Cranfield School of Management

Biography

Programmes

Creating Confidence and Resilience – 1 day open programme
Inspiring Leadership – 1 day on CCED client programme

What am I expert in?

I focus on helping executives in leadership positions simplify their challenges by looking at them more personally. It’s about developing an understanding of why people behave as they do (the psychology and biology of the human brain).and using this emotional intelligence to achieve positive results.

What am I thinking about / what do I care about in the world of work?

I believe that leadership of people is ultimately about managing emotions – your own and others. I like the encapsulation of this idea in the phrase “limbic leadership” and I want people to understand how their actions can affect the whole system, and feel confident in stepping up into this role.

What would I like to see change in organisational life?

I believe that good leaders make great businesses and organisations should give more recognition to the leadership, as opposed to management, aspects of senior roles. HR functions could support this change in emphasis, by reducing their focus on (legally driven) people management processes.

What is special about Praxis?

Praxis has always been about experientially based learning which produces real and lasting change.

Why do the programmes I teach matter in business?

Leadership is hard – hard to do well and hard on the individual leaders. Often it is something for which people are unprepared – not something they have trained in or studied for. Leaders often don’t want to be “self-indulgent” by taking time out to think and learn, or to centre and re-energise themselves. Yet only when they do these things, eg on a Praxis programme, can they do their best for their team.

My teaching style

Clients like my balance of business and psychological insight with a warm and friendly (empathetic) approach – I’m like a Labrador with an MBA! Because the limbic brain only learns by experience, I often work experientially, using physical or right brain (creative) methods. I try to model with my clients the authenticity and emotional intelligence which I believe is required of them as leaders.

Education and Qualifications

• BSc Mathematics (Durham), FCA (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales)
• Accredited Professional Executive Coach (Academy of Executive Coaching)
• Trained in various personality models: MBTI, DISC, NEO-PIR, and Centaur (“Bioenergetics”)

Work Experience

I have deep and broad business experience from 25 years as a partner at PwC, advising on IT, Risk Management and HR, with a focus on mergers, re-structuring and one-off transformation projects. I went on my own leadership development journey whilst leading various PwC business units. Now an accredited executive (leadership) coach working independently, I focus primarily on one-to-one work.

Interests

I started practising T’ai Chi a few years ago, and it has now become an important part of my daily life. I also love most sports, playing cricket, golf, and badminton, and swimming for relaxation and fitness. I listen to a lot of music and I am also something of a movie junkie – I watch good films many times.