Edited - Recording 1 - Oct 16, 2:13 PM
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Style and Strategy Podcast. You know when you are ready for more, and it's more than where you're at today, and it might be that you're about to walk into an interview, a shift in career, or anything like that. This is the part that we often forget. Before you walk into that next room, a lot of the people likely in there have already met you online, and highly likely LinkedIn.
You know it yourself. Someone's looked you up, and then you suddenly realize the profile that's there and who they're meeting is likely a job title and a list of where you've been, not necessarily who you are now or where you're going to. I can tell you now, I have had an absolute love-hate relationship with LinkedIn for a really long time.
. And although I post on LinkedIn, it's taken me a while to get there. So [00:01:00] I thought I would sit down and ask someone who's been writing LinkedIn profiles since 2009, how should they actually approach this? I'm really excited to be able to chat with Karen Tisdell today, , who spent 14 years in recruitment and then has been writing LinkedIn profiles ever since.
And I think what I really love about Karen is she doesn't think you have to turn yourself in to a content machine. Her favorite clients are the ones who would much rather not be seen on social media. So if you'd like the room to meet the real you before you walk in, this one is definitely for you.
Let's get into it.
New Intro 2025: Style and Strategy Podcast, where personal brand meets leadership and style. I'm Sonya, I'm bringing you practical strategies, bold insights, and honest conversations to help you amplify your presence, unlock your next level, and lead with clarity and confidence.
Sonya: [00:02:00] Today, I am so excited to have Karen Tisdell here, who I'm gonna call a LinkedIn guru as such, but I know she's multifaceted and, can actually just create magic with LinkedIn. Um, welcome to the show, Karen.
Karen Tisdell: I am so excited to be here. Guru, I don't know. I, I have been called the LinkedIn
Sonya: Oh, so much nicer.
Karen Tisdell: my advancing era, I think, yeah, queen, I can own
Sonya: Yes.
Karen Tisdell: Queen's always felt very old, but no longer. No
Sonya: no, Queen- Queen Bee, definitely Queen Bee. Look, I'm so excited to have you on the show, Karen, because, you know, I, um, have had a love-hate relationship with LinkedIn for a really long time. I've seen it go through the ups and downs. So I would love to know from you, how is it that you became now officially known as the LinkedIn Queen? And just [00:03:00] tell me a little bit more about that to start with.
Karen Tisdell: Uh, LinkedIn queen, LinkedIn whisperer is an- is another
Sonya: Love that
Karen Tisdell: quite a lot. So yeah, absolutely. I started using LinkedIn myself in 2005. I was a recruiter, for 14 years. While I was in recruitment, we had a lunch and learn. Our CEO said, "There's this new tool. I think it's going to take over everywhere.
I think it's amazing. It's called LinkedIn." Um, I really liked that CEO, looked up to him. Everything he said I took on board. I saw LinkedIn and I just thought, "Wow, what an amazing tool, because this is going to be a really great way of tracking everybody I've ever met." And I also knew that with my husband we would move city, so I knew that we would move from Perth to Melbourne to Sydney. knew we'd never stay in one place. I didn't think we'd stay in Sydney quite so long. so I thought, "This is going to be a really great way for me to keep in touch with people and [00:04:00] build my connections almost before I need them." And so that's how I fell in love with LinkedIn. And then while I was on maternity leave, I didn't take a big, brave leap and left corporate.
While I was on maternity leave, I was bored and said to my husband, "I want to go back to work." And he was like, "You can't abandon our new baby." And I was thinking, "Well, you just watch me." But, um, no, no. I was thinking, "How can I do it all? How can I have it all?" so I started writing LinkedIn profiles from home, and that was 2009.
So, um, so way back in the day, 2009, I started writing LinkedIn profiles and I was one of five in the world who specialised in LinkedIn positioning, and now I'm like one of five in my suburb sometimes, so
Sonya: Wow.
Karen Tisdell: changed a lot.
Sonya: Okay, so 2009 and you started writing, uh, those LinkedIn profiles. So then seeing where LinkedIn has gone to over the years, 'cause I, I feel like there's been... As someone who's kind of [00:05:00] watched from the outside, it feels like there's been this massive, this surge of constant change, you know. These days it's, it's, like, literally every second.
