Episode 299: Building a Long and Successful Career in Television with Kaye Adams
Achieving longevity in a career takes more than simply going to the office every day. It requires doing what you love and genuinely loving what you do. This enables a person to learn and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of the business industry.
In this episode, we present another special talk between Adam Stott and Kaye Adams, which was recorded at a recent Gold Circle event. Kaye Adams shares her experience in the television industry and offers advice for business owners looking to leverage media opportunities. Kaye touches on the importance of being able to adapt and change in one’s career, particularly in the television industry where careers are quite uncertain.
Kaye advises young people to take risks and pursue their goals even if they don’t feel completely ready, as this can lead to greater success in the long run. By learning from her experiences, accepting failures, and adjusting her approach, she has found success and longevity in her career. In the latter part of the episode, you will also hear an insightful Q&A with Gold Circle members.
Kaye Adams gained fame in being a part of the ITV talk show, Loose Women and The Circle. Kaye has also been part of various TV shows with BBC. She has a book called STILL HOT! which features 42 true menopause stories. Kaye is also a BBC Scotland Radio Talk Show host named after her, The Kaye Adams Show.
Show Highlights:
- Kaye’s experience landing an interview with Margaret Thatcher
- Conversation with her daughter about success and happiness
- How to handle rejection and failure properly
- The key to achieving longevity regardless of what career an individual chooses
- The difference between maintaining large profit margins versus making a business grow
- Kaye’s memorable experiences being part of Lose Women
Links Mentioned:
Find out more about Loose Women and the Kaye Adams Show
Get Kaye Adams’ book on Amazon
Get your Business Growth Secrets SUCCESS PLANNER for FREE and profit like a pro: https://adamstottplanner.com/free-book47315172
Adams website: https://adamstott.com/?el=Pod
Watch the Episode on Adam’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/adamstottcoach?el=Pod
Connect with Adam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamstottcoach/?el=Pod
Join Adam’s network on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-stott-coach/?el=Pod
Business owners: Monetise social media, get more clients, increase your following and make more sales: https://socialmediamonetisation.com/unlockfb?el=Pod
Coaches, Consultants and Speakers: lower your marketing costs, increase ticket prices and get more high ticket clients: https://personalbrandunlocked.com/fb-event-reg?el=Pod
Transcript:
Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore may include some minor grammatical errors.
[00:00:00] Kaye Adams: Hello everyone.
[00:00:02] Adam Stott: Well look welcome. And you’ve come all the way from Scotland. So you’ve
[00:00:05] Kaye Adams: All the way from Glasgow. Yes.
[00:00:07] Adam Stott: Traveled down to see us, which is amazing. Now obviously we had a, a podcast. Yeah. Probably a while ago now, wasn’t it?
[00:00:13] Kaye Adams: Yeah, a couple of years at least.
[00:00:14] Adam Stott: Yeah, it’s quite, quite a while ago. And we’ve, we’ve wanted to bring you to Gold Circle to meet our clients ever since, you know, because I thought that, As, as I just mentioned to the audience, one of the things that is always in business is that human element and, and I think that there’s no one better on that than you, and I really wanted to hear from you and share that, but I also wanna really get into the journey of your career as well and ask some questions.
[00:00:40] Kaye Adams: How long have you gone? As you said, I’ve been in it a long time. We’ll have to jump in the middle.
[00:00:45] Adam Stott: Well, we’ll, we’ll see how we go. But I think the, uh, you know, starting of your career, building that big brand in media, um, that you’ve been able to do and, and along the way is, is, is really impressive. So I was reading about that starting off with Margaret Thatcher as well, which I thought was really interesting.
[00:01:01] So do you want to tell us maybe all the way back to the beginning, what was the beginning like for you and building that brand?
[00:01:06] Kaye Adams: Yeah, well, I mean, it’s interesting that you say about building a brand because of course when I started out, you know, in the world of work, Which was the 1980s. Um, do you remember anyone?
[00:01:15] Remember the 1980s? Thank God. Um, You know, you weren’t building a brand. I mean, I, well, people didn’t build brands. I mean, obviously Nike might have built brands or added ass or whatever, but I mean, people didn’t build brands. So, I mean, it’s a relatively new concept, isn’t it? So, I mean, I was just, you know, out of university, got a break with Central Television in Birmingham and um, I wanted to be a political journalist.
[00:01:42] Where, where did it all go wrong? I dunno. Um, clearly that didn’t work out. Um, and so I was a trainee journalist with Central Television. I wanted to impress the boss, as you always do, sort of young, uh, sort of, uh, green, green behind the ears. Is that the right expression? Thank you. I’m very bad at things like that.
[00:02:03] Um, And so I, I wrote to Margaret Thatcher’s press, uh, secretary at the time, sir Bernard Ingham. Never ever thinking for one minute that I would get a positive response. And, uh, then I got a letter back marked, you know, Downing Street 10 Downing Street, and, uh, you have an Arrows audience with Margaret Thatcher.
[00:02:19] Um, so that was an amazing experience in itself, obviously. Um, I mean, I’ll never forget it. I think I was like 24 at the time. Um, and it, Margaret Thatcher was at the Iron Lady, you know? Yeah. It was just post Falkland. Um, so that was a great experience, but also just generally taking the initiative, doing that thing about trying to impress the boss.
