Character-Driven WorkLife Stories That Shift How You Think
WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Issue 13
A Personal Note
Welcome to WorkLife Stories.
This week, I’ve been thinking about networking — something I avoided for a long time.
But two very different Irish events made me rethink what networking could mean. When connection, culture and belonging come first, it becomes less about making contacts and more about finding our people.
Writing about finding my people reminded me how much more natural connection feels when it begins with who we are. Writing about self-coaching through reading brought me back to how someone else’s story can help us see our own working life differently. And writing about treating ourselves with kindness reminded me that the way we speak to ourselves shapes the happiness and creativity we bring to our work. I hope this week’s stories help you find the connections that matter to you.
Wishing you a good WorkLife week.
Remember: Every working life is a story. Some chapters are told. Some are waiting to be.
Keep writing your WorkLife story,
Carmel
This Week:
Seven Stories
One about becoming more than a service to your clients — an accountant who could see what was happening inside his clients’ businesses but had never been invited into the thinking, until one conversation changed what he was to them.
One about getting your team to take ownership — a site manager who caught every problem before it landed, until arriving late one morning showed him that his team could hold the bigger picture if he stopped holding it for them.
One about getting your team to care the way you do — a university department head whose people did everything well but dutifully, until she finally told them why the work mattered to her and discovered that purpose could be shared.
One about treating yourself with kindness — a chef who believed her relentless inner critic was protecting her standards, until she realised it was quietly taking away the happiness and creativity that made her excellent.
One about self-coaching through reading — a man facing a career decision who picked up a novel and found that someone else’s story helped him see his own working life, and the questions he needed to ask himself, differently.
One about finding your people — a long-avoided question about networking that began to look different after two very different Irish events showed that connection could be about culture and belonging rather than simply making contacts.
One about learning beyond the course — a man with plenty of formal training who discovered that some of his most useful professional learning had come from observing, asking questions and working things out for himself.
One new Story Lesson — How Professional Impact Deepens When Values and Expertise Converge: A Story About Integrating Professional Skills with Personal Convictions
One new Professional Self-Coaching resource — Build What You Believe In — Professional Self-Coaching for Designing Work That Reflects Your Values
WorkLife Storytelling
The stories we tell are one of our most powerful ways of expressing who we are. They reveal our character, values and beliefs, our thinking and individuality — and help us speak our truth in ways that create connection and credibility.
Each WorkLife Storytelling piece helps you find, shape and tell the right story at the right time — in interviews, conversations, presentations, networking and the many moments when your story matters.
THE STORIES
How Do I Become More Than a Service to My Clients? — A Story About Being Brought Into the Thinking, Not Just Given the Task
Tui was an accountant for small businesses, fifteen years into a practice built on meticulous work and satisfied clients. He could see things in their numbers that they couldn’t — narrowing margins, hidden risks and opportunities — but he had never found a way to say any of it because nobody had asked. Then one conversation with a florist changed the relationship. This new WorkLife Story explores what happened when Tui stopped keeping his thinking to himself and began letting his clients see the expertise behind the service.
Read and Listen → How Do I Become More Than a Service to My Clients?
How Do I Get My Team to Take Ownership? — A Story About What Happens When You Stop Catching Every Problem Yourself
Conan had run building sites for more than twenty years, and he was exceptionally good at seeing problems before they became problems. His sites stayed on programme, his clients trusted him and his team did their work well — but they left the bigger picture to him because he always caught everything first. Then, one morning when Conan arrived late, he discovered his team had already solved a problem he would normally have handled himself. This new WorkLife Story explores what happened when Conan stopped being the person who caught everything and began creating the space for his team to see ahead, make decisions and take ownership of the work.
Read and Listen → How Do I Get My Team to Take Ownership?
How Do I Get My Team to Care the Way I Do? — A Story About Leading Through Authority and Wondering Why No One Shares the Purpose
Wendy had led a university department for most of her working life. She was eminent, respected and exceptionally experienced, and the department ran well — but it ran on duty. Her academics taught, published, met deadlines and did what was expected, yet the care and passion she could see in them never seemed to enter the room. Then, in an ordinary meeting, Wendy stopped chairing and told them why the work mattered so much to her. This new WorkLife Story explores what happened when she stopped leading through authority alone and let her people see the purpose underneath her standards.
Read and Listen → How Do I Get My Team to Care the Way I Do?
