The Sage Sayers

My guest this week is Mark Herschberg, an author, public speaker, and an MIT instructor based in New York. Along with teaching at MIT's career success accelerator and serving as a startup CTO, Mark's recently published an excellent resource. It's called the Career Toolkit, a book (and app) helping others develop the skills they need to design and execute their personal plan. All of this to achieve the career they seek and deserve. 

In our interview, Mark shares what he's learned about communications from all of his interesting roles, what inspired his Career Toolkit; and how to negotiate during these intriguing times where business rules (and the rules around promotions) have realigned.

This week's episode might enlighten and/or teach you something new on how to ask for what you want (and why).

Learn more about Mark Herschberg and the Career Toolkit.

Consider hiring me as a group (or individual) coach and trainer to help tackle your biggest communication challenges by clicking here. Or, do visit my LinkedIn profile and website. 

The mass resignation--millions of workers leaving their jobs in hopes of a better life and purpose--offers us gifts and opportunities as communicators. We can learn something from this global phenomenon, too. In this week's podcast, we explore what I hear and learn from thoughtful and strategic communicators all over the world.

You can read my article on Medium this week on how to craft a compelling branding statement. (Many communicators see these wobbly times as an opportunity for creating a first branding statement (or recasting how a robotic or stale statement looks and sounds. Hint, but no pressure: Now's the time for getting bold!)

And if you're keen to unpack your biggest communication challenge with me (or learn more about branding statements, narrative coaching, or storytelling) do so by clicking here or visit my LinkedIn profile and website.

Many communicators want to uplift and humanize topics through storytelling; but how to do it succinctly and well? This week's podcast shares a tried and tested framework, offers some small best practices, and we demonstrate all of that through telling a wee story of our own.

You can read my related article on storytelling on Medium this week via this link here. And if you're keen to unpack your biggest communication challenge with me (or learn more about storytelling) do so by clicking here or visit my LinkedIn profile and website.

My guest this week is Dublin, Ireland-based Maura Dolan who has spent the large part of her life and career coaching executives to find the calm, clarity, and perspective to lead from an authentic and collaborative  place. Maura's just released a lovely book via Amazon, The Collaborative Nature of Coaching: Basic Skills for Managers, Leaders, Life and Executive Coaches. This work compiles all she's learned from the field to help professionals find this same precious wisdom and insight. You can find the book here.

Our interview shares Maura's journey into coaching, her writing process, and why we both feel ( as pals and fellow mental fitness coaches) the way forward for us all becomes growing our self awareness, staying grounded, and communicating and leading from a centered, calm place.

Look for Maura Dolan on LinkedIn here and if you're keen to unpack your biggest communication challenge with me, try me out as a communications coach by clicking here or visit my LinkedIn profile and website.

My guest this week is Dorie Clark, an American author and executive education professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Along with working as a globally recognized communications coach for top-tier corporations, Dorie's also a three-time book author, most recently with: The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World , which releases this month from Harvard Business Review Press.

In our interview, Dorie shares gems from her early starts, what sparked her to leave small-town North Carolina and start a bigger, ambitious life alone. She shares how to create the vital space for long-term growth in our lives and careers  by prioritizing how we spend our time and learning how to say no, even to the great opportunities, and even in ways which still serve our audience. 

You can pre-order Dorie's book here and download your free Long Game Strategic Thinking Self-Assessment.  Visit Dorie's website here.

Find more on Debbi via  her website here or book her for a private communications coaching session via Calendly. Group coaching and training sessions on business writing and speaking coming this fall!

My guest this week is Bill Carmody, Head of Coaching for Positive Intelligence, who oversees the application of mental fitness for thousands of coaches worldwide. He also creates and rolls out the business development program where he supports coaches to elevate the business end of their coaching business.

In our interview, Coach Bill reminds us to love vs. resist and fear personal rejection, especially when growing our business. He invites us to find lessons and wisdom from personal rejection and to embrace the learning which comes from each of the 'no's' which lead to the 'yes.' 

Bill helps us reframe the inner dialogue many of us feel when sharing our services and products with prospects; and we remember the resounding gift from the Sage perspective: Finding the gift, the knowledge, and the opportunity from life's ongoing setbacks.

Find more on Debbi via  her website here or book her for a private session via Calendly. Group coaching sessions on business writing and speaking coming this fall!

Read up on Positive Intelligence here. and if you're a coach, try here for the excellent grant program with applications for Cohort 8 open through Sept. 20. 

My guest this week is Parisian and Armenian Coach Marie-Louise Pereira who helps the many coachees she serves all over the globe better understand our values,  our purpose and with a vital end goal: To avoid burnout.

With around 75% of US and European professionals reporting feelings of worker burnout, never has it become more pressing to understand the signs--and to use our sense of purpose to help us stay on track, working and living in healthy, meaningful ways.

Coach Pereira shares her first-hand knowledge of burnout and what she loves about serving clients on this important topic.

To learn more about Coach Pereira and ways to reduce stress while improving your performance, visit her LinkedIn profile here.

Want to know more about communications and narrative coaching with Debbi? Find her website here or book her for a private session via Calendly. Group coaching sessions on business writing and speaking coming this fall! 

If you're like me, you're often sharing your ideas in a free-flow way wanting to make sense of things as you go. While external processing's lovely for big-idea people,  from the field I hear a real appetite for bottom lining big, but not fully-formed key ideas. The need for some structure and brevity feels especially vial in ad hoc situations, like group meetings, and in ways which hook and retain often distracted audiences.

In this week's podcast, consider these tried and tested techniques to share and frame ideas, even rambling ones, in ways where your audience follows, truly listens, and sees the shiny, clearing in the woods, just like you do.

Want to know more about communications and narrative coaching with Debbi? Find her website here or book her for a private taster session via Calendly. Group coaching sessions on business writing and speaking coming this fall! 

My guest today is Jayne Willoughby, a professional coach and artist based in rural Alberta, Canada. Jayne's a true Sage Sayer who's found the gifts and opportunities through life's inevitable setbacks. Jayne's cheerfully reinvented herself multiple times across multiple industries including nursing, psychiatry, and now coaching. She's a certified coach focusing on mental fitness and using art, something she's immensely gifted at, to help others find their strength, calm, and purpose. 

In our interview with this award-winning artist, we learn the gifts, opportunities, and knowledge Jayne's gathered from her colorful careers. We learn too how she finds creativity becomes a wonderful tool for grounding, finding clarity, purpose--and even improving and maintaining our health.

Interested in working with Jayne? Find her website here. Curious about communications and narrative coaching with Debbi? Find her website here or book her for a private taster session via Calendly. 

Performance reviews can trigger angst in all of us — and not surprising really because so much feels at stake. And yet, applying a blend of mental fitness, communications coaching, and journalistic strategy, you’ll find efficiency, clarity, and results.   Consider these five approaches to minimize the guess work (and worry) with your next performance review.

Have a communication challenge to tackle with Coach Debbi? Sign up here for a sample session. Visit her on LinkedIn, or via her website.