A bit more about me
Psychological safety & performance expert | TEDx & keynote speaker
Behind the keynotes, the clients and the corporate career, there's a pretty personal story about why any of this matters to me.
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Not through more initiatives, better apps or another resilience workshop. But by addressing the real drivers of poor performance: leadership behaviour, chronic pressure, ways of working and the nervous system science that explains why even the most capable people eventually stop functioning at their best.
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The professional bit
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I've spent over two decades working across leadership, culture and performance. I held senior director roles in L&D and leadership consultancies across Europe and Asia, led global wellbeing strategy in-house at Burberry, and have delivered keynotes, workshops and consulting programmes for some of the world's most recognised organisations globally - including KPMG, Warner Bros Discovery, Channel 4, Fidelity International, Novartis and the Ministry of Justice.
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I'm a TEDx speaker, keynote speaker and consultant. My work spans the full organisational spectrum - from C-suite leadership teams to front-line managers - across financial services, professional services, tech, healthcare and beyond.
The personal bit
About twelve years ago I was living in Singapore, heading up the Asia arm of a consultancy. On paper, everything looked fine. In reality, I was working until 3am most nights, drinking too much to cope, and running on adrenaline I didn’t have.
Then I got a call to say my mum was in hospital. I flew home. She died the next day.
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In the years leading up to that, I’d been so focused on work that I’d barely been present with her. The last proper conversation we’d had, I’d been crying about a work crisis and she’d been comforting me. Wake up moment.
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A grief counsellor asked me something I’d never been asked before. Isn’t success just being happy?
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I genuinely didn’t know the answer. I’d spent my whole career chasing the next title, the next milestone, proving the next thing. I’d never stopped to ask whether any of it was actually what I wanted.
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My husband and I had a small wedding, then spent five months travelling instead of rushing back. I came home and decided to do things differently.
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I also later discovered I have ADHD - which explained a lot about why I’d spent so long working twice as hard as everyone else just to keep up, and why I’d been so prone to burning out in the first place.
Why this shapes my work
I’m not someone who read about burnout in a textbook. I lived it. And I’ve spent the years since working out - properly, scientifically - why it happens and what actually prevents it.
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That combination of lived experience and professional credibility is what makes the work land differently. I understand the human cost of unhealthy environments at a personal level. And I understand how large, complex organisations actually function - what drives decisions, what creates resistance, and what it takes to create change that sticks.
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I also understand it from the inside. I have ADHD and have experienced anxiety, addiction and grief. I don’t talk about these things for their own sake - but because normalising them in a room gives other people permission to be honest about their own struggles. And that honesty is often where the real work begins.
Featured in:
"I thought your talk was brilliant - raw, honest,
relatable and helpful. And much needed."
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HANNAH DAVISON
LEARNING & OD CONSULTANT
