London, England, United Kingdom
I work with senior leaders and mid-career professionals who are navigating high-pressure moments of change, where emotion affects judgement and performance. These moments often show up around pitching, career transition, and leadership inflection points - when the stakes are high, certainty is low, and people are expected to perform as if none of that is happening. Coaching can address serious issues, but I’ve found that outcomes are often better when coaching creates space for curiosity, playfulness, and emotional awareness. That more creative approach doesn’t distract from performance, but supports clearer thinking and more effective action under pressure. I bring over 25 years of experience in media and advertising to my coaching work, most recently as Global Chief Strategy Officer. That background means I understand commercial pressure, organisational complexity, and accountability - as well as the value of creativity. Having worked with brands such as Coca-Cola, Samsung, Heineken, Novartis and Visa, I’ve seen what behaviour change looks and feels like at both organisational and individual levels. My focus is on creating the conditions that allow people to regulate themselves and think clearly when it matters. I’ve trained over 2,000 people across five continents and run workshops with everyone from billionaires to benefit fraudsters. That range has reinforced a simple truth: while contexts differ, the underlying human dynamics under pressure are remarkably consistent. My current work focuses on three areas, in order of emphasis: 1. Helping teams manage the emotional reality of pitching so they can enjoy the process more and perform at their best 2. Supporting mid-career professionals navigating career change with clarity, confidence and momentum 3. Exploring ways to democratise access to coaching, including the development of an AI-enabled CoachBot that takes a more playful approach to career transition If you’re a leader preparing for a high-stakes pitch, or a mid-career professional at an inflection point, you’re welcome to get in touch. You can also follow me here for reflections on leadership, pressure, and how coaching can create space for change.
AI is reshaping the coaching industry and making us ask fundamental questions about coaching and the role of a coach. This Special Interest Group - part of the UK ICF - is designed to help coaches of all levels and experience navigate this new landscape. It aims to help coaches identify opportunities, anticipate challenges, and adapt their approach to coaching in response to this technological shift. The focus will not be on the technology but on practical tools and approaches that coaches can use in their day-to-day work. And it will balance differing perspectives and viewpoints on the role and benefits of AI. It will address common concerns and questions around the topic and help participants understand how AI is already shaping the coaching industry.
Executive coach specialising in pitch wellbeing, supporting leaders and teams to perform with clarity under pressure. I work with individuals and teams involved in high-stakes pitching, where emotional load, uncertainty and time pressure can undermine judgement and performance. My focus includes: helping teams recognise and manage the emotional reality of pitching creating psychological conditions that support clearer thinking and better collaboration reframing pitching as a process that can be both high-performing and humane This work draws on my background in global strategy leadership and extensive experience of pitch environments at scale.
Executive coach supporting senior leaders and mid-career professionals navigating high-pressure moments of change, where emotional load affects judgement and performance. I work with people at inflection points - career transition, role change, or moments where the way forward feels unclear - helping them create enough space to think, feel and decide more clearly. My work focuses on: supporting career transition and navigating change helping people notice how pressure, identity and emotion shape decision-making reframing change as a series of small, low-pressure experiments rather than a single high-risk leap The emphasis is less on advice and more on creating the conditions for clarity, confidence and sustainable momentum.
Senior strategy leadership role focused on building alignment and clarity under pressure within a fast-growing global network. I was responsible for helping Local Planet grow and mature as a unified global offering, at a time when the network was under pressure to win pitches, integrate diverse agencies, and take on more complex, digital and integrated work. The role involved: designing global strategic playbooks centrally and supporting markets to adapt them to local realities balancing a clear global vision with strong local identities, cultures and ways of working helping leadership teams navigate the emotional and ego dynamics that surface when autonomy, growth and identity are all in play supporting the network through strategic transition as it embraced more digital, integrated and global collaboration This work required creating alignment without resorting to force — building shared understanding, trust and direction across difference rather than imposing consistency. The experience deepened my empathy for leaders operating under growth and integration pressure, and reinforced a recurring pattern: your need to create the right space and conditions for ideas to emerge and you need to deeply listen so you can spot them when they do That insight now sits at the heart of my coaching work with leaders navigating change.
Global strategy leadership role focused on creating clarity, alignment and decision-making capability under pressure across a complex international network. I was responsible for driving global consistency and strategic quality across Vizeum, while supporting and upskilling a worldwide community of strategists operating in very different market contexts. The role involved: creating global strategy playbooks and frameworks to raise product quality and coherence across markets overseeing and supporting senior strategists globally, helping them navigate scope, pressure and competing priorities aligning global ambition with local market realities, particularly during pitches and periods of commercial pressure influencing agency leaders across regions and levels of seniority, often without direct authority This period coincided with significant disruption and change, including Covid and shifts in ways of working, ongoing digital transformation, and the consolidation of the wider holding company into fewer agencies. These changes intensified existing tensions between global and local identity, core and emerging services, and transformation versus business as usual. Leading through this reinforced a central learning for me: clarity becomes hardest to maintain when leaders are unaware of their own emotional state and how it shapes their judgement and behaviour under pressure. That insight continues to inform my coaching work with leaders and teams navigating change, uncertainty and high-stakes decision-making.