[00:02:43] And I guess in my job, and I would imagine in other kind of organizations, it’s how do you stand out? You know, everyone’s hungry, everyone’s keen, everyone wants to, to get that promotion. And you’re constantly thinking, how do I stand out? Which I suppose is building a brand, but we never called it that. The thing it was, you know, it was just how do I make the next move?
[00:03:08] And in television it’s an interesting business in that there’s no obvious career path. Some organizations you’ll go into and you start off at grade A and B, C, D, you go up. Whereas in television, it doesn’t really happen. You know, and often younger people will say to me, how’d you get into television? And I’ll always say, well, what do you wanna do in television?
[00:03:26] You can be an accountant in television, you can work in catering, in television, you can be onscreen, you can be, you know, behind. So what is it you really want to do? So getting
[00:03:35] Adam Stott: clear on that objective is for first part. And how did you get clear on that objective? You want to be a political journalist.
[00:03:42] What made you reach out in that first instance? Actually, I’m really interested to know why did you reach out? To Margaret Thatcher’s team to make that first move. What happened there?
[00:03:51] Kaye Adams: Well, I mean, you know, like I say, you, you’re that age. You’re working on a political program, you know, how are you gonna get the attention of the boss?
[00:03:58] Well, you secure. An interview with the Prime Minister. You know, it’s kind of obvious. Um, and at that time, and we are going back a long time, the representation of women in politics was incredibly low. I mean, I think it was something like 4% in the House of Commons at that time. So I, I proposed a sort of bigger documentary about women in politics and the lack of representation.
[00:04:21] And of course, you know, we had a female prime minister, ironically, so that was kind of an obvious thing to, to do. So, um, It was a, I was a terrible interview. I was absolutely lousy. She made mince me of me. Um, and that was a lesson too, be in humility because I went sort of not far out of university, a bit of a lefty.
[00:04:43] I was gonna tell her what, where she was going wrong and, you know, How wrong could I be?
[00:04:50] Adam Stott: But you know what, I love that. Because what we find is I’ve done a lot of interviews with a lot of people, and people that have achieved a lot of success in their lives have often shot their shot before they’re ready.
[00:05:03] And being able to off the back of that, go on and build. And, you know, it’s really, it is really key actually, the, the last interview we just mentioned, the style systems, same thing. You know, before they’re ready, they went out and they made a move. And I think that that’s why a lot of people don’t go on to achieve massive success a lot of the time because they want everything to be perfect before they go and take action.
[00:05:23] Kaye Adams: Yeah. You know, uh, I mean, you know, with, with me, and it’s interesting cause I’ve got daughters age 20 and 16, so I’m now having these conversations with, with them, particularly the 20 year old who is desperate to do well, as she said. Yes. Ironically, she’s at the same university as me studying the same subjects.
[00:05:41] But I think she’ll do something very different with her life and she will often say to me, I just wanna do well mom. Yeah, and you can say, well, what does that mean? What does doing well mean? We’re back to this human element, and she has a very, very narrow view of what doing well is, and she never ever includes in that being happy.
[00:05:58] Right. And I keep coming back to, well, what’s gonna make you happy? You know what, what’s gonna get you up in the morning and out and feeling satisfied and, you know, feeling that you’re doing the right thing with your life. And she just sort of looks at me with irritation because I just wanna do well. Um, but maybe that’s just something that comes with age, because I probably would’ve said exactly the same thing when I was her age, you know?
[00:06:22] Mm-hmm. Um, God, I went off on one there. Where was it going?
[00:06:26] Adam Stott: No. Well, I think it’s, uh, I think it’s really important that actually it links to directly what you just said, understanding what your objective
[00:06:34] Kaye Adams: is in. I know what I was gonna say. Yeah, because the other thing I have to discuss with Charlie is failure.
[00:06:39] And she absolutely hates not getting, you know, a great mark in an exam. I mean, she sees it as a disaster, a catastrophe, and it’s quite hard to sort of pick her up from it. Um, and there’s nothing worse than old people lecturing young people because I, I think you have to go through stuff. Yeah. And, but if I look through my own career, and it was great to get that interview with Margaret Thatcher and that gave me a boost.
[00:07:05] But I mean, my God, I had so many. Um, you know, knocks and times that I really thought I’m never gonna get where I want to to go. So it’s two steps forward and one step back. And with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that I really learned from the Knox. And actually they were a positive, um, you know, event in my life.
[00:07:25] But at the time it was, it’s really hard to pick yourself up. Well, depends what nature you are. Some people are better than others. I struggled. You know, cause I took things very personally. I was so keen to, to succeed in whatever terms that I saw it. And you know, when somebody tells you, and it has happened to me two or three times, no, you are not right for this.
[00:07:47] You are not, you know, you’ve not got the job, you’ve not got the opportunity. It, it’s really hard to regroup, you know? It really is. And you
[00:07:56] Adam Stott: mentioned two steps forward, one step back. Do you have a, a kind of philosophy yourself for keeping to take those steps forward to, to, you know, or is it, how do you view those knocks?
[00:08:07] Like how do you, do you have like a, a way that you handle it, a framework, um, when something goes wrong, what, what’s your kind of process like? Do you have a process or do you get up, dash yourself off and go again? Or do you consider it?
