I am ME coaching, London (2026)

16/10/2026

TFI Friday 👋

Apparently, October is the new January.

I’ve recently come across something called October Theory. It went viral on TikTok in 2024, and it’s doing the rounds again this autumn.

The idea is that October, not January, is the time to take stock of your life. Rethink what’s working. Make some changes before the year is out.

Quite why October should have this magical power isn’t clear. My guess? The clocks going back, the sudden appearance of Christmas decorations, and the realisation that another year has disappeared.

But there’s some psychology behind it.

It’s called the fresh start effect. Significant dates give us a psychological dividing line between who we were and who we might become.

What interests me is how often we see the same thing at work.

A new CEO.
A restructure.
A change of ownership.
Even a new financial year.

Suddenly it’s possible to question the things everyone has quietly known weren’t working for ages.

The problems haven’t changed. Neither, necessarily, have the solutions.

What’s changed is that there’s now permission to do something about them.

That’s the interesting thing about October Theory. We don’t always need a new plan, more evidence or a compelling reason to change.

Sometimes we just need a convincing excuse to begin.

So if you need an excuse, here’s one.

Before the clocks go back next weekend, write down one thing you’ve quietly known isn’t working. Then tell one person.

That’s it. Saying it out loud is usually where it starts.

Which does rather beg the question of what we’re all waiting for during the other eleven months.

Happy Friday.

02/10/2026

TFI Friday 👋 A little Friday musing for you…

Oasis sold out their 2027 tour last week.

Two years ago, I was at a family reunion in deep Mid-Wales, sneaking off to try (and fail) to get tickets for the Gallagher family reunion.

I did see them in Cardiff in the end, thanks to someone else having more luck. They were brilliant.

Most explanations for why they’re back together focus on the brothers themselves. They’ve grown up, buried the hatchet, mellowed.

Definitely maybe.

But another way to look at it is that everything around them changed.

They’re older. The stakes are different. The people around them have changed. Time has changed what matters.

We often miss this at work.

Someone is controlling, difficult or won’t delegate, and we assume the explanation sits within the person.

Sometimes it does. But behaviour doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

A leader who won’t delegate may have learned that things only happen when they step in.

Someone who rarely challenges may have learned that preserving relationships is safer than creating tension.

The behaviour may no longer be helpful, but it usually made sense somewhere.

Teams develop these patterns too.

They can perform well while trust stays low.

They can appear collaborative while the real disagreements happen afterwards.

There is the culture, and then there is the culture behind the culture.

When speaking up carries a cost, people stop speaking up. They stop admitting uncertainty. They stop saying something isn’t working.

This is why I work with individuals and whole teams. Sometimes the person needs to shift. Sometimes what’s around them does. Usually it’s both.

So this Friday, here is a question to take into next week:

What is happening around that person that makes their behaviour make sense?

📸 Rachel Kerrone 🤗

25/09/2026

TFI Friday 👋
A little Friday musing for you…

My kids like to play a game called Imposter.

Everyone else knows the word. One person doesn’t.

Their job is to work out what it is without giving away that they don’t know.

I’ve been thinking about how often work can feel like that.

Someone has a job title, a set of objectives and a diary full of meetings.

They’re doing their best to make sensible decisions.

But they’re also trying to work out what their manager actually wants.

Which priorities matter most?

Where do they have permission to act?

What does “good” actually look like?

The manager may think all of this is obvious.

The person doing the job may think asking would expose something they ought to know by now.

So both carry on.

Sometimes for months.

With two different versions of the role in their heads.

I see this often enough in coaching that I’ve become wary of telling people simply to be more confident.

First, I want to know whether they and their manager agree on what they’re actually there to do.

A simple exercise:

Ask each of them to write down what success in the role looks like over the next three months.

Then compare the answers.

If they’re different, you’ve found something real to talk about.

Nobody should have to play Imposter at work.
Although, you can with your kids 😉

26/07/2026

Happy 48th birthday to my darling brother, Tom.

You arrived when I was two and a half, and I got my first ever teammate - whether either of us asked for it or not!

So quick with the gags & witty! Absurdly generous & kind. Still magnetic to every child you meet. Somewhere along the way, we became each other’s biggest fans & the best of pals.

We love you - so happy we can celebrate together today in our favourite spot ❤️

17/07/2026

Why does this team exist?

It sounds like an easy question.

Until you realise you’re not talking about the organisation.

You’re talking about the leadership team.

Imagine if this team disappeared tomorrow.

Sales still sells.

Finance still manages the money.

Operations still keeps everything moving.

So what’s actually missing?

That’s the interesting bit.

Most leadership teams answer by describing what they do.

“We make decisions.”

“We solve problems.”

“We align the business.”

But plenty of people do those things.

The better question is this:

What could only happen because these people are in the room together?

That one question changes the conversation.

From responsibilities...
..to purpose.

And that’s where the intentional work and team-habit-change begins.

If that’s a conversation your leadership team hasn’t had, I’d love to help you have it.

What’s your team’s answer?

12/06/2026

The underrated leadership skill?

Regulating your emotions.

Not suppressing them.
Not performing calm.
Actually regulating them.

Neuroscientist Matt Lieberman calls it ‘name it to tame it.’
When you put a word to what you feel, your brain quiets the alarm.

And as Marc Brackett puts it in Permission to Feel -
emotions aren’t the enemy. Ignoring them is.

Feelings are data, not directives.
They give you information. They don’t have to drive the decision.

