Episode Transcript
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Dr_Andrew_Greenland (00:00):
Hi everyone
and welcome back to Voices in
Health and Wellness.
This is the show where we diveinto the real world challenges,
shifts, and stories shaping thefuture of health and wellness
industries.
I'm your host, Dr.
Andrew Greenland, and today'sguest is someone who works who
bridges psychology, businessleadership, and human
performance.
Ruth Cooper Dixon.
She's the founder of RuthCooper Dixon Limited and a
champion for integrating mentalwell-being into professional
(00:23):
culture.
Ruth is also an award-winningpositive psychology practitioner
and speaker who's worked withorganizations across the globe
to rethink how well-beingstrategies are built and
crucially communicated.
So, Ruth, welcome and thank youvery much for agreeing to join
us this afternoon.
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (00:37):
Thank you
so much for having me.
I love that intro.
Can you just follow me aroundat different cars?
Hey you go, this is me.
I love that.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (00:47):
No, you're
welcome, you're welcome.
So um, for those new to yourwork, could you give us a little
snapshot of what you do and whoyou serve through Ruth Cooper
Dix Unlimited?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (00:55):
Yes,
there's predominantly there's
two clients that I have.
One is um business to business.
So um I I grew actually a verysuccessful large consultancy and
actually changed that, and I'llperhaps share a little bit
about that, but I rebranded uhunder my own name um at the end
of 2023 for the launch of thethe new year of 24.
(01:18):
So that work tends to bepredominantly global corporates,
organisations.
Um, I'm based in the UK, inEssex.
I tend to work a lot in personin London, but as we know with
the COVID pandemic and the waythat work is now, it actually
opened it up where I work a lotwith organisations and their
(01:39):
teams across, you know, acrossthe globe and do a lot of global
work, so working in differenttime zones as well.
Um, and that's everythingaround the well-being strategy
of an organization.
So, right from that leadershipboard piece, whether that's
training, coaching, um, youknow, outlining the the
well-being strategy right downto mental health first date
(02:01):
training, so the whole spectrumreally.
Um, and and that has changedand it has evolved.
It'll be 10 years in uh nextweek, October the 3rd.
I've had the business, and it'sas we know, it's this space has
definitely evolved.
Um and my other client is thebusiness to consumer, and that's
starting to grow a little bitmore now because I spent a lot
(02:22):
of time working predominantlywith corporates, albeit you
know, sometimes those peoplewere one-to-one, you know,
coaching clients.
But um, I'm doing a lot more inthe grief space, one-to-one.
Um, so and also where peoplehave come across me perhaps on a
talk or a webinar that theirorganization that you know might
have brought me in for WorldMental Health Day, and they
(02:43):
really like me and how I myapproach and what I'm talking
about, and they kind of want tobe able to work with me, you
know, on off their own sort ofback.
So that's starting to reallydevelop, I feel like this year,
particularly.
And I suppose it's I've hadmore time because I'm not
running a you know a team orquite you know, a large, a
large, a larger, smallerbusiness, if that makes sense.
(03:05):
But yeah.
Dr_Andrew_Greenlan (03:07):
Interesting.
And what what inspired you tobring psychology into the
workplace and leadershipdevelopment?
What's the kind of driver forthis?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (03:14):
So I
started my career at 19 at
working at Rolls-RoyceAerospace, which is where I'm
from in Derbyshire, and I endedup working in business and
change programs and not knowinganything really then about
psychology or organizationalchange, but I I kind of saw the
(03:35):
impact of what change had onorganisations.
And back then, change, youknow, in the late 90s was this
kind of glamorous, cool thingthat happened, you know, it was
all planned out, and not like wethink of it now as change
happening all the time andfrequently.
So um I learned lots actuallyvery early on in my career,
without even probably taking onboard knowing the depth of it of
(03:58):
kind of how people responded tochange at work and emotions and
behaviour.
And um, I learned from that,and and so stayed in business.
