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Inspire Club Ep #41 - Helen Marshall
88 Plays5 months ago
In this episode of the Inspire Club Podcast, host Matt Manners chats with Helen Marshall — Chief Learning Officer at Thrive, founder of WomenIn (the UK’s largest community for women in L&D and HR), and Leader of the Year 2024. Helen shares how curiosity, empathy and courage drive her work, from building thriving communities to redefining leadership. A candid, inspiring conversation about embracing imperfection, challenging convention, and keeping the human at the heart of learning and technology.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Inspire Club Podcast
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Inspire Club podcast. I'm your host, Matt Manners, founder of the Inspire Workplaces Group. As always, let's get straight into it and introduce this week's guest.
Helen Marshall's Career and Achievements
00:00:22
Speaker
Today's guest is someone who's redefining what great learning looks like. Helen Marshall is the Chief Learning Officer at Thrive, where she's known for leading with authenticity, challenging convention, and building genuine connections.
00:00:35
Speaker
She's also the brilliant host of the Diary of a CLO podcast. you know no No pressure, Matt. um A space where honesty meets leadership leadership and growth. And in 2023, Helen founded Now the UK's largest community for women in L&D and HR.
00:00:52
Speaker
Love to know a bit more about that on this
Creating a Women's Community in L&D and HR
00:00:54
Speaker
podcast. And also she's the leader of the year 2024 award winner to boot. So expect insight, laughter and maybe a few truth bombs from Helen Marshall. So welcome to the podcast, Helen. How are you? Welcome.
00:01:07
Speaker
Thanks, Matt. Amazing to be here. Very excited for our chat today. Yeah, I mean, you do so much. I'm i'm so impressed just from reading out what what you do. And I'd love to just know a little bit more about the the the network as well. Obviously, we're big fans of community here at Inspire Workplaces. So...
00:01:24
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Well, and through my work at Thrive, which I'm sure we'll we'll talk about as well, and I've had the privilege of meeting people from across the globe in um l andd and and HR teams. And in those conversations, I started to pick up on a pattern of particularly women who felt like they needed somewhere to go and and connect with other people.
00:01:50
Speaker
about what good practice looks like, what and they should be doing, whether there were things that they could be doing in their in their roles in their departments within their organisations. And they all felt like they were all almost in these little bubbles where they were doing what they thought was good and what they thought was right, but actually didn't really have any challenge or any new perspectives or new ideas to bring to the table a lot of the time. And I started to notice this pattern and I thought, you know what, we need to create a space where people can get together outside of those walls of their organisations and share ideas and opinions and and challenge each other and and grow.
00:02:28
Speaker
and And so as many people do, I kind of sat with this idea and was thinking, well, what do I what do i roll out? How do I create this? Wanting it to be kind of I suppose as perfect as i I could make it and as a result of that thinking didn't actually do anything because I was too afraid to to to do anything and so I was in this like state of paralysis and so that was it in a around like the summer of and the year that I was about to roll it out so I guess that was actually in around 2022 twenty two
00:02:59
Speaker
And it did it was until Christmas. It wasn't until Christmas time where I was I just really need to do something. And so I created ah a WhatsApp group and I just said, I just shared a post on LinkedIn and I said, if there are any women out there who want to connect and and come and learn and grow and share in this space, then just join this WhatsApp group and we'll see where it goes. And very quickly, within, I'd say, a week, I had about 100 members join WhatsApp group. And I thought, hang on a
Growth and Recognition of the Community
00:03:24
Speaker
minute.
00:03:24
Speaker
this is clear there's clearly a need for this and people ah really want this connection and want this space. um And so it kept growing and we did a kind of ah a launch event that was very kindly sponsored by Thrive and i think it was the February of 2023. And then we grew we probably grew to about 300 members by about the March time. And at that point, I swapped it from a WhatsApp group into a WhatsApp community. Now, a WhatsApp community is just a collection of WhatsApp groups under the umbrella term. So WomenIn the community and then we have subgroups of different subjects that fall under that.
00:03:59
Speaker
Because we suddenly started to see these patterns and conversations emerging within that one group where I was thinking, well, we could have a subgroup on AI, for example, kind of a subgroup on coaching, could have a subgroup on leadership.