[00:08:21] Kaye Adams: I don’t know. I, I think it’s just in my. Nature. I am very tenacious. My mom was very tenacious.
[00:08:28] Um, so there must be something in me. And I don’t know, I mean, I could think of one example actually that in terms of where, you know, I looked back on it and it was a positive. So I wanted to be a news reader as opposed to a reporter. This was not long after the Margaret Thatcher thing, and I changed companies and so they did let me do a bit of news reading.
[00:08:46] So you’re actually, you know, sort of now the six o’clock news. Um, and because I’ve got resting. PO Poker face, bitch face, whatever you wanna call it. I’m not one of these smiley people like that. Um, and I was nervous. I was phenomenally nervous. And when you’re nervous, often your face kind of freezes and you know, you’re not presenting the right, uh, the right kind of, um, vibe.
[00:09:10] The boss eventually, after however many months, said this was in Scotland. By the way. I’m taking you off the news. You’re just too miserable, doll. I mean, it’s just something about your face. I mean, it’s just, I dunno if you could put some blucher on or something about this is a true conversation. Um, um. And I remember actually it was mom and dad’s wedding anniversary.
[00:09:33] We were supposed to be meeting for dinner, um, that night. And I went into this restaurant and oh my God. And I threw myself on the table, I think, and it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I thought, um, it, but it was such a blow to my self confidence, you know, because the one thing about my kind of job that is that when you don’t get.
[00:09:56] When you get told you’re rubbish, you’re getting told you are rubbish. You know, it’s not the thing that you’re selling that’s rubbish. It’s not, you can’t remove yourself from it. It is a judgment on you or it feels like a judgment on you. Um, so that took a long time to, to kind of get over and come back.
[00:10:14] But with a bit of reflection, I’ve thought, and this is what I have tried to do all my life and tried to say to my kids he was right. He was right. I didn’t project, I mean, he, I would say his, um, delivery of the message was maybe a wee bit blunt. Um, but yeah, he was right. I, you know, I wasn’t what people wanted to see or, you know, delivering the news at six o’clock because I didn’t have the easy breezy kind of confidence.
[00:10:40] I wasn’t particularly easy to watch. Um, you could tell that I was nervous and on television, or in fact, even in, in this instance, presenting live. You want people to be able to relax and, and just, you know, listen, watch, whatever. Once you start to make an, an audience feel nervous, then you’re not really doing your job particularly well.
[00:11:02] Yeah. So, and he was right. I didn’t smile enough.
[00:11:05] Adam Stott: Do you know what I love on that anecdote is the fact that you took personal responsibility. Cuz I, I think that’s a huge part of success. Is to look inwardly rather than always look for an excuse outwardly to Well, yeah, and I think doing that allows you then to build Well, absolutely.
[00:11:23] If that’s what you want
[00:11:24] Kaye Adams: to, to, yeah. And to a certain extent, I mean, I don’t wanna say that I fake smiling. I sometimes do,
[00:11:34] but. I am aware that I, you know, I’m quite a kinda laid back laconic kind of character, and I’m not one of these smiley, smiley people. So I am aware that there are times in live television or whatever that I have got to. Put it on. And that doesn’t mean it’s fake. Um, but it does mean that I’ve got a notch up a gear because that is what the job requires.
[00:11:56] And it’s not my natural pitch. My natural pitch is much more laid back, but the job requires something else. Um, and that took a while. You know, it, it took a while to accept that because you know, you have to look into yourself and say, Am I just a miserable shit? Um, so hopefully I’m not, um, and am I capable of change and I’m prepared to make that change and am I willing to accept that, you know, people are right to demand that of me if I want to do what I want to do.
[00:12:26] Um, and so now, you know, sometimes I’ll see bits of me on loose women and I think, oh my God, you’re a performing monkey. Um, but other people think I’m still laid back. I think I’m like on drugs when I’m on television. Who is that person? Um, but you know, other people don’t, but it’s what the job needs, so that’s what you gotta do.
[00:12:46] Absolutely. Yeah. And it’s been good for me. It has been good for me. Yeah, because it’s stretched you. Yeah, it stretched me. Yeah. Yeah. It has stretched me because sometimes I don’t feel like going, hi, and welcome to those women. Sometimes I feel it’s, oh shit, but, but I’m gonna get in trouble here. Aren’t I?
[00:13:05] Adam Stott: Worry we, I love
[00:13:06] Kaye Adams: this woman. We’ll, we’ll cut that. Yeah. No, I, I don’t mean, I genuinely do love this one, but not everyone’s in a good mood every day, are you? No. Mean you go out and all your various businesses, and I’m sure sometimes you would rather just lie in bed and put the doy over your head, but you’ve gotta put yourself out there.
[00:13:21] Adam Stott: Yeah. Uh, absolutely love that. So as your, as your careers progressed, obviously loose women’s a big part Yeah. Of your, of your career, has that been the highlight of your career, would you say? Or is there things that you’ve done that. You know, you’ve had a big career in tv, so what have been some of the highlights and some of the big long, um,
[00:13:39] Kaye Adams: well, longevity is a big thing actually.
