Corporate Keynote

Turn The Lights On

The fight nobody could see, and what it taught me about living, leading and coping well.

For: HR, people and wellbeing teams, CSR and social value leads, conferences, construction, sport and enterprise.
Length: 45 to 60 minutes, plus Q&A

Everyone in your building is carrying something.

Some of it shows up as performance. Some of it shows up as silence. Most of it never gets said out loud. Oly lost more than a decade to a fight almost nobody could see. Then a friend said seven words to him: "It's time to turn the lights on." This talk is what happened next.

Inside the talk

1
The cap.
Same cap. Different bloke. Not a polished success story.
2
Growing up different.
Sheffield, undiagnosed ADHD, and a lamppost in Menorca.
3
The mask.
Looking fine while falling apart. The high performer nobody worries about.
4
The decade that disappeared.
Life falling apart at 21. OCD explained properly, and the truth about intrusive thoughts.
5
Lifelines.
The people who got through, and why none of it needed a qualification.
6
One run at a time.
July 2017. Movement became recovery, recovery became purpose.
7
Comfortable with discomfort.
Practical tools for stress and coping well.
8
Turning the lights on at work.
Behaviour is a language. Seeing the person before the performance issue.
9
Q&A.
Oly stays behind for anyone who needs to talk.

Oly follows Samaritans guidelines, with clear warnings before any sensitive topic and participant safety first throughout.

What your people walk away with

Permission to talk. Mental health without the corporate script.
A new way to read people. Behaviour is a language. Managers learn to see the person first.
Tools they can use today. Practical ways to manage stress and sit with discomfort.
A culture where people speak up. When leaders go first, it becomes safe for everyone else.