The higher you go, the fewer people tell you the truth. Your team need you certain. Your board need you right. There’s nowhere to say “I’m not sure about this.”
That’s the gap I work in. I coach and mentor CEO’s, MD’s and Business Owners. Some of it is about the business. Most of it is about the person running it.
We’ll agree what success looks like, and I’ll be there to support and challenge you as you work towards it
As a coach, my role is to help you think more clearly, challenge your assumptions and unlock better decisions.
Through structured conversations, I’ll ask the right questions, hold up a mirror to your thinking and create the space for you to step back from the day-to-day.
The goal isn’t to give you the answers or impose my bias or opinion, but to help you find them yourself with greater clarity, confidence and accountability.
As a mentor, I bring my own experience to the table. Having operated in industry for 30 years, 20 years in leadership and over a decade at senior leadership level within both global blue chip and private equity businesses, I can share practical insight, lessons learned and a perspective grounded in real-world challenges.
Where coaching helps you find your own answers, mentoring allows me to guide, advise and support you directly, helping you avoid common pitfalls and move forward with greater confidence.
Most coaches are unable to mentor. They’ve been trained in the process but they’ve never carried the accountability, so when you need experience rather than questions, they can’t switch.
Most consultants are unable to coach. They’ll tell you what to do, but it’s not a solution tailored to your specific needs.
Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting all have their place and value. Unfortunately not everyone knows which type of support they need and not all service providers know the difference!
Good development often needs a balance, and which one you need can change in the middle of a sentence. So I don’t ask you to decide up front. That’s my job.
Choosing a coach is mostly a judgement about whether they’ll understand you, and whether you align with their values and approach. Here are four reasons to help you decide.
Not adjacent to it, not advising it.
In it.
Apprentice to CEO, across automotive, FMCG, packaging and precision engineering.
When you describe your problem, I’ve probably lived a version of it.
Shift patterns, unions, safety, legal compliance, capex arguments, people, SLT’s, budgets, a customer audit landing the same week as a breakdown.
You won’t spend twenty minutes of every session setting the scene.
I came up through engineering and manufacturing, where being straight with people isn’t a style choice, it’s how nobody gets hurt.
I’ll tell you what I actually think, including when it’s not what you hoped. I’ll say when something is outside my competence.
And nothing you tell me goes anywhere else, ever. If you want someone to agree with you, there are cheaper options.
Sustainable performance over short-term heroics.
The point isn’t for you to need me indefinitely.
It’s for you to be visibly better at the job in six months, and still better in three years when I’m long gone.
This works well if you’re:
This probably isn’t for you if you:
A free call first. Half an hour, no pitch. You describe what’s going on, I tell you honestly whether I’m the right person. Sometimes I’m not, and I’ll say so.
Then six sessions, two hours each. Fortnightly or monthly, preferably in person across the North West.
Six is the minimum, and that’s deliberate. Coaching isn’t a visit. Anyone who thinks one conversation will fix it has misunderstood the problem, and they wouldn’t get value from me anyway.
The first session is spent working out what’s actually going on, which is rarely what you thought when you booked. The change happens in what you do between sessions three and six.
Ongoing sessions after that are available if useful, but the aim is that you don’t need them.
Building leaders who can go the distance
Leadership can be lonely.
Vistage changes that.
Within my groups, you’re surrounded by people who understand the weight of decisions, the pressure to perform and the responsibility that comes with leading others.
It’s a space where you can be honest, be challenged and grow; not just as a leader,
but as a person.
Formats:
CEO, MD, Owner and Senior Leadership groups
Smaller Business and SIC (Second in Command) groups
Improving performance by strengthening systems
Hands-on support to assess & improve operational performance in complex environments. Grounded in World Class Manufacturing, Lean, TPM, and practical change management. With a strong focus on people, not just process.
Focus areas:
WCM / Lean / TPM deployment
Performance improvement & waste reduction
Change Management
Clear thinking, delivered simply
Engaging talks, facilitated sessions, and practical tuition on leadership, performance, wellbeing, and sustainable success.
Grounded in real experience, not theory.
Formats:
Conference & event speaking
Leadership programmes & capability development
Tuition on leadership, wellbeing, and performance
Workshops, toolbox talks, deep dives and shop floor sessions
If you’re unsure, stuck, or just want to sense-check your thinking, reach out. Sometimes a single conversation is enough to bring clarity and direction.