#144 How six words can tell your life story with Larry Smith
Release Date: 02/20/2025
#154 Breaking barriers and empowering the next generation with Marie-Ange Eyoum Tagne, PhD
Another Door Stories
“I want to frame my journey to be an example, to be a road map, to hand the baton to somebody else, to the next generation.” In this episode, Marie-Ange Eyoum Tagne, PhD, a product leader, and technologist, shares the inspiration behind her new memoir “For Such a Time Like This”. From her childhood in Cameroon, dreaming of going to the moon, to leading teams at Meta, Amazon and Yahoo, Marie-Ange’s journey is a powerful testament to following your heart, staying strong, even when everything around you suggests you should be doing something completely...
info_outline
#153 Finding a different way to use your magic (and humour) with Emma Djemil
Another Door Stories
“There has to be a different way for me to use my magic in the world. My magic can't keep mopping up messes that are created by ridiculous decisions like this.” When HR Director Emma Djemil hit a moment of ‘enough is enough’ she knew it was time for her skills, energy, passions to be directed elsewhere. Stuck cleaning up the messes of others, she knew it was time for a big change. In this episode, Emma talks about what it really takes to walk away from a toxic job, where to find the drive for something new, and why humour is such a powerful tool for getting through...
info_outline
#152 Starting all over again with Mark Green
Another Door Stories
“There were two significant moments, two significant doors. One was the thought of that's it. I'm dead. Door closed on everything. And the other moment was when the consultant said, you can have all this back. You've just got to work for it. Door open.” In this episode, Mark Green, founder of Change Rebellion, shares his wild story of a door closing, nearly for good, and how it changed him and his perspective for life. It’s not just a story about navigating professional change; it’s about survival, resilience, and finding purpose. When COVID hit his family in late 2020,...
info_outline
#151 The Art of Being Brave: Strength in Breaking, Power in Rising
Another Door Stories
“I think whenever you feel yourself being resistant, the challenge is to find acceptance. Because you have to accept something to shove that resistance out of the way. And once you've accepted it, you can move beyond it.” In this episode, I’m speaking with Kreena Dhiman, a friend, and an incredible keynote speaker who leaves you feeling like you can achieve anything! Kreena shares her story of unexpected redundancy after a decade in a successful accounting career, and how that shock forced her to confront not only her professional identity but also lifelong struggles, setbacks,...
info_outline
#150 Finding your voice and your value in times of change with David James
Another Door Stories
“It was a phenomenal time looking back, of anxiety at the beginning and disbelief that this was going to do anything for us, to finally being acquired at the end of 2021 in a life changing deal.” In this episode, I speak to David James about the reality of walking away from a, on paper, dream corporate role in search of something else. David left the Walt Disney Company and joined the startup world, he shares the story of facing into the setbacks, the moments of wonderful serendipity, the moments of deep, dark doubt (my words, not David’s!). We talk about the emotional...
info_outline
#149 Success isn't static: why we keep redefining what matters with Anna Lundberg
Another Door Stories
“What does success actually mean to me? Why did I quit my job really? How do I build this freedom, flexibility, fulfillment? How do I redefine it?” In this episode, I talk to Anna Lundberg, an executive coach, business mentor and strategic adviser who challenges us to think about success and what it means to us. Anna shares her career change from corporate marketing to creating a business with more freedom and fulfillment. We explore the evolution of success, exploring unexpected paths and random connections that shape our careers and personal growth, like finding me on...
info_outline
#148 Getting comfortable with the unknown with Suzanne Penny
Another Door Stories
“Sometimes the doors closing are not just physical things. Sometimes it is about closing the way we do something, the way we think, so that we can step into a different space for ourselves.” Have you ever felt the weight of certainty pull you down, trapping you in a life that doesn’t truly fulfill you? In this episode I sit down with Suzanne Penny, a transition and career coach, who shares her own transformative journey of leaving behind certainty in favour of embracing the unknown. Suzanne shares key turning points in her life that could have easily anchored her in fear and...
