Your Star Performers have become your Biggest risk.
The leaders who built your business - who delivered when no one else could - are now your biggest constraint. They can't take a holiday without operations stalling. They work Sunday nights not because the business needs it, but because they can't let go. Their teams have stopped solving problems independently.
This is deeper than a performance issue.
This is about their internal operating system. And it's costing you millions in lost capacity, key person risk, and strategic paralysis.
WHAT CLIENTS ARE SAYING
"My leadership was a lopsided monster. Catherine helped me understand how my patterns were destroying my team. The work fundamentally changed how I lead. I still reference that transformation years later."
— Domenico Crapanzano, CEO
The Pattern You're Seeing Across Your Leadership Team
You promoted them because they were brilliant individual contributors. Now they're running on internal code designed for a different role:
"I create value by being right. I create value by having the answer. I create value by doing it myself."
That operating system worked brilliantly until the team grew, complexity scaled, and the business needed them to architect systems, not execute tasks.
Now they're compensating with longer hours, tighter control, deeper involvement. And you're seeing the downstream effects:
Decision-making bottlenecks at every level because everything escalates to them
Strategic initiatives stall because they're drowning in operational firefighting
Team capability atrophies because their people stopped thinking independently
Key person risk becomes existential—you're one resignation away from crisis
Burnout masked as dedication—Sunday night Slack messages, cancelled holidays, stress leave
The bottleneck is preventing millions in value creation. Every quarter they remain stuck, you lose strategic capacity you can't recover.
Here's what changes when you upgrade the operating system:
Your Head of Consulting takes a holiday and projects don't stall. Your Chief Actuary closes his laptop at 6pm. Your VP Engineering architects strategy instead of debugging code.
WHAT CLIENTS ARE SAYING
"All senior leaders should work with a coach to take them out of the echo chamber of their inner circle and think more critically about the places and people they lead. Catherine does this with kindness and compassion but don't expect her sessions to be cuddly."
— Elizabeth Wooliston, Underwriting Director, Non-Exec Director
"Being a team of one was incredibly lonely. She gave me a confidential space to process complex challenges and helped me find my inner courage to step well outside my comfort zone. The tools she provided appear like a genie from a bottle when I need them."
— Zoe Boreham, Chief People Officer
"Catherine helped me deliver the 'performance' I wanted as a leader. With that came business results and a greater feeling of both confidence and calm."
— Tim Bardell, Chief Delivery & Transformation Officer
Strategic Advisory That Rewrites The Operating System
Most organisations try the obvious fixes first.
Leadership training gives frameworks expert leaders won't use. External consultants optimise processes, not people. Time management coaching treats symptoms, not cause.
None of these work because they miss the root issue: your expert leaders have built their entire sense of worth on being the smartest person solving problems. That's an identity problem, and identity problems require rewriting the operating system.
Every leader has invisible programming installed early—from family dynamics, cultural conditioning, early career experiences. This code determines how they respond under stress, how they create safety, how they define their worth.
For expert leaders, that programming is usually: "I'm valuable because I'm right. I'm safe when I have the answers. I'm successful when I do it myself."
That code made them exceptional individual contributors. Now it's running at maximum capacity and corrupting everything downstream.
This isn't a programme with a beginning, middle, and end. It's ongoing strategic advisory that works at the intersection of systems and psychology addressing both the business architecture and the human operating system.
The work evolves as your leaders evolve. What starts as crisis intervention (stop being the bottleneck) becomes capability building (develop other leaders), then succession planning, then board-level strategic thinking.
What makes this strategic advisory:
I don't work with your leader in isolation. I interview people in their ecosystem to understand the patterns they can't see themselves. I understand their KPIs upfront—what they're actually managing, what they're avoiding, and what they don't realise matters. I shadow leadership team meetings to see the dynamics they can't name. I facilitate team offsites when stakes are high. I provide ongoing counsel as the organisation scales.
What makes this work:
I spent 20+ years in consulting and operations before becoming a coach. I understand the business pressure, speak their language, and have credibility from day one. Your leaders don't need to explain why the actuary can't delegate the model review, or why the Head of Consulting feels responsible for every client relationship. I've lived it.
When the core code changes, behaviour follows naturally. And your organisation feels it immediately.
WHAT CLIENTS ARE SAYING
"I started working with Catherine as I transitioned to a new senior leadership role. A coaching sceptic after a few false starts with others, working with Catherine gave me 'breathing space' to explore my new role, set clear priorities and confront challenges. Catherine's sharp mind, intellectual curiosity and strong skill set gives me confidence in her judgement and counsel, and I always feel that she is responding thoughtfully to my situation, not with some 'off the peg' response."
— Matthew Lawrence, CEO
What Your Organisation Gets
The work doesn't end when your leader stops being the bottleneck. That's when the next challenge emerges.
What starts as crisis intervention - distributed decision-making, reduced key person risk, teams that function autonomously - evolves into capability building: succession resilience, talent development, leaders who develop other leaders.
Then strategic elevation: board-level presence, enterprise architecture, positioning for what's next.
Each level of leadership complexity requires different operating system upgrades. You outgrow your current code, we rewrite it, you scale to the next level. The advisory evolves because you evolve.
The multiplier effect: When one senior leader learns new patterns, their team adopts them. Then their teams' teams see it. You're upgrading your entire leadership architecture, not just one individual.
WHAT CLIENTS ARE SAYING
"Catherine is my trusted caddy—she knows me well and will recommend the right club and push me to extend my reach when needed."
— Nick Smith, Head of Practice
"Catherine gets into the head of your business and helps you understand how your executive team thinks and behaves as a connected system, not just individuals."
— Steven Writer-Maguire, Chief Client Officer
"Catherine unpicks the important stuff you didn't realize was important. She poses tough questions in a safe environment."
— Tom Mullan, CFO
Here's the real question: What's it costing you right now?
I've watched a major bank pay £120M in regulatory fines because leadership was too overwhelmed with operational firefighting to see the compliance patterns that mattered. When your expert leaders are drowning in day-to-day details, they miss the warning signs that could save you millions.
A burned-out bottleneck destroying team morale costs more than developing someone who might eventually move to bigger opportunities. Plus, leaders rarely leave when they finally have the tools to succeed.
You're upgrading your entire leadership architecture. When we transform one leader's operating system, their teams learn new patterns. Those patterns cascade through your organization long after any individual moves on.
"What If They Leave After We Invest?"
WHAT CLIENTS ARE SAYING
"What a remarkable ability Catherine has to see how the land is ploughed, to select the right seed, plant and nurture that seed. Our sessions have been thought-provoking, intellectually challenging, and have influenced hugely how I think, engage, behave, approach problems—discrete challenges and longer-term strategies."
— Giles Crossley, COO
Ready To Turn Your Biggest Risk Into Your Competitive Advantage?
Your expert leaders aren't broken. They're running outdated operating systems. Let's diagnose what's actually happening and design the right intervention.
During the consultation, we'll:
Map the specific leadership bottlenecks in your organization
Identify which leaders need operating system rewrites
Design the engagement structure (1:1 advisory, team transformation, or strategic offsite)
Discuss investment relative to the cost of inaction
The Leadership Stack
Regular insights that decode one invisible pattern running your senior leaders and how to spot it before it costs you millions.
For boards and executives who need to see the system, not just the symptoms.