The Stories Behind the Stories: Emma

“We only see what we look for. We only look for what we know.” — Goethe

The Stories Behind the Stories: Emma "We only see what we look for. We only look for what we know." — Goethe

The Stories Behind The Stories James

Sometimes the conversation that changes everything. 

Is the one nobody planned. 

No agenda. 

No formal setting. 

Just the right question. 

At the right moment. 

That’s what happened for Emma.

I wrote Emma’s story because of a pattern I’ve encountered often. The professional who is working at a level their job description doesn’t reflect. Because the frame they’ve been given for their work is too small. They describe what they do in the language of their job title. And in doing so — they make themselves smaller than they are. In this episode of The Stories Behind the Stories, I go deeper into the failure, success and passion stories behind the character — and into the real pattern I was observing when I wrote her.

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Published by Carmel O' Reilly

I'm Carmel O’ Reilly. I'm a writer and learning practitioner. My individual courses serve those who prefer reflective, self-paced development, while my retreat programmes enable facilitators to create meaningful shared learning experiences. As founder of School of WorkLife, my guiding principle is to help people pursue their WorkLives with greater clarity, passion, purpose and pride by creating continuous WorkLife learning programmes that are accessible to everyone.

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