Barry Phillips Meets

The Lord Lieutenant Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle MBE CBE was born and brought up in Derry/Londonderry in the 60s and 70s. Destined for a career as an opera singer in the conservatoire he career aspirations were cut short by a debilitating illness. Active for a while in student politics at Queen’s University what followed was a hugely successful career in Public and Government Affairs, setting up her own consultancy firm and heading up major initiatives including “Taste of Ulster”– the award winning worldwide campaign to promote food and hospitality from Northern Ireland. In 1996 she founded the Belfast Buildings Trust helping to save and restore some key historic building in Belfast. In 2,000 she was awarded an MBE and a CBE in 2,008. In 2014 she was appointed Lord Lieutenant representing Her Majesty the Queen in the County of Belfast following on from Dame Mary Peters. In this wide ranging interview Fionnuala talks about the futility of one-sidedness and questions whether there is such a thing as certainty. Time fl

The Poles first came to work in Northern Ireland in big numbers when Polish citizens were granted the right of free movement as EU members in May 2004. Many found employment here and were grateful for any type of work for it was guaranteed to provide more money than they could expect to earn at home. They worked as cleaners for Robinsons or as labourers in Camden Frames, Sam Mouldings or on the assembly line at what was then Schrader or in construction during the mini boom in 2007-2009. Whilst some worked in the health service as nurses, carers or doctors large numbers were over qualified for the jobs they first took. But with limited English and no contacts here to many it was about getting on an early rung of the ladder and then making their way from there. But the arrival of hundreds then thousands of Poles brought change to Northern Ireland. Suddenly, almost overnight, there was a sizeable third group of people. Sure Northern Ireland did have others groups of people such as the Indian and Chinese commun

In this keynote address for ASCL delivered at the Birmingham conference and events centre, Barry Phillips, gives his views on how to deal with overwhelm in the workplace. He talks about turning "FOMO" into "JOMO", practising a "Slow Yes and a Quick No" and finishes with his favourite five ways to ensure you're highly effective at work every day.

Marie has just been recommended by the Secretary of State to succeed Dr. Michael Maguire as the next Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. She was the Assistant Information Commissioner for Northern Ireland for five years and Deputy Ombudsman for seven. She became the first ever Public Services Ombudsman for Northern Ireland in April 2016. She is also the Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards and the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Ombudsman. In this remarkably frank interview she explains how being wrongly suspected of theft at school led her to develop an early interest in justice and human rights. She talks about the pressures of taking big decisions that will impact on the lives of many people and how she deals with the very public criticism she has to face in doing her work. What she has to say about leadership is fascinating and should be required listening for everyone, public sector or private, wanting to develop their leadership schools.

Born in Cork, Padriag O’Tuama was one of 6 children. He studied theology with an eye on the priesthood. It was in his teens that he first began to realise that his faith, his religion and his sexuality did not sit comfortably together and that very hard, very personal choices, lay ahead of him. Still a deeply religious man, last month you may just have heard Padriag presenting BBC’s Prayer for Today on Radio 4. But you’re as likely to find him carrying a dictionary of etymology as you are a bible. For he has an almost nerdy interest even obsession with language or languages. His “In the Shelter” autobiographical work introduces the reader to many Irish phrases, it dissects and analyses English words and muses with Hebrew, Japanese, Zulu and even American Sign Language. If he’s geeky about language he has an equally geeky twin interest in story-telling. He’s co-founder of the Ten x 9 story telling movement something that started in Belfast but has spread to Australia, Britain, the Netherlands and the USA.

Since taking the baton in 1990 from his father, James, who started the cleaning business in 1972 David has increased turnover from £1million to £17million with Robinson Services now employing more than 1,700 workers making it one of Northern Ireland’s top employers by staff numbers. Employees out on site find him affable and approachable and notice that he knows them all be name. Colleagues in the office say he’s personable but a tough decision taker too and very good at taking and managing risk. David is a rare example of a business leader who does organic growth just as well as he does it by acquisition. He doesn’t really appear to care too much about his own personal brand but his non-negotiables of strong business values, a focus on employee welfare, giving back to the local community and quality family time in abundance say everything about him.