I actually then became uh atrained project manager, and I
actually ended up spending a lotof time working in London um in
finance, in investment bankingand wealth management again as a
HR project manager, I suppose,because the you know, most of
(04:21):
the time, again back in theearly NOTAs, mid-Nortas, it was
more project managers wereeither product-facing or they
were IT, they weren't peopleproject managers.
Again, that was a fairly newthing.
So I was working a lot with uhonboarding employee, you know,
setting up those programs,working on leadership programs,
(04:42):
um, seeing the whole employeelifecycle.
And so that I suppose lookingback, there was always a I
always describe it as there wasa thread of people to everything
I did, although I wasn't HR, Iwasn't well-being.
Um and and so that kind ofevolved.
And then I'm when diversity andinclusion became um sort of
very high on the agenda, I endedup working in a consultancy and
(05:05):
I started working on designingprograms when unconscious bias
training became a bit more of ahot topic and inclusive
leadership, inclusiverecruitment, because I'd spent a
lot of time understanding thatin organizations.
But I was always reallyfascinated because um for me,
mental health and well-being wasmental health particularly was
(05:26):
only ever considered under sortof disability and um from the
Equality Act.
And I was very much a you knowsomebody who really um was
passionate about wellness.
I'm you know, I'm a runner,I've always done a lot of
fitness, I've always tried tolook after myself.
That's always been somethingthat's been part of me.
But I felt like well-being wassomething that was around us and
(05:49):
it changed as we changed and wegrow older, and life changes
and um different things come andimpact on us.
And it was my own livedexperience.
So 2015, um, I went through aseries of personal life changes.
So a divorce, relationshipbreakdown.
I kind of threw myself into myjob to kind of distract from
(06:10):
what was happening at home,which we, you know, lots of us
can do as a coping strategy,which again worked for a period
of time, performance wasmassively high, and then of
course, moving into that strainzone pretty much hit crisis.
And I'd always had panicattacks.
I'd had them since I startedwork at 19, but I didn't tell
anybody about them.
(06:31):
I mean, even my mum was a nurseand she wasn't a mental health
nurse, so you know she says,well, maybe it's your blood
pressure or something.
So we we I just never reallyspoke.
I was too ashamed, I couldn'treally understand why because it
was so physical.
It was sweating and going red,and um, it was something that I
just kind of had all these veryelaborate um avoidance
(06:54):
mechanisms and coping strategiesto deal with, and and it often
manifested a lot, it was more inthe workplace, but I had a very
sort of severe panic attack atwork um in that summer of 2015
and was signed off work, andthat's when I was kind of very
fortunate, rushed into therapy,and that's when also when I was
(07:16):
diagnosed with panic disorderand generalized anxiety disorder
at the time, which was thenthis whole light bulb moment.
But I also couldn't figure outwhen I came back into work why
no one wanted to talk about it,and I I got you know, now that
it was very traumatic, ithappened in a small office, and
you know, the glass, the glasswalls and everything.
(07:37):
Um, and I I think I it I kindof likened it to if you'd been
off with a physical healthcondition or if you'd been
diagnosed with a physical healthcondition, like no one really
wanted to bring it up.
And I suppose back then it wassomething, and still is now in
lots of places that stigmathat's attached to whether I say
anything, don't I say anything.
So I chose I chose to be veryopen.
(07:58):
And what I found was the morethat I spoke about my
experience, the more peoplewent, oh, me too, or or
something similar, or my sister,or I had a boss once, and it'd
start all these conversations.
So I couldn't figure out why weweren't talking about it more
at work, and so I decided toleave.
And I don't I actually don'treally know it wasn't like I
(08:22):
went, oh, I'm gonna start abusiness on this, it was just
I'm gonna leave and bang thedrum about this at you know, in
organizations.
And I had a very good citynetwork in London, so and I had
a lot of EDI uh equality,diversity and inclusion um
network from from work as well.
