Carole Ann Clarke, Chief Experience Officer at I Am Here
Mental Health and Wellbeing Coach, Resilience Coach, Leadership Coach, Corporate Wellbeing Coach, LIFT facilitator
Carole Ann has 20 years experience in the business world having worked at Global giants such as Diageo and Coca-Cola. She also has extensive experience in the world of advertising and digital agencies working on some of the biggest brands in the world.
She is an Avid Sportsperson, having captained the Irish Women's Rugby team for several years, an interprovincial hockey player and Senior footballer. Carole Ann has also completed an all-female expedition to the Arctic in 2018 for Debra Ireland. She coaches rugby in her free time, proactively lobbies for Sportswomen and has recently taken up hockey again after 23 years.
Carole Ann has always been passionate about people and personal growth. Having studied Leadership and Executive coaching along with Mental Health and Wellbeing coaching; Resilience Coaching and Corporate Wellbeing Coaching, Carole Ann Merges her business acumen, sports and life experiences to positively change workplace culture and practices around mental health, wellbeing and human-led business design.
“My mental health has always had its ups and downs like most people in this world. I realised that I am the only one who can change my life. The other reality of this is that it is hard work, and it is an ongoing project!”
Carole Ann Clarke
Carole Ann Clarke, LinkedIn
I Am Here is a behavioural change movement that empowers employees with the courage, confidence and skills to signpost existing wellbeing services to those in need. I Am Here aims to embed the belief that "it's ok not to be ok" and "it's absolutely ok to ask for help" into organisations worldwide through their powerful 360 Experiential programme.
As part of the I Am Here Programme, Carole Ann works with clients to aid their culture development and purpose-led vision from Leadership Coaching and change management, Purpose & Philanthropy and Resilience coaching to Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. She also works with individuals with life-long physical and mental health issues to help them thrive successfully in the workplace.
Tell us about your current role and what you like about your career/role or areas of focus and what inspires you to make each day count?
My role at I Am Here is all about working with companies, teams and individuals to create long-lasting cultural change around mental health and wellbeing. In any one day, I can be talking to a group of steelworkers or construction workers, a CEO and the board of directors or 300 supervisors.
My role is to inspire and empower people to believe that "it's ok not to feel ok; and it's absolutely ok to ask for help", through the adoption of I Am Here.
It gives me such joy to see the growth of our movement globally with over 800,000 Members now and the impact it brings. Seeing the adoption increase from one month to the next in a company or community, seeing the non-believers become believers.
Most importantly, I love seeing more people look after one another through compassionate connection and seeing more people reaching out for help.
Outside of your professional work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
I am very grateful that I grew up with a love of sport and music, so that has always been important to me and continues to be.
I coach rugby on weekends, am back playing hockey after a 23-years break. I love singing, so I do that on an Adhoc basis by joining groups or recording music. I also knit scarves for my clients which is great for my mental health.
When it comes to family, we love cooking and travelling and do a bit of mountain biking and golf with the kids. I'm also passionate about women in sports, so I do work behind the scenes to continue my work in women's rugby and beyond.
I'm passionate about equality and justice. Whilst there is still a lot of work to re-balance the female agenda which I support, I have always believed that modern times needs a balanced approach for all of us – it has changed fundamentally for everyone. This has been reinforced now as a mum of boys. I am keen to present a balanced view on what equality needs to look like in 2021 and beyond, regardless of gender, race or religion.
When it comes to your life chosen career, is there a phrase, quote or saying that you really like?
I live by 4 main mottos, 2 of which sit over my kitchen sink to remind a busy working mum:
"You have the capacity to love anyone if you know their story." - This is about judgement. I did a storytelling course in Germany when I was working at Coca-Cola, and I remember walking in on the first day and seeing this, and it literally hit me in the face. I have never forgotten it. No matter who I meet and what the experience is, I always start with this. It fundamentally makes me a better person because I genuinely look to people with curiosity and then compassion if it's a negative experience.
"If you want to change your life you have to change yourself, if you want to change yourself, you have to change your mindset." - My mental health has always had its ups and downs like most people in this world. In 2013 I suffered burnout for two years, and when I went to life-coaching, I remember reading this quote somewhere. It suddenly struck me that for a lot of my working and personal life, a lot of my frustrations were because of conflicting value systems and my desire to control things, I could not control. For the first time, I realised that I am the only one who can change my life. The other reality of this is that it is hard work, and it is an ongoing project!
