Specialisms

Telling powerful and successful people things they would prefer not to hear, in a way which they find challenging but not threatening. So they continue to listen, and often agree to change some of the attitudes and behaviours which got them to the top in order to stay there.

When someone asks for help with a problem, I offer a range of solutions, using my understanding of the person to steer them towards the approach I think will work best for them.

Presenting complex ideas comprehensibly but without oversimplifying, then giving clients the competence and confidence to employ new approaches to long-running challenges. 

Accredited in PROPHET, Belbin, SDI, 16PF and MBTI psychometric tools.

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Career highlights

As a university lecturer I learned how to add value to the thinking and performance of people whose intellect often exceeded my own.

Two years as Special Advisor on service delivery and organisational change at the Cabinet Office gave me privileged access to many of the UK’s largest change programs, and a unique understanding of why so many of them failed.

It felt very risky to abandon the security of academic life to create Europe’s first business psychology practice. However, being first-in-field allowed Nicholson McBride to contribute to many of the most dramatic corporate transformation stories of the last 40 years – across all sectors, and in 24 different countries. 

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Why I do this work

After three false starts (in music, academia and the media), I finally found my perfect job – one which allows me to make the most of my talents and experience, and with colleagues willing to compensate for my deficiencies.

Where most management consultancy is focused on greater efficiency (same output from fewer workers), our aim at Nicholson McBride is always to change working practices to make people more productive (higher output from the same number of workers). As a result, most of our clients enjoy working with us, while we enjoy the experience of doing well by doing good.

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My Edge

I am a psychologist, by temperament as well as qualification. My academic career centred around the study of individual differences. As a business psychologist, I have never offered generic, one-size-fits-all products, which cause so many change programmes to fail. Every organization has its own ways of doing things, which must be understood and respected before seeking to improve them. It is also crucial to accept that change is an individual business: organisational change is only achieved when a critical number of individuals come to understand what needs to be different, why and how the change is to be brought about, and above all, how they as individuals need to modify the way they think and act.