Ep51: The Human Behind HUMAN WISE – A Reverse Interview by Alison Jones, Founder Practical Inspiration Publishing
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What does it take to have the courage to create — to find your voice, share your ideas, and turn them into something that changes lives?
In this inspiring milestone episode, Helen Wada sits down with Alison Jones, publisher, coach, and founder of Practical Inspiration Publishing, for a conversation about courage, creativity and connection. Together, they explore what happens when you stop waiting for permission to create and start turning ideas into impact — one conversation, one page, and one person at a time.
Alison shares her journey from corporate publishing to purpose-driven entrepreneurship, revealing how her coaching-led approach empowers leaders to transform expertise into influence. Helen reflects on the story behind her forthcoming book and the origins of the Human Framework — a model that brings coaching skills into commercial success by focusing on how we show up, connect, and collaborate.
It’s a powerful exchange about confidence, curiosity, and community — and a reminder that our greatest ideas don’t just build businesses, they build belonging.
Topics Discussed:
From idea to impact: how books scale wisdom and credibility
The Human Framework: showing up, understanding others, mindset, action, next steps
Writing as discovery: turning reflection into clear, communicable value
Coaching skills in commercial contexts and why confidence matters
Building communities around ideas and starting small to build momentum
Timestamps:
00:00 – 01:10 | Introduction and milestones: episode 50+, turning 50, why this conversation now
01:11 – 02:04 | Meet Alison Jones: Practical Inspiration Publishing and the connection to Helen’s book
02:05 – 04:12 | Alison’s publishing journey: traditional publishing, digital shift, coaching and founding the press
04:13 – 05:18 | A guiding quote and taking flight: courage, change and backing yourself
05:19 – 08:07 | Who is the human behind Human Wise: Helen’s story, commercial roots and love of people
08:08 – 10:24 | The genesis of Human Wise: sales, coaching, and “commercial coaching” on a coffee-shop table
10:25 – 13:32 | The Human Framework: starting within, connection, collaboration and being human at work
13:33 – 17:16 | Writing the book: thinking first, then writing, structure, beta readers and constraints that help
17:17 – 19:08 | Confidence on the page: moving from “they said” to “I say”
19:09 – 22:18 | Hopes for the book: changing work, reframing skills as commercially essential
22:19 – 23:17 | Human-centred skills at scale: why a readable, coaching-led book matters
23:18 – 24:06 | One best tip: start small, believe in your idea, one conversation at a time
24:07 – 26:17 | Connection over competition: collaborating to move ideas and people forward
26:18 – 27:55 | Handing back the mic and reflections on the journey so far
27:56 – 33:00 | Practical Inspiration Publishing: proposal challenge, bootcamp, and working on the book as well as in it
Read the episode blog here
About the Alison Jones:
Follow @the-alison-jones on LinkedIn
Learn more about Practical Inspiration
Alison Jones is the founder and director of Practical Inspiration Publishing, a business-focused publishing house that blends coaching with publishing to help leaders craft books that embody their IP and work hard for their business. A lifelong publisher, Alison worked in traditional roles from the early 1990s, helped lead the digital shift including an ebook platform at Palgrave Macmillan, and retrained as a coach in 2014. She runs the 10 Day Business Book Proposal Challenge each January, April and September, followed by a structured Bootcamp that turns proposals into publishable manuscripts and a relationship strategy. Practical Inspiration holds GOLD Method accreditation and distributes globally across retailers and libraries.
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Ep. 51. The Human Behind HUMAN WISE – A Reverse Interview by Alison Jones, Founder Practical Inspiration Publishing
[00:00:00]
[00:00:28] Introduction and Milestones
[00:00:28]
[00:00:29] Helen Wada: Welcome to
[00:00:30] another episode
[00:00:31] of Human Wise. This is a 50
[00:00:35] plus special episode for a
[00:00:37] couple of reasons. Last episode was number 50, and last week I turned 50.
[00:00:43] So it feels, I kind of
[00:00:45] got goosebumps thinking
[00:00:46] about it. It's sort of an opportune moment to have a different type of conversation.
[00:00:50] And that's why I've invited our wonderful guest or a host, should I say, Alison uh,
[00:00:56] Alison Jones: 50 plus.
[00:00:59] Helen Wada: [00:01:00] To, to have a conversation with me on human wise and to maybe turn the tables a little bit to let
[00:01:06] me share,
[00:01:07] you know, 15, 16 months into this journey. Why did I start it? Why am I here?
[00:01:13] What is my hope
[00:01:14] with human wise?
[00:01:15] Meet Alison Jones
[00:01:15] Helen Wada: So, firstly, I'd like
[00:01:17] to tell you a little bit
[00:01:17] about Alison. I'm met Alison. Probably about 18 months ago, wasn't it
[00:01:21] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: really? When I first
[00:01:22] Helen Wada: so Allison is the reason that I have a book coming
[00:01:26] out in March
[00:01:26] of next year. She is the
[00:01:28] wonderful founder, director
[00:01:30] extraordinaire owner of Practical Inspiration Publishing, who I'm publishing with, and started your program back in September of last year with an idea that.
[00:01:42] My husband said, you should write
[00:01:43] a book. You should
[00:01:45] write a book.
[00:01:46] Five words, 55,000 words later.
[00:01:50] We have
[00:01:50] said book,
[00:01:52] and I'm really exciting to bring it to the world next year. So thank you for all of your support in my journey so far. Given that we're talking about being [00:02:00] human, tell the listeners a little bit more about you rather than my words.
[00:02:03] Who is, who is Alison James?
