The Sage Sayers

When Lucy Chen moved to California, U.S. from Beijing, China in the early 90s, cultural confusion abounded. Presidents getting impeached? Strangers smiling and saying hello? And then nuanced confusions of her own, telling one person she was five foot 10 when five foot five, only because she calculated height so differently. "I didn't mean to mislead," Lucy remembers. "I was confused."

Chen believes every expert has a story worth speaking and has gone on to write two beautiful books of her own, including one on the stories of her parents who prevailed over cultural revolution, food scarcity, and isolation. And the lessons those have brought her. This won her a narration award and several book awards. 

We learn of her transitions to the U.S., what those taught her; career transitions and all that built towards what she does today: writing, speaking, and now publishing, encouraging others to tell their story, also in book form. 

Our Guest

You can find Lucy Chen on LinkedIn. Find her Build Resilience: "Live, Learn, and Lead" book on Amazon.

Our Host

Debbi McCullough, is an executive communications coach for Fortune 500 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the Financial Times. Book her for coaching, training or ICF mentoring here.   Join her training programs on Leland Coaching. Subscribe to her writings via Substack. 

We sat down with Swedish, UK-based artist, art researcher, and consultant Alexander Lumsden to hear of his love for human connection and conversation through art. Take a trip with an extraordinary man who explores humanfiguration through bronze, drawing, and printmaking and has dedicated his life to studying art around the world and to his own artistic practice. Catch the full video on YouTube soon. 

Our Guest

Find Alexander Lumsden on LinkedIn and through his studio. 

Our Host

Debbi McCullough, is an executive communications coach for Fortune 500 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the Financial Times. Book her for coaching, training or ICF mentoring here.   Join her training programs on Leland Coaching. Subscribe to her writings via Substack. 

We sit down with Ben Sherry, founder of the Live Event Studio, on the power of live, unscripted moments in live workshops and webinars. Host Debbi McCullough asks about the growing audience appetite for real sharing of ideas and the power of humor and live interviews, even live coaching, where nobody really knows how things will unfold. 

Our Guest

Find Ben Sherry, a former teacher trainer who has hosted 200+ workshops for coaches and consultants, and counting, on LinkedIn. 

Our Host

Debbi McCullough, is an executive communications coach for Fortune 500 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the Financial Times. Book her for coaching, training or ICF mentoring here.   Join her workshops on Maven here and here. 

AI has pushed up the requirement that coaches focus on mastery, says Dr. Marcia Reynolds who reminds us AI cannot compete with coaches who keep developing themselves to that highest level. Nor can AI help someone who needs to sort out within the inner recesses of their mind their fears and limiting, conflicting ideas and beliefs. That requires trust and human connection. 

We first aired this powerful interview on my sister show, Competency No 5. Bringing it this week to my Sage Sayers listeners. Much of human connection ties to excellent listening, observation, and communications. 

Our Guest

You can find Marcia on LinkedIn here and the new second edition of "Coach the Person, Not the Problem, a Guide to Reflective Inquiry" on Amazon here. Visit Covisioning LLC here. 

Our Host

Debbi McCullough, is an executive communications coach for Fortune 500 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the Financial Times. Book her for coaching, training or ICF mentoring here.   Join her workshops on Maven here and here. 

Host Debbi McCullough asks Dr. Simran Padam about her career from medical physician to medical monitor of clinical trials, her book she's writing, and her approach to solving the biggest problems through curiosity, not assumptions. Dr. Padam tells us this requires comfort with pause, too. 

Our Guest

You can follow Dr. Simran Padam on LinkedIn and on Instagram. 

Our Host

Debbi McCullough has written for the Economist, Financial Times of London, and Guardian. She is certified with the International Coaching Federation as a Master Certified Coach and a trusted communications coach for Fortune 500 leaders. Find her on LinkedIn.  Book her for a consult. Train with her on Maven. 

We sit down with "Adelaide Ducret" (who to protect her anonymity, uses a pseudonym). She’s a Parisian based in the Bay Area who has spent 32 years in the U.S., six of those in the MidWest, and 12 years working as a data scientist at tech firms, and when 12 years ago data science did not exist. 

We brought Adelaide to the Sage Sayers because we have a mutual love for reading, writing, and thinking on deep topics. We also share a path having left our motherlands when we were young, because we felt called to do so. 

And as Adelaide has learned, being a woman in data science and in tech has its unique challenges and requires developing a firm spine and speaking her mind, which she has done. One of the many ways we can learn from her. 

