The Sage Sayers

Business owner of College Sharks Lee Norwood helps break down the complexities of college admissions for thousands of college students. And she loves the lessons the teens teach her on humility, storytelling, grit, determination--all which they need to enter a college that will take them places.  In a lively, unscripted interview, Lee shares her segue from Pharma to college consulting (which happe...

A recent live, online workshop I hosted reminded me of the power of grounding in our bodies, one sense at a time—-and with nature, my favorite tool and companion. A documentary essay of my last few hours before going live. Your show host, D G McCullough is a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. She runs Hanging Rock Coaching and serves as a communications coach to...

British Marketing and Product GTM Leader, Nirav Patel, rejoins us on the Sage Sayers for an update on his life since our earlier episode.  He’s now a podcaster, like me, five episodes into his show Unwinding Pursuits, and has learned a lot from his rich conversations with his guests. He’s still thriving as a leader and on Father’s Day weekend, reflects on parenting his three daughters and the gift...

Experts tell us AI writing adoption's now mainstream with 82% of businesses using AI tools for creating content. Good news for the AI market, now projected to reach a $1.8 trillion global AI market by 2030.  And yet we know AI's not perfect at writing. In fact, partners I team with, like Maven, a popular platform for cohort-based learning where I'm building several communications wo...

My guest this week is Dr. Elise Wilkerson, a culture champion in the workplace, an evaluator, educator, and researcher. Dr. Elise is also a woman eager to share her story with endometriosis, a condition impacting 1:10 women of reproductive age globally—an estimated 190 million.  Its symptoms can cause pain and potential infertility, and yet what Elise, who struggles with endometriosis has found, t...

“It’s not bragging if you can back it up.” So said Muhammad Ali — the late boxer, social activist, and cultural icon known as The Greatest. He was right. And yet, too many of us shy away from bragging in our self-appraisals and self-assessments. We can default to vague, corporate language, light on specifics. Gems — the crowning achievements — get buried or left out. I think I know why. Most profe...

You don’t get great at entrepreneurship without being an amazing storyteller. And Mark DeSantis, an entrepreneur whose robotics company was acquired by Kubota Corporation, is truly excellent.  But not everyone embraces the opportunity of storytelling or knows they can bring these skills they use with their kids, those they love, or friends to work. Even fewer realize that storytelling might simply...

My guest this week is Stephen Lancaster. He’s a vocal artist, baritone, and teacher who has performed song recitals in New York, Paris, Berlin, and Gstaad. Media like Fanfare Magazine describe him as “varied in tone and alive to feeling,” and having invited him to the Sage Sayers, we fully agree.  In our delightful conversation, Stephen, who is also Professor of the Practice at University of Notre...

Listening well goes beyond silent, bobbing heads and affirming mm-hmm's. If we really want to listen deeply, we must ask powerful questions that invoke and invite reflection, eureka moments, and pause. We've not an exhaustive list here; but in this week's episode I'm offering up my top ten tips to asking questions that help create space, inspire new takes on things, and drive p...

Interrupting others before they’re done with their conversation turn brands us poorly in most situations.  Coaching has shown me just how much I interrupt and for surprising reasons that bring pink to my cheeks. Sometimes it’s arrogance, thinking I’ve a better or grander idea. Sometimes it’s sloppy coaching and a poor habit I’ve cultivated from being super creative with too many ideas. Other times...

Select Model Management fashion model, Gina Magro, never cared much for fashion growing up. Like your show host, she enjoyed casual clothes and exploring more than prancing. “I placed a lot of value on comfort so I could climb and move with freedom,” she recalls.  Today (with both Select Milan, Paris, and Chicago, and ELITE NYC) she graces runways in international centers in China, Europe, and New...

Two weeks ago, I coached and listened in deeper ways that will stay with me forever. I felt deeply connected to my coachee. And she to me. I slowed things down. As did she. I poured in very little. In fact, I only asked questions. I mirrored back. I got deeply curious. I noticed inconsistencies between her non-verbal cues and her words, but without trying to mold, steer, nor change.  We experience...