[00:02:05] Alison's Publishing Journey
[00:02:05] Alison Jones: So yes, very much in the 50 plus club and enjoying it. And welcome
[00:02:08] to that. So, yeah, I, I am kind
[00:02:11] of a publisher through and through. That's, that's what I've done my entire working life. Started off in traditional publishing back in the
[00:02:16] Early nineties and, and saw through the whole digital revolution and, you know, eBooks coming in, set up an ebook platform for PAL Grave McMillan, and then had a sort of a bit of epiphany, which mirrors I think your own, which is that, coaching
[00:02:30] I think
[00:02:31] found me, or I
[00:02:32] found coaching.
[00:02:34] And it was under this
[00:02:35] sort of
[00:02:36] awareness that, that publishing is a business model. The old way of publishing where you are, you know, guarding content fiercely from, and, and charging lots of money for people to access it just, just felt as though it was on the wrong side of
[00:02:46] history.
[00:02:47] So when I had the opportunity to take redundancy in 2014, I. Retrained as a coach, and I thought, that's gonna be my new career. I'm going to be a coach. And I loved that journey. And we can perhaps talk about [00:03:00] what, what you've discovered through it as well. But you know, everything you discover about yourself and about the way you've been thinking and how unhelpful
[00:03:06] that perhaps has been and so on.
[00:03:07] And particularly
[00:03:08] I focused on business coaching 'cause I have an
[00:03:10] MBA, I've
[00:03:11] worked at director level. You know that that was the area that most excited me, that
[00:03:14] commercial
[00:03:14] area, which again, you'll, you'll relate to. And
[00:03:17] it didn't quite go as planned because
[00:03:19] as I was
[00:03:19] having the conversations with people as a
[00:03:22] trainee coach, you know, you have to,
[00:03:23] all those practice hours you put in.
[00:03:25] As soon as they found
[00:03:26] out as
[00:03:26] a publisher, all they
[00:03:27] wanted to talk about was publishing their book because so many
[00:03:29] people had said to them. You
[00:03:30] should write a book on there. So
[00:03:32] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: yeah.
[00:03:33] Alison Jones: And so
[00:03:34] Practical Inspiration Publishing was Born, which takes a sort of coaching approach, helping people who have really good ideas, but perhaps no experience.
[00:03:40] in pulling together a book supporting them through that process, but also particularly supporting them to write a book that really embodies their intellectual property and that works really hard for their business, which is not the model of traditional publishing where the book is the product.
[00:03:53] So Yeah.
[00:03:54] 11 years on from founding Practical Inspiration Publishing. Here
[00:03:57] we are.
[00:03:59] Helen Wada: [00:04:00] Fabulous. And before we, we flip the tables, what's
[00:04:01] been your biggest learning
[00:04:03] on your journey?
[00:04:04] Alison Jones: Do you know? it's,
[00:04:05] I suppose it's a
[00:04:06] bit
[00:04:06] sad that it's such a, an old one, but when I very, very first left the corporate life and
[00:04:10] set up my own,
[00:04:11] somebody
[00:04:12] gifted me a quote from Victor Hugo which of course was written in French.
[00:04:16] So this is a sort of, you know, poor translation, but it's something like, be like the
[00:04:19] Bird
[00:04:20] who pausing a while on bows
[00:04:22] too slight yet sings, knowing she has wings. And
[00:04:27] it's that
[00:04:29] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: gorgeous. It
[00:04:29] Alison Jones: still sounds goosebumps
[00:04:30] on my
[00:04:30] back. And it's
[00:04:31] that recognition that you will feel as though everything depends on what's
[00:04:35] happening in your situation and, and other people
[00:04:37] and so on.
[00:04:38] But
[00:04:38] actually you have wings and whatever situation you find yourself in, if that bowel breaks off, you go and find another one. And I, that
[00:04:45] was,
[00:04:46] I've
[00:04:46] really treasured that all through the years and I sort of share it with, with people as well. So there you are, gifting it to you too.
[00:04:52] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: you.
[00:04:52] Helen Wada: Holding it in my heart. Holding it in my heart. So this is kind of the daunting time. I, I've nobody sat here asking the questions, but I [00:05:00] get hard over to you. And as, as I've just shared with Alison, I've just come
[00:05:04] back from a two week
[00:05:05] break to celebrate
[00:05:06] the big birthday and have
[00:05:08] just come
[00:05:09] from two days
[00:05:09] at the Fabulous Thinkers 50 events in London.
[00:05:13] And so I'm all yours, Alison. Take, it away.
[00:05:17] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: Brilliant. Right?
[00:05:18] Alison Jones: It's a takeover. And I'm gonna really enjoy this.
[00:05:21] Helen's Background and Journey
[00:05:21] Alison Jones: Helen, you are always asking other people this. Tell us a little bit
[00:05:25] about the human behind, human wise.
[00:05:28] Helen Wada: Oh, oh my goodness. Who is the human behind, human wise?
[00:05:31] First off, I'm a mother.
[00:05:33] I'm a
[00:05:33] wife. I've got
[00:05:34] two teenage boys. I've got what I always call a zest for life.
[00:05:39] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: Person,
[00:05:40] Helen Wada: A real zest
[00:05:42] for who
[00:05:42] people are. Curiosity, I discovered coaching about 10, 12 years ago.
[00:05:47] And, and for me,
[00:05:48] it, it hit a spot that nothing
[00:05:50] had done before.
[00:05:52] I'm commercial
[00:05:53] by way of background.
[00:05:53] I'm a chartered accountant by trade. yeah, I was good at maths at
[00:05:57] the school. I actually hated a level maths. I mean, I literally [00:06:00] cried my way through pure maths and it became you needed a B to get to university and
[00:06:03] that was it. I ended
[00:06:05] up doing accounting and management because I wanted to be practical.
[00:06:07] I've always wanted something that's quite practical. Wo I'd never do accountancy, but of course ended
[00:06:12] up with the, what was then the fabulous Arthur Anderson where I
[00:06:16] qualified in, in audit and private equity work. And, and I, I loved it. I really did love the sort of business acumen side
[00:06:22] of things, but
[00:06:23] I was always
[00:06:24] had that passion for people.
