Straight-talking coaching for ambitious people who are done playing small. Interviews, promotions, presence — built on evidence, not affirmations.
You know more than anyone in the meeting and say the least. Afterwards you replay it with all the lines you didn't deliver.
Your review says 'exceeds expectations'. The promotion went to someone louder. 'Keep doing what you're doing' is starting to sound like a trap.
The CV opens doors; the interview closes them. You've lost final rounds to people you'd outperform by Tuesday.
The dream role has been open in a browser tab for a week. The draft is 90% done. It's been 90% done before.
One-to-one you're brilliant. Add six people and a projector, and somehow someone else ends up presenting your idea.
No fluff and no twelve-month lock-ins — three structured programmes, each built around one fight. Apply for the one that names yours.
6 weeks
Six weeks of high-intensity preparation built around a real role. Recorded mock interviews, ruthless-but-kind feedback, and answers restructured until they land every time.
3 months
A full three-month campaign for your next role: positioning, visibility, sponsors, and the case for promotion made so clearly they can't unsee it. My most-booked programme.
6 months
A six-month engagement for the capable person who goes quiet in big rooms. Practical presence work — voice, posture, preparation — plus the psychology of why you shrink and how to stop.
4.9 · Google reviews · 38 reviews
“Three weeks with James and I negotiated £11k more than the original offer. He made me practise until it felt boring — and then, in the real thing, easy.”
“I'd been passed over twice and was ready to leave. Three months later I'm leading the team that overlooked me. The promotion case we built did exactly what he said it would.”
“The first coach who didn't just tell me to 'be more confident'. He showed me precisely what to do differently — in my next board meeting, people noticed.”
Tell me the target, the timeline and what's in the way. I read every application myself and reply within two working days.
Thirty free minutes. You ask anything you like; I sketch the plan I'd propose. If coaching isn't the answer — or I'm not the right coach — I'll say so.
A clear target, the sessions to hit it, and deliberate practice drills between them. You'll always know what we're doing and why.
You walk into the interview, the review, the boardroom — prepared to the point of boredom. That's when it looks effortless.
For fifteen years I hired people for FTSE 100 companies. Hundreds of interviews a year, thousands over a career — and the pattern that never stopped bothering me was this: the best person in the process was rarely the person who got the job. The person who got the job was the one who could show their value in forty-five minutes.
I watched brilliant candidates talk themselves out of roles they'd have excelled in. Eventually I stopped watching. I retrained in occupational psychology and coaching, and moved to the other side of the desk for good.
Direct, structured, and on your side. We don't do vague pep talks — we find the specific behaviours holding you back, then drill the replacements until they're automatic. Preparation beats personality every time; confidence is a by-product of being genuinely ready.
I coach from a studio in Shoreditch and over video everywhere else. Expect homework, honest feedback, and the odd uncomfortable question. Expect results, too — more than 400 clients hired or promoted, and I keep count because I'm proud of it.
Three months, one campaign: positioning, sponsors, visibility, and the case for your next role made so clearly they can't unsee it.
£1,200 · 3 months · weekly sessions · Shoreditch studio or video
Not sure it's the right programme? Apply anyway and say so — matching you to the right work is exactly what the fit call is for.
See the full programmeTherapy looks back to heal; coaching looks forward to perform. We work on concrete, near-term goals — a role, a promotion, a presence problem — with drills and deadlines. If what surfaces needs a therapist, I'll tell you honestly and help you find one.
That belief is usually the first thing we dismantle. Confidence isn't a personality type — it's a by-product of preparation and repetition. I've watched self-described introverts command boardrooms. Not because they changed who they are, but because they stopped winging it.
The Interview Sprint runs six weeks because hiring processes do. The Promotion Programme is three months because promotions are campaigns, not conversations. Executive Presence is six months because senior habits change on a season, not a sprint. I don't upsell — when we're done, we're done.
No. My clients range from graduates fighting for a first proper role to directors eyeing the C-suite. The stakes differ; the mechanics of showing your value are remarkably similar.
Yes — about half my clients I've never met in person. Video sessions are identical in structure and, for interview practice, arguably better: most interviews happen on video now anyway.
Life happens: move any session free of charge with 24 hours' notice. Miss a session without notice and it's counted against your programme — the same respect for time I'd expect an employer to show you.
ICF Associate Certified Coach
ICF — the International Coaching Federation, the largest global accrediting body for coaches
EMCC Member
EMCC — the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, which sets ethics and supervision standards for coaching
MSc Occupational Psychology
Postgraduate training in how people actually behave, perform and get promoted at work
Ex-FTSE 100 hiring manager
Fifteen years making the exact hiring and promotion decisions you're preparing for
400+ clients hired or promoted
Not because coaching is a club — because the work only works when the fit is right. Tell me where you are, where you're headed and what's standing in the way. Ten minutes, no essay, and I read every application myself.
Apply to work togetherFree 30-minute fit call before anything is booked · evening slots available