Inspired to be more me.

Having worked for some of the best known brands and companies for 25 years now. I have seen and experienced a lot of good and a fair bit of truly appalling leadership. I’ve been witness to what really works and what doesn’t when it comes to creating environments where performance can be outstanding and seemingly effortless. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about leading people and what it takes to build trust. And I know implicitly that you get things done with people who trust you and know that you have their backs.

I recently left my last employer to focus on a Sales and Marketing Director role. Taking time between moves gave me an opportunity to explore what I really wanted to do. And I changed my mind!

Watching @Mark Gaisford's I have no friends video recently about having no friends, I learned a lot about vulnerability and authenticity. His bold approach to a topic which needs to be discussed more widely, led me to invest a week looking deeply at what I wanted from my life and for those I serve. The week threw up a host of emotions and thoughts about what I enjoyed doing, what I did not and what behaviours truly inspired me to go further.

Drinking a lot of tea and eating a fair few chocolate biscuits, I begun to see a theme emerge where all I have ever wanted to do and what I was doing, was to help others be the very best they can be. I’ve coached and counselled many in situations of real stress and underperformance and seen them flourish. I’ve organised load bearing night marches across the mountains in Wales for people who felt they would be unable to finish. Using a unique style of leadership I watched the elation on their faces as they completed an arduous 12 hours in awful conditions carrying 30lbs of kit plus food and water. Coaching a senior executive recently I noticed that my intervention really did provide clarity and we created a plan to move ahead with. I’ve accumulated a lifetime of wisdom and experience which can and does have a transformational impact on organisations as they seek to grow or just be better versions of themselves.

Feeling inspired and truly motivated for the first time in a good while, I had a great conversation with my wife and children, some close friends and all are 100% supportive of me taking the bold step of saying no to more of the same. I’m proud to say I am setting up as an independent consultant and coach to serve small to medium sized business in the UK with a turnover up to ￡50m across Retail, manufacturing, technology, consulting and professional services, travel, hospitality and events. Focusing on; sales / business development strategy and execution, social media and digital marketing, enabling and creating trust in teams and across business units as well as communication whilst preparing for change.

As you might imagine I am a little anxious about the future and yet feel truly inspired to take the first step and be the change I want to see in the world. More details to follow in the coming days as I prepare the communications and lay out the strategy for success.

2020 will present new challenges for us in the UK with a newly elected government, Brexit and economic headwinds. Many small to medium sized business are both unsure about the future and are not prepared for a downturn in the economy. This presents an opportunity to quickly focus effort on short interventions to analyse the data and build new plans for the emerging decade. I look forward to meeting the challenge head on with a robust business plan along with a proven method to ensure time is invested most where it can have a positive impact for my future clients and my own business.

In the coming days and weeks I will post use cases and references where I have delivered significant change and benefits for my clients and customers. I have short videos in production to share powerful insights and tips on how to lead the change many seek.

It’ll be exciting, rewarding and fun and I can’t wait. If you’d like to think a situation through or simply talk about your current situation and feel I might be able to help, please call (contact details in my Bio), I’ll be happy to help.