In this episode of the Smash Your Own Ceiling Podcast, Barbara Nixon chats with the fabulous author, speaker, and self-publishing consultant, Debra Murphy.

Debra shares her jaw-dropping journey of resilience, starting from a hospital bed in 2012 where under the influence of heavy pain medication, she made two completely random promises to herself.

Have a listen to hear this deeply moving, goosebump-inducing story of intuition, love, the incredible intelligence of a dog named Beatrix, and how "smashing your own ceiling" is sometimes just about taking that very first step.

🔗 Links & Resources mentioned

• Deborah’s Website: mothermurphys.co.uk

• Connect with Deborah on Instagram: @mother_murphys

Hope you love this as much as I did

Barbara Nixon

BARBARA'S LESSON DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX EVERY FRIDAY

Join a growing community of Business Leaders unlocking their leadership potential. Subscribe by taking the Confident Leaders Scorecard and get your free report with practical tips to get you started. ⁠https://barbara-dn4exwq0.scoreapp.com/⁠ and a weekly lesson every Friday in your inbox.

JOIN ELEVATE - a one day deep dive coaching event for Founders and Senior Leaders who are stuck in the weeds or struggling with self doubt. ⁠https://www.barbaranixon.co.uk/work-with-barbara/elevate/

In this episode of the Smash Your Own Ceiling Podcast, Barbara Nixon sits down with dementia expert Grace Steed, founder of Enrichment for the Elderly.

Grace shares her deeply personal journey into the world of dementia, sparked by her own grandmothers' diagnoses, and how it transformed her career from theater workshops to delivering top-tier dementia training.

Together, Barbara and Grace explore the powerful role of play and curiosity in adulthood, and tackle a critical, often hidden issue in modern business: the silent struggle of employees who are juggling work with caring for loved ones with dementia.

Whether you are a business owner, a leader, or someone navigating the complex world of caregiving, this episode offers invaluable insights into creating psychologically safe workplace cultures that support the people who keep our businesses running.

• The Power of Play for Adults: Why we shy away from play as we age, and how stepping out of our routine "adult brains" can unlock creative problem-solving and relieve stress.

• The "Carer’s Juggle": Understanding the profound emotional, mental, and logistical toll of managing a career while coordinating care for a family member with dementia.

• The Disclosure Barrier: Why so many employees hide their caregiving responsibilities out of fear of career stagnation or negative perception, and how this leads to burnout and quiet quitting.

• Actionable Support for Business Leaders: How to shift your workplace culture from one of "forced perfection" to genuine psychological safety, starting with leader vulnerability.

Click here to find out more about Grace

Hope you find this useful

Barbara Nixon

BARBARA'S LESSON DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX EVERY FRIDAY

Join a growing community of Business Leaders unlocking their leadership potential. Subscribe by taking the Confident Leaders Scorecard and get your free report with practical tips to get you started. https://barbara-dn4exwq0.scoreapp.com/ and a weekly lesson every Friday in your inbox.

JOIN ELEVATE - a one day deep dive coaching event for Founders and Senior Leaders who are stuck in the weeds or struggling with self doubt. https://www.barbaranixon.co.uk/work-with-barbara/elevate/

What happens when all of a sudden life serves you lemons, and all of your plans go out of the window?

This is what happened to my guest Rhona Morrison when her husband sadly passed away on the day of her retirement, and everything that she thought she'd be doing suddenly changed.

In this episode Rhona shares her story of how she went from crime scenes as a Forensic Psychiatrist to a speaker on cruise ships and all the things in between.

We talk about:

• Why understanding herself as an extrovert, someone who recharges through people and activity, shaped how she chose to grieve

• How a single unplanned sentence in a meeting with a publisher ("imagine if I could be a cruise line speaker") turned her memoir into a business book, and opened the door to an entirely new career
• The dinner-table conversation on an Antarctic expedition cruise that led, three weeks later, to her first booking as a cruise line speaker
• Writing and delivering five bespoke 45-minute lectures from scratch, with almost no notice, on her first paid cruise ship booking
• The layered imposter syndrome of becoming an author, artist, and speaker with no formal training in any of them and how she talked herself through it
• Why she stopped comparing herself to colleagues who could "quote chapter and verse," and instead identified her own strengths (building trust and taking a thorough history)
• Her advice for spotting your own strengths: observing others, borrowing the "nuggets" that fit, and building your own version rather than copying someone else's
• Why storytelling, not bullet points, is what makes her lectures land, and how it also protects her from the fear of "being caught out"
• The moment a former patient, now years into recovery, turned up at one of her public talks

Life doesn't always go as you planned, but giving yourself permission to do things differently, and be open to different opportunities can often be the path to something amazing.

