Julia (00:00.363)
Hahaha!
Gill Moakes (00:01.948)
Hi Julia, how are you?
Julia (00:04.555)
Good morning. I'm very, very well. Or is it good morning? It's just after morning, actually. I'm very well, Jill. I'm very well.
Gill Moakes (00:09.212)
just after morning. Good, I am thrilled to have you here with me today. It's wonderful. my goodness. I have so many things, you know, because I know you quite well. I have so many things that I want us to talk about and I feel like knowing us we could actually talk all day. But I think this is going to be such an interesting episode for
Julia (00:16.587)
Thank you, I'm thrilled to be here.
Gill Moakes (00:37.788)
my listeners who are in that leadership world. And so I'd love us to kick off. If you could tell us a little bit about your journey to where you are now. So I know you're like me, you are really from a more corporate background, from the fashion industry. Can you tell us a bit about...
Julia (00:54.429)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah, my inspiration was my mother. She was a dressmaker. So I was brought up in a house that was full of fabric and the sewing machine was always out and I loved clothes and everything about it. And when I was making those decisions with regards to what I was going to want to do with my life, those big things you have to decide when you're so young.
I had actually studied science, so I was maths, chemistry, biology. I was very much focused on science. But when it really came to the crunch and it was about, but what am I passionate about and what do I love? It was all about fashion. So I decided that I was going to do a course, not as a fashion designer, because I didn't believe, and I still believe this, that I don't have that unique ability to be an amazing designer. But I heard about buying.
which just felt so right because it was the combination of creativity and design, but bringing the commercial business element to it as well. So I went off and went to Manchester and did a four year clothing studies degree and worked in industry for a year and stepped into the mad, crazy, exciting, stressful, fast paced world of fashion in which I was for
Gill Moakes (02:19.868)
The world that we all, sorry Julia, the world that we all, like our minds all immediately go to the devil where's Prada? Wait, I feel like that's where, that's where my mind goes to. Yeah.
Julia (02:29.131)
well there's a lot of those in there.
Julia (02:34.827)
Yeah, well, there's that's that is actually based on a lot of truth. It's certainly not made up. So I joined my very, very first role as a graduate was Marks and Sparks. So I started working with them in a selection training role, which was actually a really brilliant start because back in the day and it's such obviously having its resurgence now very much the sort of benchmark.
the high street benchmark of how to do it right and very high standards of quality and how to run a retail business effectively. And then through my journey, so I joined as a trainee, that journey took me to many different businesses and around the world. So I was a buyer in training and then I became a manager and then I became a director and then I became a
brand director, and then I became a chief brand officer. And that took me on this journey of becoming a leader, a female leader in a very female dominated industry, but with very few female leads at the top of the tree, which has led me very much to.
Gill Moakes (03:56.092)
Right.
Julia (03:59.691)
where I'm at and what I do now in terms of much of my inspiration comes from that direct experience. So I work with big, big corporate organizations that people will know of, Arcadia, which very sadly no longer exists. So the Arcadia group that housed Wallace and Topshop and Dorothy Perkins and Burton's and Evans, but I also worked for
Gill Moakes (04:21.756)
Hmm.
Julia (04:27.531)
smaller privately owned businesses that were in need of transformation. So a business called Coast, which again, very sadly, most of these businesses don't exist now, but since the pandemic, especially so many of them have disappeared. But taking a journey and going on the journey myself as a leader, that was the organization where I first became a director. So learning the challenges around leading others.
Gill Moakes (04:43.356)
Mm.
Gill Moakes (04:51.708)
Mm -hmm.
Julia (04:54.891)
and developing others as well as developing self. And I took me to Australia. I went over to Melbourne and led the creative functions for a fashion brand called Forever New over in Australia for a number of years, which was an amazing experience because that was a cultural challenge with regards to self and leadership.
Gill Moakes (04:55.484)
Mm.
Gill Moakes (05:19.932)
Yes!
Julia (05:19.947)
It was also a huge challenge from an international perspective because it was Northern and Southern hemisphere, which have polar opposite in terms of climatically and also from a cultural perspective, we operated in 13 different countries. So it was a very, very interesting challenge. So I spent 35 years working within that industry with amazing.
opportunities and amazing experiences, but also equally extremely challenging. And I knew I got to a point which I can I can look back at now retrospectively. I couldn't see it at the time. Actually, when I was in Australia, I hit the big five. and I'd reached this point of knowing in my heart and my soul that it it wasn't right for me anymore.
that it wasn't, I didn't have the same passion to lead that function within an organization.
