Maybe you started working at a record label because you love music. Maybe you started an agency because you love design.​ Now, you're spending less time on music or design than on strategy and people management. You want business support. But you don't want corporate jargon and death by PowerPoint. Most of all, you want to get back to spending your time on whatever got you into this line of work in the first place.

 

You're not alone. A lack of leadership and management skills in the creative industries has long been recognised... and that was before challenges like generative AI. Today, the lack of trained managers is recognised as one of the sector's biggest and most urgent challenges. And, in a sector full of small and medium enterprises, there are few leadership development programmes to fill the gap.​​​

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I started my career in the music industry, spending several years as a session musician with Passenger before releasing four acclaimed albums - and performing at the Pompidou Centre and Royal Albert Hall - as one half of Grasscut. I also managed Grasscut, negotiating deals with Ninja Tune, Just Isn't Music and Elastic Artists and landing syncs with Google, HSBC, Nespresso, K-Mart, Nespresso and Mazda. 

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My degree in English Language and Literature hadn't prepared me for this particularly well and I went into academia to help people avoid the mistakes I had made myself. I went into coaching for the same reason. Today, I am Professor of Creativity and Innovation at Kingston University. I also work as an independent consultant. 

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I have coached leaders from first management role to CEO/MD, in organisations including Arts Council England and United Talent Agency, with funding from the UK government as well as individual clients. I also coach for Clore Leadership. 

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I have consulted for organisations including Linux Foundation, the Institute of Coding and Blockchain Research Institute. 

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And I have delivered training around the world, for instance to music industry professionals from Accra to Amman. 

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I have written books on the creative industries, one of them a Radio 4 book of the week. ​I am currently writing a book on creative leadership for Cambridge University Press. ​​​​​​I also have written for the Guardian and the Independent and broadcast on the BBC and CNN.

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And I have given talks, for instance on the impact of emerging technologies on the creative economy, around the world from KPMG in London to Thompson Reuters in New York. 

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I am a non-executive director of the Featured Artists Coalition and Enterprise Educators UK.

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I have an MBA and a PhD as well as postgraduate certificates in both executive and team coaching. 

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I'm based in Brighton, on the UK south coast, but also work in London and online.

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100% of my coaching clients say they would recommend me to a friend or colleague.​

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Want to know more? Drop me an email.