How Treating Yourself With Kindness Restores the Happiness That Self-Criticism Takes Away — A Story About Discovering That Self-Compassion Is the Foundation of Both Joy and Genuine Excellence
Keiko had built her restaurant on precision, creativity and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Her reputation was well earned, but she had come to believe that the relentless voice in her head was what kept her standards high. Then, after a service that had gone exceptionally well, her partner asked a simple question: did she enjoy it? Keiko realised she couldn’t remember the last time she had. This new WorkLife Story follows what happened when she began to question whether self-criticism was really protecting her standards — and discovered that treating herself with kindness could restore both the happiness and creativity she had quietly lost.
Read and Listen → How Treating Yourself With Kindness Restores the Happiness That Self-Criticism Takes Away
Self-Coaching Through Reading — What Someone Else’s Story Can Help You See About Your Own Working Life
Philip had three weeks to decide whether to take a regional role — a larger team, a larger budget and considerably more influence. It was exactly the kind of opportunity he had spent years working towards. So why didn’t he want it? Then he picked up John Williams’s Stoner — and began to see his own working life, and the questions he needed to ask of himself, differently.
Read and Listen → Self-Coaching Through Reading
12 Rooms of a WorkLife Room 2 — Finding My People
I avoided networking for a long time, but two very different Irish events made me rethink what networking could mean when connection, culture and belonging come first.
Read and Listen → 12 Rooms of a WorkLife Room 2 Finding My People
Professional Development: The Best Thing I Learned Wasn’t on the Course — It happened when I had to work out what to do for myself
Raymond has completed plenty of training throughout his working life. But when a problem arises that cannot be solved by following a procedure or checking a manual, he discovers something different — some of his most useful learning has come from observing, asking questions and working things out for himself.
Read and Listen → Professional Development: The Best Thing I Learned Wasn’t on the Course
The stories above are free to read. If you’d like to take the work deeper, there’s a new Story Lesson and a new Professional Self-Coaching resource this week.
Story Lessons
Each Story Lesson explores a real WorkLife moment where something important becomes visible — a conversation shifts, an assumption is challenged, or a different way of thinking begins to emerge.
From that moment, the lesson unfolds into a structured learning experience that helps you understand what happened, why it mattered, and how to apply the insight to your own WorkLife.
THE STORY LESSON
How Professional Impact Deepens When Values and Expertise Converge — A Story About Integrating Professional Skills with Personal Convictions
Ashley had built exactly the career she had been working towards: eight years as a financial advisor, strong returns and clients who trusted her judgement. Then, during a retirement planning meeting, a client asked what kind of world her investments were creating for their grandchildren. Ashley realised that her expertise had always been serving a single question — how well could the money perform — without asking what it was serving. This new WorkLife Story follows what happened when Ashley began bringing her values into the work, discovering that her capabilities hadn’t changed, but what they served had.
Explore → How Professional Impact Deepens When Values and Expertise Converge
Professional Self-Coaching
Self-coaching is the ability to guide yourself through every part of your WorkLife journey — through stable times and times of change and uncertainty. It is asking yourself the questions that bring clarity, finding your own answers, and acting on what you learn.
Each Professional Self-Coaching resource is created for one important professional moment. One purpose. One challenge. One outcome. Distilled from more than twenty years of professional coaching, writing and practice.
THE SELF-COACHING RESOURCE
Build What You Believe In — Professional Self-Coaching for Designing Work That Reflects Your Values
You already have work that holds up — precision your results can prove. Build What You Believe In takes you, step by step, from noticing the gap between technically flawless work and who it’s actually for, to naming what you believe in, testing it against real projects, and designing your expertise to reflect it.
Explore → Build What You Believe In
The Thinking Behind the Work
School of WorkLife has been built on stories — I believe they are our most powerful mechanism for teaching, learning and communicating who we really are. Through character-driven narratives and structured reflection, WorkLife Stories helps you navigate your challenges, develop your professional capabilities and articulate your own journey — supporting self-coaching, self-directing and self-leadership across a working life.
Listen to the audio version here:
Work With Me: Individual WorkLife Coaching, Commissioned Learning Resources, Speaking Engagements and Organisational Partnerships.
Support This Work: Your support makes a difference and helps me to continue creating resources that are accessible to everyone. Thank you. Carmel
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These resources are designed as short, effective learning experiences—for individuals managing their own development and companies supporting their people’s growth.
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