I've spent a chunk of my career in recruitment - agency, in-house, and most recently executive search. Placing people into C-suite roles. Watching what happened in the months that followed. It's a different view of the transition - from both sides of the table.

I came to coaching sideways. I was running the people and culture function for a company that needed to double its revenue per head - and coaching was key to how we were going to get there. So I trained to be a coach. Then I coached the sales team, the managers, the exec. And the day I coached my first client under my own name - five years ago now - I thought: "this is it!  I was born to do this!"

I've sat at executive tables, navigated board dynamics, and seen firsthand what separates the executives who hit their stride from the ones who spend three years finding it. That experience shapes how I coach. I understand the commercial pressures, the political complexity, and the things nobody warns you about before you start.

I'll be honest with you about what I see. I'll ask you whether the story running in your head is actually true. I'll ask "what's next?" at the end of every session, because leaving with clarity on your next move is the whole point.

I'm not particularly corporate. I care a lot about the people I work with. And I think most problems - in leadership and in life - are solved by getting clear on what actually matters and executing the hell out of that.

Every executive I've worked with had more in them than they thought. The transition doesn't require you to become someone else - it requires you to find parts of yourself you haven't needed before. That's always where we start.