The Atticus Practice: How to Navigate Difficult WorkLife Situations with Integrity and Courage draws on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and a seven-step framework built around the kinds of questions integrity and moral courage ask of us in working life. Not in extreme situations. In the small moments where something doesn’t sit right — and where you have to decide what to do next.
Author Archives: Carmel O' Reilly
The Stories Behind the Stories: Emma
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.
How Strategic Opening Lines Build the Trust That Closes the Deal
The complete lesson follows Deirdre’s full journey — including how she developed the Trust-Building Narrative Architecture framework, the systematic application across cold outreach, referral conversations, and client expansion discussions, and the transformation in her results that came directly from changing how she opened — and shows how the same approach can transform the sales conversations you have in your own working life.
Which Narratives Do You Return to Repeatedly
Which narratives do you return to repeatedly — and what do they tell you? In this first episode of The WorkLife Question, I return to the story of how this work found me — a success story, a failure story, and a passion story that are never really separate — and what each return has revealed over time.
The Stories Behind the Stories: David
Sometimes not knowing is the advantage. That’s what my manager taught me when I first began this work. And it’s why David’s story works across every role, every industry and every sector.
I wrote David’s story because it’s a challenge I’ve observed people encounter in their working life. Technical expertise that goes unrecognised. Not because the person isn’t capable. Because nobody can see the thinking behind the work. The person with the deepest understanding isn’t always the one who shapes the decision. That gap — between what someone knows and what others can see — is what David’s story is about. 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 him.
The Fantasy Novel That Unlocked Her Curiosity
The complete lesson follows Elsa’s full journey — including the wind farm breakthrough that revealed what becomes possible when The Fifth Season’s insight about hidden systems moves from the page into the data, the project where her curiosity created more problems than it solved, the colleagues whose professional identities were built on frameworks she was asking them to question, and what she discovered when she returned to the book six months later — and shows how you can apply the same quality of curiosity in your own work, learning to recognise when the framework itself is the problem.
THE WORKLIFE QUESTION ANNOUNCEMENT
From May, a new series joins WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife.The WorkLife Question.
A weekly question to ponder what matters in your WorkLife.
Every Friday — one question.
Drawn from the five question bank collections at School of WorkLife:
Self-Discovery. The Art of WorkLife Storytelling. Book Club Books.
Character Traits. Mental Health and Wellbeing.
One question to sit with.
To return to.
To see what it tells you.
THE STORIES BEHIND THE STORIES — MAY 2026 ANNOUNCEMENT
The Stories Behind the Stories – May 2026 Announcement. Every Thursday a new episode of The Stories Behind the Stories continues. From May — each new episode will be free for one week. After that it goes behind the subscriber paywall. One week to read. One week to experience the learning. One week to build it into your working life. If an episode resonates — pass it to someone who would find it useful. A colleague. A client. A friend. That’s how this work finds the people it’s meant for. After one week each episode joins the back catalogue — available to subscribers only.
The Stories Behind The Stories: LISA
Sometimes someone shares a story.
And they never know what it unlocks. In someone else.
Years of feeling invisible.
Thirty seconds that changed everything. And a story that had been waiting to be told.
That’s what this episode is about.
I wrote Lisa because networking is one of the most universal pain points in professional life. And one of the most misunderstood. People assume networking favours those who are naturally outgoing. Who are comfortable with small talk. Who enjoy talking about themselves. Lisa’s story shows that’s not what networking is about at all. I wrote Lisa for everyone who has ever left a room feeling invisible.
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.
How Boundaries Revealed the Vision Her Motivated Abilities Were Waiting to Serve
The complete lesson follows Jean’s full journey — including the professional friction that came with changing a pattern others had come to depend on, the gradual unsustainability of serving two worlds simultaneously, the Tuesday afternoon that clarified the difference between motivated abilities that are present and motivated abilities that are engaged, and the permanent programme development role with the regional creative education network that finally allowed her vision and her capabilities to serve the same purpose — and shows how protecting your motivated abilities from everyone else’s urgency can reveal the vision your professional life has been waiting to serve.