info_outline
#147 From law courts to catwalks: following your heart with Taiwo Meghoma
Another Door Stories
"I thought, if dressing people and making people look good makes them happy, then I would love to do this." Have you ever felt the weight of questioning your career path and wondered if there might be something else out there that's truly meant for you? In this episode, we take you on a journey with Taiwo Meghoma, a lawyer-turned-fashion-stylist. From a young boy in Nigeria discovering his love for fashion by helping his mother with her outfits, to sitting front row at major fashion weeks alongside his idols, Taiwo's story is about boldly opening new doors even when the world might tell...
info_outline
#146 How kindness shows up in moments of change with Graham Allcott
Another Door Stories
"When you have kindness in the culture, you build psychological safety. And from there you have high performing teams, better staff retention, creativity, resilience, like it really stacks up in terms of all the different benefits that you get by increasing levels of kindness and empathy in your business." Kindness can transform not just your personal well-being but also the landscape of work and leadership. In this episode, I reconnect with Graham Allcott, productivity expert, author, and now a passionate advocate for kindness in the workplace. We share the inspiration for his new book Kind,...
info_outline
#145 Fusing engineering with creativity to unleash rebellious curiosity with Yemi Penn
Another Door Stories
"The biggest thing was I wanted to be more responsible as a thought leader. And in a world where we have so much information, misinformation, disinformation, it was important that I went through a process of acquiring knowledge and creating new knowledge and it was the PhD." Ready to lead a curiosity rebellion? We have the inspiring Yemi Penn as our guest. Yemi is a trailblazer who has navigated and embraced change across continents, careers, and personal transformations. From her early beginnings in engineering to becoming a documentary creator and author, Yemi has followed her...
info_outline"We tell stories in times of transition because in good times, bad times, lateral movements, figurative movements, we need to make sense of the world. Stories help us help us process. This is what makes us human."
Can six words help you process change, and tell your life story?
On the podcast Larry Smith shares how a simple Twitter experiment 15 years ago turned into a global storytelling movement - the Six Word Memoir project.
Our conversation is not just word count. Larry shares his closing door life moments, from divorce, to relocation, to career change.
We discuss his unique 'three-part theory' of life balance, the importance of taking things one door at a time, and how sharing our stories creates meaningful connections. This is about embracing change on your own terms.
Here are the highlights:
11:55 A Twitter project on six-word memoirs unexpectedly became a long-term career
13:54 Getting the courage to embrace a storytelling career
19:21 First project smithmag.net failed, but birthed the successful "six-word memoirs" idea
21:00 The importance of concise expression, inspired by six-word memoirs
23:46 Stories help us process the world during transitions and make us human
More about Larry
“A quest to spark creativity in everyone” quoted by Oprah Magazine, Larry Smith is the founder of The Six-Word Memoir® Project, a bestselling series of ten books, live event program, and a global phenomenon found in classrooms, conferences, and corporate settings alike.
Larry has worked with teams on storytelling at Netflix, Twitter, Levi’s, JPMorgan Chase, Dell, ESPN, and Google, as well as foundations, philanthropies, and schools. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, ESPN Magazine, Popular Science, Men’s Journal, Slate, and Buzzfeed, and has contributed essays to anthologies including Modern Love: 50 True and Extraordinary Tales of Desire, Deceit, and Devotion.
He’s the editor of the book, The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous and Obscure, and director of the play, A Map of Myself: A 70-Minute, One-Woman Revolution on War, Immigration, History, and Home. This summer he’s teaching a five-day workshop, Tell More More: Crafting Your Story at Mid-Life , at the MEA retreat center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Website: https://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/
The things that helped Larry navigate change -
Book: "Lost and Found" by Catherine Schultz
Music: "This Will Be Our Year" by The Zombies
The one piece of advice: “Trust the process…You might have a plan for your life that you've decided will work. Trust it until you can't trust it.”
About your host Eleanor
Eleanor supports individuals, teams and organisations through change. Whether it’s 121 coaching or large scale organisational change through communications and training. Eleanor’s work centres around how we, as humans, work through change, embracing the messy bits, the role of playing, with the aim to see opportunity. “Too often we get stuck in the change happening to us, when just through that next door is an exciting next chapter.”
Eleanor is the founder of Another Door and the author of Why losing your job could be the best thing that ever happened to you.
Instagram:instagram/anotherdooruk
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanor-tweddell/
Website: eleanortweddell.com
Produced by winteraudio.co.uk