Say it Sister...
Lucy and Karen, two 40-somethings, are always chatting about life, and all that it has to throw at them, and now want to share their raw, honest conversations with you. Their journey of self-discovery and healing is something many of us can relate to. We all possess a unique power within us, but life’s trials often knock us off course. They have the tools, the courage to speak up and simply say it as it is, so you might feel seen, and understood and gain practical tools and techniques for self-discovery and personal growth during the changes we experience.
Say it Sister...
Emma Streets Pt 2: Finding Your Voice in a World of Crisis
Lucy and Karen welcome back Emma Streets, a leader in reputation management, to discuss navigating global crisis, preserving personal agency, and finding wisdom in challenging times. They explore how women can maintain their voice in a world that often seeks to silence them.
• Finding balance between staying informed and protecting mental health in a 24/7 news cycle
• Setting personal boundaries around news consumption while maintaining professional awareness
• Strategies for processing difficult information without becoming overwhelmed
• The value of age and experience in crisis management situations
• Why comparing yourself to others diminishes with age and brings greater self-compassion
• How "global collective trauma" is now recognized as an official risk in professional reports
• The connection between global crises and mental health challenges
• Overcoming imposter syndrome through authentic professional relationships
• Why multiple generations working together creates the best solutions
Use your voice, journal, speak or sing out loud. However you do it, we hope you join us in saying it sister.
Hello and welcome to the Say it Sister podcast.
Speaker 2:I'm Lucy and I'm Karen, and we're thrilled to have you here. Our paths crossed years ago on a shared journey of self-discovery, and what we found was an unshakable bond and a mutual desire to help others heal and live their very best lives.
Speaker 1:For years, we've had open, honest and courageous conversations, discussions that challenged us, lifted us and sometimes even brought us to tears. We want to share those conversations with you. We believe that by letting you into our world, you might find the courage to use your voice and say what really needs to be said in your own life.
Speaker 2:Whether you're a woman seeking empowerment, a self-improvement enthusiast or someone who craves thought-provoking dialogue, join us, as we promise to bring you real, unfiltered conversations that encourage self-reflection and growth.
Speaker 1:So join us as we explore, question and grow together.
Speaker 1:It's time to say say it, sister, welcome back everyone. This is actually a part two episode because we're still with Emma Streets, a woman leading in a male-dominated industry of reputation management, where every day we see new stories unfold of crisis, whether it's forest fires, burning homes to the ground, corporate scandals, a political crisis that ends careers and even governments in record time. In this episode, we will talk with Emma about the world view of crisis management, when it's happening in our world right now and how it impacts people almost globally, and especially women at this time, and the lessons that we can learn as individuals. So today we say women crisis happens, but don't lose your voice and your agency in a world that wants to silence you. So welcome back, emma, and let's start talking about the rapid rate of these crises or the trauma that's happening globally, the stories that we're hearing. It's almost like humanity's trauma and it impacts all of us and because of the fast pace, it just it's one after another after another. Can you speak to that please?
Speaker 3:yes, sure, thanks for having me back. So, yeah, I would say, you know, first of all, define crisis. I think we're in quite a unique, unique situation at the moment where, genuinely, we have a lot of crises, I think over the years, certainly within communications, often people would describe a crisis as something that's not actually a crisis. It might be an issue, it might be something that is challenging to the reputation at that point in time, but I think a true crisis would be reserved for things like global disasters, as you mentioned which, and conflict, which is obviously, unfortunately, a situation that we are currently now all living through. So I think that's quite unprecedented.
Speaker 3:I think, definitely the sense of urgency today between social media news even you can just sense it. I think people are heightened in terms of their awareness. There's so much more information that's available 24 7 and I certainly think that's leading people to to find it challenging. I think we also have extremes, where we have people that are connected and also, I think can often personally I know I've done this before kind of spiral into just watching the news rolling cycle of news 24 7 and getting really hooked into a certain situation or a certain story, which can actually be quite obviously unhealthy and quite toxic over time.
