if we kind of think about some of the work that you've done subsequently then moving into books and uh what has led to your mbe i don't know whether you want to touch on that or not but um um i suppose you probably if i was to kind of solidify what i've read um in your work it's about why leaders need to find their voice to aid or um give authority to what they're doing um i I don't know whether you would put it like that, Lucy, or not, but maybe touch a little bit on the sort of pathway into that and maybe what got you to the point where you are now with your MBE and the journey you've had with your publishing.

Well, again, it was a sort of, you know, I'm not very strategic in my life planning.

I just take the next thing that comes along.

And one of the next things that came along after the work-life balance, which, of course, sort of began to just become mainstream.

So people didn't need consultancy anymore.

It was just part of the HR function eventually afterwards.

So I did a Dittles course, a diploma in teaching in the lifelong learning sector, thinking, oh, well, maybe, you know, maybe teaching would be a more sensible kind of way to go.

Do you want to talk a little bit about the recognition that you have been given?

you want to explain about your magic AI and how that works? Yes,

absolutely.

Thank you for the opportunity.

So as I said, I've been taking entrepreneurs and experts through the book writing process for a long time.

And about three years ago, somebody who had in fact taken through this process said that he wanted to start an app to help him write his own book because he was struggling a bit.

And I saw him say this in a Facebook group and I said, hey, you can't do this without me.

Let's do it together.

How did that come about? How did that feel to have that come your way?

Do you mind if we reschedule? And I was like, of course.

Yes, no, it was very nice.

I mean, after the Business Book Awards and the, you know, the women kind of being That's kind of success of the getting more women to write their book project.

My colleague who had worked with me on setting up a kind of a network for women decided that she would nominate me for a King's Award.

You don't know what you're going to get.

You just have to kind of tell a story.

get the evidence, show that somebody has achieved something and get lots of supporting documentation, like people writing letters and saying, yes, you know, Lucy helped me write my book or whatever.

I know, I know.

Okay

... a, a new kind of publishing company specifically for entrepreneur, um, uh, and expert authors.

And then, um, I was asked to start the Business Book Awards, to be the founder and the face of the Business Book Awards, and that was a really interesting thing to set up.

A whole ...

I, I didn't know whether that would be something that the business book publishing industry would get behind, whether I was, you know, putting my head above the parapet and it would kind of get [laughs] shot off 'cause nobody would be interested.

Um, but as it turned out, it was.

Luckily, it turned out to be, um, you know, pe- authors and publishers did want to have an award for that kind of book.

Mm.

It cannot

read your mind.

It does not know your experience, your business experience, your wisdom, your case studies, your personal stories, all the links that you make when you're talking about your business, when you're selling to your clients and all that is what goes into your book.

So if you start asking it to write me a chapter on the first stage of my model, It doesn't have a clue.

It'll come up with, you know, all sorts of maybe good ideas, mostly not related to you at all.

So it doesn't even do that.

Book magic, you can't say to it, you know, write me a chapter.

So what were you awarded the MBE for?