About
I never set out to become an author, a coach, a speaker or a teacher.
Yet somehow, I have become all four.
Looking back, there has been a common thread running through much of my life.
The questions appeared early on.
While studying architecture in Dublin in my twenties, I found myself wondering about how people work rather than buildings. I began exploring anything that might help me understand what it means to live well and perform at one’s best. T’ai Chi, Taoism, meditation, psychology, learning, performance, personal development, tennis (performing and coaching). Some interests stayed. Others did not.
One discovery has remained with me ever since.
People can learn without being taught.
More than that, they often learn better that way.
That simple insight has shaped almost everything I have done since.
A chance meeting brought me to London, where I became involved with a small group exploring what would later become executive coaching. It was an exciting time. Much of what is now taken for granted in coaching was being discovered, defined and developed.
In 1996 I founded The School of Coaching, the first institution in Europe dedicated solely to developing coaching skills. What began as an idea grew into a remarkable organisation supported by an exceptional team and attracting participants from across Europe and beyond.
Around the same time, I was invited to write a book.
That book, first published as Effective Coaching and now in its fourth edition as Effective Modern Coaching, has sold more than 330,000 copies in English alone. Three further books followed, each exploring different aspects of leadership, performance and human potential.
Along the way I have had the privilege of working with leaders, teams and organisations across much of the world. I've worked with global corporations, public-sector organisations, entrepreneurs, elite sports coaches and leadership teams. Each experience has reinforced the same belief:
People thrive when they become more fully themselves.
Today, that belief continues to shape my coaching, speaking and writing.
I continue to be deeply interested in performance, leadership and contribution, and by how people can use their own resources and capabilities as the primary source of impact and influence.
And I still play tennis.
Tennis has been a companion for most of my life. It remains a source of enjoyment and learning. And competition to stretch me. In many ways it is my laboratory: a place where ideas about performance, focus, flow and development are tested in real time.
After nearly four decades in London, my wife Jo and I moved to the village of Kenninghall in Norfolk. Life is quieter here. Friendlier too.
The questions, however, remain the same.
How do people thrive?
What helps them become more fully themselves?
And what becomes possible when they do?