[00:13:41] Yeah. And I mean, I dunno whether this applies in business. It certainly applies in television. I mean, two sort of broad camps. You get the people who burn very brightly. Yeah. Um, and go very high in a short time. But then they may well crash and burn, um, or. I dunno if any of you’re into star signs. I’m not particularly into star signs, but funnily enough, I’m a Capricorn and it would appear that I, uh, you know, comply quite well to that.
[00:14:06] I’m a little mountain goat who just keeps climbing up the mountain. Um, and so I’ve had a long career, um, and I haven’t had any touch with until this video goes out. Terrible crashes. Um, you know, so. There’s two different ways to, to kind of play it. So actually I would say the highlight of my career has been hanging on in there.
[00:14:30] Um, and I don’t mean that in a desperate sense. Yeah. Because there’ve been lots of fabulous moments. Yeah. You know, and I’ve count myself very lucky to have worked for so long in an industry that I genuinely love and I have a lot of fun in, and I’ve made so many great friends in, but still being in it so many years on does feel like an achievement.
[00:14:48] Yeah.
[00:14:49] Adam Stott: You know For sure. And so for you to say whether that applies in, I think it’s very applicable to business as well. Yeah. Very, very applicable. You know, some people do come in, burn brightly and then, and then dies off, you know? For sure. In fact, a lot of people in business do that and then have to go again because they burn too brightly.
[00:15:06] That’s very common, right? Most well,
[00:15:08] Kaye Adams: Yeah, it’s, it’s funny, I have some, uh, not experience secondhand, uh, experience, but I mean, my parents ran a business, um, and my brother went into the business and my brother and my dad, um, maybe given away a family secret here, had a very different approach. Yeah. You know, my dad was all about, What’s the profit margin?
[00:15:28] What’s the profit margin? And sometimes he’d say you don’t have to always grow big, but you have to make sure that your profit margin is good. And actually you can be more profitable at that size than that size. Yeah, true. Whereas my brother probably been younger. He wanted to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow.
[00:15:44] Yeah. Obviously as, as he matured, He was able to kind of, uh, mitigate that a little bit, but he always thought that bigger was gonna be better. Yeah. And I guess my dad with a bit more experience said, Hmm, bigger isn’t always better. Um, it’s how profitable you are, you know, what’s your sustainability, you know, are you.
[00:16:05] Able to sort of withstand some of the, the challenges that any business is going to hit up against. Um, so he had a different set of priorities, which was interesting and maybe I’ve gone down that route as well.
[00:16:17] Adam Stott: Yeah, abso absolutely critical to be, to be watching that profitability. So is, is, which I think the longer ity that you mentioned Yeah.
[00:16:25] Really, really important. And, and being able to have that longer in TV is really, really important. What, what do you think the character traits. From yourself have been to get that longevity? Why do you think it is you’ve been able to create that?
[00:16:39] Kaye Adams: Um, because I genuinely love what I do. I, I, I genuinely love what I do.
[00:16:46] I mean, in any profession there will be times, there’ll be low points and there’ll be frustrations, and there’ll be jobs that I didn’t particularly want to do, but I did them because I felt it was the right thing. But in terms of the industry, in terms of, um, I mean, obviously loose women is kind of probably one of the highest profile things I’ve done for the longest period of time.
[00:17:06] But basically my industry is, I’ve also got a radio show in, in, uh, Scotland, which has got a, a different vibe. It is more, slightly more sort of current affairs rather than current affairs. Um, um, I just enjoyed discussion. Uh, you know, I did at uni at university, I did economics and politics. I’ve always enjoyed that level of critical discussion.
[00:17:33] I’ve always enjoyed other people’s ideas. I’ve always enjoyed hearing encounter ideas. Um, I, I think it’s a vital part of, of life or a political life or social life or cultural life. So, you know, I do it because I genuinely love it and have an interest in it. And I think that has got to be key to longevity in anything, because if you’re only in it for a buck or for a particular singular reason, then ultimately you’re gonna get bored or something else is gonna catch your eye.
[00:18:01] So it’s because I’m, I genuinely buy into it is, is, uh, is also, I think as time has gone on, I’ve learned not to fight every battle when I was younger. I was very competitive. Um, and I probably, you know, every injustice, every wrong, everything that I thought, you know, um, was an unfair decision against me or somebody else.
[00:18:26] I was up there at the barricades and I guess as I’ve got older, I’ve thought, you know what? I’ll just leave that one. There is no need for me to get involved in that. I’m gonna step back cuz the bigger picture. You know, is, is actually more important. So that’s another thing that I, I have learned, um, that I think has allowed me to kind of dodge along.
[00:18:45] And also, and I, I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet, but I genuinely always give a hundred percent. Uh, I have never phoned it in, you know, um, no matter how many times I, I do a program, a radio program I’ll do every day, and okay, sometimes I don’t wanna get up at six o’clock in the morning, and, but when I get there and I’m working, I’m absolutely all in.
[00:19:09] I, I do not try and cut corners. I’m not saying I’m always great because, you know, even with maximum effort, you can sometimes fail. Um, but I do give maximum effort. And I hope that has counted for something,
[00:19:22] Adam Stott: which all of those things, doing what you love, giving it a hundred percent. You know, and being able to, she said, dodge the bullets, but not dodge the bullets.