Um and yeah, I think it the itwas the very early adopters that
(08:44):
kind of were sort of like,yeah, this is something we want
to get on board with, and mentalhealth first aid training
hadn't long been in the UK aswell, in England.
So that was kind of evolving asa product.
Um, and some of you know, someforward-thinking corporates were
really looking at that.
Um, so I trained in that andalso decided to go and do my MSE
(09:06):
and apply positive psychologyand coaching psychology.
Um, because I just that reallyresonated with me as a as a
psychology discipline.
Um I liked the fact it talkedabout becoming well and looking
after yourself, preventative,but it also, as positive
psychology has evolved over thelast couple of decades, it looks
(09:27):
more at resilience and deathand grief and you know, all the
difficult parts of life as well.
And um, yeah, I just wanted, Iguess, the academic
underpinning, because I'vealways believed in when you're
talking about these things.
Yes, lived experience is veryimportant, and it's great for a
talk on a certain topic, but forme it was about being informed
(09:48):
and yeah, I suppose taking mycareer in a different direction
kind of almost at that point,you know, mid was coming into
sort of midlife.
Um, so yeah, that's a very longexplanation.
No, thank you.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (10:00):
It's just
really fascinating to hear the
backstory and how it's led youto do what you do today.
I mean, can you just still downwhat with all that you do at
the moment, what was your coremission and and how has it kind
of evolved over time?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (10:14):
So I always
say my core mission is helping
people put themselves backtogether when I sort of usually
say say a swear word, wheneverything falls apart.
And you know, and I believethat is true for organizations
as well, you know, wheneverything falls apart.
I think I've seen that happen,you know, over COVID, and then
(10:35):
subsequently trying tounderstand the future of work
and our workplaces are sofragmented and what's happening
in the world as well, and theimpact that has.
So I you know it kind of workswith organizations and with with
individuals, and also whereindividuals feel like
everything's, you know, how tosort of support people to
(10:55):
rebuild themselves.
And I think that's probablygotten much clearer, I think,
for me now, whereas before inthe past, I definitely had that.
But as the as my consultancygrew and the demand was there
for more training, and I had abigger team, and then I brought
people on board, and I hadpeople that delivered training
for me, it became much moreabout helping organizations to
(11:20):
sort of ingrain that culture ofpositive mental wealth, as I
call it.
Um, so that's that stillexists, but I think because I
spend a lot of time working withorganizations now who are
really going through a lot ofchange continually, and how do
they support their employeesthrough that and also but
rebuild for what's next, Ithink.
Dr_Andrew_Greenlan (11:44):
Fascinating.
Um what about marketing all ofthis?
I mean, I don't know how umsort of your potential
customers' clients see this atthe outset.
But how do you go aboutmarketing this and kind of
getting your message over andthe importance of all of this?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (11:59):
It's so
interesting that you asked that
question because I I've alwaysI've had over at different
points in in my business, andI've just actually taken back on
board my original marketingfreelance who was with me for
quite a number of years, but Ithink the work that I've done
really speaks for itself, and soI've ended up, for example, in
(12:20):
certain industries like the law,the legal profession,
insurance, where people havereferred me, or then I've worked
with an organ, and I what Ireally love is the fact that a
lot of my clients I've beenworking with now five, six,
seven, eight years and been apart of their well-being
(12:41):
strategy and journey as anorganization.
Um, and so that's continuallyto evolve, and then where people
have moved elsewhere, you know,and they've taken a different
job, and then they've gone, oh,we we need I need to bring you
in because I like the way thatyou work.
And but I think it's I thinkwhat's interesting, and I was
talking to a client about thisthis morning, is that there is,
(13:04):
I think this the space haschanged quite a bit where um I
don't get as much sort of ad hocrequests for talks and
webinars.
And I'm wondering, you know, Ithink the clients that I tend to
work with are very strategicand that you know, then they're
not oh, it's World Mental HealthDay, let's just run a talk and
(13:25):
that's it for the rest of theyear.
