#130: The Art of Challenging Conversations with Rachel Cashman

In this episode I speak to “fearless facilitator” Rachel Cashman about her unconventional life and career. We talk about her secretive family history, 'feral' teenage years, and the moment working in a care home that set her on a career path she is still on today, with a strong sense of justice being the thread that has run through her work since. We also talk about Rachel's superpower: facilitating challenging conversations. What it looks like to 'go there', with advice on how to navigate those conversations yourself in the workplace, or with clients. Find Rachel on LinkedIn here Find Rachel's website here Rachel shouted out Dame Sue Hill and Amara Ahmed. Join the conversation with me on Instagram here ---------- This episode is brought to you by Victoria Whittington Financial Planning. Victoria knows how easy it is to put off sorting your finances. Life is busy. Work, family, and everything else always seem to take priority. That's why her advice is clear, jargon-free, and designed to fit around your life, not the other way round. Her role is to help you turn what you want for the future into a clear plan, break it into manageable steps, and give you the support to keep going until you get there. If you'd like to have a friendly, no-pressure chat about what financial planning could do for you book a no-obligation 30-minute session here.  Victoria Whittington Financial Planning is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James's Place Wealth Management plc which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the purpose of advising solely on the group's wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the group's website www.sjp.co.uk/products. This episode is also supported by the Life Threads podcast. It's hosted by Professor Lynda Gratton — she's a professor at London Business School, one of the world's top thinkers on the future of work, and the author of The 100-Year Life. And her new podcast is genuinely brilliant. It's an eight-part series, and each episode takes one of the threads that makes up a fulfilling working life — mastery, cooperation, friendship, adventure — and brings it to life through real conversations with extraordinary people. We're talking Grayson Perry, Julia Gillard, Robert Waldinger. It's the kind of podcast that makes you think differently about where you are, and where you're going. If you're someone who takes your career seriously — and I know you are, because you're here — Life Threads is exactly the kind of content you should have in your ears. Search Life Threads in your chosen podcast app, or click here to listen on Spotify or here to listen on Apple