About Us

Building Great Leaders, Great Teams & Great Companies.... The Human Way

We are a small boutique firm offering people consulting/advisory, executive coaching, team facilitation, and leadership development solutions.
Our focus is supporting growth and change in our clients. We diagnose the unique needs, create action and support the learning needed to make lasting impact.
We work on what is truly needed to be successful as a business and as humans.
We work on improving the success, clarity, and happiness of both organizations and individuals through People Strategy, Talent Development, Employer Branding, Training & Development, Executive & Leadership Coaching, and more.
We work with exceptional partners and collaborative teams, letting our clients take the stage while we work behind the scenes to help them build great teams, companies and leaders, the human way.

Our Story

Like many consulting & coaching firms, we started our careers in the "corporate" world. We worked with start-ups, large multi-nationals and everything in between. Then we moved on to consulting and coaching, and have never really looked back.

We have seen the good, bad and ugly (and have learned what truly mattered, to us, and to the teams and leaders we work with).

We've taken over two decades of diverse people and leadership experience, added in some excellent knowledge (which we continue to keep adding on to) and have built or transitioned companies & teams on the people or "HR" side ever since.

We know the need is great, especially for start-ups and scale-ups, for dedicated, targeted support.

We blend the functional, tactical, strategic and human - all into our work.

We have created worlds for our clients which allow them to be whole humans AND have successful businesses and more.

Our Trifecta of services are:

People Strategy for scaling companies
Leadership & Executive Coaching (1:1 and team)
Team Optimisation & Facilitation

With hands-on global experience working with companies, their investors and boards, across sectors and industries and a deep understanding of what is needed for leader, team and company effectiveness, we are thrilled to help our clients build & grow!

We are also passionate about flexible working and supporting those who need the extra hand up while having our own priorities and boundaries.

We are parents, sports fans, learners, neurodiversity advocates, pet lovers, travellers & wine enthusiasts!

Meet The Team

Emily Koolen

Founder & CEO - Coach & Consultant

With over 25 years (!) in multiple sectors but always building - startups, scale ups and large multinationals, Emily has moved from senior operations HR roles to living her passion which is making leaders and teams more human. She has lived and worked on 3 continents and has a reputation for being direct but empathetic, effective and thought-provoking. Being neurodivergent also means she can create experiences for all types of leaders and learners, thinking differently and working with their own unique needs.

She has a degree in Psychology, a Post Grad in HR, many formal coaching qualifications and continues to learn and develop her skills all the time.

She is sought after as a coach, facilitator, consultant and speaker with a particular focus in the start-up and innovation ecosystems but who loves keeping her toes in the enterprise/corporate world to effect change there as well!

Her office mate is her beloved dog who may join in calls from time to time.

When not working, she is an unpaid Taxi for her sporty teens, first aider for various sports and passionate volunteer for incubators, social good charities and more.

Partners

Partners are essential in what we do. We don't, and will never, know everything (beginner's mindset is key for us) and so we partner with the deep experts in many areas, many smarter and better than us, ensuring excellence and consistency for all. These partnerships also allow us flexibility, agility and better global service for our clients.

Stay tuned to see more.

Phone

+44 7704950165

Email