5 Big Questions: MICHELLE MORGAN

What do you do with burnout?

And are awkward conversations about mental health OK?

In this week’s 5 Big Questions interview we talk to entrepreneur, business leader, mental health champion and author MICHELLE MORGAN

• Twitter: @MichelleMorgan

Known for:

• Co-founder – Livity
• Founder – Pjoys
• Author – Own Your Awkward: How to have better and braver conversations about our mental health
• Winner – EY Entrepreneur of the Year
• Winner – Queens Award for Innovation
• Fellow – Society of Leadership
• Ambassador – Mental Health First Aid England

The 5 Big Questions:

1. 1. How do you measure the impact of what you do?
   2. How should people/businesses be preparing for the future?
   3. How do we build the workforce we need for that future?
   4. How do you use creativity to solve problems?
   5. How do you collaborate?

Key quotes:

“In Livity, we always had to measure the impact financially but we also and always placed an equal importance on measuring and delivering our social impact.”

“Our ‘fight, flight, freeze’ response often kicks in now, in a way that’s disproportionate to the actual threat in front of us. If I’m telling you about my mental health, I’m fearful what you might think about me. And if I’m asking you about yours, I’m fearful that I might ask in the wrong way, that might make things worse.”

“When we own our ‘awkward’, it helps the other person own theirs. I have created deeper, more meaningful relationships as a result.”

“As I progress through life, I become much more aware of what my skill-sets are.”

“I think that really talking has become a little bit of a lost art, which is quite scary. When so much of how we communicate is online, by typing and texting, or even visually, with pictures. We’re not having conversation.”

“The greatest gift we can give someone, when they’re talking about their mental health, is simply to listen.”

Useful links

• Profile on the PJoys website // pjoys.co.uk/pages/michelle-morgan
• Livity // livity.co.uk/
• Michelle Morgan — ‘Own Your Awkward: How to have Better and Braver Conversations About our Mental Health’ 
• Michelle Morgan — ‘Own Your Awkward: How to have Better and Braver Conversations About our Mental Health’ 
• Mental Health Awareness Week (right now, May 2022) 

This episode was recorded in April 2022

Interviewer: Richard Freeman for always possible

Editor: CJ Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts