The Day I Spoke at the BBC
(And Someone Unpeeled a Banana)
I once gave a talk at BBC Broadcasting House. It wasn’t in a grand auditorium, it was just a space close to the lunch area, where someone in the front row was quietly unpeeling a banana.
People were walking through, collecting sandwiches and coffee, coming and going as they pleased. And I absolutely loved it.
The Man Who Didn’t Ask Permission
A man called Toby Mildon had set the whole thing up. He was an inclusion and diversity professional at the BBC, and he’d had this rather brilliant idea: bring interesting people in during the lunch hour, open the doors to anyone who fancied turning up, and see what happened.
No formal invitation. No target audience. No committee approval. Just a quiet notice that said, come along if you’re interested.
Toby didn’t wait for permission to do something he believed in. He simply did it. I’ve always had a lot of time for people like that.
I was invited to speak about my approach to life. The presentation was called How To Succeed in Times of Change. It was about seizing opportunities, about saying yes and seeing where it leads you. Because that’s really what saying yes is – a perspective shift. The moment you choose to see the open door instead of the reasons to stay put, everything changes.
Forty People, One Lunchtime
Around forty people came for that first session. From all corners of the BBC – all sorts of departments, all walks of professional life. They arranged chairs in rows around the spot where I was standing.
And they stayed. Every single one of them, bar one poor soul who had a meeting he simply couldn’t escape.
Toby told me afterwards he’d never seen that before. “Usually the audience drifts and some disappear,” he said.
I think about why they stayed. It wasn’t the venue, as we were only yards from the sandwich queue.
I think what they connected with was permission. The reminder that there is always another perspective. That the best things happen when you stop needing to be the kingpin and start genuinely working with the people around you.
The Cards That Stopped the Room
I used my perspective cards in that session – and they brought the whole idea to life in a way that words alone never quite can.
Two simple cards, each featuring two intertwined circles. When held up side by side, one appears smaller. Flip them around, and suddenly the other looks larger. Rotate one card, and they appear identical. Place them together and the truth is revealed – they were exactly the same size all along.
Only the perspective had changed.
It never fails to grab attention.
Those BBC staff – producers, administrators, researchers, broadcasters – stood up at the end and wanted to handle the cards for themselves. Turning them over, examining them, and seeing what they saw.
That, for me, was the moment, not the fact that it was the BBC, although that was rather nice. But watching people pick up small cards and suddenly look at something differently.
What Saying Yes Really Means
The response was warm enough that I was invited back to speak to another department entirely. A reminder, if one were needed, that one yes rarely stands alone. It tends to lead somewhere.
Ordinary people don’t often get invited to Broadcasting House. I’m so glad I said yes.
I want to leave you with this: saying yes isn’t really about bravery. It’s about perspective. It’s about choosing to see an invitation as an opportunity rather than a risk. It’s about deciding that you have something worth sharing, even when the room isn’t perfect, even when someone in the front row is unpeeling a banana and munching on snacks..
The room is never perfect. But go anyway.
My Challenge to You
What invitation have you been sitting on? What opportunity have you been quietly talking yourself out of, convincing yourself the timing isn’t right, or that you’re not quite ready?
You are ready. The timing will never be perfect. And the people in that room – wherever your room is – they’re waiting to hear what only you can say.
Say yes. See where it leads.
