The Sage Sayers

My guest this week is Jennifer Kho, former managing editor for the HuffPost and the Guardian's US edition. She's now president-elect for the Journalism and Women Symposium and senior advisor to leading media outlets including Canary Media and Capital and Main.

Throughout her career, Jennifer's always loved the storytelling and knowledge she gained from reporting and writing stories; now she's equally as passionate about saving journalism (and ensuring its worth saving by solving its diversity and equity issues). 

In this interview, we hear of the gifts, the knowledge, and opportunities Jennifer's gathered throughout her career—and how she's found she has the biggest impact as a crusader of journalism not from writing articles, but from the leadership roles coming her way.

To learn more about Jennifer Kho, visit her on LinkedIn. Visit Debbi on LinkedIn , her website, or we encourage you to try her communications workshops here. 

My guest this week is Luca Dondi, an executive coach based in Rome, Italy, who has developed an intriguing niche helping executives navigate across cultures.

Luca knows this experience first hand having worked (and studied) in multiple cultures and frequently as a minority both due to his personality, life approach, and nationality.

In this interview, Luca shares his career, life path, and his ability to find the Sage approach when we change jobs and geographies and create other bold and brave life change.

You can learn more about Luca and his coaching services by visiting his website and about my coaching and training by visiting mine or my LinkedIn profile, too.

Note to listeners: This week's podcast is a re-do from an earlier interview because Coach Luca and my Stickler saboteurs surfaced! We realized though (in full Sage mode) we could do better on this vital topic.  This version's MUCH better AND we added Bach music. 

My guest this week is Hector Garcia, a citizen of Japan and the author of several beautiful and best-selling books, including Ikigai, the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life which he co-authored with Francesc Miralles.   

In our interview, Hector inspires us how to find and honor our Ikigai, our life's purpose. In doing so, we can better ensure we spend more time doing things we enjoy and that bring us joy and purpose, even during challenging times.

You can learn more about Hector Garcia and his new, upcoming book release by visiting his website.  Visit Debbi's website to learn about her training and coaching services by visiting here. 

Whether we view failure with fear, shame, or disdain, culturally and generationally we can see many different ways we respond to failure. 

Although I've lived and worked within cultures which find failure off-putting and signaling incompetence, I'm working to welcome failure as a vital segue to meaningful growth. (Mental fitness and finding the Sage perspective within setbacks really helps!)

In this personal story, I share an epic career blunder and how it presented gifts, opportunities, and knowledge I'm still benefiting from today.  I hope my story helps you feel less mortified when (or if) you next experience a flop at work or within life. 

Interested in the Positive Intelligence training program, visit here or hire Debbi as your group or individual PQ Certified Coach. Want to discover Debbi's narrative coaching and executive communication training services? Click here.

My guest this week is Christine Van Der Mark who discovered, a few days after Christmas in 2019, her late husband Shad had committed suicide. He was 41.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked 47, 511 suicide deaths that year; and through COVID-19, experts predict more deaths of despair, especially among middle aged men who remain over three times more likely than women to commit suicide.

In this interview,  we hear a young woman's story of shock, grief and anger turn to resilience, resolve, and then openness to true love again. Van Der Mark's hope: Helping others notice when someone you know needs mental support and help. Sharing that grief recovery starts with self love and self care.  

In this week's podcast, Coach Debbi offers five tips to warm up the tone of your business writing so that you sound warm, accessible, and open vs. closed off and cool.  If you suspect your readers tune you out, let's turn that ship around.

If you're interested in Debbi's narrative coaching and executive communication coaching and training services, click here.

My guest this week is Amy Boettcher, an ICF certified coach and former attorney who practiced divorce law for 18 years and was partner at her Wisconsin-based firm.

Two years ago, after honoring her need for new knowledge, growth, and for change, Amy retrained in an entirely new field: Coaching.

She's since developed an intriguing, purposeful niche serving divorced parents who've found their judgment (and discord) of one another gets in their way of co-parenting their child from this new, often uncomfortable place. The knowledge she gained from coaching training and from her legal practice has uplifted her in ways anyone even contemplating a career/life change, will learn from.

You can reach Amy Boettcher by visiting here. Reach out to Debbi McCullough for her coaching and training services here.

My guest this week is Professor of Theatre at College of William & Mary, Elizabeth Wiley. Prof Wiley's a Midwesterner who's soon to move her side-gig (audiobook narration) to her main gig after many delightful years as a professor. Through COVID-19 and positive changes within theatre, she's realized: Now's the time for creating change.

In our interview, Prof. Wiley (an award-winning narrator) shares her journey from a large Minnesota family to theatre, teaching, and entrepreneurship. And we learn communication tips along the way. Like, noticing when our Judge shows up and hijacks our high-stakes presentations, seeing the value in grounding our bodies, and understanding what vocal patterns, like upspeak and vocal fry, signal to our audiences.

To learn more about Elizabeth Wiley and her narration services, visit Wiley Voice. For info on my coaching and training services and/or a complimentary session, visit Hanging Rock Coaching. 

My guest this week is California, Santa Cruz-based Chris Baker who, a few years ago, became one of the US's 106,000+ cases of newly diagnosed melanomas.

Skin cancer, by far the most common form of cancers, impacts twice as many men as women and in Baker's case went on to become Stage Three. His likelihood of becoming one of the 7,000+ people to die from melanoma that year felt high, especially with rates rising rapidly over past decades.

In this moving interview, Baker, a true Sage Sayer, shares how surviving his health ordeal transformed him. And he found the care and love he experienced within his recovery inspired an entirely new career in leadership coaching. 

You can reach Coach Chris Baker and his services here. You can book Coach Debbi for a complimentary coaching or training session here.