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
119 episodes
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
“I find joy in improving people’s health” Jill Staudacher on pharma, alternative medicine, and sisterhood
Jill Staudacher has spent the best part of her career in pharmaceutical sales; but since COVID she’s felt drawn additionally to alternative ways to heal—both herself, her family, and friends as well. In this timely interview, from my Muskego, W...
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Season 4
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Episode 5
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26:18
How to make the important words fit. 10 cruel but powerful résumé edits
If you’ve reworked your resume recently via Resume IO, Canva, or (my favorite platform: My Perfect Resume.com) you’ll see the creative challenge in describing our work efforts, skills, and triumphs within a few words. The summary section on Res...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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14:48
“You know when it’s time for career change. Listen for it. You know.” Rebecca Perreault on changing our work, outlook, and life
My guest this week has reinvented herself multiple times through multiple life stages—even focuses of her study, career, and the way she chooses to live her life. Her name’s Rebecca, and after several decades in the corporate world—most r...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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19:15
How (and why) to hook and compel your audience in a minute—or less
As we rise closer to the top-tier audiences of the companies where we serve, hooking and compelling our audience in our opening sentences feels vital. I know, because I’ve needed to cut to the chase when interviewing experts and executives for ...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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15:25
How Do We Share Our Successes When Data is Scant?
Job seekers and those on the rise within their org need data. Numbers and trends within those numbers quantify how we excel at our craft and trade, become proof, and help paint a story — a vision — of success we can bring our future employer or...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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12:28
Want to Boost Clarity and Confidence? Travel. An Interview with Azra Bandali
I often get asked how to boost our confidence—a tough question, because so many ways exist! My guest in this week’s Sage Sayer’s podcast shares a passion with me for travel. Her name’s Azra Bandali and she’s ventured to 32 countries, an almost ...
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Season 3
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Episode 23
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25:59
Why Cold Calls Nor Outreach Bother Me (Some Reporter Tips)
Many of us dread cold calling and following up with folks, especially when we want or need something from them. Why? Because we can feel (in these delicate moments) that we’re a bother or demanding or even desperate, when none of the above’s no...
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Season 3
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Episode 22
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14:35
“Diwali Connects Us with Our Culture and Celebrates Life” Madhu Chawla on the Gifts of Diwali
Diwali, an annual Hindu festival of lights, celebrates Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, and marks the beginning of the fiscal year in India. For the 17.9 million Indians living overseas, many still celebrate Diwali this month in the coun...
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Season 3
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Episode 21
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17:25