Welcome to Inclusion Bites, your sanctuary for bold conversations that spark change. I'm Joanne Lockwood, your guide on this journey of exploration into the heart of inclusion, belonging, and societal transformation. Ever wondered what it truly takes to create a world where everyone not only belongs but thrives? You're not alone. Join me as we uncover the unseen, challenge the status quo, and share stories that resonate deep within. Ready to dive in? Whether you're sipping your morning coffee or winding down after a long day, let's connect, reflect, and inspire action together. Don't forget,

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And today is episode 160 with the title, the power of honest storytelling. I like it. Absolute honor and privilege to welcome Nick Elston. Nick is a keynote speaker, a transformational speaking coach, and founder of Forging People. And he's dedicated to empowering individuals to embrace their voice, share their stories, and foster meaningful connections through authentic communication. When I asked Nick to describe his superpower, he said that it is turning vulnerability into a powerful tool for connection and transformation. Hello, Nick. Welcome to the show.

Hey, Joe. It's great to be here. Thank you for asking me.

Yeah. And we were just chatting just now, and, we worked out that we'd, we both write for HR's own and ask how how we connected.

Yeah. We do. Great publication, and great to have met you along the way as well. 18, we worked out from the from the LinkedIn connection buttons. A long time in the making, but I sure will make this worth it.

We'll figure it out. Yes. I I think back in the early days when I I just started in this field, I was clicking and connect on everybody that you can find. So, yeah, there's probably a

Well, I'm gonna pop you a random button.

Yeah. I now use AI tools too for me, so I don't have to worry about it.

Yeah. Yeah.

We've called this episode the power of honest storytelling and, you know, looking at your what you do and your superpower. How is the the storytelling being built for you, and what's the authenticity and the vulnerability? Yeah. Yeah. How do you use that as a strength?

I think for me, it comes from my own my own personal journey. So for context, the the nutshell version, I have mental illness. I have obsessive compulsive disorder, which largely is managed nowadays, but I developed it back in my childhood. And as I got older, left pretty much untreated because I am that old. It was wasn't something that was treated the way it would be now. It then morphed into something called generalized anxiety disorder or GAD. And as I got older, it started to kind of really take over my life. In my professional career, I was running for around a decade at a really high state of burnout.

And then I had a breakdown in 02/2012. And it was at that point I started to use speaking as a therapy. And what I found was, being able to share your experiences and your story and your thoughts and your insights. And bearing in mind, I did this initially in a professional environment. We didn't do that in 02/2012. What I found was, despite what you hear on the news and popular media and social media, humans are essentially good. Go figure. Who knew? Humans do wanna support you if you only tell them what you need.

And what I found was by sharing my experiences with them in a, again, in a professional environment, people started sharing their stuff with me. And I think for me, that's kinda where I learned that speaking without the filter, speaking with authenticity and vulnerability, and why has that been hugely hijacked since, to be fair? It builds a bridge of trust and connection and depth with people far more than any superficial message were ever trained to deliver in professional environments for sure. That's where it started for me. I started to speak more and more about my experiences. The rooms got bigger. The audiences got bigger. I started to travel the world doing this stuff, and the rest, they say, is history. But along the way, and in this spirit of honesty, you can only spend so long speaking about your story, especially professionally when it really took off before your story starts to own you again.