One-to-one work on interviews, speaking and leadership. I am not an accredited coach and I won't pretend to be one. I ran operating businesses for three decades, briefed rooms that weren't on my side, and sat at tables where I had no authority and only a case. That's what I can teach. If you need something else, I'll say so before you pay.
Thirty minutes, no charge, no obligation. You tell me what you're facing. I tell you which of the below you actually need — or that you need none of them, and why. People have left that call with a recommendation to spend nothing, and that is a perfectly good outcome.
Best first step if you're unsure. Nothing to prepare.
They lose on shape. Strong candidates describe the method instead of the decision, evidence involvement instead of impact, and answer the question asked rather than the one being tested. The material is nearly always already there. It's ordered wrongly.
We take the three or four questions the role actually turns on and build your structure for them. Written notes within 24 hours.
Session one, 90 minutes: your evidence and how it's ordered. Session two, 60 minutes, nearer the date: live rehearsal with real pushback, not a gentle run-through. Written feedback after each.
They present as three. They rarely are. Presence isn't projection, and it isn't a technique layered on afterwards — it's whether the room already wanted you in it. Most of what fixes it happens before you open your mouth.
Session one, 90 minutes: I listen to you speak and we find what's actually in the way. Sessions two and three, 60 minutes each: worked live on your real material — the briefing, the meeting where you go quiet, the conversation you're dreading. Written notes after each. Further sessions afterwards at £125 if useful, with no retainer and no minimum.
The longer version, for people who want sustained work on how they come across rather than preparation for one occasion. Diagnostic first, then targeted drills and rehearsal on your own material.
One honest note. If your difficulty with speaking is the physical kind — where your body reacts before you've said anything — coaching is not the right first stop, and I'd tell you that rather than take the booking. Ordinary nerves that settle after two minutes are very workable. The other thing is not mine to fix.
Most of the leadership that matters happens without instruction rights. Influencing a committee you don't sit on. Holding a position with a supplier who doesn't report to you. Being the person the room wants there before the difficult decision rather than after it. I spent thirty years doing exactly that across manufacturer and group boundaries, and it is learnable.
For people stepping into leadership or trying to grow in it. A diagnostic session first, then targeted work on management, influence and communication, using your real situations rather than case studies.
Where an organisation is funding coaching for a senior person: four to six sessions across four to five months, objectives set in a three-way at the start so the work runs to your framework, session content confidential to the coachee, progress against objectives shared with you, and a close-out review. A chemistry session at no charge first — they should have the right to say no.
All sessions are remote. Payment is taken up front through Stripe; the checkout is operated under my other business, SMART Productivity Planners, so that name appears on your receipt.
Reschedule with 24 hours' notice and there's no charge. If after the first session you don't think it's working, tell me and I'll refund the remainder without argument — I would rather that than hold money for work you don't want.
What you tell me stays with me. That is the same undertaking that governs the advisory work, and it does not have a lower setting for individuals.
I write when there is a piece worth reading, not to a schedule. Leave your name and I'll send the next one when it goes out.