[00:06:25] And ironically, given that where I am, I, I left Arthur Anderson just as it was going under because I didn't want to sell. I was looking up at the partnership and thinking that's not what I want to do. Moving to industry, and then did a master's in management development change thinking, I'm really interested in this people side business, but, but where's it gonna take me?
[00:06:42] And
[00:06:44] it,
[00:06:44] it didn't, you know,
[00:06:45] I loved the program,
[00:06:46] but it wasn't, I won, I missed And so
[00:06:49] I ended up back
[00:06:50] at KPMG where they was consulting, they sponsored me to. Do my coaching qualification. And that was an epiphany for me. I was fortunate to have a [00:07:00] maternity coach
[00:07:00] when I had Zach,
[00:07:02] what was almost 16 years
[00:07:03] ago now.
[00:07:04] And it was that moment
[00:07:05] that I was like,
[00:07:06] okay, this is something where we're really focused on people and we can be
[00:07:10] commercial and, and I held onto that. So I think everything,
[00:07:14] you know, you would ask my friend, you ask my colleagues. I'm a networker. I'm a people person. I'm curious. I love to listen. I love to learn.
[00:07:22] And so probably with that, there's no surprise that I've now sat here running my own business, but it was never one of those golden dreams. It was never one of those, yes, I have to do this. It was an evolution rather than, you know, this is my end goal. This is what I'm gonna get to.
[00:07:39] Alison Jones: I sort of feel that the world is catching up with you in a sense, in that sort of sense that these two things, the commercial and the human, aren't actually pulling you in different directions you, they are synergistic. And I think I'm probably answering my own question here,
[00:07:54] but tell
[00:07:54] me a little bit about when, when you realize that sort of personal
[00:07:58] epiphany turned
[00:07:59] into [00:08:00] something that you wanted to bring into the world. So, so, so the podcast, the book, tell me a little bit about the genesis of that.
[00:08:05] The Genesis of Human Wise
[00:08:05] Helen Wada: So I'm gonna go right back to when I was still at KPMG. So I kind of sidestepped with the children. I've had a COO role for a bit, and then it was like. I was bored. People were like, you're wasted. Where do you wanna go? And I said, well, I miss clients. And they were recruiting for some sales directors and they said, but you've never sold,
[00:08:22] but I've
[00:08:23] been in the market.
[00:08:24] I mean, let me
[00:08:25] give it a go. And so I did. And so I, I
[00:08:28] started on
[00:08:29] that journey
[00:08:29] and actually where I'd struggled to get through the sort of
[00:08:32] the hierarchy with
[00:08:33] the children and
[00:08:34] whatever. I all of a sudden flew
[00:08:37] you talk about the birds. And there was a former mentor of mine called David Adams, a wonderful, wonderful guy.
[00:08:42] And he said to me, if we could sprinkle everybody with a bit of what you do, we'd
[00:08:45] be. Different
[00:08:47] place. I'm like, okay, what is it that I do?
[00:08:48] I have no idea. I never
[00:08:49] wanted to be doing
[00:08:50] this.
[00:08:51] And so
[00:08:52] as a good
[00:08:53] coach does, I own picture. I self-reflected as why am I good at what I do? And it's interesting, you know, how the world's [00:09:00] collide.
[00:09:00] I was literally sat next to another wonderful woman called Nancy Glynn, who was on my podcast
[00:09:04] when her first
[00:09:05] series. I met her many years before. She's a fabulous executive coach.
[00:09:09] And we met, she was also Wimbledon based, and I said, is, is there something in this mat? I said, the skills that I'm using to go out and win new business and open doors and have conversations and challenge people is the same as I'm doing this clit.
[00:09:24] Like, what are, and she's like, no, keep going. And it was that, you know, literally scribbled on a table in a coffee shop in Windwood. And then there was another wonderful lady that I used to work with called Cat Flower. And I said, look, cat, what is this? And I, and I went back and actually when I was finishing the book, and you will have seen this,
[00:09:42] when I, I went back and 2019 I came back for my summer holiday
[00:09:46] and I was like, okay, what
[00:09:47] am I doing with my career?
[00:09:48] Where's it going?
[00:09:49] I was 45
[00:09:51] and I wrote two pages that said, what is commercial coaching and why do we need it?
[00:09:56] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: And
[00:09:56] Helen Wada: Effectively that was the
[00:09:58] Alison Jones: That's the chance of the book. Yeah.
[00:09:59] Helen Wada: [00:10:00] and that was, and I get goosebumps, right? I, you talk about, I, I, I'm, I've got
[00:10:04] goosebumps out here thinking about that
[00:10:06] because
[00:10:07] I never dreamed that this is where I would be, but that's where it started.
[00:10:13] It started with two sheets of a four paper, a couple of conversations, and the fact that we're here now is
[00:10:21] makes my heart sick.
[00:10:22] Alison Jones: It is beautiful and it's a lovely
[00:10:25] illustration
[00:10:26] of how ideas take shape and
[00:10:28] grow and how they are part of
[00:10:30] the inner work that you do, but also how they are
[00:10:33] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: sparked
[00:10:33] Alison Jones: by, by conversations and developed in, in conversation with, with other people as well.
[00:10:37] It's a beautiful illustration of that.
[00:10:39] I
[00:10:39] guess before we go much further, we, we should actually talk
[00:10:41] about the, the
[00:10:42] intellectual property that you have developed from that spark of a
[00:10:45] back of a fact packet in Wimbledon. talk us through.
[00:10:48] The Human Framework
[00:10:48] Alison Jones: that Human framework that really forms the, the body of your book.
[00:10:53] Helen Wada: So, so going back, what, what did I learn? What, what was my thinking behind the was that
[00:10:59] actually it [00:11:00] starts within us and, and that's the coaching approach.
[00:11:04] So what I do is I've, I've. Using coaching skills and said, actually, how can these coaching skills be useful in commercial context?
