Barry Phillips Meets

The Lord Lieutenant Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle MBE CBE was born and brought up in Derry/Londonderry in the 60s and 70s. Destined for a career as an opera singer in the conservatoire he career aspirations were cut short by a debilitating illness. Active for a while in student politics at Queen’s University what followed was a hugely successful career in Public and Government Affairs, setting up her own consultancy firm and heading up major initiatives including “Taste of Ulster”– the award winning worldwide campaign to promote food and hospitality from Northern Ireland. In 1996 she founded the Belfast Buildings Trust helping to save and restore some key historic building in Belfast. In 2,000 she was awarded an MBE and a CBE in 2,008. In 2014 she was appointed Lord Lieutenant representing Her Majesty the Queen in the County of Belfast following on from Dame Mary Peters. In this wide ranging interview Fionnuala talks about the futility of one-sidedness and questions whether there is such a thing as certainty. Time flies when you’re with this lady. Her warmth, her genuine interest in people and her search for understanding key issues in life make her compelling company.

The Poles first came to work in Northern Ireland in big numbers when Polish citizens were granted the right of free movement as EU members in May 2004. Many found employment here and were grateful for any type of work for it was guaranteed to provide more money than they could expect to earn at home. They worked as cleaners for Robinsons or as labourers in Camden Frames, Sam Mouldings or on the assembly line at what was then Schrader or in construction during the mini boom in 2007-2009. Whilst some worked in the health service as nurses, carers or doctors large numbers were over qualified for the jobs they first took. But with limited English and no contacts here to many it was about getting on an early rung of the ladder and then making their way from there. But the arrival of hundreds then thousands of Poles brought change to Northern Ireland. Suddenly, almost overnight, there was a sizeable third group of people. Sure Northern Ireland did have others groups of people such as the Indian and Chinese community but these were small in number, well settled and accepted. Journalists commented that since the Good Friday Agreement the two communities Protestant and Catholic so long in conflict might need another enemy and openly worried that they work look for one elsewhere. The Polish Community had closer connections to Britain than they did Ireland for their role in the British RAF is well documented. But largely Catholic by religion they may have expected a warmer welcome from the other side of the community. What type of a welcome did they get from us in Northern Ireland? And how do they remember their first years here? I set out to find out…..

In this keynote address for ASCL delivered at the Birmingham conference and events centre, Barry Phillips, gives his views on how to deal with overwhelm in the workplace. He talks about turning "FOMO" into "JOMO", practising a "Slow Yes and a Quick No" and finishes with his favourite five ways to ensure you're highly effective at work every day.

Marie has just been recommended by the Secretary of State to succeed Dr. Michael Maguire as the next Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. She was the Assistant Information Commissioner for Northern Ireland for five years and Deputy Ombudsman for seven. She became the first ever Public Services Ombudsman for Northern Ireland in April 2016. She is also the Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards and the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Ombudsman. In this remarkably frank interview she explains how being wrongly suspected of theft at school led her to develop an early interest in justice and human rights. She talks about the pressures of taking big decisions that will impact on the lives of many people and how she deals with the very public criticism she has to face in doing her work. What she has to say about leadership is fascinating and should be required listening for everyone, public sector or private, wanting to develop their leadership schools.

Born in Cork, Padriag O’Tuama was one of 6 children. He studied theology with an eye on the priesthood. It was in his teens that he first began to realise that his faith, his religion and his sexuality did not sit comfortably together and that very hard, very personal choices, lay ahead of him. Still a deeply religious man, last month you may just have heard Padriag presenting BBC’s Prayer for Today on Radio 4. But you’re as likely to find him carrying a dictionary of etymology as you are a...

Since taking the baton in 1990 from his father, James, who started the cleaning business in 1972 David has increased turnover from £1million to £17million with Robinson Services now employing more than 1,700 workers making it one of Northern Ireland’s top employers by staff numbers. Employees out on site find him affable and approachable and notice that he knows them all be name. Colleagues in the office say he’s personable but a tough decision taker too and very good at taking and managing...

In part 2 of the Legal Island story company chairman Barry Phillips discusses five key business development areas that helped him grow the business. He talks about early failures and set backs, discusses his favourite business leadership books and explains why he thinks using social media nowadays is a poor use of time. He offers a few tips on how to network well in Northern Ireland and explains why he wishes he had read Gerber’s The EMyth long before he did. Finally, he talks about the good...

Ellen Murray is Executive Director of Transgender NI a not-for profit organisation that campaigns for the rights of transgender and non-binary people in Northern Ireland. Born in 1993 and raised in West Belfast, she founded GenderJamNI a trans youth group and three years later set up the Belfast Trans Resource Centre the first such centre in the UK and Ireland. Ellen is herself transgender having begun her own journey from male to female in 2013. In a BBC documentary recorded recently she...

