Episode #9: Barry Ennis - Follow The Fire

His determination and attitude took Barry Ennis from runner to leader of senior management teams and multimillion-pound projects in a television career that involved a BAFTA-winning show, seven series of Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire? and… Beyonce! But when, in a moment of struggle, he took himself through a self-coaching exercise, he realised that his work in television didn’t speak to the values and passions that were at his core. He set out to find something different, and knew he had found it when - part way through training as a coach - some transformational work with a fellow student lit a fire in him.

Since then, he has followed that fire to the sense of wonder he gets from the right learning, relationships which have enabled his business to thrive, and his new business, The Wake Up Method, providing organisations with a proven way to motivate, inspire, train and retain the next generation of managers and leaders.

In this episode, we talk about:

What he learnt from building his first business, The Guerilla Experience, (with business partner Teresa Klasener,) from their first event, to working in organisations, to what brought that company to an end.

How he created his first corporate coaching offer during a call with a potential client.

Why he says he runs a business, rather than works as a coach, and why he finds the term coaching unhelpful at times.

The dangers of social media and how he uses it.

Plus, Barry talks beautifully about his upbringing and where the stories that have supported his business have come from, including how the distinction between ‘I have a place’ and ‘Know your place’ has made all the difference for him, leaving him in power and not hopelessness.

For more information about Barry, visit: www.TheWakeUpMethod.com, @TheWakeUpMethod on instagram or ​https://www.linkedin.com/company/thewakeupmethod

For information about Robbie’s wider work and writing, visit www.robbieswalecoaching.com.

Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQg

Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):

~16: Barefoot Coaching - https://www.barefootcoaching.co.uk/

~16: Kim Morgan - https://www.barefootcoaching.co.uk/about-us/kim-morgan

~20: Transactional Analysis - https://www.itaaworld.org/

~31: Giles Barrow - https://gilesbarrow.com/

~44: Mariana Ipkendanz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariana-ipkendanz-acc-125a70143/

~48: International Coach Federation/ICF - https://www.coachfederation.org.uk/

~69: Teresa Klasener - https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresaklasener/

~78: BetterUp - http://www.betterup.com

~82: The Berne Institute - https://theberne.com/

~87: The podcast episode where I spoke to the guest, Joel Monk, about the neuroscience of goal setting was this one: https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-6-joel-monk-conversations-at-the-cutting-edge-of-coaching In it, we refer back to this episode of the Coaches Rising Podcast with Richard Boyatzis: https://www.coachesrising.com/podcast/how-to-access-optimum-growth-states-in-coaching/

~95: NABS – https://nabs.org.uk/

~97: Kate Rees - https://www.katereescoaching.com/

~101: Fiverr - https://www.fiverr.com/

~103: Barry’s Brag Alert post on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/barry-ennis-coach_wakeup-coaching-coachofthemonth-activity-6630457599294783488-Rrly

~109: Michael Neill - https://www.michaelneill.org/

~116: Abraham Maslow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow

~119: Soil, Soul, Society by Satish Kumar

~120: Ken Wilber - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber