I’m one week shy of finalizing my MCC application process, which began with the launch of this podcast in July 7, 2023.

This week’s episode is documentary style. No music. Just raw footage, of me documenting the many final steps, big decisions, the over thinking, and the huge importance of staying present when working in a state of not knowing.

Thanks to my many peer coaches, my clients, and friends and family who’ve supported me in this journey, which has changed how I feel about myself and how I communicate forever.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a communications coach for Fortune 100 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here.

Pharmaceutical executive Jill Staudacher took things harder than she thought when her middle son Dean moved out of home and seven hours away for his studies and baseball.

I’ve struggled moving my oldest son Nicholas into his dorm last week at Harvard University—now living 1070 miles from his Wisconsin base.

The college transition can challenge parents—and the teens who move away. Exact data’s scarce; but we know 16% of 18.4 million undergraduate students in the U.S. live in some form of campus housing, and many of those are far from home.

In this episode, two mothers and coaches share their ways of maintaining presence and staying calm staying in that place of not knowing, whilst missing their sons terribly. [Note: We host this podcast from Jill’s farm. Please excuse the occasional interjection from her chickens and turkeys.]

If you’d like to reach out to Jill for friendship or guidance, find her via her website Refocus your Health.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here.

When Fortune 500 Chief Technology Advisor Suhail Syed learns that clients are upset, the instinct is to jump in and solve. That’s what often feels right. Something’s broken; so fix it. But as someone intent on staying calm amidst crisis, Syed finds that asking questions and listening well works best.

“It’s amazing what unfolds,” he muses. “Clients feel listened to. They get to vent. And from that more peaceful, trusting state, we problem solve together.”

This delightful conversation with Suhail reminds and affirms for me the power of active listening in business and how much listening well boosts our brand and our executive presence. When we’re grounded, listening, owning responsibility vs. fighting back and stamping out a fire, not only do meetings become more productive, the entire perspective on a problem shifts for the better.

You can find Suhail Syed on LinkedIn here.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here.

The Harvard Mum essay project is my documentary essay series on immigrant motherhood, immigrant dreams, leadership, and all the deep lessons on staying calm and present as my oldest son joins the Harvard University class of 2029 this fall. He’s one of 3% of applicants to gain admittance and only one of a few Wisconsinites to do so.

My Chapter 2 essay, the high school graduation, revealed the vast numbers: 3.9 million high school graduates graduated from high school as the Class of 2025. Most American families celebrate in some way their teen’s achievement — and resources pending, with much time and money invested. The graduation and send-off party dominates this chapter, the last at home before the big move from the Midwest to the Northeastern part of the America: Boston.

With revelry and celebration comes cultural confusion, because the culture around accomplishments is so different to the egalitarian culture of New Zealand. I'm also reminded of my own adversity I encountered at age 18 as I entered university as I struggled with poverty and hardship to support myself and a severe eating disorder.

Amidst all this, I hope to stay calm and present working in that space of not knowing as Nicholas navigates his own challenges and opportunities ahead. This becomes the very premise of the ICF’s fifth core competency: Competency No 5, which will hopefully help us all in Chapter 3 of the Harvard Mum essay project.

Your show host, D G McCullough is a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. She runs Hanging Rock Coaching and serves as a communications coach to leaders all over the globe. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her communications workshops on Maven here and here and free Lightning Lessons.

If you've ever had your hands in clay, you know: The experience can connect you to a deeper part of yourself--as it does with any art medium. Art unlocks. It connects us to our body. And the flow state helps us detach from our fears and a want to control, because art is so uncontrollable.

I spoke with Santa Cruz, calif.-based artist and coach Tess Mascari amidst her own flow state building stunning ceramic pots in shapes of Tibetan men, all in states of bliss. She calls them her spirit vessels and in an upcoming workshop she's hosting from her garden, she hopes to help others find themselves a little more tranquil amidst this chaotic world by creating their own.

PS Our audio's a little crackly on Tese's side; but hopefully it doesn't detract from our interview.

You can find Tese Mascari through her website and on LinkedIn.

Reach out to me, your show host, for keynote speaking engagements, group coaching, and training via my website, or find me also on Linkedin. Find my new trainings on Maven, Listen Like a Boss, a bootcamp on active listening for distracted leaders and Brag Anyway, Move your one-liners and bios from basic to powerful in 7 hours.

The International Coaching Federation’s Competency 8 asks its certified coaches to work with clients in ways that great leaders do with their team: consider possibilities, create action plans, and explore learning. It also requires developing measurable achievements.

In a new coaching session with MCC Coach Ben Dooley, we review a strong— perhaps an excellent contender for my second recording submission to the ICF for my MCC certification. It seems strong to me—and to Coach Ben— but without time-stamped requests for specific action steps at the end. Does this eliminate me and make this recording? I’m still not sure. The client establishes action steps, but perhaps not in textbook perfect ways.

Listen into a mentoring session for fodder for your own ICF certification and/or more training on deep, active listening.

Reach out to me, your show host, for keynote speaking engagements, group coaching, and training via my website, or find me also on Linkedin. Reach out to MCC Coach Ben Dooley via his website, here.

This month, the U.S. reaches historic milestones in some lovely and not so lovely ways. In my world, June 2025 brings joy and hope to 3.9 million high school graduates. Class of 2025 becomes the largest and most diverse class in history, experts say, and with historically high competition for college placement, too. My son, Nicholas, and his friends joined those millions this past Sunday at Muskego High School here in Wisconsin.

What the media skips over is the deep emotions and new perspectives graduation brings for students and parents, especially those emerging from more egalitarian cultures like New Zealand which favor equality and humility and discourage displaying our success.

And that’s what I’m documenting in my second essay for the Harvard Mum project, an essay project on all that I’m learning about leadership, confidence, my American dream, and immigrant motherhood as my son joins Harvard University’s Class of 2029 this fall. The moment feels far closer now he’s high school graduated — and with that, I’ve much to process. You can read my first essay here.

You can read along with this essay on Medium here.

Your show host, D G McCullough is a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. She runs Hanging Rock Coaching and serves as a communications coach to leaders all over the globe. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her Brag Like a Boss three-hour workshop on Maven here and check LinkedIn for free Lightning Lessons.

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Albert Einstein, our beloved German-born physicist and mathematician, owns the delightful quote. And I find it especially timely when I’m mid-build of something big, new, risky, but beautiful.

I find when I’m imagining what’s truly possible, I love to collaborate with my inner circle (new and old). I also love to isolate. This feels intelligent (or at least sensible) to me. Imagining is where the magic is. We can always curtail our hopes once we see how things land.

Once the build begins and progresses, and as launch deadlines near, I find even more need to isolate. This helps protect you from my diluted focus. And it helps tame my inner critical interference (a Saboteur hijacking) and tap instead the creativity and strength of my inner girl and of my Sage. She tells me to think bigger. Trust more. And to calm my mind.

In this week’s episode, reading from Medium, I’m exploring this creative, self-preservation process on why you won’t hear from me mid-build in hopes it sparks a new way of looking at courage and imagination in you. I wrote and read this episode on the week of a huge launch: my first Lightning Lesson on Maven, a precursor to a my Brag Like a Boss workshop I’m launching in July. This sharing helped anchor me as I hope it does you.

Your show host, D G McCullough is a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. She runs Hanging Rock Coaching and serves as a communications coach to leaders all over the globe. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her Brag Like a Boss three-hour workshop on Maven here and check LinkedIn for free Lightning Lessons.