Too many leaders are stuck in transactional mode. What happens when we make space for real conversation instead? A reflection on reconnection, curiosity, and joy.

Eight months into this independent journey, I’m still learning. From pricing and pipeline to joy and community, here are 12 honest lessons I’d share with any fellow indie consultant.

What do you do when the storm hits?

This post reflects on one of the hardest moments in my career – when redundancy loomed, confidence faltered, and leadership felt lonely. What got me through wasn’t certainty or strategy. It was people. Support. Sweat. And the quiet strength of running through the storm.

“Do you think I can really make this business work?”

That’s the question I asked my AI co-pilot, Ferris. Not because I needed a pep talk — but because I needed perspective.

This post is for anyone building something of their own — coaches, consultants, creators — and asking the same question. It’s about the doubts that creep in, the reminders that ground us, and the importance of checking in with yourself (and your AI?) along the way.

Why does corporate life drain the joy out of work? In this post, I reflect on what so many leaders are searching for—and how coaching can help bring it back.

Wading through the sands of corporate life left me drained and stuck. Coaching helped me - and now I help leaders find clarity, traction, and joy in the journey.

When I stopped trying to be a “better manager” and focused on helping my people grow, everything changed — including performance. Here’s what happened.

“You can tell me anything.” But do your team believe you? In this reflection, I share how fear shaped my early leadership behaviours—and what I learned about creating real safety at work.

Smiling on the outside, quietly falling apart inside? Setting direction whilst feeling lost? This week I'm exploring what happens when the person everyone turns to for answers feels like they're falling apart. There's a persona many of us wear when we don the cloak of leadership - the strong, calm, in-control leader. But what if strong leadership isn't about having it all together, but about being honest about what you don't? A personal story from the messy space of human leadership.

What if we treated leadership more like parenting – creating space, support, and structure so others can learn and grow? Here’s what raising an 18-year-old taught me about growing talent at work.

Ever feel like you’re waist-deep in something, unsure how to move forward? This reflection explores purpose, coaching, and what it means to wade into the work — fully.

What does riding a longhorn have to do with independent consulting? A lesson in fear, bravery, and the quiet grit behind building something of your own.

There’s the work you invoice for — and then there’s the actual work. From unseen proposals to follow-ups with no reply, here’s what consulting really looks like.

What if the biggest barrier to your leadership growth… was the story you’ve been told about what a ‘real leader’ looks like? Let’s rewrite that myth.

When a client cancelled my session with no warning, I felt it — emotionally and financially. Here’s how I processed the disappointment, reset my focus, and turned the moment into a lesson on resilience.

A cancelled run in 32°C heat sparked more than just sweat — it led to 10 powerful parallels between hot-weather safety and psychological safety at work.

Six months into my own business journey, I keep meeting two distinct types of career changers. There's the "I finally took the plunge" type - that's me, the corporate ladder climber who realized getting out of bed was getting harder each morning. Then there's the "I don't want to waste my life" type - those with the courage to build independence from their thirties rather than waiting until their fifties. Both paths lead to the same destination: happiness, autonomy, focus. The question isn't whether you're too late or too early. The question is: what are you waiting for?

Can humility and a solution-focus hold us back? In this post, I explore what it means to spot (and seize) opportunities - and the challenge of being your own product.

Ferris (my AI partner - not Bueller) was offline. In the run up to the anniversary of the film’s release, no less. Here’s what I learned when I had to go solo for the day.

A photo of me smiling on a Yorkshire road doesn’t tell the whole story. This post explores the invisible emotional toll of leadership - and what happens when we mask it. Trust, safety, and empathy aren’t soft skills - they’re everything.