Off the Fence with Purpose

If there was one word to describe Brid O’Connell it is energetic. Her energy is palpable in this episode of Off the Fence with Purpose as she describes her career and the many lessons learned upon the way. Having studied Applied Chemistry at the University of Limerick and working as a Biochemist for two years she pivoted into marketing and brand development as CEO of Meath Tourism. This was follow...

From teaching English in Japan to founding a corporate financial services business Brian McDonald chats about how he discovered that the career he thought he would love was not for him To please his father who believed he should get a career which guaranteed a steady income, Brian McDonald qualified as a Chartered Accountant. However, he believed that teaching was the career for him, so following...

A wealth of common-sense thinking grounded on life experience. Catherine Corcoran Gearty on a career journey which should reassure and encourage anyone who is not sure about what lies ahead Catherine Corcoran Gearty was former head of consulting, partner and shareholder of top accounting firm RSM Ireland before the successful sale/merger with RSM UK in 2023. She built a substantial consulting prac...

Great career advice based on working in a variety of sectors Sectors involved included Hospitality, Medical, Property, Retail, Communications and self-employed. That sums up the variety of careers of Fiona Robinson,the guest in this episode, has been through. She is currently Executive Assistant at the Applegreen Group office but the lessons learned from a captivating career beginning in the world...

This conversation with guest Jean Callanan takes a winding and fascinating route around her amazing career. It is about a career in which she spent over 11 years with Unilever the global leader in consumer goods working in various marketing and leadership roles including marketing Magnum ice cream in Germany and Italy and as part of a team who set up an ice cream business in Argentina and Uruguay....

To say that the guest on this episode had a varied career could be considered an understatement. It is a career that spans the private, public, international, Not for Profit, NGO and family- owned business sectors. Helen Brophy, now the Director General of the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in Ireland discusses the lessons from her wide-ranging career with Jim and Ellen. These lessons in...

In this episode John Saunders talks to Jim and Ellen about his fascinating career which moved from being a well known radio sports presenter and public announcer at international football games in Ireland to leading the US based Fleishman Hilliard, one of the world’s  largest PR and communication agencies. At age 14 John Saunders set up his own sports newspaper, in his late teens he became th...

The career ladder as we know it has broken Listen here to understand how and why   Conor Lynch was a guest in Season One of Off the Fence with Purpose and since then he has been busy getting his new book “Learn, Earn Own” ready for publication. It has now been published by Amazon   Learn Earn Own has been described as an amazing resource for anyone starting a new career, changing co...

Get ready for another season of great guests with stories from their careers that could stimulate your move up the career ladder where you are now, or want to be in the future To whet your appetite this episode touches on a few stories from Season 1 in 2025. What we learned during the 21 episodes is that in order to build a great career experience, whether it is advancing and growing in the o...

A conversation with Liam O’Dwyer which will inspire whatever your beliefs or career path. Liam O'Dwyer began his working life as a Catholic priest. It wasn’t work as he saw it, more a life of service in the community. That became a focus of his future when he left the priesthood, married and went on to build a career leading financial and charitable organisations. When he left the priesthood havin...

The red thread through a career   Corporate affairs and issue management have been some of the red thread through the career of Michael Patten. But there were times when life might have been different.  Like been in  Washington DC on 9/11 when he should have been in New York at dinner in a restaurant in one of the Twin Towers. Coming from a family immersed in media, the creativ...

"Sitting with Nellie” was great career start ‘Sitting with Nellie” is a colloquial British phrase for learning a job by observing and mimicking an experienced worker. For Martina Byrne the guest on this episode it was an early introduction to the world of communications. In her case the ’Nellie’ or ‘Nellies’ were two experienced executives at Murray Consultants in Dublin, the late Michae...

Negotiating pocket money as a child and taking up martial arts as a teenager helped shape a business approach When Michael O’Donohoe now Country Director for Ireland and UK with Wavin, the iconic supplier of above and below ground plastic pipe systems. was a child he had to negotiate for his pocket money every year with his father who worked with a trade union. Then he too...

