The Manager's Moment

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Standing out from the crowd comes with its own burdens and insights, especially when the weight of expectations meets perceptions of what is possible.

This is the second of a two-part episode, with Michael - Mick - Arkins. We pick up our conversation just as he was encouraging his L&D peers to do better and it is no surprise that he ends this second part of our conversation with a similar call to his HR peers.

In between these nudges, Mick shares how mental health challenges in the family, a succession of great managers and being from the inner city (of Dublin) shaped the person and the professional he continues to become

About Mick

Mick has over 15 years of experience in International HR within a diverse range of industry experience within SaaS and B2C eCommerce environments. He has held senior HR roles in MindLeaders ThirdForce, Fleetmatics, Verizon Connect and currently heads up HR EMEA for Shein. 

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here. 

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Join us on a boundary breaking journey with Michael 'Mick' Arkins as we trek through his global experience and international HR career.

How does Mick balance his belief in agility and innovation with the constraints of a risk-averse cultural context? What does it mean to navigate American, European and Chinese perspectives in the workplace? And how does he grow from the discomfort he actively seeks out?

Tune in as Mick shares his insights, challenges, and triumphs, inviting us to question our own boundaries and embrace the richness of our shared humanity.

About Mick

Mick has over 15 years of experience in International HR within a diverse range of industry experience within SaaS and B2C eCommerce environments. He has held senior HR roles in MindLeaders ThirdForce, Fleetmatics, Verizon Connect and currently heads up HR EMEA for Shein. 

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here. 

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If having to work with someone you don’t like resonates, or ‘don’t take it personally’ is something you hear or say often, tune in.

In this episode, Damien DeBarra, a leader of talent and development design teams, reflects on some of the mistakes he has made as a manager and how he grew from these. He shares his thoughts on the link between anxiety and workplace behavioural issues, and how he has navigated these when dealing with difficult clients. His key takeaway is that managers cannot assume that the people they hire or engage with have developed core life skills, like how to get on with people. Damien also distinguishes between over-management and micro-management, shedding light on their impacts.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here. 

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Self-sabotagers. Internalisers. The quiet people. The nay-sayers. People are people. What is the job of the manager when people don't show up as we expect them to? 

This is the second of a two-part episode and in this part, Brenda McGuirk zooms in on the individual in the team. She reflects on the tyranny of having to be a team player and warns against the manager, through their behaviours, demonising somebody in the team.

She offers a way for the manager to create an environment that facilitates, not isolates, the quiet or dissenting voices in a team.

If part 1 was about teams in moments of change, this part of our conversation is about the person in the team. And of course about Brenda herself and why she is very happy at this stage in her career not to be managing people.

She touches on topics like managing diverse personalities, facilitating change, building trust in teams, handling difficult conversations, creating inclusive work environments and self-awareness in leadership.

About Brenda
Brenda McGuirk began her career in the paint labs of Sullivan Bluth Studios in Dublin before moving into production management at Fox Animation Studios in Phoenix Arizona. Staying in production and programme management and leadership, she moved into the world of educational technologies upon her return to Ireland, working for organisations like AOL, ThirdForce Mindleaders, Learnovate, and CJ Fallon. At the time of recording, Brenda is Head of Product Education for Soap Box Labs. 

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here. 

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How does where, when and into which community you are born shape you? Dublin woman, Brenda McGuirk, chats about starting a career in the 1980s in Ireland (before contraception and divorce became an option for women), where her efforts took her and how these early experiences influenced what she pays attention to as she goes about managing products, programmes and people.

This is the first of a two-part episode and in this part, Brenda talks us through an example of what she means by "a process or team that wants to change itself" and her role in making that change happen.

In this part of our conversation she touches on topics like women in the workplace, managing change, high-performance teams, work-life balance, mentorship and resilience.

About Brenda
Brenda McGuirk began her career in the paint labs of Sullivan Bluth Studios in Dublin before moving into production management at Fox Animation Studios in Phoenix Arizona. Staying in production and programme management and leadership, she moved into the world of educational technologies upon her return to Ireland, working for organisations like AOL, ThirdForce Mindleaders, Learnovate, and CJ Fallon. At the time of recording, Brenda is Head of Product Education for Soap Box Labs.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here. 

Send Belinda a message.

What is a mentor, can mentoring programmes really 'force' this kind of relationship and is there such a thing as an anti-mentor?

This is a short bonus quickcast, following Mike Curran's episode titled The Accidental Mentor'. Here, Mike provides his definition of what a mentor is, cautions against the anti-mentor and expresses his doubts about formalised mentoring programmes.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here. 

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How surprising it must be to, four decades into a life and for the first time, begin a new type of relationship. One that radically changes things.

Mike Curran, the CEO of XLVets Ireland, reflects on the mentor he gained unexpectedly, how this relationship propelled him into new things and how to be, and to find, a mentor. He also reveals how he safeguards himself against the ravages of stress and high demands. Along the way, Mike makes a case for the value of doing service sector jobs, despite the associated low rates of pay, early in one’s working life.

Join me, Belinda Brummer, for this episode of 'The Manager's Moment’, and discover how time management, generous conversations, and resilience shape a career and a person. 

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here. 

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Help people create the best work of their careers. Don't lock people into a single way of doing things. Enable them. This is an uncommon job description for a manager, let alone a CEO. Yet, when we strip away title and role perception, at the heart of this episode's conversation is one man's noble hope and a responsibility he takes very seriously.

Emmet shares his journey into and beyond the role of CEO. He pauses to reflect on the people and themes that have made a difference to him and his own career.

In this conversation he touches on topics like the difference between leadership and management, working with family, relationship building, mentorship, startup challenges, the creative industry, and education technology.

About Emmet
Emmet O'Neill is the CEO of StoryToys - A multi-award winning developer and publisher of apps and games for children. StoryToys have produced apps with many leading children’s brands including The LEGO Group, The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Entertainment, Mattel, Hasbro, Penguin Random House, Warner/DC and Sesame Workshop.

With a career in digital product design that spans over 25 years, Emmet has worked across a broad spectrum of industries including publishing, advertising and film /TV. He specialises in leading highly creative teams and content oriented businesses.

Emmet has led StoryToys through a period of exceptional growth and the successful acquisition by the games label Team17 PLC in 2021.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here. 

Send Belinda a message.

Episode will be released on 4 April: Emmet O'Neill is the CEO of StoryToys - A multi-award winning developer and publisher of apps and games for children. StoryToys have produced apps with many leading children’s brands including The LEGO Group, The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Entertainment, Mattel, Hasbro, Penguin Random House, Warner/DC and Sesame Workshop.

With a career in digital product design that spans over 25 years, Emmet has worked across a broad spectrum of industries including publishing, advertising and film /TV. He specialises in leading highly creative teams and content oriented businesses.

Emmet has led StoryToys through a period of exceptional growth and the successful acquisition by the games label Team17 PLC in 2021.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here. 

Send Belinda a message.

In a world where people, especially women, are encouraged to lean in, and most of us grapple with the challenges of saying ‘No’ to all sorts of things that come our way, Danielle reflects on the benefit and impact of ‘stepping back’.

This is a short bonus episode of a part of my conversation with Danielle O’Meara that didn’t make it into the main episode but that I think you might appreciate. So, we skip the introductions and dive straight in. 

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin.  And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here.