Click here to find out more about Rhona Morrison

To get a copy of Rhona's book* I don't talk to dead bodies https://amzn.to/3STyRmu

Please note this is an affiliate link.

Enjoy

Barbara Nixon

BARBARA'S LESSON DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX EVERY FRIDAY

Join a growing community of Business Leaders unlocking their leadership potential. Subscribe by taking the Confident Leaders Scorecard and get your free report with practical tips to get you started. https://barbara-dn4exwq0.scoreapp.com and a weekly lesson every Friday in your inbox.

JOIN ELEVATE - A one day deep dive coaching event for Founders and Senior Leaders who are stuck in the weeds or struggling with self doubt. https://www.barbaranixon.co.uk/work-with-barbara/elevate/

Welcome to this weeks episode where I chat to Dahlia Stroud.

- How to make the perfect team

- Where teams fall down

- How to manage micro cultures in teams

- The importance of good positioning

- And why knowing the WHY is so powerful

For more info on Dahlia click here.

For more information on ELEVATE - and one day group coaching day for Founders and Senior Leaders click here

Today I'm talking to Author of the book Rewilding the Corporate Mind, Thom Dennis and we talk about:

- How to find your purpose

- How to learn from nature to improve how we work and live

- The importance of living systems in your business

- How to stop working in silos

- How to make your business more efficient

- How to lead differently

- The importance of responsibility

*The book we talked about The Wisdom of Bees

To learn more about Thom click here

*To buy a copy of the book The Rewilding the Corporate Mind click here

The podcast episode with Helen Neave is 077

To learn more about how to elevate as a leader visit barbaranixon.co.uk and complete the Confident Leaders Scorecard

*(Please note these are affiliate links)

Have you ever compared yourself to others, and as a result found yourself playing small?

If so, this is the episode for you as I share some tips on how to kick comparisonitis to the kerb.

For more info on how to remove the blocks and elevate as a leader visit www.barbaranixon.co.uk and complete the Confident Leaders Scorecard.

This is a fantastic conversation with the amazing Stuart Powell all about how to re-think the stories we tell ourselves to become limitless.

We talk about:

- Why Stuart hates boxes

- The importance of identities

- Leaning into discomfort so we can grow

- How things are now designed for comfort

- How to start stretching our comfort zone

- The power of self reflective practices

- Being aware of our patterns that need breaking

- What your discomfort symptoms are (and why it's good to know)

*The book we talked about today - Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers - ⁠Click here⁠

To learn more about Stuart click here

To find out more about Barbara Nixon and Smash Your Own Ceiling click here

To complete the Confident Leaders Scorecard click here

* Please note this is an affiliate link

In this episode I talk to James Perryman all about what we both learnt from going through burnout.

We cover:

Our burnout stories

The micro decisions we make throughout the day

Decision Fatigue

Being able to say no

And making the changes you need.

To find out more about James visit:

Linkedin

Website

And visit Barbara Nixon for more info and to complete the Confident Leaders Score-card

The book mentioned was Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers*

*(Please note that this is an affiliate link)

This week I'm answering the question - why do I feel like an imposter in a role I've clearly earned?

And I have to say this is really common, so please know this isn't because you're not capable, but because you're human.

So, in this episode I'm be sharing:

• Why this is happening
• What's happening behind the scenes
• How to change your thinking in the moment
• How to acclimatise to your role so you feel like the leader you are
• Practical tips that you can do every day.

Don't forget to hit the subscribe button, and if you like what you heard visit www.barbaranixon.co.uk and fill out the confident leaders scorecard.

A success habit this week, all about Ken Blanchard quote...'catch people doing things right' and how that's evolved for me over the years.

This is strength spotting in action (from a positive psychology perspective) and when you start to practice this skill for yourself and others it can be a real game changer.

If you enjoyed this episode hit the subscribe button and if you're a leader - go and have a go at the confident leaders score-card or visit barbaranixon.co.uk for more.