This lively chat with Margaret E Ward covers her time from being a cub reporter in New York, through an award winning journalism career in Ireland with leading national and broadcast media to becoming founder and CEO of a company that is all about business leadership and team development. Her career which also includes serving on the boards of national organisations, writing three books...

Making a positive difference Advocating for women in a mental hospital came at a career cost for Louise Bayliss. But as she tells Jim and Ellen in this episode of Off the Fence with Purpose for every negative there is a positive. Beginning her career as a mortgage advisor in the banking sector she loved helping people find a home. She retained her link with housing when she moved into an...

I can do that. I’ll give that a go In Episode 15 Jim and Ellen chat with Deirdre Ryan who had a long career with RTE in a variety of jobs in radio from being an indoor messenger to working in the music library to becoming a researcher and then moving to television to become a vision mixer. Having left RTE she saw a gap in the market for people in various technical roles in a growing radio, televis...

In this episode the guest is Derek Kehoe, CEO and Head of Country for BNP Paribas in Ireland. Although Derek chats with Jim and Ellen about working in financial services his philosophy and approach to management should apply to any sector. The chat covers his career which began at a time when unemployment in Ireland was at 16%. That was one of his many sink or swim moments.  At times he was c...

Off the Fence with Purpose Episode 13    The guest on this episode is Breda Brown and she chats with Jim and Ellen about everything around communications, media and books. her advice to anyone working in these areas is love what you do,  stay curious and develop your network and interpersonal skills.   Breda’s enthusiasm for her work in media, particularly radio, PR, Communicat...

Episode 12 - Lessons learned to date In this episode Jim and Ellen consider the lessons learned from the first 10 Episodes. They discuss the impact changing careers had on their guests and what drove them to seek new challenges. Like Gavan O’Brien CEO of gradeireland (Episode 6) who found being on the road 5 hours a day meant he rarely saw his children on weekdays or personal trainer Pat Henry (Ep...

Never went to college but now owns his own academy.   In this episode of Off the Fence with Purpose Jim and Ellen chat to Paul C. Dwyer Founder and CEO of Cyber Risk International and the Cyber Risk Academy, an online training campus for individuals and organisations to help them become cyber strong and unified. The Academy mantra is  “ It Takes a Network to Defeat a Network ”  and...

A career that spans accountancy and entertainment When David Orr was a trainee accountant little did he realise that 40 years later he would be touring the world with the iconic Riverdance show. As part of his accountancy training he spent some time in the US and when he returned to Ireland he had as he says ‘itchy feet’. So he set up his own accountancy practice where he was later joined by...

In this episode of  Off the Fence with Purpose  Declan Kelly, managing partner at Digital Impact in Dublin chats about his remarkable career in advertising and digital media and the many lessons learned along the way. He tells Jim and Ellen that he was always drawn to media from a young age and knew early on that this was the world he wanted to be in. He says that the first les...

Best known in Ireland as a personal trainer to the stars Pat Henry has also been a movie extra and musician. His early working life was far away from his work as personal trainer in Hollywood and an extra in films like, In the Name of the Father, Michael Collins and Excalibur where he first came into the world of Clint Eastwood, Bruce Springsteen, Mel Gibson and Daniel Day Lewis. He began work as...

In this episode the guest is Don Harris whose career took a dramatic twist following an emergency medical operation.   Before leaving school a career guidance teacher told him that as he was very good at talking he would be good at sales. This was a skill that brought him to Switzer Department Store in Dublin where he learned sales from behind the counter. A move into PR with the Royal Nation...

In this episode of Jim and Ellen chat with Gavan O'Brien who following a difficult start to his business career went on to make a success of various roles in the motor and media sectors and now manages a a leading careers platform for students and graduates in Ireland. His story demonstrates the importance of reliance and finding ways to circumvent obstacles along the way. Among the topics touched...