I think there was a period ofthat where organizations felt
that that's how they didwell-being.
And and of course, like if I'mgoing to do a talk, I'll make it
as impactful, I give handouts,and you know, I'm not
necessarily always always goingto turn work down.
But I think personally as well,in the last 18 months, since I,
(13:46):
you know, there's only so muchtime I have available.
I probably work more on thatdeeper level uh with an
organization, which for me Ilike to see the real value of
that.
That's really I find that quiteyou know really rewarding when
I'm in a client next week andthey were one of my original
(14:07):
organisations that I trainedback in 2016, you know, with
their first mental health, firstdata care whore.
They've now got a huge globalwell-being uh committee that
that spans all levels from youknow right up to partner level,
and you know, they're alltrained and they're doing these
amazing things.
So I've I've been part of that,which is I you know, I just
(14:28):
think is really great.
So I feel like you have adeeper impact.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (14:34):
Amazing.
Are there any um specifictrends or pressures that you
think have pushed leaders andorganizations to take this stuff
more seriously?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (14:42):
Yeah, I
think what happened with COVID
was really interesting becausethe all, you know, there was
that pause as we headed into thefirst lockdown in March, and
then all the organization again,testament to the types of
businesses I work with, theywere all like, right, what do we
need to do?
Let's get this all, you know,what can we do to support our
people?
And that went obviously on fora number of years.
(15:04):
Um, so I think thoseorganizations have kind of
carried on that, and despitewhat has come out, particularly
in the US recently, with thechange in president and
everything with regards toequality, diversity, inclusion,
particularly because oftenmental health and well-being can
(15:25):
often sit into that space.
But again, um, I feel like uhthe organizations I work with,
where they've perhapsre-strategised around that, that
still hasn't been less of apriority.
And I think organizations arerealizing I think the the world
in what's happening even on aglobal stage, and not only that,
(15:48):
but what's also happening inhere in in England, in the UK,
people are struggling enoughalready, and then combined with
the pressures of work, itdoesn't leave a lot of capacity
for people at all.
If if you know most people arereacting, most people are, you
know, lots of people are I don'tknow to use always use a phrase
(16:09):
burnt out, but the people, youknow, people aren't necessarily
looking after themselves in thebest way, and but there's a lot
of pressure, pressure comes onall from all different sides.
So yeah, I think it's I thinkit's a really tough.
I say I I do a lot of peoplemanager training, and I kind of
start off with like you know,it's a really hard job, and I
don't have a magic answerbecause it is.
(16:31):
I mean, I I think it'd bereally difficult to be a feeble
manager right now.
There's a lot, there's a lothappening to support everybody
individually, it's a lot.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (16:42):
I mean,
presumably the the
forward-thinking companies cansee this as a return on
investment, because of you know,productivity, less time off
sick, um, better employeesatisfaction, less turnover,
that kind of stuff.
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (16:53):
Yeah, I
mean, there is all of that where
we know, you know.
Well, the original study thatwas done by Warwick University
years ago was that you know,people, if they're productive,
if they're happy at work,they're 12% more productive.
We know if people are, youknow, not necessarily uh
commuting the whole time.
We've seen lots of um data andstudies that have been done
(17:15):
around the four-day work week,which recently the pilot within
those all those organizationscompleted, and people were
finding they were moreproductive, even working the
four days um rather than thefive.
Um, the flexibility around ahybrid working for those in
corporate jobs where that's anoption.
But again, it comes back tomanagers knowing, you know,
(17:38):
there's a lot here around thingslike psychological safety and
building trust.
And um, I was I did a trainingearlier on this week, and one of
the managers was saying to me,Well, I've got a fully remote
person.
How do I build thatrelationship with them, you
know, on an informal level?
And I was sort of saying, Well,because they are remote, you
(17:58):
probably need to put in thediary at least once a month.
