Before the About Peter Botting bit... what about you? Does this sound like you?

My clients describe the relentless reality of their "shiny" lives.

Which of these feelings or situations resonate with you? 

1. Your diary has never been fuller, your day busier - time is now your most valuable, treasured - and scarce - asset. 
2. Your decisions are bigger than they have ever been. Everyone is watching you.
3. You have to see in the dark, years ahead, but everything is a variable. 
4. You are already a good and effective leader... but now, you have to be better.
5. You know people are the solution to, and cause of, most problems.
6. You speak on "stages" that all matter - big, small and tiny. Government, Board, SLT, All-Hands/TownHalls, Media.
7. You have to pitch to win and keep your biggest clients, lead a "challenging" Board, inspire the Senior Leadership Team, and represent the business to the government and the media.
8. You know you need to persuade people, internal and external, with your WHY (thanks, Simon Sinek), but the HOW is the challenge? 
9. You know you need to identify and tell your stories better. But which stories? What to tell?
10. You have had loads of coaching before (media, storytelling, comms, crisis), and it was "fine" and "good" even for that level, but now you need more. There MUST be more. 
11. You know in your belly and understand in your head that “You’re fine” and “That was really good”  is useless feedback. Even if well intended.
12. Everyone at work smiles at you, but you feel you have no true and trusted work friends. 
13. Your spouse or significant other is bored of hearing about your work. Your family is under extreme pressure; family time is rare and exotic. 
14. You feel that you have no backup. You are the backup. It's you. Only you.

What do you want from a coach?

You are searching today because you want/need practical, useable, instantly deployable expertise, feedback, reassurance, advice, skills, knowledge, guidance, and coaching. Phew... that's a big list isn't it? 

This should also be delivered (at the very least) in an objective, brutally honest and zero-BS way. Ideally, by someone totally on your side. A mentor, coach, or personal Non-Exec - or all rolled into one. 

Input and feedback from someone who understands you, gets you, and believes in you. Someone on your side, who knows what they are doing, that you trust.

Input and feedback you can apply immediately. Feedback delivers results. 

Friends and family want to make you feel good. But they're not professional coaches, or mentors or advisers. 

Smiling sharp-elbowed colleagues, peers and “work friends” may secretly want you to fail.

But that type of feedback is...

Polite applause is the fakest feedback. Even if friendly and well intended. 

I want my people to fly. So... back to your question. 

Who (the hell) is Peter Botting, and what has he done?

What a great question: “Who the hell is this guy?”

The whole point is that you're not supposed to know who I am . My job is to help other people find, develop and use their voice. So they can tell better stories. I am a discreet backroom resource.

If you see my clients succeed and advance “effortlessly” in their business or political careers or win at interviews, that's great. But you shouldn’t know that I helped them. It's their story, not mine.

Born and raised in central Africa, I was surrounded by vivid stories, natural storytellers and strong personalities from different backgrounds and cultures.

At school, against the backdrop of a vivid and violent civil war, I devoured books when not playing competitive tennis and rugby. No surprise that I love hearing and telling stories and hate losing.

I have hired, promoted and fired people, worked with companies from start-ups to PLCs, and understand firsthand from HR teams and CEOs why people get hired, promoted or fired.
I've started and led businesses and worked with those who do.  

Real World Business, Storytelling and Interview Experience

I have turned around, run and exited a failing small 145-strong manufacturing group in Europe. I have run my own tiny business for 30+ years.

I have worked with hundreds of CEOs and business leaders from different countries, cultures, industries and approaches. Although they keep making up new chief titles, I have worked with all the mainstream ones, including CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, CMO, and others. 

Professionally trained in Germany, I have worked for 17 PLCs and coached over 7500 people in 8 countries – including four years with that cheeky German start-up SAP (when it was a start-up and only had one building in Waldorf), a fun bit of work for Mercedes, an ongoing workshop series with BASF and several other PLCs and storytelling for IBM all around Asia. 

There’s a fuller bragging list here if you’re interested. It isn’t exhaustive – some clients prefer discretion – they’re not sketchy, however. Just discreet.

Do you want to Talk like TED?

I have speaker-coached (it's a bit like Film or Stage Directing) over 300 speakers for 6 TEDMED conferences (the geeky health arm of TED). Speakers at TEDMED have included the U.S. Surgeon General, U.S. Army Surgeon Generals and business and academic leaders in the health sector.  

Storytelling to further Health and Health Tech 

I have coached serious people and leaders in the health sector including heads of hospitals, directors of health, professors, scientists, Doctors and Surgeons. As well as having worked within the NHS as a Non-Exec, I have worked with the Royal College of GPs.

I have helped health tech companies develop and deliver their narratives in a variety of settings form recruitment fairs to investor groups and analysts. 

Storytelling for Startups  

I have helped startups raise capital, recruit and retain talent and develop their pitches and narratives for clients including sovereign states. I have spoken at StartX and Techstars. 

Storytelling in the Public Sector

I have been a panel member for multiple Magistrate (Judge) Selections and Interviews in the United Kingdom which gave me an insight into preparing for public sector interviews. 

Storytelling in Politics and Campaigns

• I helped the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka prepare for his historic address (it deserved that over-used adjective) to the United Nations in 2003. He is now President of Sri Lanka and tasked with returning stability to that country. 
• I’ve helped over 175 prepare for and navigate the interview and selection process to enter the UK Parliament. Many have become Ministers while some have become Cabinet Ministers. 
• I was part of a tiny team that used storytelling to bring Anti-Slavery Day onto the UK statutes. I conceived and set up the Anti-Slavery Media Awards.
• I conceived and pitched the concept and need for a new political think tank to Francis Maude and Archie Norman, who hired me to found and set up what is now known as Policy Exchange – reporting to Francis. This was the ideas factory for David Cameron. 
• I used storytelling extensively in my “crucial contribution” to the national No2AV referendum. We were trailing 30/70, and my job, achieved with storytelling, was to reverse the polls by persuading the Labour Party to join the Conservative Party on the No team. the end result was 69% to us. 

