“No one is boring, but many forget to be interesting.”
Penny is a professional question-asker…
… which doesn’t sound very professional, so most people call her a facilitator, podcaster, coach, trainer or speaker.
She’s asked the most important questions, of the most interesting people, in both public and private spaces, right around the globe.
Penny gets paid to be curious about people, organisations and ideas, then helps them understand and share what they’ve discovered in the best ways.
She spent more than a decade as an ABC radio presenter, is a multi-award-winning podcaster and has helped more than 20,000 people share their stories in the media, on stage and during important conversations.
Her career has demanded that she get beyond the boring and get into the interesting bits fast and has created a purpose-built process to help leaders, organisations and communities be (at least) 10 x more interesting, to get more buy-in, and more business (or funding), more quickly. This means Penny is always working with people and organisations who are doing work that makes a difference, helping them build the awareness, tactics and habits they need to leverage their knowledge for better outcomes.
She is the co-founder of for-purpose company Healthy Tasmania which I started with her awesome sister Lucy Byrne. Together they provide a range of services to help solve common problems that prevent people, communities and organisations from thriving.
Penny’s Origin Story
“I’ll never forget the day I met Enid - because it was Enid who taught me what my job is really about.
It was a cold and foggy Tasmanian morning when we drove into the small town of Chudliegh. I was an ABC radio presenter at the time and I was out on the road with my producer Andrea, collecting stories for an outside broadcast that afternoon. We made a quick stop at either the local butcher or post office (it was always one or the other) and their local intel directed us to a house on the main street.
I grabbed my mic, walked up to the front door and knocked. When Enid opened the door I reeled off my usual line “Hi Enid, I’m Penny Terry from the ABC. We’re broadcasting from just down the road later today and I’m wondering if I could interview you about your life in Chudleigh.”
Quick as a flash Enid said “Why would you want to interview me? I don’t have anything interesting to say.” I’d heard this line many times before so I paid little attention and suggested that we have a quick cup of tea and find out whether or not it was true. Enid invited me in, and we sat down in the kitchen and shared a cup of tea. As you’ve guessed, Enid then shared some of the most incredible stories about her life in Chudleigh.
After the interview had finished we wandered back down the hallway and I did the usual spiel letting Enid know when the interview would be broadcast, asking her to tell her friends and that I’d send her the interview on a CD in the mail. As I turned around to thank her, Enid looked up and said:
“I am pretty interesting aren’t I?”
Yes, Enid. Yes, you are.
It was in that moment that I realised, it had been my job to remind her.
This is Enid’s story, but I’ve heard it from hundreds if not thousands of people.
It can be really hard for us to understand what others find interesting about what we do, who we are and why it matters because what’s interesting about us, is also just our every day.
Like Enid, most people and organisations need some outside help before they can see what makes them interesting and understand the true value they provide.
I love being that outside help.
I’ve decoded and honed my skills and have developed a purpose-built process to help individuals and organisations develop a deep awareness of the value they provide, learn the skill to share it well, and the habits to embed it into their everyday lives.”