00:04:12
Speaker
and And so it's it kind of developed in that way. And and yeah, we've we've moved just tipped over the 1000 member mark um about two months ago. we we're nearing 1100 now, in fact.
00:04:25
Speaker
um And actually last week won um a silver award for best community networking group at the best business women awards.
00:04:35
Speaker
So now an award winning community is is just incredible. I love it.
Roles and Responsibilities at Thrive
00:04:41
Speaker
You know, um when we started to pull this stuff together back in the day, it was like if you if you build it, they will come kind of like you. you know, you can try and get it as perfect as you like, but actually just go to put it out there into the world and see if it's if it's wanted. and And clearly women it is. So, you know, brilliant. And that's on top of the day job.
00:05:01
Speaker
that Yeah, that is completely aside from the day job for sure. um Yeah. And so, yeah, my my role at Thrive is, as you said, Chief Learning Officer. And I've been in this role for about two and a half years now, I guess coming up to three years in January.
00:05:16
Speaker
and So probably about the time people will be listening to this will be about three years I will have been in role. And and very focused on communicating into the wider and broader L&D community about what we do at Thrive and and how we think about learning and the future of learning within various different industries and and and sectors. So you'll ah you'll often find me on stage talking about what we're doing or on podcasts like this one or just ah just on the ground, keeping an ear to the ground on what's going on in
00:05:48
Speaker
in in learning more generally. But also about a year ago, my role pivoted to internal talent development as well. So now I'm much more focused on how we create the right experiences for right for our own people. Because I think historically, tech vendors haven't been that great dedicating the time they need for their own people and their own processes internally when it comes to how they look after their own employees. So great, again, to see Thrive kind of pushing the boundaries of what's possible and for their own people there as well.
Inspiration from Younger Generations
00:06:21
Speaker
So my my role is kind of two pronged, I suppose, and that external piece and then and the internal piece as well, which is really exciting. and Great, great place to be.
00:06:30
Speaker
and Fantastic. I think this is the longest time we've spent before getting to the first question. It's typical. I do you like to talk. I always like to do things differently. As you won't know, listeners, I've already stuffed up the beginning of the podcast. This is take two. a day for first.
00:06:47
Speaker
So fantastic. um But let's get to it then. I think let's get to the but one rule of Inspire Club. And that's to share a story about someone who's inspired you at work along the way and why.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah, ah you know what, thinking about this question, i could answer it in ah multitude of ways. So I can think of leaders who I respect and I followed and I've learned things from.
00:07:16
Speaker
um i could think of people within the wider industry that have impacted the way that I show up and they the the way that I present myself externally as well.
00:07:27
Speaker
And then I can think of um groups of people who I work with who come in to thrive, particularly i would say younger generations, who I've been so privileged to encounter in a way that goes against the headlines that you see in the media at the moment about and a sense of entitlement from new generations that are coming into the workforce because when we hire we do generally have a younger workforce.
00:07:59
Speaker
However, I've never experienced any type of entitlement or complacency in in the staff that we hire. So I think I'm definitely inspired by those new generations coming in.
00:08:09
Speaker
and And most recently, we've had three different work experience students that have just come to do a week or two weeks work experience with us. And each one of them has been committed. They've been curious. They've produced work in the week that they've been with us and and new ideas.
00:08:28
Speaker
And so like those people I want to call out as as the people who've inspired me recently, to they've kind of given me hope for what the future of work essentially will look like, which is very exciting to me. And I know that I'm going to be making, I suppose, massive general sweeping statements about the whole generation and...
00:08:49
Speaker
there there's definitely there's definitely some truth in elements of what you read about that complacency and entitlement but I'm fortunate enough to be in a position where I've not experienced that and it and it makes me genuinely excited about what's next for the for the workforce.
Generational Differences in the Workforce
00:09:05
Speaker
Fantastic that's ah another another another new answer and and I love it I think it does make me laugh when you see the the articles and LinkedIn and around the world going first time we've got X amount of generations in the workforce. I mean, whether it be three, four or five, we've always had multiple generations in the workforce. This is not a ah new challenge that we've had to face. And, you know, older people not really liking younger people or saying they have too easy. I mean, we've we've all been there too and being that younger generation. So, and I think the new generation coming into the workforce right now have a unique set of challenges that I wouldn't wish upon anybody.