Gill Moakes (06:17.244)
Mm.
Gill Moakes (06:26.012)
How did that show up for you? How did that manifest in terms of the way you were feeling and what made you realise, you know what, I think I'm at the end of this phase of my life now.
Julia (06:40.139)
I'd got to a stage in the UK before I took the Oz job of what am I going to do next? I mean, literally a very pragmatic questioning of I'm not loving this. I'm not loving this anymore. Where do I go next? Who else do I want to work for? And when I actually went through that list, well, I don't know if I do really want to work with anybody else. And there was something driving me that was just telling me there's more to this.
There's just, there has to be more to my life for me. And I think I knew it in the sense that, I mean, it's a very stressful industry to be in. And I'm, you know, anybody that works in that industry knows the feeling of, you know, you're only as good as your last sale. And it's very fast. And obviously it's got faster and faster and more and more competitive as a consequence of technology and the internet, et cetera. So when the Oz thing came up, I thought,
everything's gonna be perfect. I'm gonna go over to Australia and my life's gonna be perfect. And then that realized, exactly, and there were wonderful things that came out of me, don't get me wrong. But not that long into my tenure and my time over there, realizing, well, you just take with you what you've got. And the questions that I had around, but what's the purpose? Why am I here? What's the, it sounds very big now, which they are big questions.
Gill Moakes (07:44.252)
Fresh start!
Julia (08:09.451)
But I know that I'm here for something more than this. I know I am. And the realisation that actually I need to focus on that. Coming to Australia doesn't give me that answer. Well, it didn't for me. And I'd wanted for years and years and years to explore what I now do. I'd wanted to explore the opportunity of going into the world of coaching and supporting others and leading others.
Obviously being a leader, I led teams and you know, it's the one thing I think that I definitely did when I first became senior. You think that's the easy bit leading people. That's the easy bit. my giddy aunt. It certainly isn't. It certainly isn't as we all know, as we all know. So I started this journey when I was in Australia. I'm going to sign up to the coaching Institute and I'm going to...
Gill Moakes (08:55.516)
Hehehehe
Julia (09:08.747)
become a qualified coach. And I made a conscious decision as well that when I returned to the UK, I wanted to coach and consult. I wanted to share my knowledge and my learning with as many businesses as I could. So became a retail consultant, going into organisations and consulting for them. Whilst I built a coaching business.
Gill Moakes (09:11.164)
Hmm.
Gill Moakes (09:25.34)
Mm -hmm.
Julia (09:37.995)
And here I am, you know, that was back in 2016. So here we are eight years down the line. And I now have a business that has existed called Julia Darlington Coaching and Consulting. And I'm a confident leadership coach working in many different ways, actually, predominantly with women, but not solely with women.
Gill Moakes (10:05.596)
Mm -hmm.
Julia (10:08.523)
but working with individuals, working with teams in order to support, guide, lead, help them to become the best leaders of themselves, of their self, as well as leaders of others. Because if you can't lead yourself, how can you ever be?
Gill Moakes (10:29.052)
I love that. I love that. Sorry. Sorry, leader. Could you just edit that one? Sorry. Can you have we got a time delay, maybe a little bit?
Julia (10:44.011)
I haven't, no, no, no, mine's fine.
Gill Moakes (10:46.14)
You can hear me as soon as I speak.
Julia (10:50.539)
Yep.
Gill Moakes (10:51.74)
I feel like I've got a time delay.
Julia (10:53.163)
You've gone funny now, you've gone all blurry again. You've gone all blurry again.
Gill Moakes (10:56.22)
Yeah, that will always happen. That will always happen. Right. Okay, Lina, I'm just going back in. I'm just going to ask you a question. I love that differentiation that you talk about a lot. And that is around the leadership of self as opposed to and as well as the leadership of others. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?
Julia (11:22.635)
Mmm.
Julia (11:29.131)
Leadership of self. Simplistically.
Julia (11:37.611)
This is very simplistic actually, is...
Gill Moakes (11:40.988)
good, we like the more simplistic the better around here.