They're, you know, start offwith an hour, but it might be a
bit less than that, but just acatch-up, which is informal,
which you not you actually say,look, we're not gonna talk about
work, I'd just love to spend abit of time with you because you
don't get that interaction thatI have with everyone else when
they come in.
And we have those informal, youknow, I hate the phrase water
(18:19):
cooler chats, but you know, justthe the general conversation
that if I'm in the office threedays a week, I'm gonna get with
that manager.
So, you know, there is therehas been a lot of consultancy
studies that have been donearound where remote workers or
those that are hybrid but don'tgo into the office very much,
they you're obviously going tolose that connection if if those
(18:40):
conversations aren't being hadanywhere else.
Um, there's gonna be adisparity there.
And yeah, we're seeing thatwith people feeling more lonely
as well.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (18:49):
So yeah.
What does it look like?
You when you go into a company,how do you kind of get under
the bonnet and work out what aclient needs?
What's your kind of process forsorting them out?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (19:00):
I generally
see so first of all, it's kind
of like what else do you have?
What have you got in place atthe moment?
Um, what what is the you know,asking sort of a I suppose a
series of different kind ofcoaching questions, like what
does the what does theleadership think of well-being
and mental health?
What are you, what's your execsponsorship, who have you got as
champions, what are your toxicor hotspot areas in the
(19:24):
business, where do you knowyou've got problems, um, what's
going well?
And you know, from a positivepsychology perspective of
appreciative inquiry, you know,what's going well, what can you
do more of?
And also where what what canthis look like?
You know, I I've had clients orpotential clients who've said,
Oh, I you know, I we need threecohorts of mental health first
(19:46):
aiders.
I'm like, okay, but what elseare you doing?
Because you train a bunch ofpeople up for two days and then
then what?
What how do how are theysupported?
What do they do?
Who tells the rest of theorganization about them?
How do they show up?
You know, all of these, how doyou monitor the data from the
conversations they're having?
Um, so there's it's more ofthat strategic roadmap and
(20:10):
figuring out what that lookslike.
And I that's I think what'sbeen so different for me is
working with clients to say, um,what does you know, what does
20, for example, at the momentI'm doing lots of these types of
conversations since um sincethe beginning of this month,
really.
What does 2026 look like?
Because they, you know, the HRwell-being or the business
(20:32):
leaders who are responsible forthis, and you know, they have
they have their budget, or theykind of they're either being
allocated their budget orthey're putting in their
requests for budgets for thestart of next year.
So it's kind of like, well,what can I how can I maximise
this as well?
What can that look like?
And I think because I've workedwith people for so long now,
they trust me to kind of go, youknow, this is what we could do
(20:53):
instead, or this is how we couldsqueeze this, or especially
those I've worked with for awhile, you know, this is why I
could, if you're buying all ofthis, I can we can look at
discounting some stuff because Iwant it to make it as value add
as possible.
So it's really, yeah, justseeing where what that looks
like, and then having a I thinkthey like it because they have a
(21:14):
plan and it doesn't feel likeyou're just throwing paint at a
wall and just seeing if it'sgonna, you know, or jelly,
whatever the phrase is, justthrowing something at the you
know, and thinking, oh, we'vewe've done it, and then
wondering why nothing's changed.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (21:29):
So is there
anything that's particularly
resonating with your clientsright now in all the sort of
things that you offer them?
Is there certain things thatstick more than others?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (21:37):
Um I think
um so mental health first aid
has always been a program whichI think is popular.
It you know, it's it'ssomething that adds to the
framework of a workplacewell-being strategy, and and
it's very, very useful.
Grief, I'm finding is becominga bit more of a hot topic,
understanding grief and makingsure managers know how to
(21:59):
support someone who's goingthrough a bereavement and also
recognizing grief comes in manyshapes and forms.
Um, and I'm doing a lot moretalks around that, a lot more
coaching around that as well,which I think is really great,
and seeing organizations thinkabout what's their grief policy,
you know, how does that look?
How does that translate?
What support do you haveinternally for grief and
(22:19):
bereavement?
