Scwair One presents Speaking of Success (SÖS) – episode five with executive coach Mark Carolan, on the power of the pause, public speaking nerves, and why getting out of your own way is the whole game.

My guest for episode five once stood on a bridge in Prague with a sign that said 'Conversation for Sale.' And people paid.

I've spent most of my life trying to get out of conversations. Mark Carolan sold them to strangers, by the topic, from a piece of cardboard.

Mark spent over twenty years in the corporate world. He was good at it. He knew it wasn't right. His epiphany: if he never changed, that would be his future — all the way to retirement. That scared him as much as changing did. So he changed.

He's now a personal, leadership and executive coach and does a lot of work in public speaking and corporate wellbeing. He's the person companies bring in when their people have to stand up and say something that matters. He's spent 20-odd years helping people get out of their own way.

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I'm Andy Greenhouse. And I'm a creative evolutionist. I help people, brands and businesses evolve in an ever-changing landscape.

Find me writing daily on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygreenhouse My video agency @ swhype.com And if you're looking for your tribe… maybe I'll see you at Scwair1 — https://scwair1.com

I'm Andy Greenhouse.
And I'm a creative evolutionist.
I help people, brands and businesses evolve in an ever-changing landscape.

Find me writing daily on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygreenhouse

My video agency @ swhype.com

And if you're looking for your tribe...
Maybe I'll see you at Scwair1.

Scwair One presents Speaking of Success (SÖS) – episode four, solo.
The sharpest public speaking advice I've had on this whole project, and the last person I expected it from.

So far I've spent this whole thing talking to people about how to speak.
Coaches. Broadcasters. People who do it for a living.

And some of the best advice so far came from a conversation I wasn't even really treating as one.

I asked casually... if she had any tips. She gave me three.
One of them I'd been getting wrong my entire life and had genuinely never noticed.

She spoke purposefully. Deadpan.
Like it was nothing. I just sat there nodding like a student.

One thing though.
I'm proud.

She's sixteen. She's my daughter.

And there's a lot more wisdom to come.

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I'm Andy Greenhouse. And I'm a creative evolutionist. I help people, brands and businesses evolve in an ever-changing landscape.

Find me writing daily on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygreenhouse My video agency @ swhype.com And if you're looking for your tribe… maybe I'll see you at Scwair1 — https://scwair1.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why sharp, sudden hand gestures can give the wrong impression.
• The problem with rising inflections – when the technique becomes too visible, the audience stops listening to what you're saying and starts watching how you're saying it.
• Why public speaking is harder than acting – a distinction that makes a lot of sense once you hear it explained properly.

I'm Andy Greenhouse.
And I'm a creative evolutionist.
I help people, brands and businesses evolve in an ever-changing landscape.

Find me writing daily on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygreenhouse

My video agency @ swhype.com

And if you're looking for your tribe...
Maybe I'll see you at Scwair1.

Scwair One presents Speaking of Success (SÖS) — episode three, solo.
A week of forced conversations, one question asked in public, and what an hour with YMCA volunteers at Victoria Station taught me about the habit of speaking.

The week before, I'd bottled it.
I was at a talk, had a question ready, and didn't ask it.

So this week I went back – to a media trade show at Olympia – with one specific goal. Ask a question. Out loud. In a room full of people.

I did. Last one up. To Alexis, the principal product manager for colour at Adobe Premiere. Felt slightly negative the second it left my mouth. He was gracious about it. And afterwards I cornered him just as he was leaving – which felt awkward and slightly selfish – and asked him how he'd got so comfortable on stage. His answer was less complicated than I expected.

Then I bumped into Adam, a motion designer I used to know. Got him on camera. Then went on a mission to talk to as many strangers as possible – surreptitiously sloping up to people on stands and asking them about their thing.

Then, on the way back to Victoria, I said 'I'll be back' to a YMCA fundraiser I was walking past. And ended up in a conversation that lasted an hour.

I would never have had that conversation if I hadn't made a decision earlier that day.

That's the thing about making a habit of it. It gets easier. And you feel better than you expect.

I'm Andy Greenhouse. And I'm a creative evolutionist. I help people, brands and businesses evolve in an ever-changing landscape.

Find me writing daily on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygreenhouse My video agency @ swhype.com And if you're looking for your tribe… maybe I'll see you at Scwair1 — https://scwair1.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The week before: having a question ready and not asking it – and deciding that wasn't happening again
• Asking a question at an Adobe talk at a media trade show in Kensington, what it felt like to finally do it, and why it came out slightly more negative than intended
• What Alexis, Adobe's principal product manager for colour on Premiere, said about getting comfortable with public speaking – and why the answer is simpler than most people think
• Getting motion designer Adam on camera talking about his own first public speaking experience at the same show
• What it actually feels like to make yourself talk to strangers on exhibition stands when you'd normally slope past
• The YMCA conversation at Victoria Station that lasted an hour – and why it only happened because of a conscious decision made earlier that day
• Why making a habit of putting yourself in situations is the thing, and how quickly it starts to feel less terrifying and more like something you actually want to do

I'm Andy Greenhouse.
And I'm a creative evolutionist.
I help people, brands and businesses evolve in an ever-changing landscape.

Find me writing daily on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygreenhouse

My video agency @ swhype.com

And if you're looking for your tribe...
Maybe I'll see you at Scwair1.