00:09:41
Speaker
um So really interesting to see how they show up and the fact you've been inspired by them is fantastic. so Yeah, and I think as you know, you're you're right that we do have, we've we've always had multiple generations in in the workforce. I think what we've what we've never had is ah yet is a fully digital digitally literate workforce.
00:10:04
Speaker
um And so whilst the the more experienced generations that are currently still in the workforce are or have upskilled in well what tech technology technological transformation is and and how it impacts the work that they do,
00:10:22
Speaker
we're going to see so Gen Z that are coming into the workforce still, but also Gen Alpha, who will start to be coming into the workforce soon over the next five or so years, they're going to be the first AI native workforce that are coming that they're coming in. And so as um from the millennials onwards, obviously having been being the first generation, they're really fully experienced the internet in the world of work.
00:10:46
Speaker
thinking about what actually does that mean and how are we going to experience that and what it means from a work workforce or a work or an perspective because you know the technology that people have within their organisations right now is probably not quite up to speed with the expectations that people are going to have coming into the workforce right now.
00:11:05
Speaker
So yeah there's lots of change and lots of transformation that's still happening and And we just need to make sure that we're holding on to all that knowledge and experience that currently exists, but also challenging it with new ideas and new perspectives as well.
Leadership Lessons and Empathy
00:11:21
Speaker
And I could talk for days on on that topic alone and and what I've seen and what I thought everything's coming as well. so But we'll move on. um So great, great questions, number one, answers to number one even.
00:11:36
Speaker
um So, As regular listeners will know, we we flip the inspiration piece and ask you what negative experience has inspired you to do good things at work and has driven you to do others.
00:11:49
Speaker
What negative experience? Well, I have a story that I always tell um about this. um And I won't name names. And obviously, i won't i win and I'll try and be as vague as possible. So no no one them is put out.
00:12:03
Speaker
but Joe blogs. ah Yeah. um When I first entered the L&D industry, as many people do, it's by accident. And you don't really know what what what what you've entered into.
00:12:14
Speaker
and But what I did know is that the company I entered it in in into via was not the type of company that I'd want to stay in because of the person leading it. Now, i specifically remember um during ah the interview process, I was asked a question about what good leadership looks like. And I was like, brilliant. I know what this i know the answer to this. like I know what good leadership looks like.
00:12:37
Speaker
It means and being and being trusted, being accountable. being empathetic, all these kind of words that you'd associate with good leadership. And ah the person interviewing me just kept saying, no, no, it's something else, something else. And so I was just throwing out more words here and there.
00:12:56
Speaker
it got to a point where I just said, I don't know what you're looking for. And this is my perception of what good leadership looks like. And they looked at me and they said, you need to be prepared to be hated.
00:13:09
Speaker
and And whilst i look I look back and I think, you know what, you know, you can't be everyone's cup of tea. You do have to be prepared and to for some people not to like you. This was very much coming from a place of and leading through, I don't know, scare tactics, through creating toxic culture, and through micromanagement, and that the workplace and the workforce that kind of fell under that definitely had all of those feelings in it which I quickly realized after being in the role for four or five months and so so that example of what they thought good leadership looked like when immediately went so against what my personal values were and what I believed good leadership looked like that I knew
00:13:54
Speaker
I was never going to replicate that kind of thinking and that kind of and interview tactic as well. and That, you know, was almost like that. This is how this is it's my way or the highway.
00:14:07
Speaker
and I don't care if you hate me. It doesn't bother me. I'm going to lead in this way because it's what I've always done. um And yeah, it wasn't ah it wasn't a nice experience. And for me, isn't really what leadership is about either. And so they always say like that was a great example of what you shouldn't do and what leadership isn't as well.
00:14:27
Speaker
I mean, it it it is amazing if you just think hear it in cold light of day, we want to make people hate their leaders.
00:14:38
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. yeah This is the aim of the leadership is to make them hate us because they'll work harder. Yes. Yeah. And that's what that is. ah That's obviously what that is, what, what was intended. That was the definition of what they intended the message to be.