But this change around what LinkedIn was to where it then evolved to and to, where it is now, and how has that then reflected in profiles for you?
Karen Tisdell: Oh, I think it's reflected in so many ways. I think an interesting point is really around how people are using LinkedIn so differently. So when I was first using LinkedIn, what I loved about it was it was very much a meritocracy. So you could literally have exactly the same space and everything as Richard Branson. That's not the case anymore. The more you pay for LinkedIn, the more bells and whistles you get. Doesn't mean you should get the bells and whistles, doesn't mean you should pay for LinkedIn Premium, but there is a, a greater push towards more functionality if you pay for it, and you've got advertising and the like. [00:06:00] What I find really interesting is that LinkedIn has really positioned itself as a, a place to create content, and if LinkedIn had its way, it would have everybody creating content three times a week. And I really feel that that's LinkedIn underselling itself and really trying to to its competitors and put itself in a category of social media, when really I think of LinkedIn more as an address book of not just where you can keep in touch with everybody, but where you can meet people who can help your future self and where you're moving towards and what you want next. I still go back to that Lunch and Learn in 2009 where I looked at this and thought, "Wow, it's like my address book, my childhood Holly Hobbie address book." Um, that's how I saw
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: in many ways that's how I still see it
Sonya: Amazing. so then if you think about it, a lot of my, clients that I work with, and colleagues as well, you think about your own profile on there, right? [00:07:00] Because either, normally you think, "Okay, I'm gonna get tapped on the shoulder by a recruiter potentially," or, um, yes, it's connecting with old work colleagues and things like that.
But at the same time, what we're seeing is this, uh, either A, you're in the camp of I post on LinkedIn, or I've got a profile with no image, no picture, no nothing, and no details on it, and it's what do I really need that for? It's just social. LinkedIn's dead. So why would someone who, um, you know, employee or anyone actually really should be looking at LinkedIn as that digital handshake, as you call it?
Karen Tisdell: Yeah, I call it a digital handshake because I think it helps people to understand that this is how you manage your own reputation. This is how you manage,your relationships, and LinkedIn at its best helps the right people to find you and you to find the right people. So it's all about connecting the right people. So I think of [00:08:00] LinkedIn as really, rather than just be around creating content, I think of it as having three key pillars that it's, it's sitting on. And I'm picturing, when I say sitting on a, I'm picturing like a three-legged stool in my, in my mind. And those three legs are your profile, which is your positioning; it's the people, so do you have the right network; and it's your proof or your posting. So you don't have to be creating content. It does help to create content because that reminds people who you are, but if you haven't got a great profile lets people know what you do, and it's got the right words in it so that it's surfacing your visibility and making you impressive to the people who you need to have in your, your world, then that's, falling down.
You know, that's letting you down. And you also need to have the right connections. So it's not about having lots of followers, it's about having the right connections, and I think a lot of people miss that point, too
Sonya: Yeah, definitely. So what do you actually say to the [00:09:00] woman who knows she should be more visible on LinkedIn? And where they sort of say, "But I don't want to." You know, you might be in senior leadership, you might be in the C-suite, you know, all of those kind of areas.
What, what are you saying to those women?