[00:11:12] And actually we've talked about
[00:11:14] leader as coach.
[00:11:15] We've talked about the value of coaching,
[00:11:17] but actually
[00:11:17] what I was seeing in the market, there was no
[00:11:19] direct link
[00:11:21] to the value of these very human skills to the top and bottom, And so that's what
[00:11:28] the human framework is
[00:11:29] about. It's about showcasing
[00:11:32] how the skills that you and I who
[00:11:34] are very, I
[00:11:34] feel very privileged to
[00:11:35] have those skills actually
[00:11:38] to share with the world,
[00:11:39] that actually these are not just skills, soft skills for having conversations,
[00:11:44] for coaching people, for leading
[00:11:47] better.
[00:11:48] Actually, these are fundamentally. Skills that we need in the commercial
[00:11:52] marketplace,
[00:11:54] particularly in the world of uncertainty
[00:11:55] that we're in today,
[00:11:56] because we are never gonna solve the world on our own. We need to [00:12:00] connect, we need
[00:12:00] to collaborate and to do that,
[00:12:02] yes, there'll be AI
[00:12:03] to do certain
[00:12:03] things, but we fundamentally need
[00:12:05] to get back to And the human framework
[00:12:07] that I've created,
[00:12:09] I'm gonna name somebody else who's been a wonderful supporter on my journey called Paul Golding. he used to be a fellow coach
[00:12:15] at KPMG.
[00:12:15] Wonderful, wonderful
[00:12:16] man, amazing coach.
[00:12:18] And he and I left
[00:12:19] to do
[00:12:19] our own thing about the same time
[00:12:21] and again, another conversation at a table.
[00:12:23] And we had all these post-its like he was
[00:12:25] like,
[00:12:26] where, where's your thinking going? And he said to me, what can you do with human?
[00:12:30] And so
[00:12:31] there was the genesis of the human framework. Which is a simple mnemonic. How do you show up
[00:12:38] understanding others? How does your mindset
[00:12:40] matter? How do you
[00:12:41] act and adapt
[00:12:42] when you're in the room?
[00:12:43] And
[00:12:43] what are your next steps and how can you then negotiate? And the fundamental difference is the H. Is that how you show up? It all starts with you knowing our values, knowing our beliefs,
[00:12:54] knowing our limiting
[00:12:56] what's important to us?
[00:12:57] Why are we good at what we do?
[00:12:59] And I [00:13:00] just find that in the world today, it's so fast paced that
[00:13:02] we don't take time to think about who we are and what's important
[00:13:05] to us.
[00:13:05] And then we wonder why people don't have the confidence to go out and have. Curious conversations to understand what's important to others. 'cause they don't come from a place of
[00:13:17] And that for me is the big
[00:13:18] shift.
[00:13:19] And it's a coaching approach. 'cause you cannot tell people what to do.
[00:13:21] It's about how you help them understand for themselves. And so the human framework is a, a coaching approach for commercial
[00:13:30] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: It
[00:13:30] Alison Jones: it's also. Interesting.
[00:13:33] The Writing Process
[00:13:33] Alison Jones: When you apply it to the process of writing a book, that how you show up actually so fundamental, isn't it? And I
[00:13:39] just wanna talk to you a little bit about the writing process, because it is a dance between your own internal thinking as
[00:13:46] we said, but also,
[00:13:47] in, it's not just a conversation with someone in the room.
[00:13:49] You, what you are trying to do is embody this
[00:13:51] for somebody who
[00:13:52] isn't in the room with you. You're trying to
[00:13:54] sort of. Capture bottle, the, the essence of it so that somebody can read
[00:13:57] it. So
[00:13:58] did you [00:14:00] discover? and What did you, what did you, what surprised you in that process
[00:14:03] of trying to capture it
[00:14:03] all? F the ineffable as
[00:14:05] they
[00:14:05] Helen Wada: Oh
[00:14:05] my goodness. The
[00:14:06] writing process. Alison, what
[00:14:08] have you got me into? I mean.
[00:14:10] Alison Jones: it's addictive, isn't it? I bet there'll be a book too.
[00:14:13] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: Well,
[00:14:14] Helen Wada: The, the editor
[00:14:14] said that, she said, I love it. I wanna be the editor
[00:14:17] on book two. I'm like, hang on a minute, let's just, just
[00:14:20] do this. This must cover in the plan the writing process.
[00:14:23] So
[00:14:24] I guess for a little bit of context.
[00:14:26] When I
[00:14:27] created it. So we, I kind of got to the human and, and the
[00:14:30] whole idea was to,
[00:14:31] to be able to
[00:14:32] disseminate this work with others.
[00:14:34] And so
[00:14:35] it actually took me
[00:14:37] 18 months of
[00:14:38] thinking to curate the programs that I now work with organizations with as I, I share this framework,
[00:14:47] but more importantly, sort of the, the group coaching that we do together to help people get more confident in their commercial.
[00:14:52] Conversation. So I'd
[00:14:54] done a lot of thinking,
[00:14:56] but I hadn't done
[00:14:57] the writing.
[00:14:57] So when I came to you and when we started in [00:15:00] September, there was a lot that went in behind it. So I don't want people to think, you know, I then wrote it in sort of six months
[00:15:06] because a lot of
[00:15:07] the work pre-thought had been
[00:15:08] done.
[00:15:09] Putting pen to
[00:15:10] paper,
[00:15:11] I'm not gonna
[00:15:12] lie. It was hard. I am a people person.
[00:15:15] I'm
[00:15:15] a network.
[00:15:15] I talk my ideas out, I, I toyed with.
[00:15:20] Reading the book. I toyed with
[00:15:21] that. I, I actually quite like writing. I find that my,
[00:15:27] my ideas form when I am
[00:15:29] writing which I know you talk about a
[00:15:31] lot, and
[00:15:32] you
[00:15:33] Alison Jones: hundred percent.
