When I founded EmpowerPath, I didn’t want to create just another consultancy. Too often, I saw organisations (especially small businesses and not-for-profits) struggling not because they lacked passion or commitment, but because they were overwhelmed by generic advice, expensive reports that sat on shelves, or quick fixes that didn’t last.

For more than 20 years, I’ve held leadership roles across a range of organisations. Repeatedly, I saw how the right support at the right moment could transform an organisation’s future. But my commitment to looking deeper for real solutions has even earlier roots.

Looking beyond the immediately visible

The seeds of this approach started in two unexpected places. The first was reading about Abraham Wald. He was the statistician who advised adding armour to the parts of returning bombers that had no bullet holes. He noted those were the vulnerable areas that, if hit, led to planes being lost. This counterintuitive thinking stuck with me: to solve a problem properly, you have to look beyond the obvious and understand what isn’t immediately visible.

The second came during my time working in sports development, tasked with getting non-sporty kids involved in physical activity. Traditional approaches hadn’t worked. I realised that was because these programmes were designed by sporty people (like me!) and focused on what appealed to sporty kids. To engage the kids who normally stayed away, the activities had to focus on exactly what didn’t usually attract the sporty ones. Any solution had to not conform. So that’s what I did. The result? It was hugely successful, and we saw large numbers of kids (who might never have joined otherwise) becoming active and engaged.

These experiences taught me the power of looking deeper than surface-level symptoms and designing solutions that truly fit the people they’re meant for.

Working with your people to get to the heart of what’s going on

That’s why I started EmpowerPath. My approach is always to get to the heart of what’s really going on – not just patching the surface. I work directly with the people already in the organisation, because they’re the ones who know it best and will carry the change forward. Instead of dropping in with a glossy presentation and disappearing, I stay with you to design and embed practical solutions that strengthen your organisation from within.

At EmpowerPath, we don’t offer off-the-shelf frameworks or one-size-fits-all blueprints. Every organisation is different, and every solution needs to be tailored to fit its unique context and people.

The goal is simple: help you fix immediate problems, build the confidence and skills to face future challenges, and leave your organisation stronger and more resilient than before.

That’s what EmpowerPath stands for. It’s not about perfection or ticking boxes, it’s about helping good organisations get unstuck and thrive, for the long term.