The Opposite of Small Talk

The anticipation of turning the page of the calendar to a new year can also open our minds up to what our future, in this case 2025, can hold.  Today’s guest, a professional futurist, encourages us to imagine our futures and not just for ourselves, but also for our communities. Ilana Lipsett, is a participatory futures design strategist, who has professionally worked with cities, real estate developers, international aid organizations, and creative communities around the globe in community engagement and development.  Our conversation with Ilana included how to make imaging the future feel less abstract and more tangible, strategies we can incorporate in future building, and how looking towards possible futures can help with the stress and anxiety felt in the present.  For additional resources for this episode, please visit: 1 - Imaginable (lots of great techniques for futures thinking at a personal as well as collective level) 2 - Community as the difference between life and death 3 - Basics of nervous system regulation and futures thinking Guest’s Website:  Ilana Lipsett | Participatory & Regenerative Design | Futures Thinking TALK BIG QUESTIONS Use these prompts to have the opposite of small talk in real life. Were you aware of a futurist and what that entails prior to this episode?  Have you struggled in the past to envision a 5-year or 10-year future plan for yourself?   Following this episode do you think you’re more open to imaging potential futures?  If so, what are some of the possibilities you come up with? Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.  Work with Kristy: You can work with Kristy one-on-one or hire her to speak with your team to improve workplace communication. Visit Kristy’s website at www.kristyolinger.com  and find her work journal at Work Journal — Kristy Olinger.  

In the latest installment of Coaches Corner, guest coach Todd Karges, a Certified Executive and Leadership Development Coach and host of the LinkedIn Live Broadcast "Coaching Conversation,” sits down with Danielle for a discussion on the topic of soft skills – what they are, why they’re important, and how best to utilize them.  Guest’s Website:  Home | Todd Karges - Coach Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.   

At this time of year when we are celebrating the holidays with much socializing and networking, this week’s guests would likely suggest that, amongst the merriment, we should also be prioritizing self promotion and peer promotion. Alison Fragale, PhD, scholar, author, research psychologist, and award winning professor sits down to discuss how you can demonstrate warmth and competence to become a likeable badass and get the success you deserve.   Alison shares her own journey from management consultant to professor in Organizational Psychology, focusing on helping women navigate career challenges; shares how through her professional experience and research for her book, “Likeable Badass,” she’s found that status is an important component of personal and professional success; and how through strategic and authentic behavior success is within our reach. Guest’s Website:  Alison Fragale | Professor | Keynote Speaker | Negotiation & Power Expert Book:  Amazon.com: Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve: 9780385549141: Fragale PhD, Alison: Books   TALK BIG QUESTIONS Use these prompts to have the opposite of small talk in real life. What are your thoughts in regards to self promotion in a networking setting?  What about the promotion of others?  What strategies might you practice in order to succeed personally or professionally? Is there someone in your life who you think is a model of “status” and strategizing their own success?  How do they carry themselves in a social setting? Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.  Work with Kristy: You can work with Kristy one-on-one or hire her to speak with your team to improve workplace communication. Visit Kristy’s website at www.kristyolinger.com  and find her work journal at Work Journal — Kristy Olinger.  

Do you ever feel like you're a spectator in your own life – watching things happen rather than getting in the driver’s seat and making them happen?  If so, today’s guest is encouraging you to become the latter.  Cathy Heller, renowned teacher, podcaster, and author discusses with us how her belief in how each of us has the power to manifest our best life, magical examples she’s experienced first hand, and excerpts from her latest book,  “Abundant Ever After: Tools for Creating a Life of Prosperity and Ease,” available now for pre-order and released on December 3, 2024. Guest’s Website:  Home - Cathy Heller Book:  Abundant Ever After by Cathy Heller - the book TALK BIG QUESTIONS Use these prompts to have the opposite of small talk in real life. Have you practiced manifestation in the past?  Or do you find yourself skeptical, but curious? Are you someone who relates more to the magic involved in good happening or the practicality of how it works? Are there things or events in your life that you believe you manifested into existence in the past? Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.  Work with Kristy: You can work with Kristy one-on-one or hire her to speak with your team to improve workplace communication. Visit Kristy’s website at www.kristyolinger.com  and find her work journal at Work Journal — Kristy Olinger.  