Why retain or hire Peter Botting?  

What a good question. Coaching is personal; it has to be done by the right person for you.

One. My experience and expertise.

Malcolm Gladwell talks about 10,000 hours. My storytelling coaching hours exceed 30,000. My work was initially face-to-face, then I used Skype. Now it’s a hybrid of in-person and online coaching for big-ticket events and online for most interview coaching. It saves commute time and means I can work with, bounce off and learn from leaders worldwide.

Two. What drives me? My Why. (This is key to why you should hire people.) 

Simon Sinek’s WHY, his purpose, is inspiring people. What is my WHY? I believe people have a story or stories they don’t tell (that they should) – or stories they do tell but that could be told better. I believe people know, deep down, that they are underselling themselves.

My WHY is helping people find, develop and use their voice – and tell their story better. People like you.

Imagine you were a car. Whichever car you’ve just imagined – I believe the car version of you has more gears, more ability, more capacity, more top speed, and more potential.
I help people unleash, stretch, and push their potential. I help them get into their top gear. Sorry (not sorry) for the car analogy, but I like cars and it describes what I do well.

Some people know they have a story but can’t distil it or articulate it. Some need help to deliver it. Some are amazed at the potency of the overlooked, forgotten stories we unearth together – stories that become a powerful and persuasive part of their storytelling armoury.

Some people are so busy with the urgent and short term that they miss out on the storytelling arc that is the thread joining up what they do and why they do it.
Most focus on short-term survival – rather than long-term success.
Understanding, unlocking and articulating your WHY leads to long-term success.

Three. My Approach.

I love seeing people grow in confidence, volume, and impact. Grow into their future. I love helping people identify and unpack their stories, understand the power and potential of their stories and then deliver those stories in the best way. But that doesn't just happen.

I love getting messages from my clients about the ongoing ripple that follows their speeches, presentations or pitches. Standing ovations are very cool – but being able to persuade people and affect long-term change is epic. I like epic. But epic doesn't just happen. 

If we agree to work together, I am all in. You need to be too. 

My Storytelling and Speaker Coaching Approach

There is no instant silver bullet. Input = Output. We need to put the work in.

Career coaching is going on an uneven journey together. People need different things at different times for different scenarios from a personal career coach they can trust.

A personal development coach who gets them where they are today and where they want to be and stretches them as an individual, not as a course participant. 

My bespoke executive coaching is the furthest thing from copy-and-paste. Your story is unique, and you deserve tailor-made coaching from an executive storytelling and speaker coach who goes who and where you are and takes you forward – not what some coach hastily "prepared" in a re-labelled, rehashed, rigid Excel sheet.

Personal career coaching (also relevant to business leaders) needs to meet you and be of value to you, where you are and where your head is, focusing on what you have to achieve and when. Deliverables. Output. 

What clients say about Peter Botting

One very senior military officer wrote: "Your different thinking and disruptor style that leads to better solutions but in an inclusive way is a strength." I'll take that! 

Another senior officer nodded approvingly and said: "Unorthodox." I'll take that too. 

Another senior officer described me as "unafraid and happy to challenge…thinks in broader terms…more ambitious and less constrained". I'll take that too - all of that.

But... I am so far from perfect. And I have so much more to learn. 

The fact is, I am not for everyone. I am blunt, I ask dumb questions, and I challenge a lot. But, leaders have repeatedly told me that they have clarified, and sometimes adjusted, their thinking by having to explain and defend their "thing" to me. 

One CEO and their team were hiding behind the generic and meaningless word quality. I challenged them to unpack that zero-evidence word to explain and justify their claim. To make it gritty, tangible, and honest. It was incredibly unsettling for the CEO and the Commercial and Production team at first, but after they went through the exercise, they had a much better understanding of who they were and what they were selling. They stopped focusing on price, tiny margins, and being a "me too" product. Beyond my brief, but hey? 

I never know what my clients will walk in the room with, nor which coaching or human tool or skill I need to be of value TO THEM… so I need to be ready for anything, with a complete toolbox – not a pre-prepared solution. To do this, I must first listen aggressively to you and then work with you. It also means every coaching session of mine is one-off and focused on moving you forward. Feedback YES, Validation NO. We won't be bored. 

That's what bespoke coaching is – it is not pretending to listen, nod, then "apply standard solution – just change the label". Plenty practice what Americans call "Cookie-cutter coaching" approaches – the same old, single-trick stuff. Not my gig. Yours?

You're not standard – I am not standard. 

"Peter's seismic approach to speaker coaching can make you feel as if there's earth moving under that once-stable place you were standing. You can view that as a danger… or…" 

Denise Graveline. Washington PR Woman of the Year

Like you, I am constantly learning, reading and broadening my knowledge. I recently completed a fantastic Harvard course on Exercising Leadership and am actively learning more about writing, storytelling, leadership, and the power of purpose-fuelled words.

I am haunted by how much I still have to learn. 

Professionally trained and with over 30 years of experience coaching business leaders as both a Storytelling Coach (Content – WHAT) and a Speaker Coach (Delivery – HOW), I offer a far more comprehensive, more demanding and more "holistic" (eye-roll) coaching experience than a pure speechwriter or an ex-journalist following their 2nd or 3rd career as a "media trainer". 

Please find more about my coaching approach here.