Speaker 3:And then you have now increasingly groups of people that have chosen to disconnect, that don't watch the news, because they want to kind of protect their mental health that way, and then they're consuming their information on different channels, so it might be social channels, it might just be from their own personal groups and networks. So again, I think we're living in extremes really of people and somehow we have to navigate that and make sure that you know, not only as individuals we're able to to safely consume information and function, but also on a professional level when it comes to communicating. It's very difficult to sometimes to find the balance between how often do we need to communicate, what channels do we need to communicate on, because this is certainly always changing and I don't think we've been in a situation where we've had so many different channels for communicating, and I think that's definitely contributing to why it feels like quite an intense time to be alive on planet earth yeah, it definitely is, and it's like that.
Speaker 2:I suppose that's where the reality tv craze comes in as well, because people will watch reality tv over watching what's actually going on in the world.
Speaker 2:They get in like doses of reality, but it's obviously manufactured at the same time and I suppose there's a sense of relief that people get from that. I mean, I've done a lot of work in the trauma space personally and professionally, and there's definitely definitely a trend in that space that's saying don't watch the news, because those images that you see on the news will get clogged up in your brain and in your body and unless you know how to release them, it's going to go round and round and round and round in circles, and I know that that is true. Um, I feel like there's probably a bigger conversation we could also be having about how do we equip people to actually process through the negative things that they see or that they hear, because we don't want to have highly triggered people out there that are unable to cope with what's going on in the world so it's kind of like finding that place from this connection sounds really extreme.
Speaker 2:That you don't know what's going on in the world and then being so caught up on it feels really extreme and really unhealthy, and both are unhealthy. So it's like finding that. What's coming up for me is like the idea of helping businesses, helping women, you know, helping all of us to sort of manage this state that we're in, which is either not part of the world or hypervigilant.
Speaker 3:I think it comes back to boundaries for me, and I think again, it's being able to, in a world that's increasingly merging all of the worlds together, being able to set a personal boundary and a professional boundary. So within my professional you know career, I have to be able to watch the news. That comes with part of my job. Anyone that works in communications needs to have an awareness of what's happening culturally and informationally around the world and unfortunately that does mean exposing yourself to the news. But that is the reality of what that industry and that that job demand. That doesn't mean that on the weekends or when I'm not working that I then have to also consume the news and that there aren't different ways that I can look to, you know, reconnect with myself, switch off. A lot of it for me comes to movement, comes down to movement in terms of being able to release any sort of negativity, and I'm very passionate about working out, going for walks. I think that's a really important thing to do, to just let things go, and again, that's just my personal kind of strategy for helping to manage that.
Speaker 3:I think it comes back to it's okay to set boundaries, but I think it's also there's a need for understanding that there is, within a professional context, a level of resilience that you have to be able to build, and I think you know it's tough. It's difficult at the moment. It's probably more difficult than it's ever been working communications in a world that's constantly switched on. So I think it's really important to have these conversations and again be able, like you say, to suggest ways that people can cope, because it's going to be different for everyone. But even just having the discussion in the first place, I think, is something that just needs to start happening more yeah, we certainly myself and Lucy have talked about this.
Speaker 2:We've talked about this idea of trigger warnings, you know, and actually having something that says you know that this is a trigger warning so that people know that what is coming may may trigger they may not trigger them at all.
Speaker 2:But you know, like there's a sensitivity around certain topics that we feel are really important to talk about because they're happening in their real life topics, and yet we're aware that, you know, somebody else might not want to listen to that, and then they have a choice to be able to disconnect and say, okay, well, I won't listen, I'll stop here but I'll tune into something else later. Maybe you them fully, but there's something that's honest and open about that that I feel is really, really important in today's world, because I will be sat sometimes and something will flash up on social, social media and it's literally in my feed, it's so you can't even stop it, and then obviously then that's in my head and it's in my heart and it it really really off centers me and then continue, because I feel like there's a bombardment that's happening anyway, that if I don't clear at what I'm digesting, um, what I'm seeing, then I'm basically going to walk around a wreck. That's how it feels.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I'll share with you how I kind of cope with it because that might help one of the listeners. Um, but for me the only news that I watch is the seven o'clock news, when my TV comes on automatically at 7am every morning. So I catch those headlines, but they are the headlines that are diluted because everybody can watch them, because I found that when I was watching the 10 o'clock news they were showing much more graphic stuff and I just I don't want that before I go to bed. So I'm very selective of the news that I do follow. And where I tend to go is when a new story breaks.
