The Stories Behind the Stories: Rachel

SHOW NOTES

The Stories Behind the Stories Episode

The most important conversation of Rachel's career arrived unexpectedly. 

She hadn't planned for it. 

But she had been ready for it her whole life.

Rachel could see what her clients were missing. She just couldn't get the conversation there. That gap — between insight and influence — is what her story is about. And it's one I've observed often. The professional whose vision outpaces their ability to share it. Until the right question opens everything up. In this episode of The Stories Behind the Stories, I go deeper into the failure, success and passion stories behind the character — and into the real pattern I was observing when I wrote her.

RESOURCES 

How to Create Strategic Influence Through Purpose-Driven Storytelling. 

The Programme Behind the Story:The Art of WorkLife Storytelling: Creating Three Fundamental Stories That Define Your Identity

Your Three Stories Takeaway

Before you go — something to take with you.

Your Passion Story. 

When does your work feel like it's expressing who you truly are?

Your Failure Story. 

What conversation have you been unable to get to — and what's standing between you and it?

Your Success Story. 

When did your perspective reveal an opportunity nobody else could see?

A Note to Listeners

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

The most important conversation of Rachel's career arrived unexpectedly. She hadn't planned for it, but she had been ready for it her whole life. Hello, it's Carmel from School of Work Life. Welcome to the Stories Behind the Stories, where I go deeper into the work life stories I've crafted, the thinking behind the ideas, the experiences that shape that thinking, the lessons learned from those experiences. Today's episode is Rachel. Her story is featured in the episode How to Create Strategic Influence Through Purpose Driven Storytelling. In the last episode, I went deeper into Daniel's three stories. Today I want to go deeper into Rachel's failure, success, and passion stories. Together they reveal something that no single story could show alone, who she is professionally, what shaped her, and what drives her. The story behind the stories, the conversations she couldn't get to. The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The work of life is to develop it. The meaning of life is to give your gift away. David Viscott. Rachel had built her reputation on technical excellence. Four years of measurable results, respected clients, work that delivered, and insights had never quite reached the conversations that mattered. Rachel could see what our clients were missing. She just couldn't get the conversation there. That gap between insight and influence is what her story is about, and it's one I've observed often. The professional whose vision outpaces their ability to share it until the right question opens everything up. Rachel's failure isn't a single mistake. It's four years of keeping her most valuable insight unexpressed. She delivered compliance solutions, cost savings, efficiency improvements, and never once shared thinking that made it all distinctive. Here's what I think was behind that. Executives appreciated her technical expertise, but sustainability remained something they treated as a necessary cost, not a strategic opportunity. The conversation was already framed before she walked in the room. What interests me about Rachel's story is the frame she walked into. Sustainability as obligation, something to manage, something to comply with, not something to explore. Rachel could see beyond that frame the opportunity inside the requirement, the competitive advantage hiding inside the cost. But the conversation was already set until one question changed it. Her success story begins with a question nobody had ever asked her before, not about the work, about why she cared about the work. The question stopped her in four years of client meetings. Nobody had ever asked her that. She had never expected anyone would, and so she shared the story behind everything. Her grandfather's furniture workshop, the offcuts that became components, the scrap that was simply material waiting for its purpose. The room shifted, not because the quarterly numbers changed, because the executives finally understood the mind behind them. What strikes me about that question? It didn't ask about the work. It asked about the person behind the work. That's a rare question in a quarterly review in any professional setting, and a created space for Rachel to share something she had never shared before. The story that shaped everything, her grandfather, his workshop, his way of seeing. Purpose doesn't arrive when someone decides to have it. It's already there. Sometimes it just needs someone to ask. What drives you isn't always visible in what you deliver. Rachel had been delivering for four years. It was always there, waiting, one question, and everything finally had somewhere to go. Rachel's passion didn't begin in a boardroom or a sustainability report. It began in a workshop. It becomes from a specific place, a specific person, a grandfather who never wasted anything because he saw value where others saw scrap. That's what drives Rachel. Not sustainability regulations, not compliance metrics, not efficiency targets, the belief that value is always there, even when, especially when it hasn't yet been found. I'm drawn to stories like Rachel's, where the professional passion traces back to something personal. A person, a place, a moment of observation in childhood that became a way of seeing. Rachel's grandfather didn't teach her sustainability. He taught her how to look, and she never stopped. But that's not where the story ends. The contract expanded, the referrals followed, the strategic partnership formed, and Rachel discovered something in her new role. Her real value wasn't just sharing her own three stories, it was helping clients find theirs. The food producer, who had been focused on disposal costs, the construction material supplier, who had been focused on compliance. Both had the answers in their own three stories. They just hadn't seen them yet. What I hope you take from Rachel is something simpler than any framework. The purpose behind your work is always there. It shaped everything you've done. Rachel is every professional whose expertise is sound, whose results are real, but whose deepest insight stays hidden because nobody has yet asked the right question until they do. From my notebook, A Belief, the three stories, failure, success, passion are the way in. But what they're pointing toward is something deeper, the journey inward to your core values, your purpose, your vision, your motivated abilities. That's what self-discovery is, not a destination, a practice of exploring, understanding, and aligning what you do professionally with what matters most to you. Rachel's grandfather gave her that alignment. That's what this work is for, the journey inward that reveals your path forward to help you navigate your work-life journey with clarity, purpose, passion, and pride. On Rachel, I wrote Rachel because I'm drawn to stories where professional passion has a deeply personal origin, a person, a place, a way of seeing that was shaped long before the career began. Rachel's grandfather, his workshop, his way of looking at what others dismiss. That's not just Rachel's story. It's how I believe professional passion works. It comes from somewhere, always, and finding that somewhere is one of the most powerful things a person can do. From me to you, what I hope you take from this series is something that belongs to you, not a framework, not a technique, the recognition that your three stories are already there. Your failure, your success, your passion. They shaped everything you've done, they reveal who you are professionally, and they're waiting to be found, to be named, to be shared in the order that's right for you at the moment you're at and returned to as you move through your work life. Your three stories before you go, something to take with you. Your passion story, when does your work feel like it's expressing who you truly are? Your failure story, what conversation have you been unable to get to, and what's standing between you and it? Your success story, when did your perspective reveal an opportunity nobody else could see? In the next episode, I'll go deeper into David's story how to recognize your character traits and transform your professional impact to take you inside the story, behind the story. Thank you for listening.