Kirsty McCarthy

Client Director

Kirsty McCarthy

Client Director

Specialisms

Culture change and change adoption – making the messy human side of restructuring, strategy shifts, and technology adoption more predictable and workable.

Design and facilitation of leadership development that is evidence-based and context-specific – built from diagnosis and deep understanding, not generic frameworks.

Coaching at every level, helping people strengthen judgement, resilience, and self-belief.

Oxford-trained psychology and neuroscience (BA, MSc).

Accredited in PROPHET, MAPP, Hogan, EQi and NEO-PI-3 psychometric tools.

Career highlights

12+years delivering leadership development programmes for global organisations (including Beazley, Brookfield, Maersk, Macquarie, and Unilever).

Supporting the resilience of high-performing teams during some of their trickiest times, including: Executives across London Councils (2018-2020); Rothschild & Co UK Wealth Management during the pandemic (2020); Managers dealing with the aftermath of redundancies across tech and banking sectors (2023-2024).

Achieving the highest feedback scores of any module in a global leadership development programme at Mayer Brown.

Leading a culture renewal project which, in just one year, caused massive shifts in information sharing, trust between teams, and staff morale.

Why I do this work

As a lifelong explorer of what makes people tick, I love to apply insights from neuroscience and performance psychology to the real world – helping leaders understand themselves and others better in order to improve relationships, decision-making, confidence, and influence. Early in my career I saw how talented people can get derailed by misaligned expectations, unspoken assumptions and unhelpful habits. Success isn’t just about what happens in the boardroom, but what happens throughout your organisation too. I do this work to help generate better work, stronger relationships, braver conversations, and decisions people commit to. Because people are surprisingly predictable… when you know what to look for!

My Edge

I bridge rigorous science with real-world nuance. Clients get psychological insight, a co-created plan that fits their context, and my genuine whole-hearted commitment to their success – whether they are one person or the whole global business.

Ready for change?

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