In part 2 of the Legal Island story company chairman Barry Phillips discusses five key business development areas that helped him grow the business. He talks about early failures and set backs, discusses his favourite business leadership books and explains why he thinks using social media nowadays is a poor use of time. He offers a few tips on how to network well in Northern Ireland and explains why he wishes he had read Gerber’s The EMyth long before he did. Finally, he talks about the good and the not so good partnerships Legal Island entered into to help them develop their business and the lessons learnt the hard way.

Ellen Murray is Executive Director of Transgender NI a not-for profit organisation that campaigns for the rights of transgender and non-binary people in Northern Ireland. Born in 1993 and raised in West Belfast, she founded GenderJamNI a trans youth group and three years later set up the Belfast Trans Resource Centre the first such centre in the UK and Ireland. Ellen is herself transgender having begun her own journey from male to female in 2013. In a BBC documentary recorded recently she said "I probably wouldn't be alive today if I hadn't transitioned". In May 2016 Ellen became the first transgender person to stand for election to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Green Party candidate for West Belfast. Although now firmly in the arena as a human rights campaigner originally Ellen had very different plans. She studied Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Queens University and by her own admission has a number of nerdy interests including amateur radio, urban motorways and street lighting. This e

Michael Cameron is a former Northern Ireland Civil Servant turned playwright. Born in Belfast in 1965 Michael left school in 1981 with just 2 O Levels and joined the Civil Service the following year. He soon worked his way up the ranks working towards the end of his career as a Political Liaison Officer and Private Secretary to various Ministers witnessing first hand some of the most turbulent times in recent British/Irish history. In 2015 he left the Civil service for health reasons and began his career as a writer. His first major work is the play Ruby! About the Belfast singer Ruby Murray which opens in February to sell out audiences at The Lyric. It received rave reviews in its preview following its preview last year and there’s already talk about Michael scripting a movie about her life

Since becoming an entrepreneur 21 years ago Barry Phillips has owned a property company, a travel business and developed products for sale to a global market but he is best known for founding Legal-Island the island of Ireland’s No.1 compliance and training organisation. In the first of four episodes tracing the development Legal-Island, Barry Phillips about what prompted him to set up in business, his early challenges and some of his biggest mistakes. Introduced by MD Jayne Gallagher this series of episodes (to be released over the next 6 months to mark Legal-Island’s 21st anniversary) is a must for all those with an interest in business start-ups and development, managing people and leading a company.

Paul Roberts is CEO of the Ashton Community Trust in Belfast. Born and brought up in North Belfast Paul and his nine siblings grew up during the Troubles in an area that suffered one of the highest levels of violence of anywhere in Northern Ireland. It includes many areas synonymous with the conflict – the New Lodge, Ardoyne, Rathcoole, Ballysillan and Woodvale. In the 25 years he has been at the helm the Trust has grown from a small community business into a highly successful regeneration social enterprise. It employs over 250 people and turns over more than £7 million. Ashton is involved in a wide range of community service delivery focusing on childcare, employability, mental health, community development, youth services, arts, Fablab and the North Belfast Lantern Festival. A large percentage of its employees are from the 20 most deprived areas of Belfast. In 2017 Paul won the prestigious NI Third sector Inspiring Leader Award organised by CO3.

In this special episode Barry Phillips sets out to see if what he remembers about his own Ironman journey sits with what other ironmen learnt about themselves when training for and completing extreme endurance events. Barry asks them about how they maintain their levels of motivation, he they get the best out of every training session and what they do to reward themselves for consistently high levels of input and output. Barry concludes by sharing what he learnt from his Ironman training including the development of his own “six pack”. Six things he would do every day before he went to work to set himself up for optimum productivity.

This special episode recorded at the Titanic Hotel, Belfast (18th October) is taken from the annual conference of the Association of School and College Leaders. Barry Phillips covers five key areas of leadership, identifies quick wins and aims to leave the audience of head teachers with homework to do. For he argues that conference “Takeways” should really be “Workaways”. Changing the habits of leaders in any field requires application and hard work. The five key area are : # Recognition # Decision Taking # The Skill of Saying No # Single Tasking # Leadership Wellbeing – Mindfulness & Journaling

Liz Weir a business woman, festival director and children’s author, but perhaps best known for her role as a professional storyteller sharing stories of Ireland’s past not only locally in libraries, pubs, prisons and at festivals but on the international stage as well.. In 2002 she won the inaugural International Story Bridge Award of the National Storytelling Network. Many more awards were to follow helping her travel the world with her craft sharing her stories in countries as far away as Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Australia. She is the author of some 27 children’s books, currently the Story Teller in Residence for Libraries NI and former presenter at Radio Ulster of “Gift of the Gab”. She’s owner of the 200 year old Ballyeamon Barn near Cushendall which hosts a story telling evening on Saturday nights as well as tourists from all over the world in the adjoining hostel. Liz was recently engaged by InvestNI to show them how best to use the power of story telling when delivering presentations.

