I've spent twenty years in the rooms where decisions get made. BSkyB, MediaCom, Octagon, Six Nations Rugby, JKR to name a few. Board level, global scale, real stakes.
And for most of it, I was brilliant at pretending. Not at the work. I was genuinely good at that. But at being the version of myself that the room could handle. The only one in there who looked like me, thought like me, felt like me. So I learned to armour up, shrink down, and lead in a way that kept everyone else comfortable.
Until I didn't.
The unravelling was slow, then all at once. I went inward. I got honest. I walked away from identities I'd been performing for years and found something underneath all of it that was just mine.
My voice. My power. My way of leading.
And when I stopped managing how I was perceived and started leading with integrity, something shifted. I took up space differently. I brought perspectives into rooms that changed the direction of decisions. I built trust instead of chasing approval. The cultures I created started to reflect that too. Environments where people didn't have to perform to belong, where difference was the advantage not the obstacle. And the work, the real work, got better. For the businesses, for the people, for me.
That's not a small thing. It changes you at the root.
And it's exactly why I do what I do now.
I'm a leadership and executive coach and fractional CPO. I work with leaders who are tired of the performance, the proving, the gap between who they are and how they show up. I help them close that gap. Not with a framework. With real work, real honesty, and the kind of support that meets you where you actually are, for the leader and for the culture they're responsible for.
The impact? Sharper leadership. Deeper cultures. Teams that feel it.
When I'm not in that work, I'm behind the decks, by the sea, or somewhere in nature. That's not downtime. That's where I stay alive. Where creativity moves through me freely, where I find my rhythm and come back to myself. It's the same source I draw from in every conversation, every room, every leader I work with.
The flow isn't separate from the work. It is the work.
