Rahul was a research scientist, quietly used to not being heard. His judgement, over fifteen years, had been vindicated again and again — when he said a result wouldn’t hold, it didn’t. The trouble was the eventually. He’d raise a concern carefully, watch it slide off the conversation, and months later watch the problem arrive exactly as described — with no one recalling he’d named it first. He kept a folder of it, not to prove anything, but because he couldn’t make sense of it. I raised it. I explained it. What was missing? The answer wasn’t in the folder. It was in three stories he’d never told — and they were what finally got him into the room where the decisions were made.
Author Archives: Carmel O' Reilly
How to Recognise Curiosity as a Character Trait That Defines Your Deepest Contribution
The complete lesson follows Jonas’s full journey — including the question he wrote down and never asked, the moment he understood what that silence had cost, and the systematic practice he built once he stopped apologising for how his mind worked — and shows how recognising the strengths that feel most natural to you can unlock deeper impact, stronger leadership, and a more authentic experience of work.
Why Am I Never Asked What I Think?
Nazanin was one of the best analysts her company had. Her work was everywhere — the quarterly strategy, the big product decision, all built on her numbers. When something important was being decided, her data was in the room. She was not. She’d sit at her desk and think the thought that had become familiar over four years: I know more about this than anyone in that room. Why am I never asked what I think? The answer, when it came, wasn’t about her work at all — it was about a question she’d never been asked, and had never given anyone reason to ask.
WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Issue Six
This week: Seven stories: one about a scientist discovering the questions a coach asks might be ones he can ask himself; one about getting people to listen to your ideas at work; one about speaking up in meetings without feeling like you’re interrupting; one about leaving a secure career and what it revealed about his values; one about a professional asking different questions about her own development; one about the possibilities opening up as I explore what else my WorkLife could become; and one about connecting the stories of a working life to professional development. One WorkLife question — How Could Story Structure Enhance Experiences? One new Story Lesson — How a Clear Vision Transforms Expertise Into Motivated Abilities. One resource in Professional Self-Coaching — Discover Your True Direction.
What Is WorkLife Storytelling?
Niamh has plenty of stories from her working life — stories of success, failure, passion and moments that made people laugh. But when a colleague asks, “What’s the story of your working life?”, she begins to realise that the anecdotes she tells so easily may be only the beginning. What lies beneath them demonstrates Professional Development Through Our Stories — How experience becomes meaning, learning and identity
Introducing Discover Your True Direction
A new resource in Professional Self-Coaching: Discover Your True Direction. There may be a part of your working life you’ve quietly labelled as not the real thing — the side project, the volunteering, the work you do simply because you love it. And it’s possible that’s exactly where the most authentic part of you comes alive. This resource takes you from recognising where your traits come most alive, to seeing they’re one set of capabilities across all your worlds, to designing a true direction that honours the whole of who you are — and helping others recognise where their own dismissed traits belong.
How Do I Speak Up in Meetings Without Feeling Like I’m Interrupting?
Tomasz was the person who usually knew — the engineer who understood the system more deeply than anyone, where it was fragile, what would break. In meetings, he said almost nothing. He’d watch a decision move toward a choice he knew was wrong, feel the words build up, and not say them — because to speak, he’d have to cut across someone, and there was never a clean gap. He’d fixed more bad decisions at his desk, after the fact, than he’d ever prevented in the room. Then he watched a quiet colleague do the one thing he never could — and understood how a person like him ends up at the table where the decisions are made, instead of at the desk where they get fixed afterwards.
Creating My Next WorkLife Chapter
I’m exploring what else my work could become and where it could go. This week, that has meant creating student project opportunities, approaching publications with my writing and thinking, and exploring how professional self-coaching could reach people through organisations.
How Could Story Structure Enhance Experiences?
How could story structure enhance experiences? In this episode of The WorkLife Question, I sit with Annie and the question — exploring what the five-layer framework created for herself, for her learners, for her fellow trainers and for the organisation. And why story structure doesn’t just improve content. It creates a different kind of experience entirely.
Could Self-Coaching Change Professional Development?
Imani’s organisation took professional development seriously. There were programmes, workshops, resources and regular development conversations. But when her manager asked what she wanted to work on, Imani’s answers — leadership, confidence, strategic thinking — didn’t tell her very much about what she actually needed. Then a moment in a meeting prompted a different question: What is my working life trying to teach me? What followed is a story about self-coaching, professional development and what changes when we become active participants in directing our own learning.