SHOW NOTES:
WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Episode: The Fantasy Novel That Unlocked Her Curiosity
Learning about the fantasy novel that unlocked her curiosity begins with recognising that the analytical frameworks you trust most may also be the ones quietly limiting what you can discover.
Elsa had built her reputation as a senior data scientist on precision. Reliable models. Actionable insights. Results that stakeholders could depend on. But the same limitations kept returning — innovation stalling at incremental improvements, promising anomalies cleaned out of datasets, breakthrough thinking remaining just out of reach. This is the story of the Friday night a fantasy novel showed her that the questions she hadn't thought to ask were the most important ones.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
The Storytelling Newsletter (Free) Short, focused, and grounded in real WorkLife situations — how we communicate, lead, make decisions, and navigate challenges at work.
Story Lesson The Fantasy Novel That Unlocked Her Curiosity — Learn how speculative fiction develops the capacity to question foundational assumptions — and what becomes possible when you stop optimising within the rules and start asking whether the rules themselves are the constraint.
Guided Programme The Power of Fiction: Developing Character Traits Through Reading–Discover how literature strengthens empathy, perspective, and moral judgement — essential traits for thoughtful leadership.
This story was inspired by my book, WorkLife Book Club Volume One Shoreditch by Carmel O’ Reilly — following members of a London book club as they navigate WorkLife challenges through the wisdom found in the books they read together.
Support This Work: Your support makes a difference and helps me to continue creating resources that are accessible to everyone. Thank you. Carmel
Commissioned learning resources, speaking engagements, and organisational partnerships: carmel@schoolofworklife.com
schoolofworklife.com
The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O’ Reilly