[00:19:31] I think just use, yeah, dodge the bullets logic, just use logic to, to navigate situations are all really critical parts of success, aren’t they? Um, absolutely. So in terms of, The other, other shows and things that you’ve done, what are some of the highlight moments that you’ve loved and especially on loose women?
[00:19:49] Has there been a story that impacted you, particularly change your view on things or something that came in? Cause there’s been some mad stories on there, aren’t there? And some really. Amazing experiences and things that have happened on that show.
[00:20:00] Kaye Adams: Yeah. Well, AB absolutely, but I mean, it’s, when I say it’s a conveyor bell, I, you know, I don’t mean that in any casual sense, but I mean, gosh, when you’re doing it every single day.
[00:20:10] Yeah. Um, you know, Joan River’s been ripped off the air because she said, fuck, that was quite a good one. Um, I’ve, I mean, literally there was people coming in ready to drag her out by the legs. Um, uh, You, you remember things like bloopers, you know, like me introducing Mary g Bilge, that was not a high point of my career.
[00:20:31] Um, John Barman fallen off the back of the stool and we thought that he’d, um, cracked the back of his head and we’re gonna have to call an ambulance. You know, these kind of mad things like, like that. Um, but actually it’s just the, the wealth of people that you get to speak to is such a privilege, you know?
[00:20:49] And one thing people will often ask me is, you know, Who’s your favorite interviewer? Who’s your most memorable interview? Ian. And obviously they would always expect me to say, you know, a celebrity name and you know, Whoopi Goldberg’s been on, and Oprah’s been on, and you know, Joan Rivers been on. These are fantastic names, but genuinely hand on heart.
[00:21:06] You know, maybe more from my radio show. It’s people who. Have faced incredible adversity in life. Um, you know, whether it’s through illness or other circumstances, and that they pick themselves up and they’re back on radio or on television, able to relate their story and how they have, um, dealt with that situation and how they have.
[00:21:30] You know, found a positive direction, genuinely, and I’m not trying to sort of be a creepy drawer here. Um, but for me as a person, those are the stories that really impact on me because a lot of celebrities are very fortunate people. Yeah. They’ve had some really lucky breaks. Not all of them. Yeah. You know, and I mean, you’d be wrong to think just because someone’s sitting on television that they haven’t, you know, had their challenges.
[00:21:51] Of course they have. Um, but there’s also lot of good fortune, um, There’s so many people out there who are absolutely extraordinary, and you will never know the name. Yeah. Uh, but they have shown incredible resilience, incredible strength, incredible fortitude. Um, and, and not to get a big round of applause, not to be on the telly, not to get, you know, all the applauds.
[00:22:14] And those are the people that always stick with me. I have to stay. And,
[00:22:18] Adam Stott: and of course the, the emotion of those stories is obviously very, very powerful. Yeah. So sometimes when you hear that, we had a couple of people share challenges from, from this morning, you know, very human challenges where they were able to pick themselves up and push on the spike going through some difficult things.
[00:22:35] Yeah. And, and those are the things that actually move you. Because that’s what actually inspires you, right? Yeah. I think And that’s kind of, is that why you feel that those have been the, be the better moments, the emotion that’s involved in it? Just the,
[00:22:49] Kaye Adams: the, yeah. Well, that, that’s a human connection, isn’t it?
[00:22:52] Yeah. You know, I mean, There’s a lot of, and I’m gonna use the word bullshit, not just to get a laugh, but there is a lot of bullshit in our world at the moment, isn’t there? Yeah. And maybe there always has been, but you know, we are living right now and you know, you look at things often on social media and other places.
[00:23:08] Is that true? Is that real? You know, is that person really who they say that they are? You find yourself. Constantly doubting and there’s almost a sort of built-in level of cynicism. But when you’re in a situation and you really feel confident that that person is sharing with you something really honest and something really meaningful and something that you can relate to, then you know that is pretty special.
[00:23:32] You know, absolutely. You can believe it. And, and that really makes a difference.
[00:23:37] Adam Stott: Absolutely. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Look, I, I think it’s, um, you know, been an amazing career. What I’d like to do is open up to a couple of questions, if that’s okay. Okay. Yeah. No luck to in the audience. Do we enjoy that chat? Okay.
[00:23:47] Everybody, yes. You’re amazing, right? Absolutely. Who would like to ask some questions? Let’s get some hands over who’s got some questions I’d like to ask. Good. We’ll go back
[00:23:56] Kaye Adams: first. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:23:58] Adam Stott: So we go with Hannah first and we’ve got, we’ve got quite a few, so Yeah, yeah. No, I’m sorry. Yeah, there. Oh, sorry.
[00:24:03] I I will point rather than say names Nick, just in case. Yeah. Hands up.
[00:24:08] Kaye Adams: Hi Kate. It’s an absolutely pleasure to, to hear you speak today. So thank you very much. Um, as somebody who works in public relations, my job is sort of the other side of the fence, if you like, getting, uh, opportunities for clients in the media.
[00:24:20] Um, some of my clients are in the room here today. Um, but I’m really keen to hear from the journalist’s perspective what your biggest tips and advice are for, for business owners who are really. Looking to leverage the power of, you know, um, opportunities like your radio show and, um, TV broadcast. Um, yeah.