Karen Tisdell: I think it really depends on the role that that woman has. So, as a CEO, most CEOs need to be visible. you need to be the figurehead of your organisation. Let's also look at the average tenure of a CEO. They are roles that, especially here in Australia and in most Western countries, do tend to turn over quite a
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: some levels,of hierarchy in businesses do need visibility, some don't. So a lot of my clients are sitting on boards. They don't need to be creating content, but what they do need to do is build really great relationships. Everybody, I believe, needs to have a LinkedIn profile that's serving their future selves, and yet that's not how most people write their profile. Most people write their [00:10:00] profile looking backwards, as if it's an old-fashioned CV listing everything they've ever done or nothing at all, you know. so it's really important to make sure you've got a really robust profile that's really talking to where it is you wanna go, that you've got the right relationships, and you've got habits in place, that you've got, a way of just on LinkedIn just, you know, maybe a few minutes a day, 20 minutes a week, something like that, 30 minutes a week, and you're building those relationships. Not everybody needs to be creating content. Um, so this idea of, "I've gotta create content", just, just take that off the table. And, and frankly, my favorite clients to work with are people who hate being on social media, like they're socially reluctant. Uh, they hate that
Um, but often they've got a wrong that they want to make right in the world. And I'm like, "You don't need to create content, and certainly don't start there. Start with your profile. Start with the right relationships. Start with having a [00:11:00] strategy in place for thanking people for connecting, and if you can, moving people offline." not in a spammy, weird way, just a, you know, "I can see you do this," and, "I'm going to this conference, that's in our sector. are you going as well? It'd be great to meet." You know, so just sort of having those DM exchanges can be just as powerful, if not more powerful, than creating content
Sonya: Yeah, I love that. I, I think there's a couple of elements there. So A, thinking about your future self, and I, I love this about your teachings, more broadly as well, is the way in which you effectively saying, "Forget this is a social media platform. Treat it like you would any other human that you're connecting with, and don't lose sight of that."
I think,
there's lots of memorable, comments I know I've heard you make around, if you see a friend or someone like that, don't walk past, say a wave. Do your virtual LinkedIn wave. And, we don't see enough of that, anymore around seeing others [00:12:00] actually support those who potentially, especially in those kind of roles, et cetera, that are there to actually either show that support or provide a comment along those lines.
What's, what's your sort of view on that?
Karen Tisdell: Yeah, I feel so strongly about that. As you know, I, I think a lot of people feel that LinkedIn is about posturing, and they take the idea of positioning literally to be posturing, and I have to act a certain way, and it's very performative. And I'm like, "No, no, just forget about content. And before you get contenting, get commenting."
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: Commenting is so important. less important than having your profile, less important than having the right network, but it is absolutely... And that's why I hesitated when I talk about the three pillars of your profile, your people, and then I was gonna say, uh, it's not quite posting, it's actually proof, and that's building relationships, and it's proof of how you think, and being really human.
So treating this like it's a conference. You want to work [00:13:00] the room, but you don't wanna be really that loud, "Look at me, look at me, look at me." You know, like, that's just not how a lot of, real work and real opportunities live. Real opportunities live in real relationships.
So just being a good human, and commenting on people's posts. and not scrolling through the feed to comment on people's posts, but instead looking at people who you're connected to and people who, your future self needs to know. Send them an invitation to connect. Be brave. And then once you've sent them an invitation to connect, on their profile, you'll have on the right-hand side just underneath their banner, you'll have a little bell.
Just click on that bell so you've got two bells rung, and then have a habit of looking at your notifications, not your feed.
Yeah, just so that you can be intentional with your time. It's about being intentional in service to your future self and, and really being human about [00:14:00] it.
Sonya: Yeah,being able to just do those little small, shifts just to make it quick and easy, especially around someone that you do wanna connect with oryou know, touch base with, um, around that can make it so much easier, than having to scroll and think and try to remember that separately.
When I think about, you know, you talked about women that you've, support, you know, who are on boards or those women who hold really large roles and whole lot of scale in their organisations. When you think about their profiles, for example, sometimes it's really hard to be able to put in those profiles the depth and breadth of their experience and what's there.
You know, even just to put that in words full stop. But, you know, hence like you said, it feels a bit performative 'cause you've got this long list of, and these are the skills. Hang on, I'll go click some of those or vice versa. So like, how do you actually help women being able to go, okay, you know what?
This is how you'd be [00:15:00] able to do that or think about it differently?
Karen Tisdell: There's so many different ways to answer that depending on what people are doing. But, a lot of people I know, are sitting on boards. Uh, a lot of my clients are sitting on boards, and they've got boards that are doing different things. So they've got multiple hats, they're across a couple of different industries, and maybe they've had a non-linear career.
So maybe they started in marketing, and then they became, a COO and, then maybe CEO or maybe not, and then sat on a couple of boards. So for me, I'm trying to find what's connecting those different things, and what is it they want to do next. Never forgetting what it is you want to do next.
