My story

I’ve spent the past 35 years studying, repeatedly practising, and helping others to communicate messages clearly and with confidence. Initially in the world of Theatre, TV and Film - and then for the past 25 years through working with hundreds of organisations in the Private, Public and Third Sectors.

I would love to save you some of that time and effort and share with you what I’ve learned on the way; helping you cut corners in finding the confidence to deliver your messages with clarity – and when you’ve found these two elements, to realise that you have the courage you need.

I trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and in 1984 after graduating as a medallist from RADA, I started my working life as an actor. After three memorable months appearing in Interpreters in the West End with Maggie Smith (it’s less likely that Dame Maggie remembers me) and nearly a year performing in numerous Shakespeare plays, I gained my first TV part as DC Ben Lomas in the popular BBC series Bergerac. Five happy years in Jersey followed as Jim Bergerac’s sidekick, inheriting our hero's sergeant’s stripes in the final series. Many further TV roles followed including All Creatures Great and Small, EastEnders, The Bill and Crown Prosecutor. Theatre remained an important part of my portfolio, too, with title roles in Macbeth and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist as well as playing Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby being stand out experiences.

For an actor, clarity is key, especially in the live environment of the theatre. Whether I was performing in a small studio theatre to a few tens of people or in one of the UK’s grand playhouses to an audience of 2,000, my job was to ensure that every one of those audience members understood the story and the messages of the play, and were feeling and thinking what I wanted or needed them to in every moment.

And you don’t achieve this clarity overnight. Rehearsal is about identifying your objective and then, through practise, recognising and keeping the parts of what you say and do in your performance that move you closer to this objective - and discarding everything else. It’s through this process, as the actor learns that they can rely on the decisions and approaches they’re taking, that their confidence grows. And once clarity and confidence are in place, then we can summon the courage to walk out on stage and perform. I also learned that ‘performance nerves’ never quite go away - and that’s a good thing!

Twenty odd years ago, I added the role of theatre director to my CV and my focus shifted to ensuring that others, rather than me, were communicating the play’s messages clearly and that they had the information, the tools and the support to feel confident and courageous in that communication.

As well as being an actor in all the traditional places, since the mid-1990’s I’d also been working as a ‘business actor’, delivering untold numbers of roleplays at assessment centres and on development programmes.

This powerful combination of performance skills, direction and facilitation of others’ communication, alongside a growing understanding of the business world (and empathy for those who have to navigate their way through it) means that it was a small step for me to consciously bring all these elements together and start designing and delivering development, training and coaching to people in all walks of life, from corporate CEOs to local authority gravediggers.

And, very happily, this is where my full-time focus has been for more than a decade now. During which time I’ve had the enormous pleasure of working with hundreds of organisations, and many thousands of individuals on their journey to communicate with confidence, clarity and courage.