So grief is definitely one.
Um, as I said before, change isis kind of very much a hot
topic, like navigating change,how does that impact?
You know, just from some of thebase, I think people really
like the the basics around theneuroscience about understanding
how the brain responds tochange and you know, looking at
(22:40):
things like the change curve andthose models which enable
people to oh this so this is whyI respond in this way, and and
also as an organization, as ateam, how do we you know kind of
move through this processtogether and support each other?
So that that's another areathat's been really uh a big
deal.
And then I've lots of the usualstuff, living with anxiety,
(23:04):
navigating anxiety.
Um they're probably kind ofsome of the the main ones, and
and then you know, lots lots ofthe I suppose it's like you
know, when you think of flavourof the month, but you know,
things like menopause havebecome much more prevalent,
talking about that, which is notan area that I'm I generally
talk about or an expert in, butI know organizations doing great
work about menopause policy andtraining and support and having
(23:26):
open conversations about that,and um supporting employees who
are neurodivergent, but alsobeing able to equip managers to
have those those conversationsand um signposting and
adjustments and support, whichenables, you know, from a social
model of social model ofdisability, it just creates
inclusion for everybody, some ofthose, some of those practical
(23:49):
adjustments.
So um I got to do a a launch inan organization over the summer
uh for the Sunflower Lanyard,the Hidden Disabilities
Sunflower Lanyard.
One of my clients um launchedthat with so I did was a keynote
speaker with their CEO uhbecause I wear mine when I
travel.
Um so yeah, I think you knowthings like that are becoming um
(24:12):
kind of at the forefront aswell.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (24:15):
And on the
flip side, are there any things
that are particularlyfrustrating or feel like
bottlenecks in the work that youdo?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (24:22):
Um I still
feel that even now, after 10
years, if I'm being brutallyhonest, I still feel there is
still that gap between sort ofthe leadership and then putting
things into plan.
Like, so you know, the I alwaysremember I always remember
(24:44):
describing it as like um theChrist the Christmas cake, the
traditional Christmas cake.
So you've got all youremployees, which are all your
raisins and your cake mix andeverything, and then you've got
that Marzipan layer, which isyour people managers usually, uh
leaders who are often reallysquoze because they get stuff
from the top and they've got allof this stuff to manage and
(25:04):
look after as well as their ownjobs and their own mental health
and well-being and performance.
Um, and then you've got thislovely icing, and you know, I
think I find not always iswell-being, it's seen as still
this thing on the side.
It's not part of, you know, I Iwould love it, and maybe not
(25:28):
just yet, maybe for not another,maybe a couple of decades, like
start to ease out of work.
But I would love it so thatwell-being isn't part of what's
happening as a as the businessin the business processes, and
it's you know, it's part of thetraining for appraisals and
understanding those and howpeople work.
And when we look at a projector a program of work in an
(25:50):
organization, are we thinkingabout with the resources from a
well-being lens and resilience,you know, and I know that from
being a project manager, manageprograms of work.
So, yes, we've got you know allthese names on a list, but do
we think about the the personbehind that?
And I just don't know if that'sI still think there's a
(26:12):
disconnect there, which thereshouldn't be.
And I think that is changing inlots of the organizations I do
work with, but I think there'sstill it's still seen as
something that is separate to uhyou know, business as usual,
and it should be just if you'vegot people, you've got you've
got a well-being, you need awell-being plan, right?
(26:34):
Yeah.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (26:37):
So um
obviously you're a business
person, you run a verysuccessful business.
Are there any particularmetrics or signals that you
watch out for in what you do,whether it's growth, impact,
engagement?
What do you kind of look at tomake sure that you're having the
impact that you need?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (26:50):
Um it
depends if my accountant's gonna
listen to this.
He's been my best friend for along time since I was 14.
Um, he'll be like, Ruth, youshould know all of these
answers.
So I do, yeah, obviouslymaking, you know, making a
profit.