So I know we've talked about future self a couple of times, but I just, I think it's really important to look at what's your dream role? What are you moving towards? What would you like more of? And while there's a lot of fear in society at the moment, we're wondering about [00:16:00] AI and job security, still dream big around what it is you want, just have a thought about where the market's going, and lean into your qualities that, AI doesn't have, that will keep you employed, that will get you employed.
What are those things? And then create a storyline, a frame around those things. So I'm really working out what is it you need to do. So remembering, you know, I've been writing, LinkedIn profiles now for 17 years. My background's 14 years recruitment.
As a recruiter, I was the one who was always looking at CVs and going, "Well, this is the job advert you're going for. CV, I can see you've got the skills, but your CV's not talking to that." So what are the keywords you need to have? What are the key themes?
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: and then attaching the outcomes to that. And so many people talk about what they do, but they don't talk about the impact of that. [00:17:00] And often we feel we can't because we're in that job, so we can't name that we cut costs by this amount and we increased this by so many thousands or, or millions of dollars. So perhaps you can't talk about that right now, but a couple of years goes past, you can totally talk about that. And if it's a publicly listed company, of course it's public information anyway.
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: and more and more organisations are putting out media releases on this, these things anyway. So making sure you're talking about the impact, but find the, the points that you want to talk about before you just turn up and throw up, you know?
Sonya: Yeah. I love that analogy, turn up and throw out. I think what I've pulled from that is actually quite similar to an analogy that I use when I'm, coaching with clients, is that there's always a thread, and you refer to it like this storyline. Whereas, you know, whether you're talking about, something that you want to achieve or something you're reflecting on, or whether it even relates to your own personal [00:18:00] style, there is always a thread of something about you, what you're looking to achieve to where you wanna go, that you'll be able to find that thread if you just look, that little bit more closer.
to be able to pull all that together, it helps to be able to, bring out what those outcomes are, what it is that you're really looking for, and then articulate that on a page. So I really did, like that analogy there
Karen Tisdell: There's always a thread, and I think it's really hard to see that. To mix my metaphors,
Sonya: Yeah,
Karen Tisdell: to see the label on the jar when you're in the jar, and that's the benefit of working with a coach. So sometimes I have, people... I'm getting a lot this time of year at the moment, people saying, "Oh, I really need a LinkedIn profile."
And I'm like, "If you haven't done the work to work out you're moving towards next or where you're going, I can't help you. I'm not a qualified coach myself. I
Sonya: yeah
Karen Tisdell: I love Gallup CliftonStrengths. It gives me some insight into what drives you," but that's a benefit of really great coaching.
Do [00:19:00] you have specific tools that you like more than others that help people to find that thread that connects
Sonya: absolutely. There's a couple of different ones. So I'm a certified, um, DiSC practitioner, as well as I'm actually certified in human design as well. So depending on what side you actually... You know, some will prefer to go down the DiSC route, some will prefer to go, " Actually, I'm really interested," and if they've got a bit more of a spiritual side to them, then doing a human design profile as well on that side, being able to actually pull through, 'cause there's a lot of profile traits in that as well as strengths and things like that, and it's about the opportunity that's there.
So similar, there's very similar themes that actually come through. Uh, so yeah, they're the two that I use to actually help. And it's not about telling someone who they are. Exactly like you said, it gives them a starting point to go, "Well, hang on, can I reflect on that? Can I, see things that perhaps I wasn't aware of?"
And [00:20:00] it's really the fundamentals and the, I guess the insight there is the awareness. When you suddenly can see things, that you didn't before, the thread, the storyline, and then you start to see it played out in practice, enables you to back yourself so that when you come to Karen to go, "Here is, here is my storyline, here are my outcomes.
This is what I'm really good at. This is something I maybe don't wanna talk about too much, but you know, it's a learning that I've had," it probably makes that profile, so much easier for you to write as well
Karen Tisdell: I love that you use DISC and especially human design because that gives you traits, those underlying,this is who you
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: helps you... I think even if you don't have a spiritual, bent, and it's interesting you mention that because actually I, I met with a health practitioner today, a speech pathologist who's, a very high learner on the Gallup, and so she's... And she's very science-based, and
Sonya: Yes
Karen Tisdell: so obsessed with human design.
