Coaching

Whether you’re a first time manager, a seasoned leader, work independently, or are building a venture as an entrepreneur, it can be invaluable to have a neutral, experienced, and invested third party to talk things through with.

I’m a certified professional coach with a focus on helping people level up and navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with modern work life: developing the careers, ventures, skills, relationships, and balance we’re seeking to build in today’s exciting and sometimes confusing world.

On this page, you can learn more about how coaching can benefit you, my approach, and whether we could be a good fit to work together.

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Wondering what all this is about? Here are some good places to start.

Who I work with

I specialize in coaching with entrepreneurs, executives, and independent talent in today’s creative & digital industries.

My clients are typically:

  • Established independent freelancers, solopreneurs, or creative talent
  • Founders of early-stage or rapid-growth companies
  • Growing into executive/leadership roles within larger organizations
  • Making a career transition

The people I work with range from startup founders to advertising creatives; international DJs to technology executives,; brand strategists to music supervisors.

I choose to focus on modern work life and career development for two main reasons:

  • I know first-hand how much our identity can be shaped by our work – both positively and negatively
  • I believe it’s possible to utilize our work to help fulfill our potential across all aspects of our lives
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What you’ll get

Coaching with me enables you to step into the right positions to maximize your potential in today’s fast-paced, exciting, and sometimes confusing world.

Working together can help you to:

  • set and achieve clear goals
  • better understand yourself and your peers
  • increase your confidence and overcome imposter syndrome
  • find new ways to overcome challenges
  • get unstuck when the wheels are spinning
  • build leadership skills
  • make better decisions
  • maintain focus and increase clarity

I hold sessions in-person wherever I can, but thanks to a wealth of digital communication methods I’m able to coach with you no matter where you are in the world.

To fully invest myself into each client’s success I work only with a small number of people at one time.

Press the button below to chat about working together, or read on to find out more.

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What I don’t do

Occasionally I work with clients in industries and circumstances other than those mentioned above, but I prefer to specialize.

I only work with clients who are prepared to invest into their own growth and development, approach the coaching partnership with a growth mindset, and are ready to put in the time and effort to work towards the goals they set out.

Coaching sessions are often hugely enjoyable and rewarding, but they also bring up some thought-provoking and challenging topics that require hard work to successfully tackle.

If your needs fall outside of the remit outlined on this page I do still encourage you to get in touch as I’m happy to recommend you some other excellent coaches to connect with.

Why I do this

I’ve been doing this work for almost as long as I can remember, starting with coaching my brother’s football (soccer) team when I was 13.

It’s followed me throughout my career: the greatest pride I took from being a company founder was being able to provide a platform for a group of talented people to build their creative careers. I still love being able to cheer them on from the sidelines today.

But frankly I used to think the concept of ‘coaching’ was a bit weird – why would anyone need this outside of a sports team?

As I adopted more of a growth mindset in various areas of my life I realized there were so many things to explore and learn – about the world, about other people, and about myself.

I started to look at all the things I didn’t know rather than what I did.

Coupling that curiosity with an interest in what enabled successful people to do what they did led me towards what I do now (and yup you guessed it, a significant factor for nearly all these people was coaching).

Over the past 3 years, I’ve more formally built my skill set in this field via lots of facilitation, mentoring, learning design, and creative and entrepreneurial endeavors.

I’ve also experienced the successes, failures and valuable learnings that inevitably come with putting yourself out there and doing something new, so I’m well positioned to work with clients who are entrepreneurs or growing into leadership positions.

What makes me different

You may be thinking there are plenty of coaches out there – and you’d be right.

There are a few things that make me different – and while each one individually isn’t necessarily unique, the sum of these parts gives me a perspective and vantage point that I can utilize to help my clients do great things.