"Never forget your dreams." – Massively important for me as a mother, wife, sister, daughter of ageing parents. It's linked to my other motto "always say yes". As humans, we always say "I'll think about it" then we think about all the barriers that get in the way of saying yes, and then we don't do it. By saying "yes" first, it means you commit, and you work around the barriers and find the support systems to make it happen. It has meant I have gone to the arctic, recorded music, taken up hockey again after 23 years and about to take on a wheelchair challenge for charity.
What are you most proud of in your life?
This is a hard question to answer. I have had so many life experiences and aim to have more! If I really had to think of a few examples then I would have to say having children as it was not an easy journey for us. I am grateful every day to have two wonderful boys.
Whilst I am immensely proud of my sporting accolades, I think I am most proud of any project I have worked on that focuses on the greater good and in some cases ahead of our time in our thinking and execution such as Mumslikeus, a community/video-based programme for breastfeeding women back in 2008 when community-based MSR had not even started, Ballygown Pink for Breast Cancer, Coca-Cola Street Games, Coca-Cola/WWF Arctic Homes and of course I Am Here.
I’m also very proud of the women I travelled with to the Arctic for Debra Ireland and raised over €150,000 to aid research and much needed practical support for families. Subsequent trips have also made an impact and recent research is suggesting they are getting closer and closer to a cure for what is a horrendous disease that no human being should suffer.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
Myself! Despite being a talented athlete and musician in school and good at "some" subjects, I was an unhappy teenager and incredibly lost.
Even coming out of college, I diverted from my expected career. It was not until 2015 that I truly understood who I was by spending time learning about my value system, my strengths and my passions.
I am very happy with where my journey is going now, and everything I have done has got me here.
I am convinced, however, that my career path would have been smoother and happier had the education system been more balanced between academia and personal growth.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles?
I love Banksy – apart from his creative brilliance, I love his bravery and using his position and his creative voice for political and social good. I was incredibly lucky to stay in the 'Walled Off' hotel in the west bank in Palestine last year after a visit to a 3rd generation refugee camp. It wasn't the wonderful art that inspired me. It was the harrowing museum that told the real story of what is going on in Israel.
The other entrepreneur I admire who sadly passed away late in 2020 is Tony Hsieh from Zappos.com and his book “Delivering Happiness”. I loved his obsession with pleasing the customer versus what’s easy for the company. I also loved his passion for culture, collaborative development of company values and how you live them. I also loved how he tried to maintain that culture as they transitioned to the Amazon buyout by ensuring they remained operationally independent.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
Any company that puts its people first by designing their business based on the needs of its people. Any company who knows that profit comes from looking after their people and has proven it.
That is the future, and these are the companies I am and will be working with in the future. Just look at our website www.iamheretribe.com for the list of some of the companies we are working with.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
“Sleep on it!”- I know we all say this phrase lightly and it’s incredibly powerful.
How many times have we finished the day with a meeting or a mail that frustrates us or triggers us in some way and you spend the next 30 minutes banging on the keyboard, or have a heated dialogue with your inner voice and full-blown conversations in your head: throwing your emotions in first, your rationale second?
I have learned through experience to take a breath (sometimes more than one!), if a response is needed I either write it and leave it, reflect and go back to it so it leads with resolution and rational versus emotion and fuel, or I let it go and approach it another way.
I also use a little tool for myself and for my clients called TACT.
T - Tune in to how you are feeling;
A - Acknowledge how you are feeling and why (so keep asking why like peeling an onion until you get to the core of the issue);
C - Choose actions or options based on what you are trying to achieve (collectively);
T - Take action based on what you are trying to achieve.
What drives or motivates you each day in the work environment?
Knowing that the work I am doing is contributing to a better world.
What are your thoughts on the future of social media?
It's funny. I was head of social media for Coca-Cola Western Europe, and yet I have always had a consistent view – "Just because Social Media is there, you don't have to use it…"
I have never embraced some platforms and generally only focused on ones that really added value to me, and I think that's where social media is going. We have come through the era of information overload where everyone has rushed to every platform and over consumed on too many.
Fake news, the obsession with self-image, voting tampering and privacy concerns, I think, will influence the future generation. I genuinely think the next generation will be about "less is more".
