Podcasts
Ellen Gunning, Data Prophet and founder of the Irish Academy of Public Relations, has joined Jim Walsh, founder and Executive Chair of Walsh, one of Ireland’s most respected PR agencies, to host an exciting new podcast. Each episode, recorded in the Walsh podcast studio, features and inspiring guest who shares their unique career journey, reveals the lessons they’ve learned along the way, and offers invaluable advice on turning your passion into success.
This podcast is a must-listen for anyone searching for purpose in their work or contemplating a career change. Walsh and Gunning sit down with some of Ireland’s most accomplished professionals to uncover the drive behind their success. From unexpected career pivots to personal triumphs and challenges, guests from all walks of life share their journeys.
Episode 1: Ireland’s Leading PR Experts Get ‘Off the Fence’
Episode 1: Ireland’s Leading PR Experts Get ‘Off the Fence’
Jim Walsh, founder and executive chair of Walsh, one of Ireland’s most long standing and respected PR agencies, and Ellen Gunning, data prophet and founder of the Irish Academy of Public Relations, get Off the Fence with Purpose in this first episode. They discuss their personal triumphs and challenges, and career pivots and longevity.
Episode 2: Headhunted for each career move
Patrick Atkinson, CEO of the Chadwicks Group, talks about the importance of networking and the influence executive search recruiters (Headhunters) had on his career.
Episode 3: Published at 13 years of age
Aileen O’Toole is the first woman to edit a business magazine in Ireland and one of the founders of a national newspaper, the Sunday Business Post, now the Business Post.
Episode 4: Never being afraid to ask for advice
Carmel Doyle, CEO of the Oesophageal Cancer Fund, talks about her mentors including Dermot Desmond and Jonathan Irwin, and her lack of fear when it comes to asking for advice.
Episode 5: 50% of workers may be freelancing in 10 years.
Conor Lynch an award winning digital business innovator and educator speaks about a career which has moved through the various waves of information technology communications, from the internet, through digital and social media and now AI.
Episode 6: Putting family before career
Gavan O’Brien, CEO of Grad Ireland on the need to focus on family and prioritise that over a successful career.
Episode 7: A medical emergency changed my life
Don Harris, Executive coach, Mediator, Tour Guide, Podcaster and Broadcaster on how life events can, sometimes, change your entire focus.
Episode 8: Are you Bruce Springstein?
Pat Henry is best known in Ireland as a personal trainer to the stars, but he is also a musician and a movie extra. His stories of his time in Hollywood, and the connections he made, make this episode well worth a listen.
Episode 9: Doing meaningful work and living a fulfilling life
Declan Kelly, managing partner at Digital Impact, chats about his remarkable career in advertising and digital media and the many lessons learned along the way.
Episode 10: Entertainment and Financial industries combined
David Orr, whose career spanned setting up his own accountancy practice Faulkner Orr, and working as CEO of the company behind Riverdance the Irish entertainment phenomenon which has captured the attention of audiences throughout the world.
Episode 11: It takes a network to defeat a network
Paul C. Dwyer Founder and CEO of Cyber Risk International and the Cyber Risk Academy, on his Academy’s primary objective to foster collaboration and networking to help defeat the “cyber bad guys”.
Episode 12: Career Lessons Learned from the first 10 episodes
Jim Walsh and Ellen Gunning consider the lessons learned from the first 10 Episodes and look for common threads among the successful people they have interviewed.
Episode 13: Media, Books & Communications
Breda Brown runs her own business, Unique Media, and chairs the board of the Irish Writers Centre (among other things). Her advice to anyone working in these areas is love what you do, stay curious and develop your network and interpersonal skills.
Episode 14: Zero tolerance for disrespect in the workplace
Derek Kehoe, CEO and Head of Country for BNP Paribas in Ireland, chats about his philosophy and approach to management, which is not sector specific.
Episode 15: I can do that. I’ll give that a go
Deirdre Ryan offers an insight into how a willingness to try things led to a long career with RTE and, ultimately, her own business – The Production People
Episode 16: You have to speak up to make change
Making a positive difference and advocating for women in a mental hospital came at a career cost for Louise Bayliss. But as she tells Jim and Ellen in this episode of Off the Fence with Purpose for every negative there is a positive.
Episode 17: From investigative journalism to leadership training
Margaret E Ward covers her time from being a cub reporter in New York, through an award-winning journalism career in Ireland to becoming CEO of a leadership training company.
Episode 18: Negotiating pocket money as a child helped shape a business approach
Michael O’Donohoe now Country Director for Ireland and UK with Wavin, negotiated for his pocket money every year with his trade unionist father.
Episode 19: "Sitting with Nellie” was great career start
‘Sitting with Nellie” is a colloquial British phrase for learning a job by observing and mimicking an experienced worker. For Martina Byrne it was an early introduction to the world of communications.
