Mind the Gap

Sometimes the most intelligent thing in the room is the thing left unsaid.

We had a friend called Bob. When someone was being foolish — not malicious, just foolish — Bob wouldn't argue, correct, or sigh. He would go quiet. And in that quiet, the person speaking would hear themselves. Really hear themselves.

Be more Bob.

In this season finale of Mind the Gap, Michael Comyn explores silence not as an absence but as one of the most powerful tools available to anyone who leads, communicates, or shares a room with others.

The silence of restraint — the reply you don't send, the correction you swallow — is the gap between stimulus and response, finally being practised rather than just described.

The silence of generosity — stepping back so someone else can step forward — is one of the most demanding things a leader can do.

Eighty-one episodes. All of them words. This one is about what the words were always surrounding.

Season 4 ends here. Back in June, with a new season and a different set of questions.

#MindTheGap #Silence #Leadership #EmotionalIntelligence #Communication #Podcast #PersonalDevelopment #SelfAwareness #IrishPodcast #BeMoreBob

There’s a railway station in Ireland that exists for one purpose only, not to arrive, not to stay, but to move on.

In this episode of Mind the Gap, Michael Comyn explores a moment that many of us recognise but rarely name. The point at which learning has done its job. The point at which guidance, coaching, or even a philosophy has taken us as far as it can.

Drawing on the teachings of Epictetus and decades of experience in coaching and leadership development, this episode examines the subtle differences between growth and comfort, loyalty and dependency, and staying because it helps… and staying because it feels safe.

It’s a reflection for anyone who has ever asked:

Am I still growing here, or am I just comfortable?

As Season 4 approaches its close, this episode also marks a quiet shift in direction for the podcast, moving beyond its Stoic foundations while keeping the core question at its heart, the gap between intention and action.

In this episode:

Why the best students eventually leave
The hidden risk of staying too long in coaching or mentorship
The difference between support and dependency
What Epictetus really expected of his students
Recognising when the work is complete

Closing reflection:

Who would you be, and what would you do, if you trusted that you’d already learned what you came to learn?

Follow Mind the Gap to stay connected as we move toward the final episode of Season 4 next week.

We’ve all met them.

The person who can hold the floor without drawing breath. The one who doesn’t quite notice when someone else is trying to speak. The conversation that somehow becomes… one-sided.

In this episode of Mind the Gap, Michael Comyn takes a thoughtful and quietly humorous look at what it really means to be “a bore.”

Taking inspiration from a line in Dancing Queen by ABBA, “I’m nothing special… in fact, I’m a bit of a bore,” this episode moves beyond the joke to explore something more revealing.

Because being a bore isn’t just about talking too much.

It’s about awareness. Or the lack of it.

It’s about what happens when conversation stops being a shared experience and becomes something more like a performance, with an audience that never quite agreed to be there.

But rather than pointing outward, this episode turns the lens gently back on ourselves.

Where do we miss the cues?

Where do we hold the floor a little too long?

And what does it take to bring a conversation back into balance?

This also marks the 80th episode of Mind the Gap since the podcast began.

A small milestone, and perhaps a fitting moment to reflect on something so central to the series itself, how we connect, how we listen, and how easily we can miss what’s right in front of us.

There’s humour here, certainly. A moment of social theatre you may recognise.

But there’s also something more useful underneath it.

A reminder that good conversation isn’t about saying more.

It’s about noticing more.

In this episode:

Why being “a bore” has less to do with talking, and more to do with awareness
The subtle signals we miss in everyday conversation
How one-sided dialogue quietly erodes connection
Practical ways to rebalance conversations without confrontation
A simple question to carry into your next interaction

If you enjoy Mind the Gap, follow or subscribe and share the episode with someone who values thoughtful conversation.

Michael’s books are also available on Amazon.

You walk into a café. The coffee is perfect. The service is efficient. And not once does anyone look at you.

This episode starts with that small absence — and follows it somewhere unexpected. Through the emotional labour of public-facing work, the quiet logic of the screen, and the generational shift in what an interaction is even supposed to contain.

Eye contact is not a nicety. It never was. And its disappearance says something about all of us — not just the people behind the counter.

Mind the Gap with Michael Comyn.

Before offering advice, ask a quieter question

“You know what you should do.”

Five familiar words, usually offered with kindness, sometimes with genuine care. Yet when we hear them, something small inside us can quietly deflate.

In this episode of Mind the Gap, Michael Comyn reflects on the hidden tension inside unsolicited advice. When someone brings us a problem, are they really asking for a solution, or are they asking to be heard?

Drawing on his experience as a coach and communicator, Michael explores the difference between fixing and listening, and why the urge to solve someone else’s difficulty may sometimes be about easing our own discomfort.

Before the advice arrives, there may be a better question to ask.

What does this person actually need from me right now?