Debbi McCullough has written for the Economist, Financial Times of London, and Guardian. She is certified with the International Coaching Federation as a Master Certified Coach and is a trusted communications coach for Fortune 500/100 leaders. Find her on LinkedIn.  Book her for a consult. Train with her on Maven. 

Aish Sethuraman, a business lead in the finance sector, has loved wearing sari as long as she can remember. Her mother, when growing up wore them immaculately too. 

On International Women's Day, she launched her own small business from her San Antonio, TX base, Aiswariya - Sari Draping, which she has since grown purely by word of mouth. "I believe your quality work will make it so you need little or no advertising at all," she says.   

In our ad hoc interview, we hear from Aish all about saris, what it feels like to wear them, what situations invite them, and the regal, executive confidence that comes when your sari is well-draped. 

"A sari is a way of communication, it is beautiful. It is a form of executive presence that gives you confidence and no bother at all, because the draping means you don't need to bother with it. 

Podcast host

Debbi McCullough has written for the Economist, Financial Times of London, and Guardian. She is certified with the International Coaching Federation as a Master Certified Coach and is a trusted communications coach for Fortune 500/100 leaders. Find her on LinkedIn.  Book her for a consult. Train with her on Maven. 

We sit down with Michael Chad Hoeppner, the CEO of GK Training, and Author of the bestselling book Don't Say Um: How to Communicate Effectively to Live a Better Life. 

If you struggle with saying "um," sounding flat, speeding, and dreading speaking in front of audiences, you're in the right place. Michael proves we're not doomed to poor communication habits forever.  His kinesthetic techniques and hands-on exercises like finger-walking to stop using filler words or silent storytelling to reduce monotone teach you to communicate well, regardless of your emotional state. 

And we discuss the opportunity AI brings us as speakers: an invitation to speak really well, be spontaneous, offer wilder ideas, and have the bravery required to surprise our audiences. 

Featured guest

• Follow Michael Chad Hoeppner: https://michaelchadhoeppner.com/
• Buy Michael's book here: https://tinyurl.com/4wxahzwd
• Visit Don't Say Um for exercises and more: https://dontsayum.com/

Podcast host

Debbi McCullough has written for the Economist, Financial Times of London, and Guardian. She is certified with the International Coaching Federation as a Master Certified Coach and is a trusted communications coach for Fortune 500/100 leaders. Find her on LinkedIn.  Book her for a consult. Train with her on Maven. 

It took four pageants, but for Mia Frolova, the newly crowned Miss Texas Jr. Teen, every one was worth it. Asked what helped her win this time, she credits practice, focus, joy—and staying true to herself.

It's rare to interview a beauty queen. It's rarer still to interview a mother and daughter who've both worn the crown.

In this week's episode of Sage Sayers, we hear from Mia Frolova on the leadership and communication skills she's built through competing in pageants—skills tested most starkly on stage, where the judges' panel grew notably tough, firing off ad hoc questions that contestants had under a minute to answer with poise.

We also hear from her mother and coach, Maryna Frolova, a marketer in big tech and a pageant winner herself: Maryna was crowned Miss Minnesota as a teen.

Correction: Mia's scholarship to Midland University in Nebraska is $128,000, not the full ride she mentioned in the episode—that goes to national titleholders. Call it a preview of what she's aiming for next.

Follow the new Miss Texas Jr on Instagram here. And through her official titleholder Instagram account here. 

Debbi McCullough has written for the Economist, Financial Times of London, and Guardian. She is certified with the International Coaching Federation as a Master Certified Coach and is a trusted communications coach for Fortune 500/100 leaders. Find her on LinkedIn.  Book her for a consult. Train with her on Maven. 

How we answer an ad hoc question has unfairly become an audition for memorability and conviction. Way too many of us fumble the return. 

Reading from this week's popular Substack post, we ponder on why a simple question does not always yield a simple answer. Also, how answering ad hoc questions in vague, convoluted ways can kill an interview, torpedo a first date, even start a fight with someone we love. Why? Because it frustrates and evades what they asked of us. 

You can read the full Substack here, which is free to subscribe and loaded with culturally sensitive tips and tactics throughout the week on your biggest, most stubborn communications challenges. 

Debbi McCullough has written for the Economist, Financial Times of London, and Guardian. She is certified with the International Coaching Federation as a Master Certified Coach and is a trusted communications coach for Fortune 500/100 leaders. Find her on LinkedIn.  Book her for a consult. Train with her on Maven.