The Sage Sayers
A weekly podcast on ways to stay calm and compel others as you communicate. Along with executive communications tips and strategies, we interview intriguing individuals who've found the "Sage approach" by finding gifts, opportunities, and knowledge within trying situations. New Zealander show host, Debbi Gardiner McCullough, has written on social and business trends and struggles for the Economist, the Guardian, and Financial Times of London. She's a self-retired college professor of writing, an executive communications and narrative coach. Visit her at: www.hangingrockcoaching.com
Episodes
127 episodes
Why (and how) I interrupt others less
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 arroga...
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Season 5
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Episode 5
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12:57
Fashion model Gina Magro on pulling ourselves together in a cinch
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 fre...
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Season 5
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Episode 4
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29:32
Listening in deeper ways reminds me of roaming New Zealand’s hills as a girl: Freedom
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 ba...
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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18:37
Entrepreneur Mark DeSantis on Brevity, Storytelling, and Captivating vs Selling Audiences on LinkedIn
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, Bloo...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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32:48
Know your strengths. Boost your confidence. Why Lindsay Moskovitz loves Clifton Strengths
We've oodles of assessments available to understand our strengths; but People Development Strengths Coach Lindsay Moskovitz loves Gallup's Clifton Strengths assessment be...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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20:05
My comfort with strangers. Musings from my girlhood travels
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 a...
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Season 4
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Episode 25
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14:59
Why and how do I podcast? Musings from Coaches Anita Rodriguez, DG McCullough, and Dotun Ayeni
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 prese...
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Season 4
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Episode 24
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37:13
Bringing Londoners together. Meet Coach Amy and Coach Malvika, founders of the Coven
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-...
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Season 4
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Episode 23
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28:57
Meet Coach Xhoni Mimillari, the LinkedIn Coach helping you build your brand (and business) via LinkedIn
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 fr...
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Season 4
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Episode 22
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27:59
Jon Arnold: “I’ve bad moments, but no more bad days. Any day alive’s a good one.”
Almost 50% of U.S. military experience one o...
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Season 4
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Episode 21
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21:24
How (and why) to say “no” to unnoticed favors—and any work way beyond our remit
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 t...
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Season 4
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Episode 20
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12:21
Barbara Reveron on heritage, parental lessons, and confidence
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 h...
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Season 4
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Episode 19
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22:40
End your meetings early. Listen actively
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 invitati...
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Season 4
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Episode 18
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10:43
Leadership and life lessons learned from taking a 4-week break: Jessica Pelegio
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 t...
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Season 4
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Episode 17
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23:46
Introduce ourselves in less ho-hum ways. Reporting tools to the rescue
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.
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Season 4
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Episode 16
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11:51
“Connect technology to peoples' daily life. They'll get it.” CTO Advisor Suhail Syed on demystifying jargon and daring to dream
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 re...
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Season 4
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Episode 15
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29:15
A short story about my New Zealand grandmother rescued my otherwise abysmal presentation
Fear of public speaking has certainly intensified. I first knew this point because my clients kept telling me so. I confirmed the phenomena for sure when I allowed myself recently to feel that intense fear once more, presenting on active listen...
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Season 4
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Episode 14
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21:24
“If I see others struggle, I build a bot to help them” Marketer, Builder, and Innovator Simone Morellato on the joys of AI
My guest today is marketer, builder, and innovator Simone Morellato, an Italian born technologist and marketer based in the Bay Area, California. Having long worked as a marketer for some of the world’s largest IT firms, Simone’s become expert ...
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Season 4
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Episode 13
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25:25
“Football has built me into a leader.” Defensive Lineman Nicholas McCullough on getting into Harvard
With some bias perhaps, I think Muskego Highschool’s varsity footballer here in Wisconsin, Nicholas McCullough’s, an impressive teen. He’s the youngest captain in the Muskego Warrior’s team history. He coaches and mentors younger kids on ...
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Season 4
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Episode 12
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16:39
Kenza Fourati on challenging brands and finding joy and learning from her Tunisian shoe business
My guest this week is Kenza Fourati, a Tunisian fashion model in New York, U.S. who’s co-launched a shoe business that’s done very well, teaching she and her co-founders many lessons along the way. The business employs local Tunisian shoemakers...
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Season 4
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Episode 11
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22:21
“You build your brand by getting in front of people.” Hyacinth Tucker, Owner of the Laundry Basket
Hyacinth Tucker always loved people, enterprise, and community when growing up in Jamaica. Here in the states, she’s found a way to channel that love through her new venture, the Laundry Basket, an on-demand mobile laundry and dry cleaning deli...
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Season 4
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Episode 10
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21:26
What fashion models can teach us about leadership and stage presence
I'm still swooning over the delightful Chicagoans I met on a recent April visit. (They're the nicest and most open people ever!) In another ad-hoc interview, we learn from Gina Magro, a fashion model adorned in an $8.5k leather Carolina Herrera...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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10:57
“A great communicator really understands their audience.” Product leader Nupur Thakur on demystifying tech
My guest this week is product, strategy, and operations leader Nupur Thakur who has spent a greater part of her career ensuring that leaders and customers understand her technology well. In a lovely conversation from her Bay Area, SF base, she ...
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Season 4
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Episode 8
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20:55
“I’m married to my violin” John Chang on the gifts from music and managing audition jitters
John Chang moved to the U.S. from a balmy part of China with one core goal: To perform violin for orchestras. His practicing’s intense and rigorous as are his auditions. We spoke a few days after auditioning for Chicago’s opera where he and oth...
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Season 4
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Episode 7
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22:27
“My dad’s my first coach.” Abhijeet Patil on heritage, leadership, and writing
North Carolina-based executive architect Abhijeet Patil has long led complex hybrid cloud initiatives for Fortune 500s and loved the challenge. A recent self-generated challenge to write in the public space—his “writing spree”— has helped him d...
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Season 4
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Episode 6
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30:35