GILLIAN SCHOLES, PHD

Gillian is an organization consultant, psychologist, and coach who helps executives to build leadership capability for themselves and their organisations. Her goal is to support the conscious practice of leadership so that executives can increase their effectiveness and build sustainable organisations.

She believes that the key to success for individuals, and the organisations they lead, is to be constantly learning about themselves and their environment. Only then can they design their future and lead others to achieve that vision. A clear understanding of the dynamics of the organisational environment, and a clear appreciation of one's own strengths and vulnerabilities are crucial for individual leaders to develop and thrive. 

Coaching is a tailored developmental opportunity with a focus on expanding one’s own leadership strengths and moving beyond self-imposed limitations. She finds that every coaching assignment is unique. Yet, invariably coaching moves toward underlying issues and assumptions, and it is part of the goal of coaching to bring these to the surface and attend to them. Gillian believes that people learn when they are in a relationship of trust, support, and challenge – and this is what she strives to create in every coaching engagement.

Gillian spent thirty years building her career in multinational organisations and has a great deal of empathy for leaders and the challenges of organizational life. She began her career with Digital Equipment Corporation (now Hewlett Packard) in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States where she held leadership positions in three Fortune 100 companies including roles in strategic business planning, organisation development, and talent management. She was vice president, organisation and leadership development for Ingersoll Rand Company (now Trane Technologies) prior to becoming an independent consultant and executive coach in 2010.

She has a Ph.D. in psychology, exploring how leader identity is shaped by favourite childhood stories. She also holds a B.A (Hons) from London University, an M.B.A from the London Business School and an M.S in Applied Behavioral Science from American University/NTL Institute. She is certified in several leadership assessment tools, including The Leadership Circle Profile™. She is a member of the Association for Coaching and the Society for Industrial and Organization Psychologists.