Julia (11:45.407)
It's taking 100 % responsibility for you, for self, for your life, for your outcomes, for your experiences, for your career, how you experience your life. Most people, and I'm being really generalistic in everything that we talk about today, so I don't want anyone to think that I'm being judgmental of anybody because I'm not. Most people, and I will put myself in this same camp.
before I knew all the things that I now know and I'm on where I am in my journey, believe that what they're experiencing in their lives is as a consequence of others, of what other people do say is, well, I didn't get that job because that person didn't X or, well, I couldn't possibly do that because other people aren't supporting me and why?
Leadership of self, the fundamental essence of that is the embracing and acceptance of if I want, desire, wish for a particular outcome or experience, or I want to live my life in a certain way, and I'm not saying people don't influence you, of course they do, and I'm not saying it's easy, that's one thing I would like to point out. I'm not saying any of this necessarily is something that's straightforward and easy.
Gill Moakes (12:42.172)
Yeah.
Julia (13:11.627)
But ultimately it starts with, I'm the only one that actually can take responsibility for me because, and this is part of building confidence and I have a six part program around building confidence, which I initiated with another wonderful lady who works in the styling coach profession.
Gill Moakes (13:21.468)
Mm.
Julia (13:38.667)
We all have a choice in every single moment of our lives. You might not think you do, but you do. You have choice around how you think. You have choice around the decisions that you make. I'm not saying, again, that it's easy because you have lots of outside influences, but how you choose to think in any given moment about anything is what powers your...
outcome, the choices that you make. There's something for me, this is a slightly different model, but it's, and you will know this Jill, because of the world that, you know, we both live in.
Gill Moakes (14:12.54)
Mm.
Julia (14:23.979)
There's a very simple equation. E plus R equals O, which is the event plus the response results in the outcome. So in any given moment with anything, if anything happens, anything said, anything happens physically in your life, the event, the way you choose to respond, and it's your choice,
Gill Moakes (14:36.956)
Yeah.
Julia (14:52.683)
will have a direct impact on what the outcome is and how you experience your world. Now that is true of what you're thinking. So if as self, leadership of self, if you go through your life thinking, well, I can't change that. I don't have the power to do that. Well, that's exactly what's gonna happen. That's exactly what you're gonna experience. Whereas if you choose to take 100 %... Yeah.
Gill Moakes (15:09.18)
Hmm.
Gill Moakes (15:16.508)
Fight that victim.
Julia (15:21.963)
It's unresourceful, definitely, very victim. Yeah.
Gill Moakes (15:22.492)
Like the victim mentality. Sorry, sorry Lena. We're talking over each other because there's a bit of a delay, Julia. Hold on. So Lena, can you just take us back? Yeah, so Lena will stitch this in. So it's a bit like the victim mentality. My podcast editor. Okay.
Julia (15:33.483)
Okay.
Julia (15:42.283)
Who's Lena?
Julia (15:47.403)
hello, Dina.
Gill Moakes (15:51.708)
So it's a bit like the victim mentality, isn't it? What you're saying is that it's that response that really...
Julia (15:56.843)
Yes, but I think...
Julia (16:04.363)
Sorry.
Gill Moakes (16:05.724)
Okay, okay. If we start again now, if we talk over each other, it really makes it hard for her to like pull them apart, but she can, she will. So yeah, go.
Julia (16:15.659)
Yeah.
Julia (16:23.979)
Back at the beginning of my experience of all of this, the really poignant piece here is you're not consciously aware that you're doing that initially. We live our lives not being consciously aware that we are telling ourselves that we can't have that, we can't do that, we're not consciously aware of it. We live our lives.
in this state of, we're living in a fraction, a minute fraction of our brain's capability. Many people listening to this will be aware of the conscious and the unconscious mind. We live in our conscious awareness and thinking, which is...
probably 5 % maximum of what our mind is all about. The unconscious is this huge, it's like the iceberg, it's like Freud's description of the iceberg, that what you see on the top is your conscious mind, but the vast majority of what's going on in here and your brain is unconscious. You're not consciously aware of it. The power, and this is where coaching comes into it, and like I said, we both know this because we both work in this sphere.
Gill Moakes (17:32.572)
Hmm.
Julia (17:48.267)
To become the best leader of self and the best leader of others, it's about unlocking that unconscious mind. It's about starting to bring the unconscious into the conscious. It's starting to be consciously aware of the thinking, the habits, the emotions, all the stuff that's housed in our unconscious.
which is driving how we live our lives, how we experience our lives, how we communicate with others. Everything is all being driven by this unconsciousness, but we think we're consciously doing it all.
Gill Moakes (18:25.852)
Mm.