[00:24:39] Well, thank you. I think for me, um, it is tell a story, you know, um, particularly on the radio show, we’ll see, goodness knows how many press releases come, come over, um, and. What you don’t want, particularly on radio and even on television, is somebody who’s overtly selling something, a product, uh, because we’re not advertisers, you know, you don’t pay for the advertising.
[00:25:04] So it’s a, it is a difficult, uh, it’s a complex relationship, isn’t it? Because we want the story and I mean, it happens all the time on radio. The classic thing is that, um, I dunno. Think of a brand, whatever. I dunno. No, I’m not gonna say boots. I think of another brand. I don’t know. Um, menopause. Some menopause, uh, product will hire Liz Earl to go on radio to talk about something to do with the menopause.
[00:25:31] Um, no, that’s fine because there’ll be something interesting there, but there has to be a story underneath that that people can relate to. Um, because if it is just an avert plug for a particular product, Then we will put it to one side. So it is always about telling a story, and it’s about telling a story that can relate to a wider audience, even if you’re using a celebrity to do it.
[00:25:54] And yes, you’ve got a product at, at the end of it, uh, that’s fine, but there has to be a story attached to it, back to that human connection, uh, that people don’t feel that they’re being sold something because whether it is as a journalist or on behalf of your audience, People don’t really like to feel that they’re being sold something in such a blatant fashion.
[00:26:17] So I guess that would be my, my main thing on that. Is that what you meant? Yeah. That’s a really,
[00:26:22] Adam Stott: really great answer. It’s a really great question. And
[00:26:24] Kaye Adams: your mic’s been switched on. Yeah.
[00:26:27] Adam Stott: And is there any, any stories that’s, I wanna piggyback your question. I mean, it’s a good question, but is there any story or anything about a story that stands out to you?
[00:26:36] Is there anything that you like to, or is it more about the audience? How the audience are gonna resonate with the story?
[00:26:42] Kaye Adams: Um, well, it emotion, you know, there’s gotta be some emotion behind it. You know, whether it’s something that’s gonna surprise you, it’s gonna shock you, it’s gonna make you feel sad, it’s gonna make you feel happy.
[00:26:54] Um, there has to be an emotion attached to it, whatever that emotion is. Um, or it’s like, wow. Uh oh. The other thing is don’t fill it full of statistics, um, because that is a complete turn off. One or two really powerful statistics works really, really well. And you know, I, I will scan these and if I see one statistic that I’ll, if I’m gonna say to the person next to me, did you know that 56% of people did, then that is a great hook.
[00:27:25] But if I just see, you know, 10, 12, 20 statistics in front of me. I’m like, well, that’s like a Scottish government statement. I’m not having that.
[00:27:36] Adam Stott: Brilliant. Right. Okay. Great question there, Hannah. I really like that. Okay, so yep, your hand up? Yes. Scrum over here, Nick.
[00:27:45] Kaye Adams: I dunno if it’s really mean to ask you if you remember a particular person.
[00:27:50] Oh, don’t put me on the spot. Oh, no. Um, there’s a man called Roland Wessling came on loose swimming, Roland Wessling and he’d lost his partner through carbon monoxide poisoning. I do remember this. And almost lost his life. Yeah. And it reminded me he’s not, he’s my husband. And he’s here actually he’s upstairs in the hotel room working.
[00:28:18] Um, and it just, I just wanted to ask you if you remembered him cuz you talked about people who had had great adversity and who had gone on to do great things. And he then had spent years working with parliament on the, with carbon monoxide awareness since. So just wanted to, and did he manage to get change in legislation?
[00:28:42] They have, they’ve done a, they’ve done a huge amount with awareness. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Still work in progress. But yeah, he really, that was his way of, um, coming to terms with losing his partner and also almost losing his life. Mm-hmm. And it’s, you know, it’s also nice that he’s been able to continue in his life in a positive way and meet somebody else and, you know, So, yeah.
[00:29:11] Well, you know, you’ve just expressed a story that, you know, completely exemplifies what, what I’m talking about, you know? Um, there’s a conveyor belt of celebrities that wouldn’t be a conveyor belt of people who’ve had that experience and, and turned it around. Um, you know, I, I can only applaud that. Yeah.
[00:29:29] Yeah.
[00:29:30] Adam Stott: Brilliant. Lovely share. Well done. Fabulous. So we’ll get
[00:29:35] Kaye Adams: the back there.
[00:29:39] Hi. Kay. Hi ya. Um, you said something really interesting when you said your producer, um, you know, crushed. You really crushed you. Why Telling you, you, you didn’t have the face for tv. I wanted to ask you, um, how long was it after he told you, cuz you know, you said you were quite down. How long was it after he told you that, that you actually accepted what you said?
[00:29:58] That it was, it was true. And what was the defining factor or the defining moment that said, you know what, I need to change this. What was that, that catalyst for you to decide to make that change? After I accepted it? Yeah, that’s an interesting question. I dunno if I’ve ever actually gone back and thought to myself, how long did that take?
[00:30:16] Um, I don’t think it was like a blinding flash. Um, so I was taken off, um, Like the presenting the news and I went back to reporting. Um, so you think, right, well, okay, maybe this is, this is what I’m good at. And, and I concentrated on being good at that. Um, and then you build confidence because you get more experience in, in that field.