Few LinkedIn bios are as concise as Mark DeSantis whose title alone sits within one word: Entrepreneur. Of course, he is so much more. Mark teaches entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. And his robotics business, Bloomfield Robotics, got on the radar of Kubota Corporation, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of farm machinery, who acquired them. Mark now serves as a...

We've oodles of assessments available to understand our strengths; but People Development Strengths Coach Lindsay Moskovitz loves Gallup's Clifton Strengths assessment because the clarity that the report reveals feels pretty "spot on" and profound. She's even built her coaching career around helping teams harness the wisdom from the assessment to ensure they're doing...

I once took a 20+ hour journey from New Zealand to Malaysia at age 11 with minimal assistance aside from a sibling, the occasional airline chaperone, and then my Mum from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. It felt very defining then as it feels today and brings me fodder on how and I why I grew so comfortable speaking with and being around strangers. I’m reading this week from an essay I enjoyed writing o...

Many of us listen to eight podcasts a week and three to four million podcasts exist globally (depending on how you define them). I host two bi-weekly podcasts: the Sage Sayers and Competency No 5. Both bring me joy, help me keep my ad hoc presentation skills fresh, and allow me to interview really interesting people—giving them the spotlight. In this interview with Coach Anita Rodriguez, I field h...

When London-based coaches Malvika Joshi and Amy Outterside went on independent travels, they both struggled reconnecting with friends upon their return. “Many had moved on— and I too had changed,” Joshi recalls. And yet few places to meet like-minded people (beyond pubs) existed, even though London’s huge. With few trusting one another at work either, the idea formed to create a supper club, in a...

LinkedIn boasts over 1 billion users across 200+ countries and 220 million of those exist in the US alone. But many super smart and articulate professionals struggle building their business or brand there. I get to hear all kinds of blockers from my clients: Fear of seeming stupid, fear of hatred or scorn, fear of seeming 'showy' or smart aleck-y, or just making a big mistake. In our int...

Almost 50% of U.S. military experience one or more injury each year , according to the Defense Health Agency, and injuries result in 2,000,000 medical encounters annually across military services. The most extreme, deployment-related amputations, are harder to track; but since 2001, the Department of Defense has cared for over 63,000 beneficiaries of some level of limb loss . My guest in this week...

I hear you, dear friends, coachees, and community. Too many requests upon you. Not enough time to get stuff done. And certainly not enough time for the work that really sets you apart. In this week’s Sage Sayer’s podcast, learn tips and tools to say ‘no’ vs. ‘yes’ to the things that bog you down and get in your way of your greater legacy work and your balance, your happy time—your bliss. Reach out...

How do we build our confidence as leaders when our heritage and lessons from our elders don’t quite align with the confidence we need and see around us? Marketing consultant, Barbara Reveron, ponders on this idea when reflecting on how her Puerto Rican parents raised her to do well at work. It’s a delightful conversation which chronicles Barbara’s early days growing up in New York, and how far she...

Meetings can drain most of us. New leaders tasked with connecting and growing their teams endure endless 1:1’s with their team and peer leaders. Without blocked off time for thinking and tasking, empty slots on shared calendars attract invitations like mosquitoes at a nudist beach. Many find that active listening can help; meaning, listening with all of our senses. Removing distractions and resist...

Like most professionals, PTO brings up mixed feelings for NY-based Head of Technical Program Management, Jessica Pelegio: fear of falling back, fear of burdening others, or fear of a deluge of of work when coming back. The Pew Research Center tells us many professionals in the U.S. do not take their full paid time off for these very same reasons,  But last month, Jessica took four whole weeks of P...

Professionals all over wonder how to introduce themselves, especially to new bosses, teams, or a recruiter — even to new friends. Introductions (done well) become conversation starters, build connections, even elevate our personal brand. But how do we talk about our work — and life — in ways that stand out and align with our personality and values? And what are the bigger blockers getting in our w...

When Silicon Valley-based CTO advisor Suhail Syed tells his dear mother back in India about his work helping companies grow business revenue through using products in the cloud, she looks up to the sky. "She's wondering what’s there," Suhail recalls. This sweet story reminds us of the need to clarify any jargon we use and stay audience centered, too. It’s one of many topics we cover...