In the second installment of, The Opposite of Small Talk’s Coaches Corner, a new monthly mini segment, which explores topics through a coach’s lens, centers around the topic of group coaching. This week’s guest coach, Kerry Dobson, a respected group coaching expert sits down with Danielle for the discussion.  Guest’s Website:  JJ Dak Inc. Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.   

Contrary to the opening of the 1968 song by Harry Nilson, one is NOT the loneliest number, especially for those who are thriving in single life, like today’s guest, Bella DePaulo, PhD, social scientist, psychologist, researcher, and author of “Single at Heart.” She suggests that for her and many others, single is arguably the most authentic and fulfilling way to live.  We speak to Dr. DePaulo about her own experiences, thoughts and take-aways from her book, as well as the affirming encouragement she offers to those who are happily single. Guest’s Website:  Home - Bella DePaulo TALK BIG QUESTIONS Use these prompts to have the opposite of small talk in real life. Are you or someone you know single at heart?   Have you ever done activities such as a concert or dinner solo?  What was your experience?  If not, would you be more apt to try it now? What are some misconceptions you or someone close to you has had about single life?  Have your perspective or views on being single changed following this episode?  Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.  Work with Kristy: You can work with Kristy one-on-one or hire her to speak with your team to improve workplace communication. Visit Kristy’s website at www.kristyolinger.com  and find her work journal at Work Journal — Kristy Olinger.  

In this #askmeanything episode, Kristy answers YOUR questions received in Instagram DMs and from participants of her team training program Communication Accelerator. Today's episode covers: How to motivate others How to handle a co-worker who is too assertive when you are not assertive Improving accountability Speaking to deliver an idea fully, without overwhelming the other person with too much information   For more workplace communication tips, follow Kristy on Instagram @ko.communication    

Do you find that the work you do gives you a sense of purpose or that your contributions as an employee are important to a cause bigger than yourself?  This week’s guest, Moe Carrick, author, podcast host, and CEO of the workplace culture consultancy, Momentum, Inc. views work as a human need.  Moe brings her wealth of knowledge, and decades of experience in the study of workplace culture to our spirited discussion on the topic of Why Work Matters.   Guest’s Website:  JMoementum, Inc. | Making organizations fit for human life.   TALK BIG QUESTIONS Use these prompts to have the opposite of small talk in real life. What are your conditions to thrive in a workplace?  Are they being met at your current job, why or why not? Have you had to have a courageous conversation at work about your needs or the needs of a colleague as an employee or employer?  If so, how did your employer react? Do you believe in the work that you do?  Or do you see work as a means to an end?   Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.  Work with Kristy: You can work with Kristy one-on-one or hire her to speak with your team to improve workplace communication. Visit Kristy’s website at www.kristyolinger.com  and find her work journal at Work Journal — Kristy Olinger.

In this episode of The Opposite of Small Talk, Danielle introduces Coaches Corner's, a new monthly segment, which explores topics through a coaches lense.  The inaugural guest is Julie Hess, author, executive coach, coaching supervisor and educator. Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.  Guest’s Website:  Catalyst Consulting – Catalyst Consulting & Coaching (catalystresults.com)

The Opposite of Small Talk Live (October 19th!):  Live Podcast Event — The Opposite of Small Talk Podcast We have reached peak election season in the United States and many of us are feeling the burnout from political discussions (arguments) and want to be able to genuinely connect with people, even those we disagree with. If you are feeling the election fatigue and struggling with what feels like a very divided world, this episode is for you. Today’s guest, Justin Jones-Fosu, author, highly sought-after business speaker, social entrepreneur, and meaningful work researcher provides us with some truly thought provoking, uplifting, useful advice on the topic of How to Respectfully Disagree in a Divided World.    Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.  Work with Kristy: You can work with Kristy one-on-one or hire her to speak with your team to improve workplace communication. Visit Kristy’s website at www.kristyolinger.com  and find her work journal at Work Journal — Kristy Olinger. Guest’s Book:  Justin Jones-Fosu: I Respectfully Disagree (howtorespectfullydisagree.com)   TALK BIG QUESTIONS Use these prompts to have the opposite of small talk in real life. Have you chosen to take the exit on someone in the past because of your differences?  How would you or will you do things differently now with that person? After this episode, is there someone you would like to delve into the gray with? Is there a person or persons in your life who you have been able to have a respectful disagreement with?