Gill Moakes (18:32.796)
think you're so right. And I also think that, you know, as coaches, that's our number one gift that a coach gives their client is the ability to go deeper and to tap into that unconscious part of their mind. What does that mean for leaders that you work with, Julia? What does that allow them to do that they can't do until they
start uncovering what's deeper, what's there under the conscious.
Julia (19:12.875)
It opens up, and this isn't just for leaders, it's for all individuals, it opens up a whole world of possibility that they've never even consciously been aware of. So our conditioning in terms of our thinking, our conditioning into how things are,
and what they can be, you know, in the world of coaching, it's opening up or stepping over boundary conditions. We set for ourselves without being consciously aware of it, boundaries. And therefore we view our world within the set of boundaries that we've unknowingly put around us by working with a coach, myself, with you, whether that's in a business,
perspective or whether that's in a personal perspective or whether that's in a leadership perspective, by asking really powerful, insightful questions and opening up a dialogue with a client, you start opening up these possibilities that have never been considered. So from a leader's perspective, I've actually, I'm working with quite a lot of senior leaders, COOs, CEOs.
Gill Moakes (20:11.196)
Hmm.
Julia (20:36.235)
first appointment directors, et cetera. One of the things we talk a lot about is identity. We all are influenced by role models, the people that are around us. For women, and I am being quite specific here, for women becoming a leader, I had this amazing conversation with somebody who used to work in my team, actually, in Arcadia, and she's a very, very senior, successful leader now in a very, very large international fashion business.
And she said, when she first became a leader or was given the title of director or the senior role that she had, she said the hardest thing that she found is she had no leadership model to follow because all the leaders she had experienced were either men, no disrespect to men, but a very typical directive style of leadership, quite bullying, quite...
Gill Moakes (21:07.932)
Yeah.
Julia (21:33.995)
not very pleasant anyway, a very, and that's, there's a lot of people like that with all their world within the industry when I was working in the industry. She knew she didn't want to lead like that, but she didn't have any role models that were female because most females had emulated the way in which the men had led.
Gill Moakes (21:50.652)
Sorry. Sorry, Julia. Julia, sorry, can you hear me? She's so... Are you dropping something on the desk, my love? No, are you dropping something on the desk? There's a loud... Like, your mic's picking up a loud noise.
Julia (21:57.771)
Mm -hmm, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Julia (22:06.827)
I was... Sorry, I was just moving my pen.
Gill Moakes (22:11.292)
Yeah, that's okay. That's okay. No, it was just picking that up. Could you just go back to just the start of that very last bit because we can edit that out and stitch it. That's fine. Sorry about that.
Julia (22:18.763)
Okay.
Julia (22:30.219)
That's okay, that's okay. She knew that she didn't want to emulate the male role models that she had experienced in her career. But when she looked to female role models, she couldn't find anyone there either, because most female leaders had had to, or felt they had to, emulate and follow the way in which the men led in order to achieve success, because that's...
how it worked in the business. So she had a real challenge around who am I? Who do I want to be? How do I want to lead? What's my identity as not only herself as an individual, but as a leader in the organization? So this piece around understanding self and opening up new possibilities.
Gill Moakes (23:14.844)
Mmm!
Julia (23:29.195)
As to what is great leadership? What have you experienced that you would see as great leadership? It doesn't have to be in your own role. It doesn't have to be in your own industry. Who would you look to in your world that inspires you? Who do you want to be? What do you want your legacy to be? What do you want people to say about you when you walk out of the room? What impact do you want to have on others?
Gill Moakes (23:56.316)
Absolutely.
Julia (23:58.346)
all of these different questions.
Gill Moakes (24:03.548)
So a lot of that is around, you know, their personal brand, isn't it, as a leader? So really getting under the skin of this identity piece. And I don't know, I think, I know that you talk a lot about confidence and the importance of confidence for leaders. And I feel like that's the first piece, isn't it? Is that once they get confident around their identity, like you just said, who they want to be as a leader, how they want to show up.
Julia (24:10.795)
Mm -hmm.
Julia (24:20.075)
Mm -hmm.
Gill Moakes (24:33.628)
they want the legacy to be as a leader. Once they're confident around that, I guess that is that stepping stone into embodying it, into actually being that leader. Can you talk a little bit to the role of confidence in leadership and why it's just so important?
Julia (24:52.619)
Mm -hmm.
