WALL46: How to be Yourself and Professional at the Same Time with Mel Kettle

When is it okay for us to call it quits and stop pushing through? How can we embody the real essence of professionalism as we set the boundaries we need as we live?

Watch our conversation on YouTube!

Have you ever sacrificed your precious “me time” to do work for your clients and/or attend a meeting for a job you don’t love?

More often than not, we tend to say yes to everything as we dive into the depths of doing business. Just because we fear what might happen if we refuse, we sometimes lose ourselves.

But as people say, there’s always a time for us to push through and for us to fail fast. It’s of utmost importance that we work on being self-aware so we can work and live large, especially around the things that are really important to us. After all, being a professional isn’t limited to being dressed like a professional. You can still reach great heights, wearing just a simple shirt and pants, as long as you’re in alignment with what you truly want in life.

Mel Kettle is an internationally recognized thought leader on fully connected leaderships and communication. Her clients include leaders, teams, and organizations that want to achieve real connection and sustained engagement.

She is the host of the “This Connected Life” podcast and the author of two books, “The Social Association” published in 2018, and “Fully Connected: Focusing on how great leaders prioritize themselves, reclaim their energy, and find joy”.  

Mel is a good friend of mine; I was at her book launch recently in Brisbane, and it was such a great and beautiful night, hearing her talk about boundaries and other related things. I am certain that this episode will be a value-rich experiment between the thoughts we have in mind, so make sure to sit back and relax as we learn more from the ever-so-receptive Mel.

In this conversation, you’ll hear Mel discuss:

• What it takes to leap into an experiment to back yourself and your decisions
• How that relates to the self-awareness that you have
• The story behind her decision to move to the Sunshine Coast and leave the city of Brisbane during COVID, and why she’s so happy that she did it
• Things about boundaries, especially when it triggers work-life balance concerns
• The theme around professionalism in work context and how that plays out

Conversation moments:

(00:00:03) Episode snippet + intro

(00:00:58) Introducing and welcoming today’s guest, Mel Kettle

(00:03:09) The story behind Mel’s guesting act for today’s podcast

(00:04:40) Should I push through or should I fail fast and move on?

(00:07:36) Being connected vs. being fully connected

(00:08:31) The boundaries Mel has in her business

(00:15:06) What drove her to move from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast

(00:21:13) We fear that things will fail, but what if it doesn’t?

(00:23:22) Mel, her newly launched book club, and the kind of books she shares within the group

(00:27:54) The real professionalism in a work context

(00:32:38) Rapid Round

(00:35:31) More about Mel and her book, Fully Connected

Connect with Mel here:

• Mel’s website
• Mel on LinkedIn
• Mel on Instagram
• Mel on Twitter

Rapid Round Recommendations:

• Something that has shaped the way she thinks: Her subscription to Harvard Business Review
• Tool/App: Focus mode
• Song: “Connection” by OneRepublic
• Quote: “People may forget what you say and people may forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

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Thanks for being here. See you next week.

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