I think I think it's beenreally hard.
And I still think it is oftenfor people who who work in
(27:11):
well-being, wellness, you know,when we deeply passionately care
about what we're doing, thatsometimes making money can feel
a little at odds with that.
And you know, for a when I hadmy bigger consultancy, I
actually had a social enterprisewhere I would do um pro bono
work.
So I did a program for womenwho'd experienced domestic abuse
(27:32):
and violence for a charity andhad a team of volunteers,
coaches, professional coacheswho who supported me.
And I actually coachedhumanitarian aid workers out in
the field.
Um, I've just started, I'mabout to start a programme now,
but when that closed down whenmy consultancy all changed, um,
and and what I used to do is Ihave part of my revenue, 20% of
(27:52):
everything that I build in myconsultancy would go to the um
to that organization.
So it was kind of a CSR forclients to work with me as well,
because they were part of thatsocial impact.
And we we had kind of keymetrics around what we would
measure.
Um, I've just started doingsome, well, I'm about to start
doing a pro bono coachingprogram for um a certain
(28:16):
population of a of a charitythat I'm working with, and we're
just about to launch thathopefully very soon.
So I feel like I'm able to givesomething back there.
But yeah, I think for me it'sso it's it's the impact that I
have from you know, feedbackthat I get.
I often get asked to givequotes to clients.
I was in a company report forone of the law firms, the annual
company report from theresponsible business side.
(28:39):
So those kind of qualitativemeasures I really love to be
able to see and be a part of.
Um, and I think from amarketing perspective, you know,
having a reach, um, you know,that is important.
I think because there's somuch, as you say, so much
content out there.
For me, it's about having thatfee, it's often the feedback.
(29:00):
I I launched my own podcastthree weeks ago and it and I had
over 2,000 downloads.
Now I was genuinely shocked bythat because I thought if 50
people downloaded it, I would behappy.
So, you know, as you said,people, as we were chatting
offline before, I think you canget so I in the past as well,
with my ADHD brain, I can get sohung up on an arbitrary number,
(29:22):
sometimes something I've setfor myself, and will literally
you know burn myself out to getto something, which in fact
didn't mean anything in thefirst place.
So I suppose it's profit makinga living for me.
Um, I've got a bit more of ateam now again, which is really
lovely because I started 2024off with nobody, and so the last
(29:42):
few months I've brought evenmore back office staff on, which
is great.
Um, so that's really supportingmy mental health, and yeah,
just having that great impact,having opportunities, talking to
like you today, you know,things that perhaps wouldn't
even come along before.
So, yeah, great.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (29:59):
So
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (30:00):
assume that
where would you like to see
your work go in the next six totwelve months so fairly fairly
short term but what's the what'son the what's on the cards for
you so I am about to launchhopefully end of October a
online course for individuals ondemand uh online training
course I suppose training courseuh for beyond the it's called
(30:21):
beyond the grief so practicalsort of coaching grief support
if you've had therapy or you'restuck and you need that kind of
you know practical tools toenable yourself to move forward
at your own pace um somethingI've been wanting to do for a
while so that's going to launchnext month so I'd love that to
be successful I'd love to seethat be taken up that would be
(30:43):
really really cool for me to dothat.
And I've just started I'mstarting grief circles next
month um as a kind of anopportunity for people to come
together and just listen andsupport each other like as a
non-therapeutic space with mefacilitating that.
And so I'm I'm hoping thosewill take off and um I'm doing a
(31:05):
lot more on kind of radio aswell in the media and so I have
a dream I'd love to be able tohost a sort of classical music
wellbeing type show.
So that's I'm gonna put thatout there into the universe that
would be something that I wouldbe extremely happy if that came
along very different from theday job but amazing yeah yeah I
love I love I'm on the radiotomorrow I I have a breakfast
(31:28):
show on local radio I do on a frI do it on a Friday but um I
really love radios you'dprobably say I could talk I
could talk for days I have toremember to play some music but
um yeah classical music was abig part of my life when I was
unwell and it really kind of umsupported me as a as a self-care
tool so yeah um if I was togive you a magic wand to change
(31:50):
one thing about how yourbusiness operates or scales what
would that be?
