Alison is a leadership coach, former Financial Times journalist, and co-author of three critically acclaimed business books. She loves working with people who want to live and lead more sustainably, inclusively, and purposefully to maximise their potential and positive impact. Her areas of specialism include collective leadership, climate and regenerative coaching, career transitions, inclusion and diversity, and effective, empowering communication.

Coaching Philosophy & Approach

Alison loves working with people who want to live and lead more sustainably, inclusively, and purposefully to maximise their potential and positive impact. This includes those who are working to address the climate and biodiversity crises, and the related challenges of human inequity and suffering. Leading change takes courage, confidence and resilience.

Alison supports clients with whatever challenges and aspirations they bring, for example:

• Articulating and communicating what they really stand for

• Finding a clear path forward in a thicket of competing priorities

• Enhancing their leadership skills for equity and inclusion

• Building their capacity for self-care and resilience

• Determining how to make a positive impact in their next career chapter

She creates a safe environment for clients to delve deep into the being as well as the doing of leadership, plan their next steps with confidence, and move into focused action. She often coaches outdoors in nature, where clients can breathe more easily, find calm, and get inspired by fresh perspectives.

Drawing on her knowledge of how to build positive relationships, communicate effectively, and facilitate inclusive environments, she supports and challenges clients to grow as strategic, thoughtful, compassionate leaders. By becoming more self-aware, they face outwards with greater confidence, authenticity and stronger relationships, supporting the success of their team, organisation and mission.

Background

Alison previously had a 30-year career as an international journalist with Reuters and then the Financial Times, where she spent eight years as Management Writer, interviewing high-profile leaders and writing feature articles about diversity and inclusion, corporate sustainability, and the changing world of work. During the latter part of this time, she was raising two young children.

She then chose to build a portfolio career that included nine years with The Conference Board as Director of its European Council for Diversity and Inclusion in Business. She has not-for-profit Board experience, and she has won awards for her work on advancing gender equity.

Alison first discovered the power of coaching while on a Collective Leadership retreat deep in a forest in the Netherlands. She completed a 104-hour core coach training with the Co-active Training Institute (CTI) and has undertaken a range of other trainings, including in Conversational Intelligence and in team coaching. She holds the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential from the International Coaching Federation.  

After her core coach training, Alison trained additionally as a climate coach because she wanted to contribute her skills to the collective efforts needed to address climate change and develop regenerative solutions.

She is a volunteer organiser in the Climate Coaching Alliance and is a trained facilitator in Active Hope, leading workshops for groups and teams to connect with their feelings about the state of the world, build resilience together, and find fresh inspiration for action. She is also a mentor for the global movement, She Changes Climate, and for the Racial Equity mentoring programme of the International Women’s Forum UK, which she helps to run.

Client testimonials

“Alison's coaching style is incredibly empathetic, kind, and supportive. She has a unique ability to offer alternative perspectives that have broadened my viewpoint and enhanced my understanding of various leadership challenges. Her approach is both structured and flexible, allowing me to address immediate concerns while also focusing on long-term growth. 

The coaching sessions have had a profound impact on both my personal and professional life. I've grown in confidence, developed better communication skills, and learned to approach challenges with a more strategic mindset.

I would highly recommend Alison's coaching services to friends, colleagues, and business connections who are looking to enhance their leadership skills and personal growth. Specifically, I believe that executives and managers who are navigating complex organisational challenges would greatly benefit from her expertise.”

Chief Allied Health Professional

“Alison has an ability to get to the nub of an issue in just a question or two. The sessions we have together are incredibly rich and useful, whilst feeling safe and energising. From our very first session, Alison has introduced simple processes and tools that help me clarify my thoughts in between sessions and that move me onwards. I feel safe and stretched. I can’t recommend Alison enough as a coach.”

CEO, sustainability charity

“I found Alison’s coaching sessions to be a safe oasis in which I could work on personal and career development in a holistic manner as I prepared to take on a much bigger leadership role. The sessions helped me work on being more present at work and conscious of connecting with my colleagues rather than just “doing” leadership. I highly recommend Alison’s coaching for those seeking greater levels of self-awareness, purpose and impact.”

MD, International, global business membership organisation

“When I started coaching with Alison, I knew I was ready to take the next steps in my career, but I didn’t know what those steps were and I was struggling with the confidence to get started … Each session Alison teased out new themes and opened my eyes to new directions and considerations of what might be holding me back … I have now embarked on a new chapter as a sustainability lead for an insurance company. The work I did with Alison has given me the confidence to branch out, explore new opportunities and feel ok working outside my comfort zone.”

Sustainability Lead, insurance company

Qualifications / Other Credentials

• Cambridge, Social and Political Sciences Degree: First Class Hons.

• ICF Accredited Coach: PCC credential

• Co-Active Training Institute trained coach

• Climate Change Coaches trained coach

• Circles of Active Hope trained facilitator

• Enhanced Skills Coach Practitioner in Conversational Intelligence®

• Completed UK ICF Team Coaching programme

• Has regular coaching supervision

Board experience and affiliations

• Research Fellow, The Conference Board Europe

• Former Chair, Global Women’s Leadership Programme Executive Board, Bayes Business School, London

• Former Vice Chair and head of communications, International Women’s Forum UK

Books

INdivisible: Radically rethinking inclusion for sustainable business results, with Rebekah Steele (2020); Future Work, with Peter Thomson (2011, 2014); Why Women Mean Business, with Avivah Wittenberg-Cox (2008, 2009)

Other publications

Eco-anxiety: A Growing Threat to Employee Productivity and Wellbeing, The Conference Board, December 2023; ‘Reviving purpose’, coaching case study in Climate Change Coaching: The Power of Connection to Create Climate Action (2022); ‘The Power of Everyone: Why the work revolution demands a fresh focus on inclusion’ (Work in the Age of Data, BBVA 2020); ‘A Gender Power Shift in the Making’ (Reinventing the Company in the Digital Age, BBVA 2015).