Julia (25:03.019)
If you think of individuals that in your world have been inspirational leaders, mentors, teachers, guides for you,
Julia (25:26.059)
There's not a simple answer to it in that you follow people that you believe will take you or the business where you need and want to be.
Gill Moakes (25:45.212)
Mm -hmm.
Julia (25:46.699)
If that leader...
doesn't have, I feel you really care for my words, I was gonna use the word gravitas and I don't mean it in the sense of gravitas, but energetically, the way in which a leader expresses themselves has a direct impact on whether people will follow.
Gill Moakes (26:13.116)
Mmm.
Julia (26:14.155)
Now I'm not, I'll give you a really, really quite thought provoking comment. I had the pleasure of interviewing for International Women's Day, an amazing leader of one of the banks, one of our banks and leading the diversity and equity and inclusion piece for the bank that she was in. And when we were talking about confidence and confident leadership,
One of the things that was really interesting is women generally, we have learned or been conditioned into, well, to display confidence. It is a masculine way of displaying confidence. So if you think of somebody who's confident, they stand up right, they're sort of looking you directly in the eye, they're quite loud and forceful in terms of the way that they speak. There's something very...
It's very masculine and I'm not saying that's wrong because sometimes that is exactly how you want to show yourself. But confidence can be really quiet. Can be really quite silent. Confidence sometimes, you know when somebody has the confidence to pause?
Gill Moakes (27:35.132)
Mmm.
Julia (27:36.171)
the confidence to not speak, the confidence to be quiet and listen, that can be far more impactful and powerful than somebody who's just talking at you and is loud and brash. So I think this piece around confidence has many different flavours and very different layers to it. And...
Gill Moakes (27:53.916)
Yeah.
Julia (28:06.699)
the scenario or situation that you are in and who you're with will influence how you demonstrate that confidence. Does that make sense? I don't know if that's answer the question.
Gill Moakes (28:18.876)
Yeah, no, it does make sense. But it also what it's brought up for me is that really the self confidence the confidence in yourself I Think is way more important actually Than how you choose to demonstrate or show that confidence outwardly Sorry, Lena
And I think you're absolutely right. The outward demonstration of your inner strength and confidence doesn't have to be loud. It doesn't have to be a shouting voice. It doesn't have to be aggressive or overpowering. And actually, I think we know, don't we, that in modern leadership, I think we're finally realizing the strength in quiet. You just made a really good point, you know.
Julia (28:57.259)
Mm.
Gill Moakes (29:14.652)
We've all come across those people who are just innately so confident in themselves, that they're confident to pause, they're confident to say nothing, they don't feel the need to feel a silence. They can confidently but quietly state their opinion, however controversial that opinion is. And they just come across with, they're just inspiring. And those people tend to be the ones that...
Julia (29:29.163)
Mm.
Julia (29:35.819)
Mmm.
Gill Moakes (29:44.092)
I think those leaders are the ones that really cultivate that loyalty, that following, that really the rallying around them. It's those leaders that tend to do that. The shouty dictatorial kind of, I'm so confident that I'm going to tell you exactly what to do right now. I feel like that's being phased out now. And I think, I hope that this new kind of confidence.
Julia (29:54.411)
Mm.
Julia (30:01.419)
Mm.
Julia (30:07.595)
Mm.
Gill Moakes (30:14.3)
of slightly more balanced masculine and feminine is what's going to take its place.
Julia (30:19.915)
And in terms of leadership, to be a really, really fabulous leader, you don't lead with one style. You know, sometimes you need to be directive. Sometimes you need to tell. Sometimes it's not open for negotiation. You know, if you're in a crisis mode in business or in your life, sometimes you just have to tell and be directive. But there are other times when you might have a coaching approach to it or a great leader.
can flex and adapt their style according to the situation at hand to get the best situation, the best outcome. And something I did want to add, confidence is a combination of internal, like you've just said, and external. And they both play a part in your overall confidence.
Gill Moakes (30:51.708)
Mmm.
Julia (31:07.691)
Now external, there's lots of things that happen externally to us that impact our level of confidence. So, you know, what's going on at the moment in terms of the economy, in terms of the world, in terms of politics, in terms of the politics within an organisation. Those things have an impact on your confidence, but you can't control them. You don't have the control over them. The things you do have control over is what you think and what's going on internally.