00:14:55
Speaker
and and is it is, I'm being ah generous by saying you don't have to be everyone's cup of tea. And like, but there is that perspective to what was being said, but that, that wasn't the way it was, it was said.
00:15:06
Speaker
yeah And it's, yeah, it's definitely not the way that I would ever encourage someone to conduct conduct an interview when you're hiring. either No, no. I mean, no i mean Yeah, well, I can understand why that would inspire you to do things differently or the exact opposite, in fact.
00:15:22
Speaker
And yeah, an interesting interview to have everything, or the what sounded like fantastic examples of good leadership, great leadership to be pushed back on you. You know you know what i what I would say is that like not at the time i really needed a job and I i was just desperate to to get my foot through the door. the i i kind of overlooked that. But now if I was in that same position again, I i i would know. I'd be like, no, thank you. I'm not even goingnna i'm not even going to continue this conversation.
00:15:51
Speaker
And that comes with an experience and a confidence in your own ability and and where you are in your in your career as well. So I can look back and and think about how I would have handled it differently, given the knowledge and experience I have now, too. Fantastic. Well, I want to skip to something else, but I'm going to, in fact.
00:16:10
Speaker
So we're talking leadership and you mentioned a few points there. um What do you think's the most important quality in a leader then? Oh, pinpointing one, i think is quite hard.
00:16:22
Speaker
um
00:16:24
Speaker
I think for me, probably above all else, it needs to be empathy and having ah an understanding of where people are coming from, what's shaping their decisions, what's shaping their perspectives and understanding that having and making space for it as well. um And I think you can you can lead really effectively if you come from that a place of empathy and an understanding.
00:16:54
Speaker
and But I would also say that accountability is quite high up the list for me as well. When when I saw that question listed, i was to I was tossing and turning between empathy and accountability.
00:17:05
Speaker
and I think they're they're both important, but I think empathy just tips it because it keeps you focused on the human and the individual behind the work. and And ultimately that's what we all are, right? You know, we're not we're not there just to churn out things for a business. we We're there to to move our careers forward, but but make, but forge relationships and and make progress. and And you have to do that with a certain degree of empathy, I think.
Navigating Technological Change and AI
00:17:33
Speaker
I heard a really good take on why empathy is important the other day on one of our one of our power hours. And hindsight, A divided world that we live in where, you know, it's either yes or no, for or against. It seems to be very binary, the choices that we live in but right now. um Using empathy to actually be able to have conflict and and have confrontation to resolve issues at work in in a polite, educated way.
00:18:05
Speaker
So but being able to have that empathy to understand somebody else's opinion or try to see where they're coming from. allows you to actually then have those uncomfortable conversations to then move forward as a team ah ah lot on the on the same path values, block you know alllthough all those different areas. But i thought that's a really great way of framing it for maybe a certain type of leader that might hear the word empathy and you think it's a bit fluffy, which it's not, as we know.
00:18:34
Speaker
ah Yeah, and it's it's hard to bring yourself back to the you know, the the view that someone else is approaching this from a very different set of experiences and a very different viewpoint and actually be open minded to that perspective.
00:18:50
Speaker
And it's very hard if you feel so strong willed about something, it is really hard to do that and to let yourself be challenged. and and but And vice versa, someone else might be finding it difficult to understand your perspective.
00:19:03
Speaker
But it's much easier to have a conversation when you are, even if you're not willing to change your mind overall, just to hear someone out. yeah and And keep in mind that, you know, that that they have that different set of experiences, but also the understanding that someone's not going to share everything with you.
00:19:19
Speaker
But what what they're not sharing is still probably going to be shaping what they do share. And yeah, it's just being mindful of of that, I think. So um what's the major workplace priority as we enter 2026?
00:19:37
Speaker
Oh, that's a big question. Yeah, I mean, the i mean the the obvious answer is dealing with technological change. I think for a lot of people is how how do you keep up? How do you make sure you're doing the right work? How do you ensure efficiencies?
00:19:51
Speaker
and How do you maintain productivity? um i think... and the influx of of ai is changing the way that we work and the way that we can work and reshaping roles into new new positions within businesses. And I think that's really exciting.