[00:30:41] And a lot of it comes from confidence. It wasn’t that I was a bad news reader, I wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t have the confidence, I didn’t have the presence. I was just too green. And inexperienced. And so to go back to what I knew and to build my skills in that made me a more confident person. So I suppose I came back to it again.
[00:31:01] I knew I wanted to do it, but. I went back and sort of honed my skills on more familiar territory, and then when I thought, right, do you know what? I’m gonna take a crack at this again. That was the right time. I couldn’t tell you in months or years how long. It was not, not years and years and years, but it was when I felt that I was able to go back and say, look, give me another chance, because I actually had something else to offer.
[00:31:27] If I’d just gone back and said, give me another chance, and I was just the same, there would’ve been no point. Well, I went back when I felt that I actually had improved, taken in the message and was able to give him a little bit more of what he wanted. And actually the same guy our editor did did give me the opportunity on a debate show.
[00:31:48] Um, you wouldn’t remember a journalist called Sheena McDonald’s. So she, she was doing this particular debate show in Scotland that I really, really wanted to do. I really coveted that. And then she got a J job at Channel four, so opened up. And I went back to the same guy and I said, you know, will you give me a chance?
[00:32:04] I think I can do it now. And, and he did. Um, but he needed to know that I had gone away and I’d worked on it and I had built my skills, not that I’d just been sitting there brooding and, uh, stuck in pins and an effigy of him. Um, which, which I didn’t do for very long.
[00:32:25] Adam Stott: Oh, brilliant. You know, and I think that that building of skills really, really important. A key point there. Okay. So, uh, who else had their hand up? Who would like to go next? So we go over here? Yeah. Okay. And we go to Camille.
[00:32:40] Kaye Adams: You were talking earlier about, um, what you perceive to be your idea of success and what your daughter perceives to be the idea of success. And I’m curious to know what you see to be success for you and whether you feel like you’ve achieved that in your life so far. Yeah, that’s an interesting one. Um, well, you know, I’ll be really honest.
[00:33:06] If my 25 year old self, I’m not saying would see myself, would see me now as a failure. Um, But probably I had bigger dreams when I was 25 in terms of what I would like to have achieved in terms of, God, I hate even saying this cuz it sounds so shallow, but you know, it’s a business I’m in, you know, levels of fame or, um, whether it is financial reward or whatever.
[00:33:34] I probably had bigger dreams when I was 25. Having said that, sitting where I am now, um, I’m a pretty stable person. Um, I’ve had my ups and downs like everyone, but I’m generally pretty happy in my life. I have a good relationship. Um, I have two girls that I’m very, very proud of. Um, And I’ve got a wider family that I’ve been able to support.
[00:34:03] My mom and dad have passed away. They required quite a lot of care at the end of their life, which my brother and I were able to to give them. So it probably feels a much more successful life now. Than it would’ve done if I was looking at it when I was 25, because when I was 25, it was all about the job.
[00:34:23] It was all about the success. It was all about whether or not, I guess you had your name in light. Um, and as I’ve grown older, I’ve seen that life is a successful life for me is about a lot more than that. Um, and even in terms of material things, You know, at a certain point in your life, you want a bigger house, you want a better car, you want a fancier holiday.
[00:34:46] Um, And yeah, I’ve wanted all these things and I’ve been pretty fortunate in what I’m able to have. I’m not rolling in it, I’m not stinking rich. I have got to work, but I’ve got a comfortable life. But actually those material things mean less and less to me, and I cannot wait to sell my family house and get a really nice two bedroom flat and get rid of all the shit in every cupboard.
[00:35:08] And they why I, in fact, that’s why I want those Stella sisters back because if they don’t come back, I’m just gonna get a. Flame thrower and do the job myself. So, so, you know, your priorities change. Um, and I’m not saying I, I certainly don’t have a perfect life, but you know, those are the things that have come to mean a lot more to me over time and my dog.
[00:35:31] No. And what
[00:35:32] Adam Stott: dog do you have?
[00:35:33] Kaye Adams: Kay. Uh, she’s a cockapoo called Bee. Ah, yes. Lovely. We’ve got a
[00:35:38] Adam Stott: very good, my favorite child rub at the back. Right. If you ever need any help. Okay. Right. We’ve probably got time for one last question before we get into Pixel. Who’s got the last question? So I think we’ve got, I was, we’ll do two cuz I did say Camille and then we go one here.
[00:35:50] One here? Yep. Okay.
[00:35:54] Kaye Adams: Hi. Hi. Do you know, it’s fabulous listening to you and I really love what you’ve just been talking about there, and it sounds like you’ve got a great balance in your life. Yeah. Was there ever a point where you felt you had to fight to get that balance in? What, what In terms of the job tipping the balance?
[00:36:11] Yes. Yeah. Um, was there. Well, it’s interesting cuz I had my kids quite late, you know, um, I had my first daughter when I was 38, and so up until 38 it really was all about my job and so I had quite a long time to sort of build. My career. So I had a more segmented life. Do you know what I mean? It was career, career, career until 38.
[00:36:39] And then when the kids came, obviously that was quite a shock to the system, as you can imagine. Um, and I, I did a, a repo. I think if I’d been in a position where I had to be balancing both of them at the same time, it would’ve been a very different experience. But by the time I got to 38, I was much more established in my career.