The things outside of you that are external tend to fluctuate hugely. They are all over the place. It could be up, down, around the houses. It could be here one minute, gone the next. Internal confidence is something that is more stable that you have control over. And understanding and being able to differentiate when you're in a situation, because I'm perfectly aware of this, because I've been in it myself. There are loads of things getting thrown at you left, right and centre, especially when you're in the workplace, that...
Gill Moakes (32:04.444)
Mmm.
Julia (32:05.355)
happen constantly at you, but knowing, having that inner knowledge and being able to, but I can't impact that. So I'm not gonna let it pull the internal confidence down, because the higher we can build that level of internal confidence, and you build it brick by brick, you don't get confidence overnight. It's not, you have a session with a coach and suddenly you're supremely confident.
Gill Moakes (32:26.972)
Right.
Julia (32:32.362)
It is a gradual brick by brick process. And every time you add a brick to that internal confidence layer, it means that the external events that are happening at you, to you, you're far able to deal with that, far better able to deal with that and draw upon this inner resource and inner power, if you like, of your own internal capabilities.
Gill Moakes (32:55.356)
Mmm.
Mm. God, love, I love what you just said about you build that internal confidence brick by brick layer by layer, because I think you are spot on. It's kind of like it isn't a bit like courage as well. You know, it's you exercise it like a muscle, you push it a little bit, and then sometimes it will spring back a bit, but then you push it a bit further the next time. And, and that's absolutely how you build sustainable confidence in who you are and what you do.
Julia (33:15.211)
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Julia (33:23.659)
Mm.
Julia (33:28.907)
But I also love that piece around fear because in the program, the confidence program that I do, one of the big focuses, as one of the parts of it, is all around fear. And fear, when you're in fear and when you're excited, from a physiological point of view, they're exactly the same. So your breathing becomes more shallow, your heart rate goes up, your temperature changes. They're exactly the same physiological responses.
Gill Moakes (33:29.596)
Yeah, I love that.
Gill Moakes (33:38.94)
Mmm.
Julia (33:58.155)
to excitement and fear. Now, if you know that so that you can reframe the next time you're really scared and you think, you know what? No, I'm actually really excited. So I'm going into an interview scenario or I've got to go and stand in front of that group of people and do a speech or I've got to facilitate a meeting or I've got to do something I've never done before and I'm petrified and I'm really scared. If you tell yourself and reframe that, no, this is excitement, this is anticipation, this is excitement.
This is the excitement that I'm feeling about this new opportunity, this new learning. You can really reframe that story that's going on in your head and then be able to embrace that situation in a very, very different energetic manner.
Gill Moakes (34:43.58)
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Love that. The program that you have, Julia, who's that for? Who would that be grateful?
Julia (34:55.787)
Well, it's actually, and I hate to say this, it's for everybody, but it is for everybody. I mean, I initially started working on this with a wonderful lady called Becky, and she was a personal style coach. And so we were talking about, okay, how do, because we both come from the fashion industry, how does your external appearance have such an impact on how you feel internally with regards to your confidence? So you know that if you rock up feeling...
Gill Moakes (34:59.452)
Yeah.
Gill Moakes (35:20.092)
Mm -hmm.
Julia (35:23.467)
that you look amazing and you're feeling that, you know, everything about you externally looks great. You feel great on the inside. And myself doing what I do, it's all an inside job. It's all on the inside. So we created this thing called the Inside Out Program. So I focused on the inside and she focused on the outside. The initial target audience for that was women. I, as I said, I do work with men and I have found that probably.
Gill Moakes (35:35.164)
Mm -hmm.
Julia (35:53.291)
just as much, but in a quieter manner. They don't maybe shout about it quite as much. I would say 99 .9 % of all the people that I coach, consult with, come into contact with have internally these crippling doubts around themselves and lack of confidence. So I think it's relevant for everybody because as I say to everybody I speak to, and you know this,
Gill Moakes (36:11.612)
Mm. Mm.
Julia (36:19.787)
when we've spoken, Jill, it's all an inside job, all of it, everything you want to achieve in life. We both work, and you more so now than I do, in the business coaching space. So really supporting and helping entrepreneurs to have the tactical tools and the structures and understand how to create, develop and accelerate a successful business. Absolutely key, really important.
Gill Moakes (36:23.996)
Absolutely.
Julia (36:49.323)
But you and I both know you can have all the tools, all the structures, everything. But if your mindset and all the stuff that goes on in here isn't working for you, then it will take you a lot longer to get where you want to get to. And confidence at the root of it, which includes fear, being able to deal with fear and manage fear and understand what you're scared of.
