” by Taleb – I loved “Black Swan”.

What is your favorite word?

YES!

What do you use more often – a dictionary or a thesaurus?

I use a thesaurus. I’m generally good with meanings, but I like nuance in expression…plus I don’t like using the same keyword twice in a sentenc...