Unconventional coaching for visionaries
Hi, I'm Cat, a senior accredited coach helping Co-Founders, CEOs and leaders transform themselves to transform the world. Partner with me to master your mindset - because doing things that have never been done before is hard.
Unconventional coaching for visionaries
Hi, I'm Cat, a senior accredited coach helping Co-Founders, CEOs and leaders in scaleups transform themselves to transform the world. Partner with me to seize opportunities and reframe fears - because doing things that have never been done before is hard.
Why choose me?
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I’m an EMCC accredited Global Individual Senior Coach Practitioner. This means I’ve been through 2 years of formal training, and regular live observation of my coaching.
I do quarterly supervision with a master coach to keep up my quality, and am committed to ongoing training to constantly deepen my repertoire.
I have coaching myself, really taking my own medicine, as well as being an active part of coach communities sharing best practice.
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‘Unconventional’, ‘unique approach’ and ‘non-traditional’ come up time and time again in my feedback. Funnily enough I don’t consider my practice unusual, it’s just what serves my client best, and seems to attract innovative thinkers even though in that moment they may feel stuck.
We’ll set a clear goal at the start of every session, and you’ll take away clear actions every time. My style is lightly structured, igniting wider and deeper thinking that you can do on your own. Often the thing you think is the business problem turns out to be something totally different - we’ll unearth it. We’ll sit with discomfort and resistance, in a safe and supported way, to what it’s trying to tell us, rather than suppressing it.
Outdoor, diagramming, papers on the floor, changing seats, visualising… I’m formally trained in these techniques and adapt them uniquely to your professional challenge. They’ll bring you fast and powerful new actions, and are much more insightful and memorable I am told than just having questions fired at you. Let’s try it.
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I studied a Master of Physics at Oxford then Theatre Arts at RADA, working as a theatre director in the West End, one-to-one with A-list actors. Years in business strategy across global corporates to nascent startups added a commercial eye.
I’m a generous connector and modest angel investor. A cheerful + experienced public speaker in English and French, with dual nationality, my experience places me in a lively overlap of arts, science, business and adventure.
I’ve also run the Post Office in Antarctica.
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You want an accountability partner. I’m a ‘cause not the symptoms’ person, and believe there is much more value in helping you find healthier motivations to do your tasks - and ask if they are the right tasks.
You’re after an advisor, area expert or mentor to share their experience, opinions or tell you what to do. Those people are a key and important part of your ecosytem, but only go so far - they aren’t carrying your hidden fears, barriers, childhood stuff… That’s where I come in, to help you hear yourself and act in a way that’s congruent, authentic and regretless to you and you alone.
Your challenge doesn’t feel urgent and important. Momentum is a hallmark of my practice and I like to know we’re both committed to getting results for you.
“I have witnessed Cat’s calm yet incisive style, putting people at ease yet challenging, and her combination of openness and rigour. She has provided enormous value for Zinc VC Founders, with brilliant feedback.
Eleanor Ford
CPO, Zinc VC & Private Equity
Why coaching?
How you show up is making or breaking it
Most of my clients are business Founders and Co-Founders transforming their human skills to scale their company. I also love working with entrepreneurial Execs taking big steps up, or sometimes steps out to a more fulfilling role - and mission-driven individuals creating global impact in science, arts and exploration.
Everyone shares the knowledge that how they ‘are’ is the only thing they control, with a strength and thirst to do this deep work to get out of their own way and succeed.
When you’re in the bottle, you can’t read read the label
When work is all-consuming, it’s lonely, frustrating and stressful. It’s easy to miss key info and neglect vital relationships. Responsibility weighs heavy and others don’t see what you see. You sometimes lose sight too.
I will help you zoom out, get out of your own way and fully in control. We’ll notice patterns in your thinking and address behaviours you don’t want any more. With tangible actions every session, you can show up for yourself, your team and your work at your very best.
Your unique thought partner helps you see more
Coaching is a professional relationship like no other. We’ll create your highly challenging yet constructive, confidential space to identify and address what’s really going on. I’ve worked with over 100 Founders and CEOs.
I bring my formal senior coach practitioner training in unconventional techniques such as outdoor and diagramming, and combine it with my extensive experience across 40+ tech startups, global corporates, Physics, Oxford, West End theatre, RADA, the Alpes and Antarctica.
The impact of working with me
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"Absolutely tranformative"
Radha Vyas
CEO & Co-Founder, Flash Pack -
"I understand my biases and strengths"
Jonny Burch
CEO & Co-Founder, ProgressionApp -
"Challenge with humanity"
Rich Houston
VP, ex-Zoopla -
“Cuts through the BS and gets you to answers”
Billy Linker
Exec. Producer, Oatley; ex-Netflix
My clients’ most common coaching goals
Set and sustain effective Co-Founder ways of working
Healthy fundraising mindset through the highs and lows
Achieve productive senior team dynamics
Come to clear, shareable decisions on hiring and firing
Optimise how you show up to investors
Intentional impact of work on personal life
Find and follow your career North Star
What I offer
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You relationship is making or breaking your business, and visible to all. Define and align on ways of working, strategy and comms.
Bottle your joint magic when things are going well
Prepare for fallouts and evolve your roles ahead of time
Save a souring situation before it destroys both your hard work
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Do the deeply private work to become a great leader who is sustainably successful.
Here’s an example of what we might work on:
Start by getting a new and crystal clear perspective on the ecosystem you’ve created - seeing with fresh eyes what’s working and what’s not. We can go on to uncover and evolve how you react in certain situations, then transform that to get a much better outcome from an upcoming tough team or investor meeting.
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Especially if you’re highly cognitive, push yourself far and fast with Outdoor Coaching across London. I work with over half my clients in this way who love it for bringing realisations fast and being highly memorable after sessions.Outdoor
Ask me about a bespoke coaching experience in the French Alpes. I also work globally with clients who are out walking, by phone.
See much more on the Outdoor page
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Retaining and getting maximum value from your senior team means empowering them to think for themselves. But it’s not easy to delegate, trust and accept people doing things differently to you.
My short training gives you the tools and mindset to empower your senior team to use their full talents and do their best work, and gives you more headspace for the things only you can do, and lighter responsibility now it’s properly shared.
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An offsite is a lot of time out and cost, so define with me in advance the outcomes it needs to deliver, and I’ll design the structure and exercises that get you there, while building the psychological safety essential to success
I’m skilled at getting the awkward, painful and human stuff out into the open, in away that people aren’t defensive, making sure everyone owns change and is resourced to succeed, and has a plan for afterwards so the offsite progress doesn’t lapse instantly on return!
Our first meet-up
This session is free and designed to be really helpful whatever you decide to do
Share your business challenges - undefined problems welcome, we’ll clarify!
I’ll suggest goals for us, how we’ll know we’re on track and share my approach
Then we’ll do some actual coaching, to get a good feel for our fit and the value
“We avoided consenus sludge”
Justin Spooner
Co-Founder, Unthinkable
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“Non-traditional coach who digs deeper”
Ieva Dvilinskiene
Co-FOUNDER, Flowspace -
"Unique approach that got me thinking in new ways"
Flora Devlin
Product, ex-Monzo -
“Unconventional exercises challenged and supported me”
An Nguyen
Ex-COO Koru Kids -
"Seeing and finding things I couldn't"
Will Parkinson
Product Director, Dunelm
To keep my feet off the ground, I also love to coach people shaping the geopolitical future of Antarctica, the Moon and Mars.
Introductions welcome!