Try this:
- Notice the feeling before it notices you.
- Name it precisely. “I find this frustrating.” (You’re not alone in that. It’s probably a normal emotion to attach.)
- Get curious. What is it telling you?
- Then move. “So let’s solve it.”

People pick up on your emotions. They can read you.
Cortisol gets shared.

Regulated leaders build high performing teams. The research is clear.

What tips or insights do you have? This is the work I love doing - with teams and individuals. Really proud of what we’re creating together at Fiasco ⬇️

26/03/2026

51 Trips Around the Sun 🥳: The Things That Actually Matter

What I know about a 51-year-old brain is this:
 it filters better.
It doesn’t react to everything. It questions the noise. It trusts experience over impulse. (Not always. But more than before.)

And because of that, some things just matter more - and some things matter a lot less.

What’s left is simpler: good people, work I care about, a bit of adventure, and a lot of laughter.

A few things I keep coming back to - at work and in life:
• Focus on the good. Not blindly - deliberately. What you pay attention to grows. • Say when I’m not okay. Silence helps no one. • Trust it works out. Not perfectly - but enough. • Be kind. Start with myself. It shows up everywhere else. • Play to strengths. If something always feels hard, it might not be a resilience issue - it might be the wrong lane. • Keep learning. One new thing a week keeps me honest and my brain bouncy. • Say yes to adventure.
• Keep chatting to strangers. It reminds me how connected we really are. • Laugh more. Most things aren’t as serious as we make them.

I’ve also learned that everyone’s carrying more than you can see. Call out bad behaviour, sure - but don’t rush to make people the villain.

Grateful for my people - at home and at work. And grateful I get to do work that really matters to me.

📸 Mum came round with the photo albums… which explains the trip down memory lane.

14/03/2026

We’re conditioned to talk about “mum brain” as if it’s a form of early-onset cognitive decline.

A hazy soup of forgotten passwords, missing PE kits and school WhatsApp chats.

But what if we’ve misunderstood it completely?

Motherhood isn’t a detour from leadership. It’s arguably the most savage, high-stakes leadership programme on the planet.

I’ve coached hundreds of mothers - about 70% of them in senior leadership roles.

They don’t usually book a session to talk about the guilt or the constant, frantic role-switching, but it always, always finds its way into the room.

The truth is, your brain feels crowded because it is. There is more “stuff” in there now. More to-dos, more juggling, more invisible problem-solving.
 But the brain doesn’t just clutter; it adapts. It hardens. The science is actually on our side for once.
 The prefrontal cortex, the amygdala and the hippocampus all shift to help you read people better, prioritise at speed and make decisions while running on roughly four hours of sleep!

I see it every day in my sessions. The leader chasing the promotion while balancing family with genuine confidence. The single parent building a life that actually works for them. The mother returning to work and stepping into a new role with a level of courage that would make the most hardened CEO weep.

The most effective mothers I coach have stopped trying to win at productivity and started protecting their energy instead.

They plan their careers in seasons, not sprints.

They switch off deliberately and they’ve learned to let go of the performative perfection that helps exactly no one.

They repeat the one thing we all need to hear: “I am enough.”

To the incredible mothers I’ve coached, I see you. I learn from you every single time we speak.

I hope that one day I can pass on even a fraction of what you’ve taught me to my own Martha.

Happy Mothering Sunday 🤍

I’d genuinely love to hear this.
What leadership skills has parenting (accidentally) strengthened for you?

📸 my lovely mum

08/03/2026

Eleven women. Endless brain insights 💜
Some of my best coaching conversations start when I reach for one of these books.

The women who wrote them are voices worth listening to.

Today feels like a good day to share them.
Not because they all agree.
Because they don’t.
That’s where it gets interesting.

A few from the shelf:
🧠 Sarah-Jayne Blakemore - Inventing Ourselves
Adolescent brain development. The brain keeps developing into our 20s. Brilliant for anyone working with kids or parents - more empathy guaranteed.
🧠 Amy Cuddy - Presence
Confidence and behaviour. Behaviour can lead belief. Power poses feel awkward… but work.
🧠 Amanda Blake - Your Body Is Your Brain
Mind–body connection and habit change. Thinking isn’t just cognitive - the body shapes how we think. Did a course with her last year on hacking habits 🙏
🧠 Rachel Barr - How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend
A reminder the brain is an ally, not an enemy. Fab on insta 😊
🧠 Julia Ravey - Braintenance
Leadership improves when we care for the brain.
🧠 Tali Sharot - The Influential Mind
Hope motivates people far more than fear. Yup.
🧠 Lisa Feldman Barrett - How Emotions Are Made
Emotions are constructed, not automatic.
+ Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain - myth-busting insights.
🧠 Tara Swart - The Source
Attention shapes the brain. What we focus on grows, start with a vision.
🧠 Louann Brizendine - The Female Brain
Sparked debate about biology and behaviour.
🧠 Gina Rippon - The Gendered Brain
Challenges the myths about male vs female brains.

And a nod to sleep scientist Gina Poe - REM sleep is when the brain does powerful emotional processing. A topic that comes up surprisingly often in coaching. Dampen the drama, regulate emotions by getting your zzz’s in. Catch season 1 Netflix ep.2 The Mind Explained.

May they be of benefit.

💜

I am ME coaching

16/10/2026

02/10/2026

25/09/2026

26/07/2026

17/07/2026

12/06/2026

26/03/2026

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08/03/2026

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