00:20:08
Speaker
and don't think we need to be afraid of that. I think it can really help us to think about, well, actually, how can my role utilise and leverage new technology to and allow me to focus on the harder stuff that actually needs more, needs more time. So I think there's ah those kind of conversations as well. But given there's a lot of and budget cuts, resourcing cuts across a whole range of sectors at the moment, as a probably as a result of the new technological changes that are that are happening,
00:20:41
Speaker
It's how do we how do we manage that, I suppose, and how do we do more with less for those teams that are affected? And I know a lot of ah lot of sectors, particularly kind of retail and hospitality, are facing massive disruption and change at the moment. So think it's thinking about what I suppose from a from a tech perspective if we're thinking from Thrive how do you streamline the technology you already have within a business to to um to utilize maybe one tool more effectively than you have been in the past or um consolidate technology that you have across the business to make it more effective in the long run potentially more scalable for audiences as well so
00:21:23
Speaker
And yeah, for me, it's it's all about that kind of digital transformation, transformation I suppose, and adapting to to artificial intelligence and and and then keeping the human at the core of
Adapting to Continuous Change Cycles
00:21:34
Speaker
that. So how do we maintain relationships, build connection, increase collaboration and in order to feed into that productivity piece that just mentioned as well?
00:21:44
Speaker
If I may ask a follow-up, because it's... and
00:21:52
Speaker
We talk about change and change seems to be almost constant change now. We're living in almost like a daily change cycle. um Started with COVID and hasn't really slowed down and now with the AI really pushing forward into our daily personal work lives.
00:22:13
Speaker
If you're listening to this and you are trying to work out how to implement and streamline that technology, which we have
00:22:22
Speaker
What's a realistic timeframe? Because every day there's something else you could do or read. So it's just trying to work out how to do it in an effective way.
00:22:34
Speaker
um i I feel like that's something that I know I struggle with and ah and others do too. Yeah, what what a question, I suppose. And I suppose it depends whether you're looking at that from ah an individual perspective as to the tools you use as an individual, or if you're looking at it from an organisational perspective in terms of the tools and tech you have across a business.
00:22:55
Speaker
and And if you're consolidating technology, whilst consolidating it could be fairly fast because depending on where you are in ah in ah in a contract cycle, you might be able to and to so to switch one thing off and switch to another thing, doing a bit of a ramp up time for internal and visibility.
00:23:16
Speaker
and You've got to manage that change to your point that actually you need to let people know what's coming, need to let people know what's changing. what's changing and And that's the part that I'm feeling is quite tricky for people at the moment because it's almost you're not really kind of fully fully going through the change curve because by the time you've kind of gone through one change, the next change is already there. yeah So you never get into that point of acceptance of like, oh, that's happened and now I'm moving on and because this's because there's so many different new things happening. So I think
00:23:48
Speaker
is that there's a as an individual, keeping that open mind and experimenting with things, but knowing what works for you in your role and being quite realistic about what it is that you're contributing towards, whether that's a team perspective or or depending on your role, feeding into the to a broader business perspective,
00:24:08
Speaker
And then if you're thinking about what tech, if you're in a position where you're thinking about the tech that you have across an organisation, which would obviously include multiple conversations with multiple stakeholders, what is the business trying to achieve and what goals are you looking to and to achieve in the in the coming months and year or even longer term than that?
00:24:27
Speaker
and and And how does that technology, how is that technology going to enable you to do that? and And if you can't answer that question, I'd be wondering what what use of technology is, to you ultimately.
00:24:39
Speaker
and in terms of timescales, I'm not sure I can put a figure on that, but I think it's it it would depend on what it is that you're you're using um and what that broader how embedded the technology is, where there are opportunities to utilise certain technologies in different ways, so expanding the use case of the tech that you already have.
00:24:58
Speaker
and and bringing that tech stack together. and and we're We're definitely seeing that happen a lot, Thrive. And and and we're in in fact, we're encouraging it, obviously, from a Thrive perspective to bring comms, for example, into Thrive as a learning platform, because it's really ah it's really effective at doing that. So you can get rid of your comms tool and bring it into into ah Thrive, ultimately saving money and in the long run.