Experiences

  • I’ve been an entrepreneur, a manager, freelance, consultant, employed, unemployed. Mentor, mentee, intern, CEO, and most other things in between
  • I’ve struggled. I’ve felt the pain getting a company off the ground; hitting a plateau and a ceiling; not getting promoted; experiencing tension with new bosses; working out how to manage difficult team members; battling my own creative resistance. I definitely wear a few battle scars
  • I’ve been through a number of career transitions (roles, industries, cities, countries, cultures) and have had to reposition and rethink things more than once

Credentials

  • A lot of coaches don’t have any formal qualifications. That’s not necessarily a red flag, but I feel the nature of this very personal and trusting work demands both solid foundations and ongoing professional development
  • With that in mind, I’m internationally certified as a professional coach via the Coaching For Transformation program at Leadership That Works in New York City. The program and school is accredited by the ICF (International Coaching Federation)
  • I design and teach workshops and classes for everyone from 5-year-old kids to Fortune 100 C-suite. Doing this work has taught me a lot about listening, knowledge sharing, timing, facilitation, personalization, and a number of other skills that hugely aid my abilities as a coach

Resources

  • Over my career I’ve collected lots of advice, quotes, techniques, frameworks and other useful morsels. These resources have become a treasure trove for my coaching clients to access
  • I write regularly about coaching, entrepreneurship, and building careers

Focus

  • I only work with a handful of clients at any time
  • I have a specialized focus on established talent working in the creative & digital industries.

Style

  • My coaching style is practical, future-facing, supportive yet also ready to challenge, with a focus on action and accountability
  • I’m particularly strong at connecting dots, reframing, utilizing imagery and metaphor, and seeing multiple angles to situations

Testimonials

Here are some of the things people have said about the work we’ve done together. More coming soon.

I started working with Howard during a period where I was dealing with a whole new context and a lot of questions I was trying to work through. I started slightly sceptical about using a coach, but through Howard’s great balance, poise and wisdom, I felt quite safe in exploring these challenges.

Howard is great at asking the right questions in the right way, enabling me to talk my way through issues and nudging me through to these ‘aha’ realisations.

I’ve uncovered and discovered new things, changed thinking and realised that in fact the root of some of my challenges and questions originated from somewhere I did not expect.

Breaking down my next steps into easy manageable accountable actions hugely simplified what was overwhelming before.

– Innovation Consultant, Amsterdam

Programs

You’ve read this far – maybe we’re a good fit to work together. Here’s some further information on the coaching programs I offer.

Individuals

1:1

My most popular program is the Emerging Leader: a 6-month program including a challenging and thought-provoking schedule of pre-work, a deep dive exploration session, over a dozen private 1:1 coaching sessions, and priority access to me via email and text throughout the 6 months we work together. You can work with me either remotely, or in-person if you’re based in New York.

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Circles

For small groups of creative professionals, I offer Circles; group coaching designed and facilitated by me, focused on a specific range of topics agreed by the group. These sessions are a great way to build a network, and share challenges and ideas in a private and supported setting.

I’m currently taking applications for the next Circle series taking place in Summer 2019.

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Company Teams

I offer a blended package for organizations, providing your team members with both 1:1 sessions and group circles. Group circles are program-based, experiential, and facilitated, including custom-designed exercises around the specific goals of the group.

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All individual and organization coaching packages include:

  • pre-program self-assessment
  • an initial 3 hour deep dive session
  • email follow-ups after each session
  • access to my vault of resources
  • direct access to me via phone, text, and email between sessions
  • optional recordings of sessions (for your personal use only)

To find out more, drop me a line and we can set up a time for an initial conversation, completely free of charge and with no obligation.

Office Hours

It’s important to me that I can work with people from all backgrounds and circumstances, and I recognize that not everyone is in a position to afford a more involved coaching engagement.

With that in mind, I offer heavily discounted Office Hours one day each month. You can book either a 30 or 45-minute session to talk through any topic that may be on your mind.

To apply for the next round of Office Hours, fill out this quick form.

Ready to get started?

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Further information

There’s plenty about me on this site, but I welcome you to do some more digging on my background, my values and my way of thinking.

I’m happy to provide some references on request.

If you think we could be a good fit to work together, please fill out this brief form and we can set up a time to talk.

I look forward to hearing from you.