Gill Moakes (37:07.42)
Absolutely.
Julia (37:17.803)
and take relevant steps to change that all contribute to this inner confidence and external, but the ability to live the life that you want and achieve the things that you want to achieve.
Gill Moakes (37:31.26)
Absolutely. And I think there is something isn't there about you just maybe think about this how no one can do this work alone. I think this works hard to do alone. You need like that's where coaches are invaluable when it comes to this, you know. You and I have been working together for a while now and I think you know, there's this element of why would Julia need a coach?
Julia (37:46.187)
Hmm.
Julia (37:50.571)
Mm -hmm.
Gill Moakes (38:00.476)
because she is an eminent coach, but everyone needs a coach. All coaches need coaches. I have a coach. I think it's absolutely imperative that we have someone in our world to hold the mirror, to ask the questions, to help us uncover the things that are going to free us to become the best version of ourselves, whether that's in our life, in our business or whatever it is.
Julia (38:04.395)
Mm.
Julia (38:24.203)
Mm -hmm.
Gill Moakes (38:26.844)
And the point that you just made then about the business coaching, because I don't believe that there is, you know, the business coaching and the personal, the mindset coaching, you can't separate them. you know, like you said, there's, there's absolutely no point in going into the tactics and strategies of growing your business. If you haven't done the work around your mindset, it's just impossible. They just go, you know, they are.
Julia (38:39.691)
No, absolutely.
Gill Moakes (38:56.316)
They are absolutely soldered together. So, yeah, thank you for sharing that because that's such a good point. Such a good point. Julia, if someone is listening to this and they identify with what you've been saying and they can understand how perhaps a lack of confidence could be holding them back or how to a point you made earlier about how there are lots of different...
leadership styles that you need to bring into play at the right and appropriate times. And I know that's something that you help your clients with as well. If someone's listening to this, how can they reach out to you? How can they find out more about you and approach you to potentially work with you?
Julia (39:43.947)
Mm -hmm.
Julia (39:48.108)
There's a myriad of ways. I have a website, Julia Darlington, www .juladarlington .com. So very easy to be able to jump on there and actually contact me, but also see what I do, because I'm a coach and a consultant, the same as you, Jill. You know, consulting is giving the answers. Coaching is asking the questions. And we both seamlessly interweave both of those things.
Gill Moakes (40:05.532)
Mm.
Julia (40:14.827)
So if you're somebody out there and you want some consultative support in terms of your business or you're employed within a business or you're the owner of a business, then I offer those services. But equally, if it's coaching and support you require, then it explains everything on our website. You can also jump onto LinkedIn and find me on there. And you can email me at juliajulliardellenton .com. So there are a number of ways that you can connect with me.
Gill Moakes (40:42.748)
Perfect, thank you. As always, it's such a pleasure to talk to you. I could literally sit and talk to you all day. We talk the same language, don't we? And I just adore you and I adore talking to you. So thank you so much for coming on. I think that's going to be a really powerful episode. Thank you.
Julia (41:04.171)
Thank you. Thank you, Jill. And yes, we could talk the hind legs off a donkey. We could talk for many, many hours, but it's because we've got shared passions.
Gill Moakes (41:09.276)
We could!
Gill Moakes (41:14.3)
Absolutely, absolutely. And, and also, I want to add something here, actually, because I think, you know what, there's a lot of people in our space in the coaching and consulting spaces, there are a lot of people. And there are a lot of people that I don't gravitate to the way I gravitate to you, because what I love about you is that you just, you have nothing but your clients interests.
in your heart. And I think that that shines through from you. You're much more concerned about the outcome from your clients. And that's the most important thing to you. And I feel that with my practice. So I think that's another thing that draws us together. I think I really see that in you. So yeah, I would urge anyone who's listening and feels like, I feel like Julia could be the right one for me. Because we know, you know, we're in a very similar space, but my goodness.
There is something about finding the right coach for you. If you're listening to this and you're like, I love what Julia has to say and I think she could be the one for me, reach out to her. I'm going to put all the links in the show notes. And yeah, explore, explore, explore, explore and find what the right support for you looks like. Thank you, Julia. I will speak to you again soon.
Julia (42:34.347)
Thank you, Jill, for giving me the opportunity to be on here.
Gill Moakes (42:38.3)
Bye for now everyone.
Gill Moakes (42:50.684)
Just stop.
