I’m Rachel O’Brien. I’m a writer, speaker and leadership expert.
After 22 years developing leaders in the corporate arena, I’ve spent the last decade exploring ways to feel.
A life and death health crisis in 2010 sent me on a journey to find the secrets to really living. Prior to my illness, I had all the material success I could hope for. The career, the house, the car and overseas jet setting lifestyle.
It looked good on the outside but inside I was numb and shut down. I felt like an empty shell. For years I had been pushing myself, ignoring the signs of my body, numbing through work addiction and too much booze and food.
I thought I was living the high life. Until I realised there was more. So much more inside of me.
To unlock the inner world, I’ve had to travel through some darkness and discover many things about myself that I haven’t liked. I have had to face my own self-loathing, fears of abandonment and unworthiness. I have had to find my authentic voice and connect to my heart which has been difficult and often painful.
But now, I can feel. My body is still awakening, and I am in awe and wonder at the gift of this human life. This is what I’m here to share.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”
— Carl Jung
As the Executive General Manager of Australia at Flight Centre Travel group, I was responsible for a business with 5,000 people and $7B in turnover.
But what I really did was to lead people to being the best version of themselves.
Holding the status quo, numbing out of fear of change and not following my true potential are things I have first-hand experience with. I have navigated so much change in my own life, I have developed tools and techniques to guide people and teams through the roughest of waters.
I have a particular interest in the different uses and application of masculine and feminine leadership qualities which are present in everyone regardless of gender.
Over the years, I came to understand that men and women are uniquely and amazingly different and we need to exploit and celebrate these differences.
My real leadership journey has been about seeing, owning, understanding and loving all of the dark and ugly parts of myself so that I can be of service and leave a legacy of contribution.