[00:15:34] Helen Wada: And I think it's having the clarity to, to be able to communicate your ideas to somebody that doesn't know it, doesn't get it.
[00:15:41] 'cause actually, whilst I have believed in this for a number of years, really what I'm now learning is actually, I'm talking to different people on two sides of the coin. And some of them get the sales piece and some of them get the coaching piece. But it's, it's an education process about how can these two be [00:16:00] intertwined and ultimately be so.
[00:16:03] I really valued the challenge of my beta readers. So, you know, getting it down on paper and I just had to shut myself away. I've got two teenage kids, I've got a husband, I've got, you know, washing, coming out my ears. And I used
[00:16:16] to have to
[00:16:16] put my phone away just write
[00:16:20] and just
[00:16:20] give myself
[00:16:21] a focus and, and actually learn that when it wasn't
[00:16:25] flowing, it wasn't gonna flow.
[00:16:27] And you may
[00:16:27] as well just give up. But then other days. I've made quite
[00:16:31] good progress. I was doing some
[00:16:32] traveling and actually
[00:16:33] I
[00:16:33] find, I find airplanes fa fabulous.
[00:16:37] it's not, it's not
[00:16:38] good for the environment, but I think
[00:16:39] I wrote, you know, I flew to Singapore back in February
[00:16:43] and literally probably
[00:16:44] cranked through a chapter and a half
[00:16:45] that got me
[00:16:46] going 'cause I just had the buzz.
[00:16:48] It was, you know, maybe a glass of bubbles on the way. But,
[00:16:50] yeah, make the flow of juices. But that's why I started and I think once I got the start and I have to say, the process that you take us through the work that you do [00:17:00] was second to none in helping me to get there. Because having the structure, you know, for me, the blowout of, yes, you've got an idea, but where are you gonna take that?
[00:17:10] So the seven weeks we did after the 10 day
[00:17:12] book challenge, and you know,
[00:17:14] Sharing the Writing Process
[00:17:14] Helen Wada: before we close
[00:17:15] out, I'll get.
[00:17:15] You to just share a little bit
[00:17:16] about that? 'cause I do get a lot of
[00:17:18] people say, how did
[00:17:19] you do it? Where'd jump up? Wouldn't you need to go to Allison?
[00:17:21] Alison Jones: We will talk about that.
[00:17:23] that thought.
[00:17:24] Helen Wada: but those seven
[00:17:25] weeks where you
[00:17:26] go,
[00:17:26] right, these are the ideas,
[00:17:28] and then post-it note to death.
[00:17:30] What are your ideas? Just getting it all and you know,
[00:17:32] and then having, you know, I think I had a spreadsheet with a charter, the counter by trade Hate
[00:17:38] Hate spreadsheets within
[00:17:39] my life,
[00:17:40] but
[00:17:40] I did have a spreadsheet with 135 lines on it that basically were all the elements that I wanted to cover in the
[00:17:47] book, and that was the starting
[00:17:50] Alison Jones: At that point, you
[00:17:51] know exactly what you need
[00:17:52] to do.
[00:17:52] You Just have to
[00:17:53] knock, knock those lines off one
[00:17:54] by one, don't
[00:17:55] you? I dunno
[00:17:55] Helen Wada: You do but I did have 24 pages of a four for my first introduction, [00:18:00] was down
[00:18:02] quite a lot. I think I've got a bit verbal diarrhea on that.
[00:18:05] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: It's like
[00:18:05] Alison Jones: they do say
[00:18:06] that books aren't written, they're rewritten. And I think there's an awful
[00:18:09] lot to
[00:18:09] that in a sense. You almost
[00:18:10] have to
[00:18:10] write your way into
[00:18:11] what it is you're trying to say.
[00:18:12] And then at that
[00:18:13] point you
[00:18:13] can cut
[00:18:13] it down
[00:18:13] because you go,
[00:18:14] oh, there's what
[00:18:14] we're trying to you have, you couldn't get there straight away. You have to have gone through all that writing, you know, in many cases.
[00:18:20] The Importance of Confidence in Writing
[00:18:20] Helen Wada: And I think the other thing comes back, it comes back to that how you show up
[00:18:24] Actually
[00:18:25] it was the confidence because where I started with was he said,
[00:18:29] she said, they said, and it was like, no, no, no, no, no.
[00:18:32] We know. We wanna know what you say.
[00:18:34] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: Yes.
[00:18:35] Helen Wada: And, and I
[00:18:36] think that for me,
[00:18:38] we talk about aha moments
[00:18:40] was a bit of realization.
[00:18:41] It was a bit of kick in the tummy
[00:18:42] that says, come on water. If you believe in this, you have to stand
[00:18:46] behind it.
[00:18:47] If it's going infr, what do you want to say?
[00:18:49] And it, it
[00:18:50] takes time, right? That
[00:18:52] goes back to
[00:18:52] the whole coaching approach. We, we sort of know it, but we don't believe it.
[00:18:56] And you have to go through it to then go, right?
[00:18:59] Yeah, no, [00:19:00] this
[00:19:00] is, I've got enough. Off we go.
[00:19:04] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: Yeah.
[00:19:04] Helen Wada: So, yeah.
[00:19:05] Alison Jones: And now it's here.
[00:19:07] Hopes for the Book's Impact
[00:19:07] Alison Jones: What's your hope for it?
[00:19:09] Helen Wada: Oh, I get,
[00:19:11] I, I get emotional again. My hope is that we change the world of work. My hope
[00:19:18] is.
[00:19:20] We still see so much
[00:19:23] animosity
[00:19:24] towards work.
[00:19:25] You know,
[00:19:25] poor leadership practices we're
[00:19:27] in 2025. You know, the engagement levels are at all time lows
[00:19:33] that people are
[00:19:35] struggling, work with work, they're struggling with managers, they're struggling with leaders.