Sonya: [00:21:00] Thank you.
Karen Tisdell: but even if you weren't a big fan of it, just to look at that and go, "Well, actually, that's not me. Oh, well, is it?"
Sonya: Yay
Karen Tisdell: and to really help So part of knowing who you are is knowing who you're not as well and knowing what you don't want to be.
So
Sonya: Exactly.
Karen Tisdell: to have that objectivity.
Sonya: Yeah. Yeah. So it does create that interest. So when you think about the profile, and we've talked about some of those , I guess I wanna talk about a little bit around the headline because I have a love-hate relationship again, another one. so I've thought deeply around this over the years.
But the headline, because the same challenges that I see when, I talk about how someone might introduce themselves, and you know, in the past we used to go, you felt like you had to box yourself in, and I'm very anti boxing myself in, right? And, I do this with my clients as well, in that when they introduce, and it's like, "Hi, I'm head of...
I'm COO, I'm this," right? It's like, [00:22:00] mm, okay, come on. There's more to you than that. You're multidimensional. So then what we've seen is this default headline, ah, job title, and you don't necessarily get that picture of, of who this really, this person is. So what are your views in, around that, limited character space that you've got there to tell all you are?
Karen Tisdell: Yeah, and it is a limited character space. You got 220 characters including spaces, and I don't think most people utilize that much space. I also think we're going to see, moving, through 2027, we are going to see more and more people who just have a default headline because LinkedIn recently, changed some of the configuration of experience.
When you add a new role, right at the very, very bottom of adding a new role, it's got a box that's automatically ticked saying, "Change [00:23:00] my headline to my new position title."
Sonya: Okay
Karen Tisdell: think you're going to have a lot of people will change their headline without even realizing it. So I have run so many LinkedIn workshops over the, the years, and, for associations, women groups, corporates.
And, and something I'll often do in that, because it's fun, is to change our headline where, we do box people in, and they do have their position
Sonya: Yeah,
Karen Tisdell: and the name of the organisation they work for, especially if I'm paid by
Sonya: yeah
well, fair call.
Karen Tisdell: And, and then we have a couple of other words that describe what it is they do or what it is they bring.
So perhaps they've got an MBA or, something else that they've done. maybe they've got a pilot's license, and that's quite interesting. Or maybe they've got something else that they're either bringing to their role or something else that is a big part of who they
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: And then we end that headline with, something quirky and [00:24:00] interesting, that tells you a little bit more about the person.
So, um, a client of mine, Melina, she's got shoe lover at the end of hers. now I keep seeing that, and I'm like, "Really? Shoe lover? Like, you're a PhD, you're sitting on a couple of boards, you're super bright. Shoe lover, really? Is, is that what I really need to know about you?" But it's very ... It feels, you
Sonya: It's very handy
Karen Tisdell: but Melina and I, we did that in a workshop I was running for, um, for her community. So there is that. I do like to start with a box, so whereas you don't like to box people in, I do love to box people in because, I'm taking a contrarian view
Sonya: Yeah,
Karen Tisdell: And, feel free to argue with me,
Sonya: please. That's I'm very interested.
Karen Tisdell: I'm sure. Bring it on. You know, if you're brave enough to argue with a Karen, let's see how we go. But, um, I, I, feel that boxes are familiar. So when you use a word in your headline or you use a couple of words that people are not familiar with, you're [00:25:00] running your own business and you start your LinkedIn profile with, "I help senior leaders to..."
I've just stopped. I've switched off. I've stopped reading because it just flags, "Oh, yeah, you're selling to me."you know, it's just boring. And if you use something that's unfamiliar, my brain can't grasp it while I'm just skimming, and I've just- Again, gone, "What a weirdo." sorry, that sounds so judgy, doesn't it?
But it does. You know, I want something that I go, "Oh, okay, you're a CFO. Oh, you're a COO." I can picture that. I've got a category. I've put you in a category.
