What is my story?
I believe that most people and organisations undersell themselves. I believe that every business could sell more, every political party and politician could win more votes and everyone could aim at (and get!) a better job and earn more money. A London based Strategy, Storytelling and Speaker Coach, I have coached speakers featured on TEDMED and TED as well as working with politicians and business people around the world, helping them to tell their stories and give speeches and presentations in the style of TED talks. Politically, I helped the Sri Lankan Prime Minister prepare and deliver his address to the United Nations and over 1/3 of current UK Conservative MPs have been through my training. In business, I have been fortunate to work with some amazing people at major global brands including SAP, Mercedes, ThyssenKrupp and IBM and have prepared speakers for industry keynotes, television interviews, investor pitches, internal and external stakeholder presentations and appearances in front of a United Kingdom Parliamentary Select Committee - similar to congressional testimony. My storytelling coaching has evolved into four sectors:-Corporate Storytelling Clients
As part of a small team of 10, in the early 90's I helped people from SAP transform this cheeky upstart into a global player by helping them tell the story of SAP to other people. I have worked with a number of medium and large businesses to help them tell their stories and achieve their objectives - including global brands like IBM, ThyssenKrupp, BASF, Mercedes, and SAP.Political Storytelling Clients
I have helped politicians win elections with swings that shame the national average in the United Kingdom, got Labour politicians to work with the Conservatives in the national UK No2AV referendum and helped a Prime Minister tell his story and sell his vision for his country at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.Career Development Storytelling Clients
I love coaching individuals looking to get their first job out of university, to get promoted, to make Partner or get onto (or stay on) the Board.TEDMED
I am delighted to be a TEDMED Speaker Coach. Part of the TED family, TEDMED is an annual conference for the best thinkers and innovators in healthcare and medicine worldwide. It is live streamed to over 120 countries and has a lively web-based community. By its nature, working with TEDMED is (slightly) different in terms of outcomes to the other areas where I work. Of course, careers can be rocket launched by a good talk - but the main thrust of the event is to share good ideas coherently and clearly.Stories are part of being human. We should tell more stories and use less PowerPoint.
My job is to help people like YOU tell YOUR story better.
Using a Coach - Good Idea or Bad Idea?
I have sold and bought products or services - sometimes with hands and eyes and strange facial expressions - in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and have helped people buy and sell companies, products and services across language, cultural and religious barriers.
All over the world, people are more persuasive, more authentic and more credible in the way they talk about themselves and their organisations when they’re being themselves and they are talking about things they care about. Most people are a bit rubbish at this. I help them get better. I am a professionally qualified coach with over 24 000 hours and 20 years coaching experience. I also understand the pressures and demands of running businesses. Apart from running my own small consultancy for over 20 years, I have also run substantial small businesses where I had full P & L responsibility experience. I ran three manufacturing businesses on 2 sites with 140 staff in Germany for 3 years and have worked as a consultant and adviser to owners and Chief Execs of a number of businesses in Germany and the UK ranging from SMEs with 30-70 staff and divisions of global PLCS with 1500 - 2000 staff.