The Homegoing Practice: How to Develop Cultural Intelligence and Lead Across Difference draws on Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and a nine-step framework built around the kinds of questions cultural intelligence and perspective-taking ask of us in working life. Not in major conflicts alone. In the everyday conversations, assumptions, and misunderstandings where the invisible frameworks people carry start to matter — and where learning to see them changes everything.
Author Archives: Carmel O' Reilly
What Makes Sharing Your Stories Feel Vulnerable?
What makes sharing your stories feel vulnerable? In this episode of The WorkLife Question, I stay with Daniel and the question — exploring the belief he carried for five years that made sharing feel risky. Not a fear of failure. A belief that polish was what professionalism required. And what one question from a client finally gave him permission to do.
The Stories Behind the Stories: Elena
Elena had two professional lives. She thought they were separate. They weren’t. They had always been expressions of the same thing. In this episode of The Stories Behind the Stories, I go deeper into the character traits at the heart of Elena’s story — reading people, creating atmosphere, facilitating connection. And why the work we’ve treated as temporary or secondary is sometimes where our character traits are most freely expressed.
How to Build Sustainable Wellbeing by Developing Internal Validation
The complete lesson follows Josh’s full journey — including the high-stakes pitch he lost and what his own response revealed, how he developed his four-assessment framework for authentic self-evaluation, and how his individual transformation quietly shifted the confidence culture of his entire team — and shows how developing internal validation can restore energy, presence, and the kind of confidence that makes meaningful contribution possible.
New: The Essun Practice: How to Stay Effective Through Change and Ongoing Uncertainty Class
The Essun Practice: How to Stay Effective Through Change and Ongoing Uncertainty draws on N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season and a five-step framework built around the kinds of questions endurance and adaptive leadership ask of us in working life. Not when change is temporary. In the periods when instability becomes ongoing — and where learning to function within it, rather than waiting for it to end, makes all the difference.
What Signals Indicate Engagement or Disconnection?
What signals indicate engagement or disconnection? In this episode of The WorkLife Question, I explore what Sarah discovered about reading signals — not in her own breakthrough moment, but in the three leadership situations that followed. The acquisition. The Tom conversation. The leadership development programme. Each one taught her something more precise about what engagement and disconnection actually look like.
The Stories Behind the Stories: Myra
Three department heads mentioned her name. Not the system she had built. Not the reports she had delivered. Her. In this episode of The Stories Behind the Stories, I go deeper into reliability as a character trait — not only what it does for Myra, but what it creates for the people around her. And why reliability as a character trait creates something no process, system or leadership framework can replicate.
How to Recognise Resilience as a Character Trait to Transform Your Professional Value
The complete lesson follows Ger’s full journey — including the doubt that almost made him scale back his ambitions, how he developed his natural crisis response into a systematic professional practice, and the moment he understood that the trait he’d been taking for granted was the one that defined his greatest professional value — and shows how recognising the strengths that emerge most naturally under pressure can unlock deeper impact, stronger leadership, and a more authentic experience of work.
New: The Evelyn Practice: How to Develop Systems Thinking and Solve Complex WorkLife Problems Class
The Evelyn Practice: How to Develop Systems Thinking and Solve Complex WorkLife Problems draws on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and a six-step framework built around the kinds of questions systems thinking asks of us in working life. Not when problems are obviously connected. In the moments when they keep returning, keep complicating each other — and where seeing the hidden architecture beneath them changes everything.
How Do You Bring Your Story Full Circle?
How do you bring your story full circle? In this episode of The WorkLife Question, I explore what Marcus discovered about circular story structure — not just in his own story, but in the three client stories he helped bring full circle. The ending isn’t a return to the beginning. It’s the recognition of how far the journey has travelled.