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
I don't have a favourite. I use social media to meet my needs.
I love LinkedIn for thought leadership, inspiration around my work and the world and to meet like-minded people.
I love Facebook to know what is going on with my friends' lives. Particularly my global friends who played sports with me or worked with me in global companies. It's a great way to keep in touch.
I'm on Instagram because I feel like I have to be as a certain target audience is there. This is the platform I feel most pressure because it's a creative platform to inspire (except I fear it's being turned into Facebook now!).
Whatsapp for communication with different groups, although I have most groups muted as it can be a hell of a distraction.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever been a mentor to anyone?
I am not a fan of having just one mentor as it means you get a narrow perspective and it may not be right for you - as it's based on their experience only.
Instead, I love talking to and listening to many people's point of view and combining that with my own experience as well as my instinct.
How do you network? What is your preferred way to network?
Some people struggle with networking and I definitely fall into this category, in that I am not a fan of going to lots of events and working the room. I have got a lot better in recent years by finding a way to network that works for me. The virtual world we live in has of course changed the dynamics of networking too which has helped me.
I love LinkedIn for this by creating content, contributing to conversations, searching and connecting with like-Minded people. I attend focused webinars and when I do, I make sure I have my camera on and contribute in some way. I am lucky to be invited to present often which obviously helps from a networking perspective and lastly, I have very loyal clients who are always introducing me to other companies and people.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work?
No matter what job you have, it’s important to understand the company’s purpose or “The Why” and then be a believer. Having a passion for what you do means that it will carry you through the tough days. Believing in what you do will maintain your motivation because you know you are contributing, adding value and growing as a person.
With regards to I Am Here and the Movement we are spreading around the world, belief is one thing and we also need to be able to communicate, inspire and empower, so simplifying the complexity that can come with mental health and wellbeing is paramount. On a daily basis, we challenge the status quo, we partner with our clients respectfully and compassionately whilst we vigorously drive the programme... and we always go the extra mile.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
Firstly, failing can be winning! Failure means learning and insights, growth and resilience. Failure is generally down to lots of reasons some of which might be outside of someone’s control (take 2020 for instance). It’s what people do with perceived or actual failure that is important.
People can also give up for lots of different reasons. People generally give up in companies because there is a clash of values or a lack of a support system in place for individuals to succeed. I do believe in that saying that “people leave their bosses, not the company” as well. I do think we are in interesting times now and the last year has given us a fabulous opportunity to reset how we approach business that marries technology advances, human purpose and creativity. I believe this has already started and I am genuinely excited for the future of the workplace.
How do you define success? And what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience?
A pet favourite question for me! In the corporate world, in particular, people talk about "climbing the ladder", my response is "ladder to where?".
Some companies have so many managing directors; it's baffling. Then we look at the fabulous "Generation wealth" by Lauren Greenfield, which depicts the growing obsession of wealth as a status marker.
It took a period of burnout for me to finally give up my "lucrative" and perceived "successful" corporate career to finally focus on an area of passion that I never thought I would follow…
The education system globally unteaches everything a teenager learns as a child and only focuses on academic success. Teenagers need to be taught to follow their passions and make a success out of that.
This is not an idealist point of view. If you love art, it doesn't mean you have to be a struggling artist – there are probably 100 jobs you could have focusing on art if the education system taught a kid who loves art their values, strengths and coaching as part of the curriculum to help them fulfil a successful career in art.
What skills do you feel have helped you become successful?
It’s probably a mix of skills and my value system both of which evolve over your lifetime. I have had a sense of purpose since I was a teenager and whilst it has taken time to discover, it has helped me create my pathways and also say no to things that didn’t fit along the way. I have always had drive and a sense of competitiveness, teamwork and altruism. I am also very loyal.
Carole Ann Clarke - Playing Rugby
Communication skills, particularly the art of listening have been areas of focus for me as I grow as a person and now I like to think that I approach each day with CLEAR skills (regardless of the environment) - Compassion, Listening, Empathy, Acceptance and being real.
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our audience?
‘It’s ok not to feel ok, and it’s absolutely ok to ask for help.’
Join our movement today and give the gift of showing you care. Ask the question. Call for help. Let’s change the world, one person, one company, one community at a time. I Am Here Sales Demo LMS (iamheretribe.com).