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: So and then we make that category a bit bigger by then having some other words if I'm paid by an organisation, other things that you do outside that, such as pilot's license or whatever.
So we're putting you in a category, and then we're expanding that category a bit. then we might consider at the end of that, and as said, this is something I'll only do in some workshops, if I want a, a fun element, tell me what sport you provide or something like that. You know, one, another one of
Sonya: [00:26:00] Yeah
Karen Tisdell: has got doting grandfather at the end, you know, and everybody goes,
Sonya: Oh.
Karen Tisdell: You know? So yeah, exactly. but that's a very personal thing, that end. So that's a formula that I typically use. really important that people remember you do have quite a lot of space to put in keywords in there. The advantage of having job titles in there is it just helps people to understand what it is you do and what you could do in their organisation
Sonya: Yeah
Okay, no, fair call. When I think about it, coming more from the perspective when you introduce someone, and it's like, "This is your head of," or et cetera. But I do like the idea of the fact that expansion piece to allow a little bit of self through, I think becomes really important, as well.
So I think that, yeah, just to bring that level of uniqueness through, for everyone. not too contrarian, so...
Karen Tisdell: Yeah, give me a category but
Sonya: Give me... Yeah, give me...[00:27:00]
Karen Tisdell: from Stanford, tell me.
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: you've gone and, done something else, like tell me. if you're ex-Google, I wanna see that.
Sonya: Yeah,
Karen Tisdell: So yeah, those sorts
Sonya: No, love that. Okay. So If there was a potential client that was listening in to the podcast today and about to step into that next chapter, that next role, what's the one thing you would tell her to do on LinkedIn this week?
Karen Tisdell: There's two things.
Sonya: Okay
Karen Tisdell: One, make sure you've got a profile that is oriented to the role you are going to step into. So make sure it's relevant to those people. You always need to think, where am I going? Who do I need to impress? Am I in that language?
Am I talking to those people? And, so that's number one. So just make sure you've got your profile okay. And I would also go onto LinkedIn, click on the company that you're joining, and for all companies you will have sitting in the middle of that, you will have [00:28:00] many followers the company has got, and unless it's an education institution, you'll have the number of employees company has got.
So click on the company page, click on employees, with everybody, and if you have LinkedIn Premium, say, "Looking forward to meeting you when I start my new role on Monday."
If you don't have LinkedIn premium
you can't personalise it, and so in that case, I maybe would not connect until I start in that role, and then I would do that on the weekend, and I would just go through and connect with everybody. but if you do have Premium or you can just switch it on for a couple of weeks, make sure you cancel it or they'll keep, keep invoicing you. It just becomes your handshake that you make before you get to meet someone
Sonya: Love those tips. Now, you wouldn't be on the Style and Strategy podcast unless I asked you what is your go-to signature piece that represents your leadership [00:29:00] brand? What is it and why?
Karen Tisdell: Wow. I've recently changed
Sonya: Oh,
Karen Tisdell: I didn't know you
Sonya: I'm excited to hear
Karen Tisdell: I very recently changed it. So it used to be a waistcoat,
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: but pre-COVID, it was always waistcoat and French cuff shirts.
Sonya: Oh, nice
Karen Tisdell: and then emerging from COVID, nobody was wearing those, right? Like, you know, we
Sonya: Yeah
Karen Tisdell: became soft flowing lines, and I've just really struggled with finding my thing.
And I have bought a couple of really big skirts. my favorites are Karen, you're the stylist. Karen, Karen Millen?
Sonya: Oh, yes, Karen Millen.
Karen Tisdell: Yeah.
Sonya: yeah
Karen Tisdell: Yeah, thank you. See, how on trend am I? Not at all. Not even sure of her name, and it starts with Karen. I got that bit right. so it's a beautiful big, big, big skirt.
And so I've worn that, a couple of times, and I've, I've got a lot of really big, really full skirts that make me look like a doll, you know? And, they hide everything from the waist down. I've got a quite a small waist so, [00:30:00] you know. so that's now my new signature piece, to the point that a couple of people have said, "Oh, it's the, it's the woman who
Sonya: Ah!
