About Michelle
The anthropology Lens
I studied anthropology at Durham University, where I became fascinated by the diversity and richness of the human experience across cultures and societies.
Anthropology invites a way of looking rooted in curiosity and close observation—seeking to understand how people live and work and how they make sense of their lives, their relationships and the systems they are part of.
That perspective has stayed with me ever since, and continues to shape how I explore leadership and organisational life today.
The HUMAN RESOURCES LENS
My curiosity about human behaviour—both why people behave the way they do and how that behaviour shapes systems—found a natural home in the field of human resources.
Working in senior HR roles within organisations such as Ford Motor Company and Deloitte gave me a front-row seat to the realities of organisational life across the UK, Europe and Australasia. From large-scale recruitment and leadership development to organisational restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and trade union negotiations, I was able to observe the many forces shaping organisations.
From this vantage point, I saw how individual behaviour, team dynamics and organisational structures interact—and how those dynamics shape the everyday experience of work.
These experiences deepened my interest in what sits beneath the surface, and in how the inner world of individuals and leaders influences the wider systems they are part of.
THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT LENS
Working closely with leaders and leadership teams across the Asia-Pacific region deepened my curiosity about what shapes how leaders think, relate and lead, and how that plays out across organisations.
As a Director within a global leadership consultancy, I worked with senior leaders and executive teams across industries and cultures, supporting organisations such as GlaxoSmithKline, Sony and Microsoft as they worked to strengthen leadership capability and navigate increasingly complex environments.
Working across cultures and organisational contexts offered a unique perspective on both the diversity and universality of the challenges leaders face. It also reinforced something I had been noticing throughout my career: leadership is shaped as much by the inner world of the leader as by the external circumstances they face.
Over time I became increasingly interested in the internal climate leaders bring to situations - their thinking, assumptions and state of mind - and how this shapes how they experience the world, relate to others, and influence the dynamics within teams and organisations.
The human system lens
Working closely with leaders and organisations led me to a deeper exploration of the human system itself, the source from which behaviour, relationships and organisational dynamics emerge.
Through establishing and leading my own businesses in Australia and the UK, I studied the psychology and neuroscience of human performance and wellbeing, including the science of flow. These experiences reinforced something simple but fundamental: how we think and experience the world shapes how we lead, relate and respond.
The human system is the building block of the dynamics we see within teams and organisations. The internal climate we lead from - how we think, feel and make sense of the world - shapes how we experience challenges, relate to others and ultimately behave. From there, patterns begin to emerge within teams, leadership groups and the wider systems organisations operate in.
Understanding the design of the human system, and learning to work with it rather than against it, changes how we lead, how we relate and what becomes possible within organisations.
BRINGING THESE LENSES TOGETHER
Today my work brings these lenses together as I work with leaders, teams and organisations to understand their experience and explore what’s shaping it.
This often begins by spending time with leaders and teams as they navigate real situations, helping them to see more clearly what is unfolding within themselves, within their teams and within the systems they are part of.
As that clarity grows, something begins to shift. Conversations open up, relationships evolve and people begin to respond to complexity with greater understanding and confidence.
Across all of this work, the focus remains the same: helping leaders better understand their experience and gain clarity on what’s shaping it so they can respond to what’s happening both within and around them.
a different perspective
I live with my family in North Devon on the south-west coast of England, where the landscape offers a constant reminder of the value of stepping back and seeing things from a wider perspective.
The coastline and the open countryside create space to pause, reflect and reconnect with what matters. Overtime this connection to nature has become a part of my work.
I work with leaders and small groups here in North Devon, creating space away from the pace of organisational life to step back, make sense of what’s happening and allow fresh thinking and increased capacity to emerge.
Away from the noise and urgency, people begin to see themselves, their leadership and their organisations with fresh eyes.
Qualifications And Training
BA Hons in Anthropology, Durham University including Behavioural Psychology and Business and Medical Anthropology
Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management, De Montford University
Advanced Coaching Diploma, Coach Inc. (ICF credentialed)
Certified Leadership Assessor, Centre for High Performance Development
Flow Research Collective Trainer Accreditation
Qualified Holistic Health Coach, Institute of Integrative Nutrition
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness UK
3 Principle Practitioner Training, Pransky and Associates
Innate Health Education and Resilience Training (IHEART) Certified Practitioner
At its heart, this work is grounded in an ongoing curiosity about the human experience, and what becomes possible when we begin to see more clearly what’s shaping how we think, relate and respond.