Conor is an entrepreneur with his finger truly on the pulse in terms of business activity going on in Northern Ireland having worked for many years in commercial property and more recently in debt management and alternative funding for those in business. In August 2007 he was formerly diagnosed with MS. His response was to hit the illness head on. He self-medicated, he followed a plant only diet and started competing in endurance races. He’s the author of two books. He has delivered countless key note conference speeches on motivation and managing a severe illness and has completed five half Ironman races and two full Ironman competitions in the past 3 years.

This episode is a bit different…. We thought it’s time to hit the pause button and review some of the most popular content thus far. So sit back and enjoy hearing from Bill Wolsey OBE, Mary McKenna MBE, Judith Gillespie CBE, Gavan Wall and many others.

Hilary Woods is Principal of Belfast Royal Academy which is widely recognised as one of Northern Ireland’s top post-primary schools. Her teaching career began at Ashfield Girls School, and continued at Wallace High School and then Victoria College where she was Deputy Principal by the time she left in 2014. Her first permanant tenure as Principal was at Antrim Grammar school during which time the school topped the GCSE league tables in Northern Ireland with 100% of pupils gaining 5 GCSEs grades A-C. In 2017, she became the first person in almost a century to be appointed principal of BRA from outside of the school and significantly the first ever female too. Her guiding mantra in life is “do what is right not what is easy”. She has been described by former colleagues as “fearless” with “boundless energy” and as a “woman with great vision but also a first-class implementer /finisher”. Another peer said of Hilary: “I’ve never worked with someone who has had such an important impact on my life”.

Michael Bruce with his younger brother Kenny founded Purple Bricks the online estate agency famous for offering to sell your house in the UK for a fixed fee of just £845 inclusive of VAT. Purple Bricks was recently valued at £240million. Michael, and his younger brother Kenny and four older sisters were brought up by their single mother in a council house in Larne in the 70s and 80s. His first experience of work was when he was still a school boy doing a milk round in the morning and collecting glasses in a local pub in the evening while his brother did the Coal Run. In this fascinating interview Michael says : “We didn’t want to rush to market. Many entrepreneurs think when they’ve got a website they’ve got a business. We spent two and a half years building the business first.” Now in Australia and the USA there is no holding back these two brothers from Larne. When asked for final advice developing a business he simply states : “Have a dream and be relentless and wise in pursuing it.”

Sarah Travers – Journalist, T.V Presenter and Media Consultant. Sarah made her name as a journalist who got the most out of interviewees by giving them a full blast of her positive energy, charm and charisma. But how would she get on when in the hot seat herself? Full of glamour and style and never short of words Sarah Travers shares a huge amount in this podcast. From her big secret she kept from her bosses at the BBC to how she dealt with imposter syndrome in the early days of her T.V career when still in her mid-twenties this interview is full of revelations. For her top tips on reading out scripts well, speaking in public and dealing with anxiety this episode makes for essential listening.

Before joining the RUC as a police constable Judith Gillespie was rejected twice by the organisation she was to go on and lead with distinction years later. She once stated “When I joined the force in 1982 men were issued with firearms and women handbags things were very different then.. “ Not only did Judith Gillespie face institutional discrimination but also misogynistic treatment from some male colleagues. How she responded is just one of the many remarkable revelations in this extraordinarily frank and honest interview. Judith explains how she used her “Five Anchors” to get her back from the really low times when serving in the RUC/PSNI during the height of The Troubles. She talks a lot too about forgiveness and admits that she’s still a bit to go before she has forgiven completely everyone who was out to see her fail but she says “You mustn’t let people live in your head rent free either”. When asked how she felt when she cleared her desk for the last time and left the force she replied “I left with p