I’ve been fascinated by the unconscious mind all my life: by the way in which music can evoke emotions, even change our mood; by the way in which a thought can provoke a cascade of hidden changes which fundamentally alter our perspective on our worlds; by the glimpses we get of it in operation, the unexpected associations between apparently disparate things which float into our conscious minds; but also by the way in which it can distort our view of ourselves and reality, undermine our rationality, and precipitate us into wrong decisions, dysfunctional behaviours and unhappiness.
My first career was as a senior leader in Whitehall developing policies, advising Ministers and running programmes. I worked on areas as diverse as unfair dismissal and sex discrimination legislation, adult training, growing the film and TV industries and broadening access to cultural resources, particularly digitally. I learned in these roles that the really important stuff was going on beneath the surface of awareness. How were people making these complicated judgements on the basis of so little information, and were they right? Why did some good projects gain traction and others not? Why did the Departmental ‘values’ on posters all around the office seem to bear so little relevance to what really motivated the people round me? Above all, I realised that to get anything useful done, you need to understand what makes your colleagues tick and where their psychological glitches are, and treat them accordingly. So I remedied my lack of psychological knowledge by taking a mid-career Master’s degree in Organisational Psychology, became interested in deep psychology, underwent therapy myself and read widely, and decided to train and qualify as an executive coach.
I’ve been coaching and running workshops in the public and private sectors, particularly the creative industries, for the last 15 years, and have worked with more than 150 senior leaders and middle managers during that period. My coaching conversations reflect my belief that the personal and professional are inextricably linked, ranging from issues such as strategic planning or influencing to exploration of the client’s emotional history and the origins of problems such as insecurity and perfectionism. They draw on the latest research in psychology and neuroscience, but above all they are practical: together I and my clients devise strategies to address the challenges they face, so they can try them out in the workplace. My clients have been enormously appreciative of the range and depth of my help, and many of them have returned to me many times over the years – there are some comments from them on my testimonials page.
I lived in London for many years, but now live in the Oxfordshire countryside, where the space and quiet provide just the conditions the unconscious mind needs to flourish and do its creative magic.