In founding Alembic I embarked fully on a lifelong passion to help people, linking my upbringing in meditation and Tai Chi with my career in company and M&A advisory work. Bringing these two things together means a focus on supporting ambitious business leaders with lots of problems to solve.

Who do you work with, what is that like for you/them and how do you help?

I work with the CEO's, senior leaders and investors in large family and privately owned businesses. In our clients people are bonded by their shared history and commitments, sometimes very deeply within family businesses. Although they are bound together, they are often apart: stuck in situations that can be repetitive, deeply frustrating, stressful, confusing, and perhaps even frightening.

What are you most passionate about/what gives you the most energy?

My deepest pleasure lies in helping them rediscover and then build upon the threads of communication and the threads of their lives, helping them find the courage and method to talk through their challenges and find agreement, direction, and renewed energy to move on to wherever that leads. At the lighter end of this, it means bringing alignment on major strategic options and a new binding narrative for a leadership team that needs strategic clarity and energy. At it's most challenging it can involve fixing families broken by the stresses of being in business together.

Being with my family and helping where I can in their lives. At work, my passion and flow comes in resolving the most complex and deep seated relational issues and seeing people grow in so many ways as they do this.

What do you do in your spare time?

I love history, psychology, cycling, Chi Gong, Tai Chi and these days, Vajra. I love walking, especially the line between the land and sea, and my guilty pleasure is the poetry of Kate Bush. I watch movies of any sort, and have a Masters Degree in the Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health and a Masters Degree in history, both of which are ongoing active interests.

Sophie’s work is focused on facilitating, coaching and mentoring family businesses in particular. Her experience is a cocktail of innovation consulting, developing leaders and business strategy (previously MD of both ?What If! Innovation and Businessfourzero). She now focuses on using her skills and experience to alleviate difficult family conflict in a business or commercial setting in order to reduce distress, rebuild relationships and bring families together again. When she is in coach mode, she thinks her job is to get to the root of what will be most unlocking for every individual.

“From now until the end of my working life I want to use my experience to help others gain clarity and find better ways forward.”

I am a fellow Director of Alembic, and have worked alongside Nick since the business was founded.  I am also a Depth Coach and work with developing professionals and leaders who are open to self reflection and personal discovery work.

I value everyone having the opportunity to cultivate self-leadership and I work to motivate and inspire my colleagues in exploring new ideas and visioning.  Together we explore how the resources they already have inside and around themselves support them and how to develop new resources.

My coaching work is focussed primarily on helping to deepen self-awareness, bringing insights which inspire growth and empowered resilience. I work from an embodied and actively creative approach so that change is not just understood by the mind but also learned by the muscle memory. 

I love my life and our business and I want to support others in feeling that way about their own life and work.

Who do you work with, what is that like for you/them and how do you help?

I work with senior leaders and teams to help them perform optimally. My coaching motto is, ‘You can’t fire a canon from a canoe.’ In other words, I see my work as ensuring that my clients have all the mental resources, insights and abilities that they need in order to achieve whatever their goals are.  

For me, it is always a great pleasure to work with new individuals and teams because helping people to be better versions of themselves gives meaning and purpose to my working life. I consider it the greatest pleasure and honour to be able to share the journey of change and growth with my clients.

For my clients, I suspect that they find it challenging but ultimately rewarding. I balance the appropriate levels of challenge and support. Both are critical as the challenge enables growth and the support allows my client to know that I am ultimately on their side and that we are working together for their goal.

To help I call on many thousands of hours of therapy practice as well as coaching. My therapy background allows insights into my clients’ emotions and thinking patterns and I use coaching techniques and exercises to help them overcome their challenges. I am also a certified Business Psychologist and so have extensive understanding of how people in organisations thrive and what may hold them back.

What are you most passionate about/what gives you the most energy?

Still after many thousands of client-hours of cognitive hypnotherapy, EMDR and coaching it still gives me a thrill to watch people transform, to be better than they were before we began working together.  

I am energised by those clients who bring lots of energy to their journey. The clients who are keen to grow and transform and who really engage in the work bring out the best in me.

What do you feel like when a client has made a positive change?

It is truly the greatest feeling. I always have in mind that I am not just helping my client, but I am helping everyone that they come into contact with.

In some cases, it’s not just colleagues who benefit, but friends, spouses, children; and sometimes, even the children they haven’t had yet!!  

What do you do in your spare time?

In my spare time I absolutely love Thai boxing despite the recurring injuries! I am also on a mission to get my ability to play tennis to match my love and enthusiasm for the game.

Who do you work with, what is that like for you/them and how do you help?

I work with leaders and their teams to reconnect with their own individualities and strengths and help them create a shared group identity. I help them identify their priorities and goals and support them in crafting plans and implementing frameworks to achieve them. I use a number of tools and disciplines (including coaching, project management, strategy and facilitation) to support them during the transition, which is often the most uncomfortable part of the transformation journey.

What are you most passionate about/what gives you the most energy?

I am passionate about transformation - both personal and organizational. I believe that individuals and companies have the ability and the power to change for the better and become more complete, effective and ultimately happy. Supporting my clients in discovering who they are and what they really want by helping them access their geniuses energizes me and rewards me.

What do you feel like when a client has made a positive change?

When clients get new insights and move forward, I feel pure joy and happiness! Their success is my success too. Knowing I contributed to my clients’ empowerment gives me a sense of satisfaction, fulfilled purpose and belonging. My clients’ achievements fuel my passion and love for my work. I also feel incredibly grateful as every client journey, struggle and success gives me the opportunity to deepen my own experience of the world, learn new things and get different perspectives which all contribute to making me a richer human being.

What do you do in your spare time?

Outside work, I love traveling and visiting new places, walking in nature and spending time with my family. I strongly believe that anyone can be successful in both their professional and personal life by integrating the skills they both require and without sacrificing any of the two. Ah, and I love eating in company trying new food and having new culinary experiences!