[00:36:59] Um, and so. I think that made it easier. But certainly those years when the kids were young, I mean, I went back to Dolus women when my eldest was 10 weeks old. And you know, my God, I can remember sitting in a production meeting, sorry, men in the room, you know, with my breasts leaking down my shirt thinking, what the hell am I doing?
[00:37:21] And I did go through a couple of years then that I really thought, what am I doing? You know, I, I wasn’t getting the balance right. I, I really wasn’t. But I think I was fortunate in my career was more established. And I think if you’re trying to sort of do the two at the one time, it, it’s not easy. And, and I say that to men and women.
[00:37:39] I mean, I’m not saying that it’s just for women. Yeah, and just the last bit I, I read a lot of stuff on LinkedIn and if you take everything as it’s presented, it sounds like today is a very good world to be having family and going back to work and like yourself. You know, 20 odd years ago I had mine, and at that time it was quite a struggle.
[00:37:58] How was it in the media to go back to work? Um, well, you just had to get on. You just had to get on with it. I mean, you know, I don’t think your employer didn’t really want to hear about it, so everything that you needed to do, you did it. Behind closed doors and you just presented yourself with a smile on your face.
[00:38:19] Ignoring the fact that, you know, I had to get my mom to come from home to Norwich to look after the kids. I had to, you know, do all of this massive juggling in the background, but nobody really wanted to hear about it. Whereas now, I think, I hope in the workplace there is more of a conversation that goes on between employers and their staff as to what their work-life balance is, but certainly at that time, Yeah, if you turn up and you do the job, that’s lovely.
[00:38:44] But I don’t want to hear about the hassles about you getting here. And that’s the way it was. Thank you. Oh,
[00:38:49] Adam Stott: thank. Fabulous. Brilliant. Very good question. So we’ve got Camille with the last question. All right. We’ve got all the way over there, Nick.
[00:38:56] Kaye Adams: Run, run, run. It’s funny how it was, people feel the need to run.
[00:39:01] Adam Stott: Thank you.
[00:39:02] Kaye Adams: Thank you very much for your interview. It’s absolutely inspiring. Maybe I’m gonna stand up cause I’m in the back so he can see me. Um. So my question is, if you remember, what did you say in the message you sent to Margaret Thatcher’s office in order to get across to her? And then what would you expect to see from somebody who’s approaching you to get the same
[00:39:23] Adam Stott: opportunity?
[00:39:24] That’s a really good question. That’s a great question. Hey, nice. Very good. You’re gonna get a hundred letters. Kay? I think,
[00:39:32] Kaye Adams: yeah, that is, that is a great question. Um, I’ve still got the letter I got back from Sir Bernard, uh, Ingham. Um, I can’t remember it verbatim. Um, but I think I was very honest. I didn’t try and appear older or more experienced than I was.
[00:39:51] I mean, obviously I didn’t want to appear like a school kid. Um, but I think I was pretty honest in saying that I was. Um, proposing to do a documentary about representation of women in politics, I probably was not smarmy, but appealed to the sense of ego as Margaret Thatcher at that time, obviously was, you know, a global figure.
[00:40:11] Um, kept it relatively brief. Wasn’t too smarmy and was pretty honest about who I was and why I wanted to have that interview with her. Um, and I guess that’s what I would expect from anyone, um, approaching me. You want, you want to feel a sense of honesty and authenticity and you, you can smell, I’m gonna use the bullshit word again.
[00:40:37] I’m sorry, but you can smell the bullshit. And that just never works. I think you’re better if you’re gonna be refused for something, you’re better to be refused having been honest about what you have, uh, put forward than have got it under kind of not false pretenses. Yeah. But try to be duplicitous about it because then you’re unlikely to be able to follow through.
[00:40:58] So I didn’t promise I was anything more than I was, and I mean, I turned up at the door, as I say, 25 years of age. She knew I was as green as grass and Margaret Thatcher actually opened the door. To number 10, which was the weirdest feeling ever. I felt like I’d gone around to my friend to say, do you wanna come out to play?
[00:41:15] Um, and she was so interesting because she knew I was young. She dusted down my collar and she said, oh, you’ve gotta look good for the camera because your mom, you know, your mama wants to see you looking good. Um, which was so clever on her part. Yeah, because she immediately. Infantilize me. I mean I was 25 but I felt 12 in that second.
[00:41:37] Um, and then she showed me round 10 Downing Street. She was incredibly charming, you know, she was like your Auntie Margaret. And of course, like I say, I was all fired up. I was gonna take her on and you know, she had me eating out of her hand. Um, and she obviously knew that’s what she was getting, but I couldn’t pretend to be anything else cuz that’s what I was, I was 25 and I was way out my league.
[00:42:01] And to be fair to Margaret Thatcher, whose politics I don’t agree with, but she was very gracious, I think in, in accepting that, you know, and you know, speaking for an entire hour, not letting me ask more than two questions, but there you go. I could have been better. So be honest. Be honest. I think that works.
[00:42:20] Thank you.
[00:42:20] Adam Stott: Brilliant. Love that question. Big round applause. Look. Hasn’t. Kay been absolutely amazing. Yeah, you’ve a massive level 20 round of applause. You’ve been amazing and very humorous. I’ve made me laugh many times. Brilliant.