Max's passion is to help you as an individual or company to grow.

He is an internationally-recognised coach, author and speaker, with thirty years' experience counselling senior leaders. He has been a Partner or Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, Korn Ferry, and Heidrick & Struggles, and his books have sold more than a million copies in 15 languages. He also undertakes speaking and writing engagements.

This site offers a summary of his award-winning books, ways to engage with him as a keynote speaker, and free resources to help you on your journey.

Coaching

Max has more than thirty years' experience coaching senior people. As your coach, his goals are to help you achieve your authentic purpose:

  • Crystallising your dreams and achieving them
  • Increasing your focus and productivity
  • Unblocking your logjams
  • Unleashing the power of your teams, not just your own performance
  • Helping seasoned leaders transition: re-wiring not retiring

Max uses a holistic approach based on:

  • Learnings made while helping establish the practice of coaching globally, including through setting up one of the first company-wide coaching programs in the world - at McKinsey & Company - in the mid 1990s
  • Work on a range of broader top-team and succession issues with large companies
  • The in-depth study of psychology and psychometrics
  • His grounding in the systems-thinking of theoretical physics, which he studied as a Scholar at Cambridge

Max's favourite psychologists include Adler, Balint, Ellis, Frankl, Freud, Jung, Klein, Rogers, and Winnicott.

You can find out more about his background on LinkedIn.

(Max is engaged full-time at McKinsey & Company as Director of the Senior Partners Office. He is thus currently only available as a coach to CXO clients of McKinsey.)

Writing

Max's books have sold more than a million copies in fifteen languages and all remain in print since "The Tao of Coaching" was published 25 years ago. His four books on personal development aim to inspire readers to higher performance and fulfilment. Titles cover Leadership, Coaching, Motivation, and the Mastery of Coaching.

Max is also a keen outdoor adventurer and has written four books on the subject, including "The Call of the Mountains", award-winning "Trek to Everest", "The Land's End Circuit", and "The Ridgeway".

Read more about his books.

Speaking

Max undertakes speaking engagements at conferences, company events, and online events (TV and Zoom). He speaks on topics such as:

  • Mastery
  • Coaching and building a coaching culture
  • Leadership
  • CEO succession
  • Lessons for both leadership and personal inspiration, drawn from adventure and nature.

Read more about his speaking.

Clients

Max has worked across many sectors, but with a focus on leaders and leadership. His clients include public companies, private companies, family businesses, PE firms, and individuals.

In addition to coaching, Max has particular expertise in the succession of CEOs and CXOs; Board assessment and development; and five years' exclusive focus on helping senior people to avoid retirement - by rewiring rather than retiring!.

A longer list of his previous clients is provided on this page.