00:25:25
Speaker
Really good advice in that, especially around the business case. yeah what How is this going to impact the business? I think a lot of people skip past that. I think they're thinking smaller rather than the actual over but overall business case and impact that's going to make. and And maybe there is no it's not being done any quicker than it ever has been done. You just still have to go through and make sure it's, even if you run the risk of,
00:25:49
Speaker
the technology changing in that process. You just have to do what makes the best sense for the business at that at that moment in time. Yeah, I do. I do also think we're seeing a lot of people and being a little bit more cautious about rollouts, which is sensible to to say, actually, maybe we'll pilot this with certain areas of the business and then and then see how it goes. And then based on the success and the impact that's seen, then rolling it out, which is a considered approach and um enables you to to track that impact.
00:26:22
Speaker
and And whether that's rolling out to certain markets or certain functions, and that's ah that's a way to but to test the water, but also to start thinking about how you scale it longer term and as well. So that, yes, you can consolidate things and move quickly if you need to, but you can also take the choice to be considered in your approach to it as well, just because everything feels really fast.
Mentorship and Transparency in Leadership
00:26:49
Speaker
doesn't mean you need to be really fast. You can still kind of take your foot off the pedal and go, hang on a minute, longer term, what is this feeding into and how are we going to do all this? And and what does it mean? what's the What's the impact ultimately?
00:27:03
Speaker
Fantastic advice. So it just leads me to the best advice you were ever given. um And if you want to, give credit to that person. I will definitely give credit to this person. I call him out all the time. And um I so I for anyone who knows me and will know that I i stayed on at uni for a number of years, I did a BA and MA and then into a PhD, although I didn't finish my PhD. And I had a supervisor that I ah kind of and was taught by through my BA and MA and then was my supervisor for my PhD research as well called Dr Mark Rawlinson, who works for the University of Nottingham.
00:27:42
Speaker
and i I don't even know whether he will remember doing this, but in one of the lecturers he gave, lectures he gave, and he stood at the front and said, the best thing you can do when you're lecturing, because we were some of us were about to start lecturing and delivering seminars, is if someone asks you a question and you don't know the answer to it, don't try and bullshit your way through. Just say I don't know.
00:28:07
Speaker
And its like it sounds so simple now. You hear people do it all the time saying, don't know, but I'll get back to you on that. Like it is it is just a thing that people do. But at the time, it just completely shifted. Because I would definitely have tried to like be like, oh, well, um but this is like, and just like but it just doesn't sound convincing.
00:28:22
Speaker
yeah so like He gave me the like the literal words to say, actually you know what? I don't know. And that's okay. And like what I would caveat that with is ah if you say I don't know too many times and it doesn't doesn't really look great.
00:28:37
Speaker
and ah And yeah, but that that piece of advice has has stuck with me. And I think it's more the like don't bullshit your way through something. that sticks with me and I maintain that sense of kind of honesty in how I communicate this day that I don't I don't I'm I really struggle with bending the truth and and not being clear and transparent with people and that's really what he was saying there as well so yeah full credit to to Mark and I'll message him after this and yeah
00:29:11
Speaker
called you out again. Well, that's how I heard it. I don't know. I just heard honest honesty is the best approach, isn't it?
Productivity Techniques and Creative Insights
00:29:17
Speaker
yeah like I don't know. and i i think it I think people will find it refreshing, to be honest with you, because we all we we all, as we talked about earlier, we're all human and there are many times all of us just have not got a clue when the questions are. So just saying I don't know is fantastic and great advice. and And another first.
00:29:38
Speaker
um Amazing. We haven't had that come up on on the advice. and That is my favourite question. so um Right, so let's do couple more and then get to the quickfire questions. I have to ask for somebody who's set up an amazingly award-winning network on top of their day job.
00:29:58
Speaker
what is your go What's your go-to productivity trick? um They have to know that. um Well, I probably approach this in ah in a couple of ways. and If i need to think creatively about something and produce something creative, I'll go for a run or do something that isn't work to unlock that creative thinking in my mind.
00:30:22
Speaker
and if i likewise, if I'm stuck on a problem, I'll just step away, go and do something else completely unrelated to work, come back and be like, oh, this is how I do it. um And this is how I approach it And it's something just will unlock in that in that moment of stepping away and letting your brain kind of mull it over in the background.