[00:19:38] They're, they're being
[00:19:39] asked to do more. They're being asked to do more with less. We want to grow our
[00:19:44] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: businesses.
[00:19:46] Helen Wada: My hope is that we can lift this all up and say, guys, this doesn't have to be one or the other.
[00:19:54] That
[00:19:54] actually, if we reshape our thinking, if we reshape the way in, [00:20:00] we we look at
[00:20:00] some of these skills that they are fundamentally essential
[00:20:05] for growing our businesses in this new
[00:20:07] world,
[00:20:08] then
[00:20:08] let's.
[00:20:09] The Power of Coaching and Human-Centered Skills
[00:20:09] Helen Wada: Back into the fact that also they are human-centered skills. And by operating in this way,
[00:20:15] we can build human-centered
[00:20:17] organizations that focus on people, that care about people that challenge each other. Let's not, let's not make this wishy-washy because
[00:20:26] coaching is
[00:20:27] about creating psychological It's about
[00:20:30] giving people
[00:20:30] space to speak up, to share their ideas, to challenge each other, to make things better.
[00:20:39] So my
[00:20:40] hope is that
[00:20:41] we can look at a new way
[00:20:42] of that actually commercially makes know how many people are spending millions on training budgets for selling and millions on training budgets for learning, and they're
[00:20:53] all being cut one at a time?
[00:20:54] Because we want to grow the top and bottom line. And for me, it requires a [00:21:00] refocus.
[00:21:00] It
[00:21:00] requires a way to go. Let's take a new way, a new look at this,
[00:21:05] and I know it
[00:21:06] works
[00:21:07] because I'm now working with organizations.
[00:21:09] I've just come off a call now. Honestly, the
[00:21:13] community
[00:21:14] that we've created and the confidence
[00:21:17] in women
[00:21:17] that I started working with
[00:21:19] in February
[00:21:19] that I see now is phenomenal
[00:21:22] and it's all around their growth and their business growth.
[00:21:26] It's not about, you know, fluffy this, fluffy that.
[00:21:29] Alison Jones: And what's exciting, I think for, for me as well as a publisher, is that I know that you are changing life and work for people that you're working with directly, that you've been doing that for, for, for years now. And this book scales that. It puts it in the hands of people who aren't working with you directly, and it makes that principle more discoverable.
[00:21:46] So I think that's, when you're doing work like the book can be such a powerful. Part of that ecosystem that, that just can get in the hands of people when you aren't in the room, or even the people that you've worked with [00:22:00] have it to keep after you have left the building. You know? So that, that's really powerful and the two work so beautifully together.
[00:22:06] Helen Wada: Absolutely. And it is that, and, and you'll say, you know, it really does take a coaching approach. It's not an not an academic thesis. thesis.
[00:22:13] It takes a coaching approach.
[00:22:15] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: Oh, it's so readable. Yeah.
[00:22:16] Helen Wada: know, for, for those people that make the time and make the space, it's all there. You know, you don't need me. And that's my hope is, is to offer my wisdom.
[00:22:26] You know, we talked about human wise, the, I know you love the title from the start.
[00:22:30] Alison Jones: Just,
[00:22:32] Helen Wada: I, I love it even more.
[00:22:34] Alison Jones: yeah. Good.
[00:22:35] Helen Wada: now we're here, you know, and, and wisdom came up quite a lot yesterday in that thick, it's 50 and it's, it is about. Helping others to do this for themselves. Yes, I'm here. Yes, the human advantage is here.
[00:22:46] You know, there's so much power in that.
[00:22:48] But actually go pick the book up
[00:22:51] when we are out on the 3rd of March next year and have a go
[00:22:55] and build a community and support each
[00:22:59] Alison Jones: I
[00:22:59] [00:23:00] love the title because it says everything that
[00:23:01] needs to be said,
[00:23:02] and it has got
[00:23:03] that. And
[00:23:03] as you say, why is
[00:23:04] this,
[00:23:04] This is, this is the wisdom we need,
[00:23:05] You know, in this, in,
[00:23:06] the, in the world that we're in.
[00:23:08] This is the world wisdom we need. And
[00:23:10] it just implies that orientation that we are human wise, that's, that's
[00:23:14] the direction in which we're facing. Love it.
[00:23:16] Final Reflections and Tips
[00:23:16] Alison Jones: Now there's a lovely intersection because on my podcast I always ask my
[00:23:20] guests for their best tip,
[00:23:21] and I know that you do
[00:23:21] something similar. So
[00:23:23] I'm
[00:23:23] gonna ask you
[00:23:24] to tell your listeners your one best tip, and I think this is your innovation. A question for them.
[00:23:32] Helen Wada: Oh goodness.
[00:23:34] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: My
[00:23:34] Helen Wada: best tip, my best tip from where I'm sat
[00:23:37] now
[00:23:38] is if you've
[00:23:39] got a hunch,
[00:23:40] if you've got an idea,
[00:23:42] scratch
[00:23:42] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: it.
[00:23:44] Helen Wada: Talk to others. Connect, collaborate.
[00:23:47] I recognize that we're all in different place financially. You might not be able to
[00:23:52] take a step out, but start small. Start where you are, but believe in your ideas [00:24:00] because if you don't believe in them, nobody else will do.
[00:24:03] The world needs more ideas.
[00:24:06] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: I
[00:24:06] Alison Jones: I love that. Hair's on the back of my neck. And what's the
[00:24:09] question for them?
[00:24:10] Helen Wada: that's my top tip. What can you do to start tomorrow if you don't think about it as a big task,
[00:24:18] but if you think about it as one conversation at a time,
[00:24:24] I talk about that a lot in the book.
[00:24:26] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: Mm-hmm.
[00:24:27] Helen Wada: Breaking it
[00:24:28] down, what's the one conversation
[00:24:30] that you need
[00:24:31] to have to get you going?