Speaker 1:I tend to look at the human responses, because I guess it's my social science nature, because I want to see how are people thinking about this, how are people responding. I don't want to see the videos of George Floyd or Rodney King or burning animals. I don't want that image ever in my head. But I want to see how are people responding with a response to that, because that always gives me hope, because the helpers are everywhere. But also it is that listening to the nuances, because TikTok is one of my favourite, because you get some really amazing thoughtful perspectives on different situations. So I try and like take the bigger picture rather than just these images, because they are invasive and often on major news channels they're just one side, so that's how I tend to protect myself. I go for the diluted version of the news.
Speaker 3:It helps yeah, and I think that's great because then you get like you say, you get enough of a sense of it and then you're able to look at the options that work for you. I think the problem is we've got so many options and certainly potentially younger people as well coming growing up that haven't ever known any difference, so they might not necessarily know how to protect themselves. And I think for me as well as a mother, it's really. It's really difficult sometimes if the news comes on tv and the you know, most of the time I just turn off because I don't want my daughter's five, I don't want her to to see it, but I know at some point, as she gets older, it's going to be a case of filtering. Well, actually, she needs to know what's happening in some instances. So where do I go to show her or tell her about information that is is genuine fact and that she needs to know? But what does she not need to know? What can I protect her from?
Speaker 1:you know, one thing I know for sure having older um children is they don't watch the news. They get their news from social media, and that is just inevitable. So that's the the direction you've got to take the they don't read newspapers and they don't read the traditional, which is why we see a huge generational difference in terms of the topics that we're seeing today, because they're getting their news from completely different sources. But I also do see that on one side of the connected, their worldview is very, very different, unless their algorithm's taking them in a dangerous situation. But they tend to be more globally minded and they are activists because they are hearing what's happening in Serbia or in South America, whereas our news on the the traditional is very, very limited and UK centric. So that's a whole other topic, I guess.
Speaker 3:I think so because for me, there's still a huge role for quality journalism and professional journalists that are fact-checking and I think, obviously with the news last week for Meta that they're essentially getting rid of or removing a lot of fact checkers. I think that's genuinely quite concerning in terms of being able to balance that need for free speech with what is factually accurate. And I think you know, certainly for my industry we're discussing, might we see a return to a lot more of the old school kind of journalist relationships to ensure that the people that you are dealing with are professionals and are seeking out both sides of the story and presenting the facts that have been corroborated, and and I think that's that's really, really important.
Speaker 1:But again, that's definitely probably another discussion, but what it does bring into my mind is something about having a little bit more wisdom, and as we get older we get that little bit of wisdom, and I know that you've got some very thoughtful well thoughts on being older and wiser.
Speaker 3:I think so. I mean, I would never imagine myself as older and wiser per se, but in this context I'm enjoying it and I think it's about embracing it really. I mean, I think definitely, you know, there's a certain wisdom that comes with experience. One of the conversations that I was having quite recently with um an editor who writes um for a big PR magazine was around do you think younger people could do this sort of job within crisis management? Because I think, you know, there's a question, as with every industry, about the working population getting older and young people maybe not choosing to go into the same sorts of careers as as we would have done. So I think it's really interesting to have that debate, because for me, there are certainly some skills that only can develop over time that are useful, and in this context, I think, life experience, resilience.
Speaker 3:I know people talk about resilience a lot, but I think there's a real difference between there's so many different types of resilience.
Speaker 3:So when I first became a mother, people would say to me things like oh, kids are so resilient and that gets wheeled out all of the time. Yes, they are, but in a totally different way to an adult, and it's those sorts of nuances I don't think people really talk about, and I think it's great that now we're living in a place where we're much more comfortable as women, talking about the benefits of ageing and what comes with that and not always focusing on the negatives as it has traditionally been the case. So I think you know, working in a crisis management situation despite the fact that every situation is different, there are certainly lessons and trends that you can start to see, and I think just also the comfort of knowing that you've lived through something once you can live through it again, and I think that's the main type of wisdom that you've lived through something once you can live through it again, and I think that's the main type of wisdom that that comes with getting older it.
