I have been a strategic business leadership communication consultant, trainer and coach for over twenty years.  Before that a Logie-winning actor and Playschool presenter. 

 

I am 58 and married to Annie McCubbin with whom I also work.  We have two adult children, two Groodles and we live on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. I am the Goalkeeper of an O/45s football team, snorkel regularly and have just taken up skiing.

 

For many years, I had been looking for a way to ground the skills and techniques I’d learned as an acting student at the National Institute of Drama Art (NIDA) and adapted to help people in business communicate and lead more effectively. My partner, Annie McCubbin and I founded COUP in 2001 and we developed a range of professional development services.

 

Addressing the reality of the professional folk we work with, their struggles, their values and beliefs, it is clear that a large number of people are dealing with challenges that require more support than a half-day workshop or an online learning program. 

 

I believe ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) is not merely the best, but the only effective and empowering personal development approach available for people with specific needs. 

 

I say this not because a growing mountain of peer-reviewed studies attest to ACT’s effectiveness.  Although this is true. You can check the details on the critical evaluations from this link.   

 

I say this not only because I have seen, and experienced, many points of the spectrum of personal and professional development interventions, from working with psychiatrists and qualified psychologists, working with disciplined and expert performance trainers and directors, through to witnessing workshops and keynotes delivered by self-appointed experts, who having read the latest book on coaching determine they understand the algorithm well enough to help people navigate complex and unfolding scenarios and relationships.  Exposure to this spectrum - seeing what works, what doesn’t and why - convinces me that ACT solves so many of the challenges hard-baked into other approaches to becoming a better or more effective person or professional.

 

What makes the ACT approach the most effective for a specific set of needs is that the mechanics of it are transparent and understandable, making it genuinely empowering.  Dr Steven Hayes and Dr Russ Harris are excellent science communicators and I credit them with helping me to ‘get it.’

 

There’s a reason the empowering nature of ACT is so important to me. 

 

My early career as a professional actor gave me an acute sensitivity to the way human beings experience interpersonal power and navigate power dynamics in relationships.  My years in business - leading our consultancy and partnering with national and international companies - have taught me that functional relationships are those in which power is shared. 

 

The ACT approach involves building awareness, developing skills, taking action and receiving feedback, and it does this in a way that avoids unhelpful power dynamics.

 

With ACT you learn to stop trying to push away uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.  You can come as you are.  And then the focus is on doing the work that achieves or sustains your positive change. 

 

So, I think the most important thing you need to know about me is that I believe in ACT.

 

Who are the people who could benefit from working with me as their Executive ACT Coach?

 

Broadly, this will help people who are:-

• Feeling that things are getting a bit overwhelming, and it’s not simply a matter of pulling yourself together

• Noticing they are treating people in ways that they normally wouldn’t, either being more harsh or more avoidant

• Facing opportunity, keen to make the most of it by building power and ability, but not sure how to do that.

 

Specifically:-

• If you’re a people leader and you want your presence and presentations to have a positive impact and meaningful influence

• If your life seems to be burdened with difficult relationships, at home or work, and you want to find a way forward

• If you’re trying to make sense of an ADHD diagnosis or develop a management plan.

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Perhaps you simply want to explore your potential with someone who wants you to win.