McKinsey's State of Organisations 2026 research, drawn from 30,000 employees across 30 countries, has a finding that deserves more attention than it's getting: a third of employees are carrying an unresolved traumatic event that's still measurably depressing their adaptability, learning, and engagement. A third of any given team walking in every day with a lower ceiling on how much change, ambiguity, or pressure they can absorb and no amount of individual leadership developme

Three unrelated data sources landed within the same week, and they all point at the same uncomfortable conclusion: the leadership burnout most companies are watching right now isn't a personal failing, and it won't be fixed by treating it like one. Gallup's latest workforce data shows manager engagement has dropped nine points since 2022, wiping out what used to be a reliable "engagement premium." Managers used to be 11 points more engaged than the people they led. That gap i

As a profession, we often describe coaching through a range of categories: executive coaching, leadership coaching, performance coaching, mindset coaching, career coaching, life coaching, holistic coaching, team coaching, menopause coaching, and many others. These distinctions exist for practical reasons. They help people understand the focus of a coach’s work and provide a shared language for describing the different contexts in which coaching takes place.But in reality, peo

Coaching has become a widely used term in professional and personal development. It appears in corporate programmes, leadership development, career transitions, and personal growth spaces. Yet the term is often misunderstood. Some people expect advice, others expect therapy, and many assume coaching is simply “motivational conversation”. None of those descriptions are quite accurate. Understanding what coaching actually is and what responsible coaching looks like is importa