I’ve spent my career helping organisations grow without losing sight of their people
For more than 15 years, I’ve worked across Talent, Leadership and Development in organisations going through growth, change and increasing complexity.
My experience has taken me from global luxury retail to hospitality, financial services and telecommunications, working in-house with brands including Burberry, BT, Pret A Manger, London Stock Exchange Group and Fortnum & Mason.
Today, that experience shapes how I work with growing retail and hospitality businesses — starting with the reality of the business, then looking at what people need to do differently to move it forward.
My perspective has always been shaped by change
I was born in Abu Dhabi and grew up in Hong Kong, so adapting to different environments, cultures and perspectives has been part of my life from the beginning.
That international outlook continued into my career, where I’ve worked across different markets, organisational cultures and stages of growth.
Over time, I found myself repeatedly drawn to the same question:
What do people need to do differently for the business to move forward?
Sometimes that meant helping leaders step into bigger roles. Sometimes it meant strengthening succession and talent decisions. At other times, it meant helping teams change how they worked together as the organisation evolved around them.
That question still sits at the heart of my work today.
I work where strategy meets people
I’m particularly interested in what happens after the strategy has been agreed.
That is usually the point where the work becomes less tidy. Leaders have to interpret what the strategy means for their teams, priorities compete, existing habits get tested, and different people respond to change in different ways.
My approach is to stay close to that reality.
I look at what the business is trying to achieve, what may be helping or hindering progress, and what people need to do differently for the strategy to translate into day-to-day behaviour.
That means paying attention to both the commercial context and the human dynamics around it: where decisions are getting stuck, where ownership is unclear, where relationships need to shift, and where leaders or teams may need more support to adapt.
I’m less interested in development for its own sake, and more interested in whether it helps people work in a way that moves the business forward.
Commercially grounded. People focused.
I’ve worked inside the kinds of organisations I now support, so I understand that people development cannot sit separately from the realities of running the business.
Retail and hospitality environments move quickly.
There are customers to serve, sites to operate, targets to hit and teams already working at pace. Leaders rarely have the luxury of stepping away from the day job while change happens.
That shapes how I work.
I aim to make development practical, relevant and closely connected to what the organisation is trying to achieve.
I’m interested in creating meaningful change rather than adding activity for its own sake
And as businesses grow, I believe there is real value in being deliberate about what should evolve — and what is worth protecting.
The strongest growth should build on what makes an organisation distinctive rather than gradually dilute it.
Experience from both sides of the table
My career has given me experience of owning Talent and Leadership priorities from inside large organisations, as well as coming into businesses as an external partner.
Since establishing my consultancy, I’ve worked with organisations including a high street beauty retailer, a tech-driven coffee chain, a rapidly expanding burger restaurant and a luxury interior furnishings group.
That combination matters.
I understand the internal pressures behind people decisions: competing priorities, limited capacity, stakeholder expectations and the need to demonstrate commercial value.
I also know how to enter an organisation from the outside, quickly understand the context and bring enough independence to ask useful questions, challenge assumptions and focus attention where it will have the greatest impact.
Qualifications and professional training
My experience is supported by formal study and ongoing professional development.
I hold an MSc in Organisational Behaviour, alongside an Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching and a Systemic Team Coaching Certificate.
I’m an ICF accredited coach and am accredited to use a range of psychometric tools, including:
-
NEO PI-R
-
Lumina Spark
-
EQi 2.0
-
Insights Discovery
I use these tools selectively. They can add useful insight, but the starting point is always the business challenge and what will genuinely help the individual, team or organisation move forward.
The way I work
My work tends to be thoughtful, practical and highly tailored to the organisation in front of me:
-
I’ll ask questions before recommending solutions.
-
I’ll look at what is already working as well as what needs to change.
-
And I’ll focus on the areas where investment in leadership, talent or team effectiveness is most likely to make a meaningful difference.
The aim is to create enough challenge to help people think and behave differently, while keeping the work grounded in the reality of the organisation.
If your business is changing, let’s talk about what your people need next
You might already know exactly where you need support. Or you may simply know that the organisation has entered a new phase and that the leadership, talent approach or ways of working need to catch up.
Either is a useful place to start.
On a discovery call, I’ll ask about the business context, what has prompted you to reach out and the change you would like to see.
From there, we can work out what kind of support would be most useful.