Karen Tisdell: LinkedIn.
It's the LinkedIn queen who looks like a doll." And I'm like, I,
Sonya: Oh, wow.
Karen Tisdell: queen who
Sonya: look like a doll. And for those of you listening
Karen Tisdell: look, is the doll. So I've gone out and bought a whole load of skirts, and they're all big skirts, tailored jackets or a, a white crisp shirt
Sonya: Love it. The doll. I'm the Queen Bee with doll.
Karen Tisdell: Wait till you see
Sonya: I am, I've got to have a look and see this one. Okay.
Karen Tisdell: now
Sonya: exactly. Everything's gotta matched with that. So, the book or something that you might be listening to now that's probably had maybe one of the biggest impacts on how you lead in life or lead in work or altogether?
Karen Tisdell: Right now I'm reading Lily Brett's, selected essays. I can't remember what they're called. but it's Lily Brett. so she is, she's amazing. I just [00:31:00] love her. So her parents were Jews in the Holocaust. They survived the Holocaust. All of their relatives all died. Lily Brett went through 15 years of, therapy and analysis, back in the '60s and '70s.
she named her three children, after her, her therapist, so that's how
Sonya: Wow
Karen Tisdell: she loves therapy. yeah two of her children, sorry. Uh, the other one's a, a stepdaughter, but she calls daughter. I am loving reading her selected essays because she's a woman who's in her 80s who has really invested in coaching and her own development.
You know, she's wise. She's real. She doesn't, you know, all of her estrogen probably disappeared years to, years ago. She
Sonya: Yeah.
Karen Tisdell: does not care. She will
Sonya: What,
Karen Tisdell: tell you the truth. I just, I love her raw candidness, and her words are like but they're not [00:32:00] overworked. Yeah. I just cannot recommend Lily Brett highly enough.
It's like having a conversation with the wisest, beautiful woman ever.
Sonya: She
Karen Tisdell: used to, like, interview, Janis Joplin and Led Zeppelin
Sonya: really?
Karen Tisdell: the Molly Meldrum. She was the Molly Meldrum in the '60s
Sonya: in her day
Karen Tisdell: um, and she even call, talks about Molly a little bit. but he was called Ian Meldrum at the time, and he worked for her.
Sonya: Oh my goodness. Wow. Okay. That one I haven't read, so I will have to add that to the list as well. and then finally, if someone's got something really big on, right? And, there might be, I'm gonna call it a conversation that really matters, whether it's good or bad, what would you recommend they do before they walk into that conversation?
Karen Tisdell: Deep breaths I've really struggled with anxiety over over the years, and, a lot of people, find that surprising. But I I've done so much work on grounding myself, and I still need to constantly work on it. Other [00:33:00] people go, "Yeah, it's totally you." But, um, for me, it's just deep breaths. Deep belly breaths for me is great, and I love walking on grass, when there aren't ants or bees all over my grass, with bare feet.
Like, just grounding
Sonya: Yeah.
Karen Tisdell: I reckon's great
Sonya: Love it. Thank you very much, Karen, for being on the Style Strategy Podcast. I, um, have... There's so many gold, there's so much gold that h- you have twinkled through today's conversation. So if anyone wants to find you and perhaps, uh, get a look-see at their profile and thought, "That's it, it's time," uh, how would they find you?
Karen Tisdell: Well, you just might find me on LinkedIn, as an ID. Karen Tisdell, and that's T-I-S for sugar, D-E-L-L. Karen Tisdell, in Sydney. so there's a couple of Karen Tisdells around, but I think I'm the only one in Sydney. so pretty easy to [00:34:00] spot. So do reach out. even if anybody's got any LinkedIn questions, I've got so many how-to articles and short videos and things like that.
So I've got a resource for any question you might be wondering, I've got a resource for it, and if I haven't, I'll go and create one
Sonya: Amazing. Thank you, Karen. Thank you for your time today, and I will have all those details in the show notes so you can find Karen pretty easily. All right, everyone,
Karen Tisdell: Wonderful
Sonya: very much. Thanks, Karen
Karen Tisdell: Thank you
[00:35:00]
