This is my friend Kay Scorah, who sometimes humorously calls herself “the Witch of Noticing”. She is a wise woman indeed, as well as a force of !@$!@ nature and one of my absolute favourite humans. For an insight into Kay, do watch/listen to our conversation last year on #WhatComesNextLive, another example where you can “See Inside a Conversation” as I wrote about just yesterday.
Kay does amazing things for community and the world at large. I’d like you to help here with one of those things if you can. In 2019 she ran the first “Turning the Tables conference”, where I had the privilege to both support it and sit, rapt, in the audience for the day. Inspirational at many levels. She is now bringing this back in 18th November 2021 and has a request for help:
If you know a young person (aged between 16 and 24) who has faced challenging and/or life-threatening experiences and is prepared to share their story with us so that we can learn from them, then please contact me. They will receive coaching to write and present their 15-20 minute talk, and they will be paid.
To encourage you to visit that page, here is some of what it says, starting with why Kay chose to pour her heart and soul into this project:
With over 40 years experience of working with leadership teams in business, science and the charity sector, I thought I might be running out of ideas and enthusiasm. Then I started to meet some people who woke me up. All aged between 16 and 26, these heroes set me on a very steep learning curve. Forced to live with levels of fear, uncertainty and change that most of us have never had to face, including being driven out of their homeland, dealing with cancer diagnosis and treatment (as well as misdiagnosis and mistreatment), being rejected by friends and family, appearance-changing surgery, being threatened with and the victims of violence. They have emerged strong, compassionate, determined and creative, and, yes they are enormous fun to work with.
If we are lucky, they will be our future leaders.
I decided to provide a stage, literally, for them to share their stories. Not only because they deserve to be heard, but because of what we can learn from hearing them. Working with them in the lead up to the day was the most rewarding “job” I’ve had in years. When the day arrived, they took us on an emotional roller coaster of a journey through their stories. We learned new ways of thinking and problem-solving and linked their experiences to the value of diversity and inclusion policies for business and society. The interactions between the diverse, curious and open-minded audience members were equally enlightening and uplifting, and the feedback that we have had since has been wonderful. Thank you to each and every one of you.
So, if you know someone anywhere in the UK who could benefit from the support Kay will give to them in being part of the 2021 event, please do visit the page and contact her.