How to Have a Bloody Good Conversation
How to Have a Bloody Good Conversation
Podcast Description
Have we forgotten how to talk to each other? We communicate non-stop online, but the more we type the less we talk, and then we get out of the habit of having a bloody good conversation.Yet conversations build important connections. They can double a company’s turnover, forge lasting relationships, land that dream job, so how can we make sure every conversation ends well for everyone? Join two conversationalists, journalist and broadcaster Mai Davies and communications consultant Sarah Wright, as they explore the ins and outs of having a bloody good conversation. It might just change your life!
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores themes around the art of conversation, focusing on barriers to effective communication, leadership communication, and the role of vulnerability and active listening in fostering connections. Specific episodes address topics such as improving conversational skills in professional environments, addressing generational differences in communication styles, and navigating difficult interactions during the holiday season.
If you want to succeed in life, you have to master the art of conversation.
From dating to doing business, negotiating a pay rise to haggling over bedtimes, conversations make our world go round.
The thing is, most of us were never taught how to have them well.
We all learned to talk as toddlers, but mastering conversation that’s a different skill entirely, and let’s be honest, most of us are winging it.
So if you’ve ever found yourself tongue-tied, lost for words, or dodging a difficult chat, this podcast is for you.
Join two curious conversationalists, psychologist and mindset coach Dr Victoria Stakelum and communications consultant Sarah Wright, as we explore how to have a bloody good conversation. It might just change your life.
Before you said a single word today, someone had already formed an opinion about your competence, your status, and whether you could be trusted. We’ve all been told never to judge a book by its cover, and yet researchers tell us we do it anyway, in a fraction of a second, before a handshake, before a hello.
So what exactly are your clothes saying? And more importantly, is it what you intend?
In this episode, Sarah Wright and Dr Victoria Stakelum are joined by Stacie Baillie – an ICF-trained coach, leadership advisor, image consultant, certified makeup artist, and founder of Radiant Mirror, who has spent 30 years inside some of the world’s largest global organisations watching how the way people show up quietly makes or breaks careers. The conversation covers the secret language of clothing: why 93% of communication is non-verbal and what that means for what you put on in the morning; the sumptuary laws of medieval England (yes, you could be fined for wearing the wrong colour); how the post-Covid collapse of formal dress codes has made the unwritten rules harder to read, not easier; and why a well-fitted jacket can literally change your posture and therefore how the world responds to you.
Along the way: a Savile Row tailor’s verdict on why fit matters more than labels; why King Charles may have worn chalk stripe to the US Senate on purpose; the VP who was being held back not by her work but by her wardrobe; and the single button on a senior woman’s blouse that research shows was enough to reduce perceptions of her competence significantly.
This episode also wrestles with the tensions that sit underneath all of it: between self-expression and conformity, between dressing for yourself and dressing for others, between the freedom to wear what you like and the reality that you will be judged for it regardless. Stacie’s closing advice is both practical and kind.
Part two – what specific items of clothing and colours are actually signalling to the people around you – is coming. But start here.
Guest
Stacie Baillie: ICF-trained coach, leadership advisor, image consultant, and certified makeup artist. Founder of Radiant Mirror, which offers coaching, leadership development, and influence and image consulting. Stacie spent 30 years working in senior roles at some of the world’s largest global organisations, including banking and consulting, before founding Radiant Mirror to help people bridge the gap between how they see themselves and how the world sees them. You can contact her via her website: www.radiantmirror.ca
Contact the show
Be part of the conversation. If you have a conversational conundrum or a question, please do get in touch via our email: [email protected].
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