[00:24:35] Alison Jones: Which
[00:24:35] again comes back to writing, doesn't it? It's great. You
[00:24:37] can't have write book on your to-do list, but once
[00:24:40] you've broken it down, you have 500 words on a particular topic.
[00:24:43] then you can get
[00:24:44] started. And this is
[00:24:45] what turns vision into action, isn't it?
[00:24:48] Helen Wada: absolutely. And if I think, you know, people say to me, how have you got to where you
[00:24:51] are and who you're working with? it, it
[00:24:53] literally is, and I talk about this
[00:24:55] at the end of the book. Human wise, the human framework has never been more appropriate [00:25:00]
[00:25:00] than for me running my own business. Yes, I was doing it when I was part of a
[00:25:05] global organization, but you've gotta get out there and have a conversation and, and listen to people.
[00:25:11] This isn't
[00:25:12] about what I could offer. It's about
[00:25:13] what do you need and who's interested and who else might be interested and who should I talk
[00:25:19] to about this?
[00:25:21] And,
[00:25:22] Alison Jones: And.
[00:25:22] the wonderful thing is that this makes
[00:25:23] commercial sense, but it's also what nourishes us
[00:25:26] as humans.
[00:25:27] demonstration of it.
[00:25:28] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: of it.
[00:25:28] Helen Wada: it
[00:25:28] really does. You know, you think about
[00:25:31] the pandemic and,
[00:25:32] and connection and where we're all coming back to and, and again, I'm gonna
[00:25:35] come back to thinking swiftly, just 'cause it's really real. You know, the message was connect. Go and connect, go and collaborate. This is not about competition anymore. I
[00:25:44] think for me, if, if we're gonna go up in the
[00:25:46] world.
[00:25:48] The world
[00:25:49] is too much for us all to be competing against each other. There's too many issues. There's too many global, I'm not gonna solve all of them. Goodness there are. So, but if I could inch forward in a little [00:26:00] piece of it to make my contribution in the wider ecosystem, then we need to collectively work together.
[00:26:06] You need to find people that are on a similar mission, on a similar journey and work collectively to, to make a difference.
[00:26:16] Alison Jones: Helen Water, it has been an absolute privilege taking your
[00:26:18] podcast over.
[00:26:19] I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm gonna hand the reins back to you slightly reluctantly that you can finish off your podcast.
[00:26:26] Helen Wada: Oh, thank you. It's, um, I've loved talk about, you know, I, I don't talk about this much,
[00:26:32] but you starting to,
[00:26:33] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: know, starting to, but
[00:26:34] Helen Wada: yeah. I think my reflection is, it's a journey.
[00:26:38] And,
[00:26:38] and just that whole one conversation at a time for me is so powerful.
[00:26:43] And, you know, I can't thank you enough. Well, we, we've only just getting started, right?
[00:26:49] I mean, that's what people say and they, I hit the 50 and I feel that I'm only just getting
[00:26:55] And I think that's a really big reflection. You know, people get to. You [00:27:00] know, 25, 30 and they think all or, or women that are leading the workplace to have children or men take whatever it is, life is a journey.
[00:27:11] And it takes me back to one of my very first coaching conversations I had with my maternity coach, where she kind of drew me a timeline and I was, you, what was I 33 at the time? And the timeline went to sort of 80 and then.
[00:27:26] That was a stark reminder that actually there's a long way to go.
[00:27:30] Alison Jones: It's a long way to go
[00:27:31] Helen Wada: There's a long way to
[00:27:33] Alison Jones: thinking your best conversations. Your richest work is
[00:27:36] probably ahead of you.
[00:27:38] Helen Wada: I'm pulling it all so, so thank
[00:27:41] you for, for being
[00:27:42] my host.
[00:27:43] Alison Jones: Oh, I've loved it.
[00:27:44] Helen Wada: I'm not gonna let you off the hook because I do get asked so many times.
[00:27:47] Alison Jones: Yes, we, we promise
[00:27:49] Helen Wada: write a book. What do I do? And I gag over
[00:27:52] to Allison.
[00:27:53] Publishing Journey and Practical Inspiration
[00:27:53] Helen Wada: For those people that aren't familiar with Practical Inspiration Publishing, what, just, just give us a flavor of what you've [00:28:00] created and how people work with you.
[00:28:03] Alison Jones: So as a publisher, I basically created a,
[00:28:05] a traditional
[00:28:05] publishing house in many, many ways in that we have international rep teams all around the world and you know, all our books are going out to library platforms and, and retailers and you know, we're sort of rep in a warehouse and all that kind of good sort of book trade chisel. We've got gold method accreditation, have a different model which, so we work with authors to say, right, what.
[00:28:24] Is it you want to achieve in the world? And, and let's work with you to, to make that book happen. And we just have a sort of different balance. We're very picky about the books that we publish.
[00:28:31] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: So
[00:28:32] Alison Jones: of the two ways in which people start working with us is the way that you started
[00:28:35] working,
[00:28:35] working with us,
[00:28:36] which is
[00:28:36] the 10 day business book proposal challenge. So this is the thing that I run three times a year, January,
[00:28:42] April, and September,
[00:28:44] it kind of is exactly what it says on
[00:28:46] the tin.
[00:28:46] It's like, do you know however you plan to publish your book? You need to know the answer to the questions that a publisher needs to know the answer to. If they're gonna make an investment in it,
[00:28:55] which is,
[00:28:56] who is this book for? How is it different from what's out
[00:28:58] there? You know, what, what's [00:29:00] its distinctive approach? Why
[00:29:01] would people read it? Who are you, why should you write it?
[00:29:03] And all that sounds really confrontational. It's not, of course '
[00:29:05] it's cause we, we uncover those together, but by the
[00:29:08] end of 10 days, and it's only 10 days, so it can't be perfect. And
[00:29:11] there's something very freeing about that. And the kind of, the energy
[00:29:14] and the fact that you're all doing it as a, as a small group
[00:29:16] is very.