00:30:41
Speaker
mean, we all hear that kind of and that approach to learning of like your best ideas come to you when you're in the shower or then stuff like that is true it's because your brain's not fully focused on it and intensely trying of figure it out but it is muddling away and in the background but then the other side of that is i'm going to answer with and AI and how you utilize the tools that you have um around you. So I write a lot for, and we have ah a LinkedIn newsletter called Insights from a Thrive Perspective. I also have my own and LinkedIn newsletter that I write as well. And I've created a and ah chat bot on ChatGPT based on all of my previous, not all of it, but most of my previous writing and research.
00:31:22
Speaker
So I can actually utilize that as a writing aid and a writing tool to produce work more quickly. So I can produce things much faster. m but still maintaining my tone of voice and the way that I would approach writing. And I still kind of, met let's say like 80% my,
00:31:37
Speaker
um produced by AI, AI based on me though. And then, and then 20% like editing over the top of, of what that message is. And and i definitely would encourage people to, if they're creating writing or or reflection in that way to to do the same, because it's based on what you've already written is based on you. It's based on your words and your perspective and and just adding that extra element on top. So yeah, a couple of things there.
00:32:06
Speaker
Love them. I'm going to, I look into both of them. I think AI is fantastic from my perspective of getting rid of that blank piece of paper.
00:32:17
Speaker
yeah It can give you a start um and that's sometimes all you need and then and then you're away. For me, I hate the blank piece of paper. so um I find that super useful just to get me going and then then then you've then I'm away. away and oh i love the stepping away and best ideas are in the shower. so And I think I've mentioned this on the podcast before, but you know comics are always, stand-up comedians have always had a notepad by the side of their bed or in their pocket because
00:32:49
Speaker
you don't An idea will come to you when you're just walking around or in bed or in the shower. So um it's unlocking that creativity is a great way. I think something we all of us quite often forget.
Personal Inspirations and Tastes
00:33:01
Speaker
ah charge You know what? I went to a... I can't remember where. It was somewhere in London. Went to a um stand-up comedy night where... I can't remember which comedian it was.
00:33:12
Speaker
um quite Quite a famous comedian, but his name is escaping me. But he it was basically a night where he was testing material ready for a bigger show. And he had his notebook there and he was literally going through like, oh, I'm going to try this joke. And he'd try it and so like it would be hilarious. everyone would laugh and he'd be like, right, OK, great, that one's going to work. And then he'd do one in and it didn't go really really go down very well. And he'd be like, OK, cross that one out.
00:33:34
Speaker
And that's exactly what he'd had, like a notebook by his bed and been scribbling down ideas. and then be like okay that might work that might not work let's test it with different audiences and that was really interesting to see that thought process and and how it went down when he had that idea of something that would be funny in his mind and then the crowd were like oh not sure about that not so much yeah um i i've only ever done that once um i said ricky gervais for 10 pounds um he was testing his material in london yeah yeah he went he just like that had cards and he went
00:34:05
Speaker
jane what Jane said don't try this one. He's partner. yeah And he did it, obviously, and I i think Jane was correct. So i don't think that made the Netflix special, but there we go.
00:34:18
Speaker
So um absolutely fantastic fantastic advice being and um passed on ah on this podcast. But let's go to some of the quickfire questions that we usually ask. um Early bird or night owl?
00:34:34
Speaker
I'm definitely an early bird. No question. um I know it's an incredibly hard question to answer. So favourite album, um so like something that you just can always listen to. It doesn't have to be the best music ever created.
00:34:50
Speaker
And if you need a song to you know fire you up, whether it be for a run or being creative, what what song do you put on? i An album that I will play on repeat is Taylor Swift's version of her 1969 album. can definitely go back to that every single time, which is funny because it's not it's not always my go-to genre of music. I just think Taylor Swift's brilliant. Her new album is on repeat at the moment, to be fair, though.
00:35:18
Speaker
um And then in terms of a song to kind of fire me up, I'm listening very specifically to a song called, I get a song in my mind and then i'll I'll repeat it and repeat it and repeat it until I don't want to listen to it anymore.