Oh that's such a good questionthat's such a good coaching
question as well um one thingthat I could change I think it
(32:10):
would be to have more peoplesupporting me that enables us to
get more of the the productsand support out there to
individuals that they can useand support for themselves so it
frees up my time that would bethat would be kind of the dream
(32:35):
um which I'm slowly starting tohappen again now but not for not
for anyone else to be I supposedoing the work that I do but
just having a better you know abigger team at the back office
to to kind of do that support umI think that would be great and
just see sort of a a biggerimpact and a wider impact.
(32:55):
Yeah.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (32:56):
Is that
just about sort of the back
office or do you want sort of toreplicate yourself and have
more of yourselves working?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (33:02):
No I don't
actually because that's what I
did that's what I did with theconsultancy and um yeah I I
think I've done that and I thinkit was it was really successful
and I think but I changed somuch and I know what my brain
likes and I know how I like towork and um and like you said
with the radio I love I call itmy ribbons from it from my ADHD
(33:25):
for perspective when I wasworking with my own coach when I
was diagnosed at the end of2022 and um I like having all
these different strands to whatI do and that they make me feel
ribbon y so as you said theradio brings me a lot of joy
it's very different to being ina corporate but they both offset
each other and I like the factthat my week looks very diverse
(33:46):
and nothing ever looks the sameweek in week out probably to
probably to the uh the chaoticnature the rest of my team think
it looks like but it's good funand I'm loving it.
So yeah I found my second wind10 years in so it's good.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (34:04):
Amazing if
your um business suddenly got 10
times the visibility and whoknows what might happen with
this podcast and a huge influxof new leads or inquiries what
would what would be the firstthing that breaks and hopefully
not you.
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (34:16):
Yeah no I
don't think it would be me.
I think we would bring in veryquickly um we which we have done
for some of our design work butbringing another admin support
um which is is we're probablynot far off that now because my
assistant is is becoming muchmore as an exec assistant and
knows me through and through andknows my diary and knows my
(34:38):
brain and knows how I operatehaving that kind of sort of a a
support that could you know ifloads of leads came in we would
know how to sort of manage that.
And also being able I think I'min a better position now where
and a stronger position and morediscerning of actually that
isn't for me I'll pass it on tosomebody else you know it's not
(35:02):
for me or this isn't the righttype of you know or the not is
it really the work that I wantto do and I think in the past it
would be oh it's work let's doit and pass it out to the team
whereas now I'm like do I havetime for this does it fill me up
is it good business um am I thebest person for it all of those
sort of qualifying questions.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (35:22):
Yeah and
finally looking back if you were
to start all over againtomorrow would you do anything
differently?
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (35:28):
No because
I feel like I did that at the
end of I think 2023 we know thewebsite the name changed the
website changed it startedJanuary the 1st just me and it
was a big team before I had torelearn everything.
So I feel like I've gonethrough that evolution and and
actually that was really I waslooking back now I mean that was
(35:49):
a really brave thing to do butalso could have been completely
stupid but actually worked in myfavour.
I suppose there was lots of Ihad lots of support and
mentorship and I knew I was inthe my intuition told me that it
was the right thing to do butactually with some distance for
a lot that could have gonehorribly wrong in lots of ways
(36:10):
um if I hadn't have done theprocess right.
So yeah.
Dr_Andrew_Greenland (36:16):
On that
rate Ruth thank you so much for
your time this afternoon thishas been a really brilliant
conversation thank you for youropenness your honesty I think
your perspective on blendingauthentic leadership with well
being messaging is somethingthat more founders and companies
need to hear.
So thank you very much for yourtime.
Ruth_Cooper-Dickson (36:30):
Thank you
Andrew