Episode 20: The red thread through the communications career of Michael Patten
Corporate affairs and issue management have been some of the red threads through the career of Michael Patten.
But there were times when life might have been different. Like in WashingtonDC on 9/11 when he should have been at breakfast in a restaurant in one of the twin towers
Episode 21: Stories of love and service in a life that will inspire you
On this podcast Jim and Ellen don’t just chat about Liam O’Dwyer’s career. The conversation ranges across the changes in the Catholic church and the changing culture in the US. Liam also describes negotiating with the EU in Brussels on how different the ILCU was when compared with other much larger Credit Unions in Europe. Liam also describes the scale and operation of the Irish Red Cross in comparison with other Red Cross organisations throughout the world. Discussing the deaths of Red Cross personnel from different countries he believes that in many conflicts there has been a complete disrespect for humanitarian organisations.
Episode 22: Stimulating stories from season 1
Get ready for another season of great guests with stories from their careers that could stimulate your move up the career ladder where you are now, or want to be in the future.
To whet your appetite this episode touches on a few stories from Season 1 in 2025. What we learned during the 21 episodes is that in order to build a great career experience, whether it is advancing and growing in the organisation where you are currently employed, seeking to move to another job in the same sector or making a complete change to your career direction there are some common traits that can help anyone seeking purpose in their work.
Episode 23: The career ladder, as we know it, is broken
Conor Lynch was a guest in Season One of Off the Fence with Purpose and since then he has been busy getting his new book “Learn, Earn Own” ready for publication. It has now been published by Amazon.
Learn Earn Own has been described as an amazing resource for anyone starting a new career, changing course, or looking to kick themselves up the career ladder.
Episode 24: A global leader in PR and communications
To say that the guest on this episode had a varied career could be considered an understatement. It is a career that spans the private, public, international, Not for Profit, NGO and family- owned business sectors.
Helen Brophy, now the Director General of the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in Ireland discusses the lessons from her wide-ranging career with Jim and Ellen.
Episode 25: Stopping the music in Shanghai
Episode 26: An amazing career story from a strategic business advisor
It is about a career in which she spent over 11 years with Unilever the global leader in consumer goods working in various marketing and leadership roles including marketing Magnum ice cream in Germany and Italy and as part of a team who set up an ice cream business in Argentina and Uruguay. She also worked in Waterford Crystal at a time when it was one of the iconic international Irish brands.
Episode 27: Great career advice based on working in a variety of sectors
That sums up the variety of careers of Fiona Robinson,the guest in this episode, has been through.
She is currently Executive Assistant at the Applegreen Group office but the lessons learned from a captivating career beginning in the world famous Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin will keep listeners highly engaged.
Episode 28: Career advice with a wealth of common sense thinking grounded on life experience
Catherine Corcoran Gearty was former head of consulting, partner and shareholder of top accounting firm RSM Ireland before the successful sale/merger with RSM UK in 2023. She built a substantial consulting practice specialising in People, Organisational Change and Transformation advisory.
Episode 29: From teaching English in Japan to founding a corporate financial services business
Brian McDonald chats about how he discovered that the career he thought he would love was not for him.
To please his father who believed he should get a career which guaranteed a steady income, Brian McDonald qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
However, he believed that teaching was the career for him, so following his graduation he traveled to Japan to teach English in a rural area of the country.
After two years he realised that teaching wasn’t for him.
Episode 30: Chemistry's loss was Guaranteed Irish's gain
Having studied Applied Chemistry at the University of Limerick and working as a Biochemist for two years she pivoted into marketing and brand development as CEO of Meath Tourism. This was followed by a period running her own company called Welcome Marketing, working primarily in the area of Strategic and Economic Development and delivering marketing and PR services in the tourism and retail sector for private and public bodies.
Episode 31: How fluent French kickstarted a career for Denis Donohoe
It is a career that involved various management and marketing roles in the world of cosmetics, confectionary, football and charities.
This episode provides an intriguing look into the workings of a global organisation and how how being adaptable can help you move up the corporate ladder and switch careers if circumstances change or luck comes calling.
Episode 32: Bumps and successes in a portfolio career
These life lessons stood her well through a range of careers which included: marketing roles with Esat Telecom and Cape Clear, strategic consultant and writer with Cuil, the internet search engine, radio presenter with national station Newstalk, newspaper columnist with Irish Times, Sunday Times and Irish Independent, a Director of Strategic Communications with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) as well as chair, MC, facilitator and speaker at many national conferences and events.
Episode 33: An experienced entrepreneur at 18
If you listen once you will want to go back and listen again and again. His stories and the lessons learned for someone so young in business will keep you enthralled.