Michael Cameron is a former Northern Ireland Civil Servant turned playwright. Born in Belfast in 1965 Michael left school in 1981 with just 2 O Levels and joined the Civil Service the following year. He soon worked his way up the ranks working towards the end of his career as a Political Liaison Officer and Private Secretary to various Ministers witnessing first hand some of the most turbulent times in recent British/Irish history. In 2015 he left the Civil service for health reasons and...

Since becoming an entrepreneur 21 years ago Barry Phillips has owned a property company, a travel business and developed products for sale to a global market but he is best known for founding Legal-Island the island of Ireland’s No.1 compliance and training organisation. In the first of four episodes tracing the development Legal-Island, Barry Phillips about what prompted him to set up in business, his early challenges and some of his biggest mistakes. Introduced by MD Jayne Gallagher this...

Paul Roberts is CEO of the Ashton Community Trust in Belfast. Born and brought up in North Belfast Paul and his nine siblings grew up during the Troubles in an area that suffered one of the highest levels of violence of anywhere in Northern Ireland. It includes many areas synonymous with the conflict – the New Lodge, Ardoyne, Rathcoole, Ballysillan and Woodvale. In the 25 years he has been at the helm the Trust has grown from a small community business into a highly successful regeneration...

In this special episode Barry Phillips sets out to see if what he remembers about his own Ironman journey sits with what other ironmen learnt about themselves when training for and completing extreme endurance events. Barry asks them about how they maintain their levels of motivation, he they get the best out of every training session and what they do to reward themselves for consistently high levels of input and output. Barry concludes by sharing what he learnt from his Ironman training...

This special episode recorded at the Titanic Hotel, Belfast (18th October) is taken from the annual conference of the Association of School and College Leaders. Barry Phillips covers five key areas of leadership, identifies quick wins and aims to leave the audience of head teachers with homework to do. For he argues that conference “Takeways” should really be “Workaways”. Changing the habits of leaders in any field requires application and hard work. The five key area are : # Recognition #...

Liz Weir a business woman, festival director and children’s author, but perhaps best known for her role as a professional storyteller sharing stories of Ireland’s past not only locally in libraries, pubs, prisons and at festivals but on the international stage as well.. In 2002 she won the inaugural International Story Bridge Award of the National Storytelling Network. Many more awards were to follow helping her travel the world with her craft sharing her stories in countries as far away as...

Conor is an entrepreneur with his finger truly on the pulse in terms of business activity going on in Northern Ireland having worked for many years in commercial property and more recently in debt management and alternative funding for those in business. In August 2007 he was formerly diagnosed with MS. His response was to hit the illness head on. He self-medicated, he followed a plant only diet and started competing in endurance races. He’s the author of two books. He has delivered...

This episode is a bit different…. We thought it’s time to hit the pause button and review some of the most popular content thus far. So sit back and enjoy hearing from Bill Wolsey OBE, Mary McKenna MBE, Judith Gillespie CBE, Gavan Wall and many others.

Hilary Woods is Principal of Belfast Royal Academy which is widely recognised as one of Northern Ireland’s top post-primary schools. Her teaching career began at Ashfield Girls School, and continued at Wallace High School and then Victoria College where she was Deputy Principal by the time she left in 2014. Her first permanant tenure as Principal was at Antrim Grammar school during which time the school topped the GCSE league tables in Northern Ireland with 100% of pupils gaining 5 GCSEs...

Michael Bruce with his younger brother Kenny founded Purple Bricks the online estate agency famous for offering to sell your house in the UK for a fixed fee of just £845 inclusive of VAT. Purple Bricks was recently valued at £240million. Michael, and his younger brother Kenny and four older sisters were brought up by their single mother in a council house in Larne in the 70s and 80s. His first experience of work was when he was still a school boy doing a milk round in the morning and...

Sarah Travers – Journalist, T.V Presenter and Media Consultant. Sarah made her name as a journalist who got the most out of interviewees by giving them a full blast of her positive energy, charm and charisma. But how would she get on when in the hot seat herself? Full of glamour and style and never short of words Sarah Travers shares a huge amount in this podcast. From her big secret she kept from her bosses at the BBC to how she dealt with imposter syndrome in the early days of her T.V...

Before joining the RUC as a police constable Judith Gillespie was rejected twice by the organisation she was to go on and lead with distinction years later. She once stated “When I joined the force in 1982 men were issued with firearms and women handbags things were very different then.. “ Not only did Judith Gillespie face institutional discrimination but also misogynistic treatment from some male colleagues. How she responded is just one of the many remarkable revelations in this...