Speaker 2:For me, I, it's like we're talking about positive ageism here, you know, because, like you said, it's always been a negative thing. It's like women disappear from like business, from the boardrooms, you know, it's just crazy. So this positive aging in terms of helping women to see that actually they've got a lot to add, they've got a lot of value they've got, they've got wisdom inside them that the world actually needs, it's not just in their benefits, it's the benefit of all of us, that these women can activate them. And I feel like, you know, if you're out there living this journey, talking about this journey, then that's going to inspire so many more women but also show the younger generations that they've got longevity, that they're not just going to be around for a certain period of time and then maybe they'll have babies and maybe, you know, menopause is going to happen. It feels like quite a depressing way to view our lives, our journeys. What do you want to say to like the older you first, and the younger you? What have you got?
Speaker 3:do you know, when I think about this it's so interesting because there was definitely a period of time in my career and I'd say quite a long period of time where I couldn't wait to be older, because I was definitely very much, I'd say, judged for being younger and it was kind of cool. You're not really experienced enough to do this, or you just need a few more years under your belt and then you can progress, or then you can specialize in this, or then you're going to be taken more seriously, was effectively the the kind of subtext. So I kind of look back to myself now and I think, yeah, I understand that impatience to get older, um, and actually I wouldn't change that because I think that it, you know, I'm glad that I had that experience. But now that I am older, I look back and think, yeah, you know what, that didn't have to be a barrier, because now it's almost to the end of the scale of hey, if you're young, you can start a million businesses and live the hustle culture and do all these things. You know, you've got that different ambition now, um, that comes with being apparently only for people that are younger.
Speaker 3:You know, it seems it can be packaged up in that way, um, whereas when I was in my 20s it was very much like wait till you're in your 30s for your PR career and then you'll really be taken seriously, as you know, and it's kind of like, yeah.
Speaker 3:But then my 30s came and when I, you know, I got married, I had a kid and now here I am in my 40s and, yeah, you know, I'm loving being older because I've not had anyone yet tell me that I'm too old. So I'm excited for that, looking forward to that conversation. But yeah, I just think it's changed so much, even in the last five years, the kind of the dynamic of being able to talk about your age, being totally honest about your age, and also, I think there's a power in saying, even though I'm older, sometimes I still don't really know what, what, what to do, and that's fine. I think, again, when I was younger, there was a perception of older people, certainly in the workplace, had everything figured out and well, they'll know what to do because they're older. Well, you know spoiler alert, you don't do, you.
Speaker 1:And the thing is that the older people have never lived in times like now. So, from a human experience, yes, they're older and wiser, um, but yeah, me trying to apply the wisdom that I've got at 20 to today's world is completely different. So we need actually all the generations and all the ages to be working together to solve these crises, these issues, these problems, because that's where the real wisdom comes from. Um, listening to all the voices, then we'll find the truth or the the best solution. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think that's what's great about the workplace now is that it is it's a challenge and it's also a massive opportunity. There are so many generations in the workplace now, more than they've ever been, and I think figuring out this multi-generational workplace is a challenge, for I think you know most businesses across the world and that's certainly on the list of kind of. You know the risks and so, for example, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations puts out an annual report on risks, reputation, resilience, and in that list, the the multi-generational or hybrid workplace is one of the lists, is one of the challenges on that list, because I think people are still finding their way about things like hybrid working. What does it mean? That's very different for each of the generations, so I think, essentially, allowing people to be individuals and embracing that within the workplace and allowing that wisdom to come through from every different person is definitely the way forward.
Speaker 3:Um. Something else on that list though, interestingly, is the um. Global collective trauma is named as a risk um on that report from the cipr, and I thought that was really um when I heard that, which was on a kind of industry webinar at the end of last year. That really stayed with me and that had such an impact that people were talking so openly and I thought, oh my god, this is amazing that people are speaking this now and putting this in you know, official reports and documentation, because, again, there's no way that you would have seen that 10 years ago, um, or even five years ago, really. So I think that's really important, that that's being recognized now as a huge risk.
Speaker 2:I feel like as well. When you look at what happened with COVID, so you know, when we had a global pandemic, it affected every single country. Um, people went into as well. A lot of people went I'm not saying everybody did, but, like, mental health became a pandemic as well, and so when we have a global crisis, we have a mental health crisis, and that's because, generally, people are walking around with trauma that is in their bodies that hasn't been fully, um dealt with in some way. You know, you get another thing on top of that, and that's when people start to really struggle and spiral.
Speaker 2:And so there's the fact that this is being talked about as a real, huge risk and a real. It's also an opportunity, because it's an opportunity for people to heal. But without the conversations, without the support systems in place, without the experts coming in, without businesses saying we recognize this as an issue, you're waiting for the next global trauma to hit and then you're going to see another spike. So I think this is a massive step forward and thank you for sharing it with us today, because this is not something that I've heard named in such a overt way. It gives me a lot of hope. It also gets me fired up because it makes me go like, yes, I want to get out there and do this work, because this is the work that I was born to do.
Speaker 2:Do you know what I mean? Um, yeah, I haven't really got a question on it, but I'm just almost like there's a part of me that goes into this deeply reflective place and the importance of this podcast, of your work, of our conversations, to be saying to people did you know that this was? This is a huge risk, all of us. What's the strategy?
Speaker 3:and I think that's why it's so much more difficult for brands to navigate that, because it's so much more complex their audiences there's now so many more nuances. But that's also why it's so important for brands to be really transparent as well about their own activities and what they're doing, because they're dealing with an audience that you know is potentially traumatized or has a lot of awareness of like we talked about before, kind of previous approaches to hiding up, covering up scandals and corruption and things like that. Everyone is so much more sensitive and aware of those issues that that's why brands really have no choice other than to be a lot more transparent but really carefully think about how they communicate and it is more difficult definitely.
Speaker 2:You did mention to me about imposter syndrome and I feel like this is something that you know women men deal with it as well, but I think women definitely deal with it and it and it's almost positioned as a younger person thing. But I actually feel that in perimenopause and menopause we can go through imposter syndrome then too, so it shouldn't really be given an age. But you were talking to me about how how this has actually helped you overcome that through the work that you're doing. Can you explain a bit more about that and how that's helped you?
Speaker 3:yeah, I think for me, being able to be in a space where, first of all, people are listening to you, um, I feel like sometimes in your career you can feel like you're not listening to you necessarily and I think in an, in a capacity where people are bringing you in to be their sounding board and to listen to you not just me, obviously, my whole team, my colleagues but I think also, knowing that you're going to be heard, I'm feeling empowered to be able to speak and be authentic and give them that advice person to person, human to human. I think you know, obviously you require a level of experience to do this role, but you're having to cut through to the emotional side of them, as well as the business and rational and logical side, and have that conversation with all of those elements in play. So I find that very liberating. Um, I also think again, getting older.
Speaker 3:You know, I used to definitely compare myself to other people. I think when you get older, you compare yourself to you when you were younger and I think in some ways that can be worse than comparing to other people, but in many ways that can again also be quite liberating. And when you look back and think, god, you know, bless me. 25 year old me. You know I wouldn't change anything but how different I am, and I think you just evolve at a faster pace. The older you get, I feel like the more self-aware you are, um the more able you are to to kind of look back and have that compassion for yourself and just give yourself the good grace that you didn't necessarily know everything when you were younger and you won't know everything when you're older. But that's okay. You just have to do the best that you can do, um, you know, in the time that you have wonderful.
Speaker 2:I'm just, I'm just feeling into that. I've gone quiet. Sometimes we have these discussions, don't we? And we're sort of in a fast pace and we're talking really fast and there's all this wisdom that's being sort of like downloaded and there's no space in the middle for us to sort of feel into. And then what's then? When me and Lucy listen back, we're like, oh, wow, that was really, really powerful.
Speaker 2:But in the moment we sort of tend to miss, and I suppose that's what's coming through for me, as we, you know, wrap this up, to be like, yes, I can't wait to listen back to it. Um, and I know and I can feel how much you've shared with us in such an inspiring way that will help so many women listening to go oh, she's just landed something for me, she's just made a point that is me, she's talking to me. Um, as we do when we share conversations in a um, you know, normally private conversations in a public space, there is so much magic and wisdom that flows. So I just want to say thank you for that, because my heart is. I'm definitely calmer somehow and I feel like my heart has opened and I feel like you're speaking to all of us.
Speaker 3:So thank you thank you so much. I would never have imagined that I could have had that lovely, lovely sign off, so thank you so much for having me so thanks for listening and we can't wait to welcome you next time.
Speaker 2:Until then use your voice, journal, speak or sing out loud. However you do it, we hope you join us in saying it's a star.