00:35:30
Speaker
um And it' this it's you but probably won't have heard of it. It's a terrible, terrible song. I will caveat that. It's called Thunder by, it's a few different people. that the One of them, the name is Lumix.
00:35:42
Speaker
and It's almost got like a happy hardcore techno beat to it. The lyrics are terrible. Like nothing about it on paper is good, but I love i just love running to it. I just think it's a great like power power you up song. So going anyone a happy happily go and check it out and tell me how much you agree with me about how terrible it is, but how catchy it is at the same time. Thunder by Lumix.
00:36:07
Speaker
All right, I'm um'm doing that as soon as we stop talking. um sounds fantastic um and that will go on the playlist as well the spotify playlist oh god what have i done there forever now um favorite film and again this is just something you could just put on and watch and and enjoy doesn't have to be the best thing ever made absolutely true romance which is yeah a film that um quite A few people have heard of, but not many people have. But it has everything. It has the romance. It has the thrill. It has the the drama. It has the violence.
00:36:45
Speaker
I guess it's like the sex, drugs and rock and roll. like it is It just has everything. And the funny. I think it's funny. Yeah, true. yeah It's funny as well. yeah Great. feel it's great... like ah i just feel like it's a great and I don't know, you just get so invested in the characters and the story. um Great direction, and great vision. Yeah, the story's brilliant. So yeah, true romance.
00:37:08
Speaker
Absolutely amazing film.
00:37:13
Speaker
So let's end with best place in the world you've ever been to. Oh, wow. um I missed that one on the questions and I've not geared up any type of answer for Or you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?
00:37:27
Speaker
Either or. Or both. they were but the Like anywhere that's got mountains and a lake. So the most breathtaking view I've seen is at the top of mountains in Meribel when and I went skiing. with I've never been skiing before and thrived at a ski trip.
00:37:44
Speaker
And I just couldn't. Everyone was like, OK, Helen, enough now. Because I was standing on top of the mountains going... this is incredible like it it was breathtaking and I was like all right come
Recommendations and Closing Remarks
00:37:54
Speaker
on ski and I was like it just can't it's just too nice um so anywhere there's there's mountains um and but also a lake to swim in as well like when once you want to get down to the bottom of a mountain um so yeah went to an incredible lake in Italy recently which was which was beautiful um and uh yeah anywhere outside mountainous nature lakes swimming that kind of stuff
00:38:18
Speaker
Sounds fantastic. um Big, big mountains and lakes person as well. If if you like your running and you like your mountains, I'd look up the UTMB. They do crazy runs.
00:38:31
Speaker
um' not quite that I'm not quite at that level, but one of one of them my colleagues in Thrive actually did and did do UTMB. Absolutely incredible. um I don't think I will ever do any type of um long endurance running like that I can't I just can't imagine me ever being able to do it but um hats off to anyone who does well there's um there's the crazy crazy and then there's they come back and die back and out I did one last year for the first time ever and so if can do it anybody can do it um and and like and you would do find yourself walking and go wow and then try to caption catch some catch a breath as well but it
00:39:07
Speaker
Amazing combination for the people who love mountains and maybe a bit of exercise as well. so Amazing. um And then if you had anybody just recommend for the podcast, who do you think would be great on here?
00:39:21
Speaker
um Yeah, so um I think I'd like to recommend and a lady called Monique Carial who um is an ex-director the NHS but also runs ah Bravery in the boardroom now talking about um basically uh minority groups who and can have a voice in the boardroom and how you can be your best self and be brave in that in that situation um and she's incredibly inspiring incredibly intelligent hugely experienced and just a great person to to hear from from all of her different lessons learned the things that she's got right the things that she's got wrong um yeah i definitely definitely recommend monique
00:40:03
Speaker
Thank you so much. And thank you for being a guest um and having such amazing answers to the questions. um Is there anything you'd like to add before we sign off for another episode of the Inspire Club?
00:40:17
Speaker
No, thank you so much for for having me. it's um It's always great to chat. And if anyone wants to reach out and continue the conversation, obviously more than happy for you for people to connect with me on LinkedIn if you just search for Helen Marshall.
00:40:30
Speaker
Brilliant. Well, thank you so much, Helen. Thank you for everybody that's listening and we'll be back again next week. Take care.