Executive coach/mentor

When a senior leader is in the seat for the first time, navigating a board relationship that needs rebalancing, stepping into a role outside their long-established expertise, or working through a stretch of relentless demand, we provide senior counsel alongside them.

This is not coaching as the wider market understands the term. The work is senior counsel: a peer-level relationship between an experienced operator and a leader with real executive responsibility. The leader does not need to over-explain the world they are working in; the experience on both sides of the table is comparable, and the questions asked are the ones the leader cannot easily ask of anyone in their own organisation.

The leaders we work with in this pathway are usually capable, often new to a demanding role or to a particular kind of demand, and almost always navigating something they have not faced before. Most arrive at the work through one of a few routes: a step up to chief executive or managing director, a senior role outside the path their career has followed so far, a board relationship that needs rebalancing, a portfolio company under new ownership or in turnaround, or a senior functional move into territory where existing expertise is no longer the whole answer. The strategy remains theirs. The decisions remain theirs. What we provide is the senior counsel of someone who has seen the situation before and can be trusted to be honest about it.

How an engagement works

The first conversation, as you would expect, is a briefing. Trevor handles it personally, because the assessment of fit needs to be made by the principal who will be doing the work, not delegated. We want to understand the leader, the role, and the specific question or transition the engagement is meant to support. The pairing matters; this is a relationship, not a service, and we only take on engagements where the principal and the leader are well-matched.

Engagements run on a flexing rhythm of in-person or video conversations. Some run weekly, some fortnightly, some monthly. When something significant is in front of the leader, the cadence picks up; when things are steadier, it eases back. The cadence is set by the work, not by a fixed programme.

Many engagements run for years, evolving as the leader’s situation evolves. The relationship continues for as long as it is useful, and not a moment longer. There is no certification, no graduation, no nudge to extend.

How we deliver

Coach/mentor engagements are delivered personally by a small number of senior principals. The work cannot be scaled by adding capacity in the way our search or interim pathways can; the relationship matters too much. Trevor delivers most engagements himself, alongside a small group of trusted principals matched to specific situations.

Fees

Engagements are charged at a fixed monthly rate, agreed at the briefing stage. The rate reflects the seniority of the leader and the cadence the work calls for. We do not charge per session.

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A confidential conversation is always open. A professional profile is available on request.