Our story
It all started with a teary phone call from my daughter Emma, that went something like this.
'Dad, I love my job, but my boss has no BLOODY idea what she's doing and I just want to quit!'
It was a conversation we’d had a few times before (most not as drastic), as I tried to help Emma navigate her way through the corporate maze. The problem that she kept running into, through various roles and companies, was leaders who didn’t know how to lead. While I mentored Emma over the years, helping her combat these issues (and, mind you, becoming brilliant at managing up along the way), the thing that niggled at me was that she shouldn’t have to spend so much of her time and energy trying to compensate for the poor leaders above her.
I’ve spent countless hours over the last 15 years as a senior executive mentoring other leaders, and the issues are the same at every level.
It raises some pretty fundamental questions:
How do people without strong mentors deal with these debilitating issues at work? (Answer: it’s tough!)
How large is the negative impact of poor leadership on organisations? (Answer: incalculable)
How are people with great potential supposed to become exceptional leaders if their leaders aren’t modeling the right behaviours and competencies? (Answer: a lot of trial and error)
What practical resources are out there to teach leaders how to become exceptional, drive outstanding results, and be truly happy with who they are? (Answer: very few)
Meanwhile, I was working in C-level roles with C-level executives who were being paid C-level wages. I rubbed shoulders with a huge number of smart, capable, experienced executives, but I could count the number of exceptional leaders I have worked with on one hand.
Poor leadership is a serious issue in business today: and the rise of technology is making this harder, not easier; you can’t always have your people physically near enough to watch, control, and manage. Companies are losing staggering amounts of money in staff turnover, missed opportunities, and widespread underperformance.
This is why Em and I decided to create Your CEO Mentor - a place where leaders would learn the things that they don’t teach at business school.
These are the things that your bosses won’t teach you, because they are unlikely to have developed as an exceptional leader themselves.
This is where you will be told the hard truths, and given the tried and tested strategies to move through any difficult situation to drive high performance in your organisation.
I’ve spent the last 30+ years learning by doing, all the while being dedicated to my own leadership development, and growing the leaders around me. I’ve developed a life-long learning habit, and studied leadership in some of the world’s foremost institutions.
Now, I’m bringing all of my hard-earned leadership experience and learning to good use; mentoring leaders around the globe with practical, no bullshit leadership strategies that will catapult their careers and help them create high performing, results-driven, winning teams.
I went from being a university dropout to CEO of a multi billion dollar company, and now I want to share my success formula with the world.
I'm so glad you've found us, and I look forward to helping you increase your capability, quality, confidence and development as a leader.
Cheers,