[00:29:16] Energizing.
[00:29:17] Helen Wada: I think that that is powerful. Doing it as a small group has been one of the biggest benefits of
[00:29:25] Alison Jones: that group then become your cheerleaders
[00:29:27] Helen Wada: oh my goodness. Absolutely. I mean, literally they're on speed dial on my WhatsApp.
[00:29:32] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: I love it
[00:29:34] Helen Wada: Like your NCT group for babies, or we'll just birthing books instead of children.
[00:29:37] Alison Jones: Exactly.
[00:29:38] That's exactly what this is. And I'm sort of demonstrating best breastfeeding procedure. idol, whatever. So, so yes, that we go through that and then at the end of that challenge one, one proposal will will be offered a traditional publishing contract with practical inspiration. That's our kind
[00:29:51] of traditional commissioning route, if you like.
[00:29:52] But for those who want to continue, so many people just take their proposal brilliant. You
[00:29:57] know, I've got clarity. I know exactly what I need to do. Now I'm
[00:29:59] off. [00:30:00] sometimes
[00:30:00] they pitch it to a publisher. Sometimes
[00:30:02] they go and self-publish.
[00:30:03] But many people, particularly if they are planning to work
[00:30:05] with Practical Inspiration publishing will
[00:30:07] come into the bootcamp,
[00:30:08] which is, it's a six week bootcamp
[00:30:10] with a week off at the middle.
[00:30:11] So you're right. So overall it's seven that's what we go right now.
[00:30:14] We know what we're doing.
[00:30:15] Let's do it, shall
[00:30:16] we? And we
[00:30:17] just take that sort
[00:30:18] of high level table
[00:30:19] of contents
[00:30:19] that you build out in the proposal challenge, really drill down into it. Like what does that look like? Get the post-its out, get a bit of a whiteboard going and also think about working on the book as well as in the book, which is all about the connections, how you're gonna use this to build your relationship strategy, how it's gonna drive your content, strategy, all of that.
[00:30:36] I love it.
[00:30:36] Helen Wada: and then, and I, and I think, you know, looking back from, from an author's perspective, this isn't
[00:30:42] just
[00:30:43] biting a book.
[00:30:44] Alison Jones: No, exactly.
[00:30:45] Helen Wada: it,
[00:30:46] it's, it's very much more than that. And I think, you know,
[00:30:49] talking to those, whether they publish for you
[00:30:50] or through
[00:30:51] others.
[00:30:52] There's a lot of
[00:30:52] responsibility on you as an author because it's
[00:30:55] about how
[00:30:57] do you, what is
[00:30:58] it for you?
[00:30:58] Talk about that business, [00:31:00] the connections that you know
[00:31:01] now. I've written the book, it's about getting the book into the world and, and that work on the book that you, you kind of clearly delineate
[00:31:08] is,
[00:31:09] is as important
[00:31:11] as
[00:31:12] the words that go into it. '
[00:31:13] cause quite
[00:31:13] frankly, there's no point in having the words
[00:31:15] if nobody's gonna
[00:31:15] read it.
[00:31:16] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: Exactly.
[00:31:17] Alison Jones: And
[00:31:17] there's no point in starting
[00:31:18] that work. Once the book is out in the world, it's too late.
[00:31:21] You need to have built those relationships. You
[00:31:22] need to have brought that thinking in. You need to be reflecting to people who need to be engaging them in the ideas
[00:31:27] that starts
[00:31:28] sooner than it feels comfortable
[00:31:29] GMT20251105-100413_Recording_gallery_1280x720: to start.
[00:31:30] Helen Wada: Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:31:32] There's another, there's lot of squeaky moments
[00:31:34] going, like, let's just do it.
[00:31:37] Alison Jones: But the great
[00:31:37] thing is you, when you're writing a book, you, you really notice, I'm
[00:31:40] sure you'll have seen this as well. People
[00:31:42] are really excited by that.
[00:31:43] It's still, it's one of those
[00:31:45] really
[00:31:46] sort of totemic intellectual endeavors that
[00:31:49] we do.
[00:31:49] You know, it, it's a big piece of work. It
[00:31:51] has cultural weight and cultural value, and it gets
[00:31:54] people excited. So use that, you know, lean into it.
[00:31:58] Helen Wada: And I'm, I'm in that leaning [00:32:00] in face now,
[00:32:01] so, leaning into everybody, they said, can we help? I'm like, absolutely
[00:32:05] know this, this,
[00:32:06] is the time to yeah.
[00:32:09] Alison Jones: a village.
[00:32:10] Helen Wada: Take takes a village and it's a, a community.
[00:32:13] Can't wait for what's next. fabulous to have you on the
[00:32:16] show.
[00:32:17] Alison Jones: Oh, thank
[00:32:18] Helen Wada: And, if
[00:32:18] we can, if anybody that wants to find you, where can we find practical or
[00:32:23] Alison Jones: So practical inspiration.com. We'll, we'll
[00:32:25] show you all our
[00:32:25] fabulous books, including
[00:32:26] yours.
[00:32:27] Have a look on there. If you wanna find a bit more about me, about working with me, then alison jones.com. Or if you're like, I need the 10 day business
[00:32:33] book challenge now, then just go to
[00:32:35] proposal challenge.com.
[00:32:37] Helen Wada: Fabulous. It's been brilliant to share the pod with you
[00:32:40] today, Alison, for
[00:32:41] Alison Jones: I'm staying, I'm not moving out. I.
[00:32:45] Helen Wada: 50th bonus episode.
[00:32:47] Alison Jones: Yeah, it's been a privilege. Thank you so much for inviting me in.
[00:32:50] Helen Wada: No. Wonderful. And here's
[00:32:51] to what's next. Hey,
[00:32:52] Alison Jones: absolutely.
[00:32:54]