Career (briefly)

Art and Drama teacher before community management. Directorships in financial services. Became Training Manger of second oldest financial services company in UK, only for it to bought out, asset stripped and fold a few months later as we hit a major recession – not great timing from my point of view! The value was in being forced to rethink.

Then lots of freelance work including restructuring medical practices, public speaking on such subjects as creativity, problem solving, motivation, managing teams and public speaking training. As a freelance you pick up some oddities along the way, e.g. as making ‘boring’ subjects such as minute taking and data protection fun – I kid you not. Gradually more and more career coaching with a great deal of focus on supporting doctors in general practice, with some involvement in the setting up of https://www.somersetsafehouse.co.uk

Published Surviving School Leadership (Pearson publishing). A coaching resource for educational leaders Qualified Lateral Thinking Fellow (de Bono) Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Created Appreciative Inquiry 1st  group on LinkedIn – 2,000 plus members.

Never stopped drawing and illustrating. Played semi-pro in bands for many years – still am.

Philosophy

I like the way Appreciative Inquiry starts from discovering what is working as a solid foundation for building the future – it revolutionises thinking. Appreciative Inquiry introduction

I also like the basis of compassionate inquiry, starting from a basis of having compassion for our traumas ourselves and for others. https://compassionateinquiry.com/the-approach