Meet James Russell - Executive Coach for Senior Leaders

I help senior leaders who feel stuck unlock clarity and confidence so they achieve results without burning out. My coaching is built on one simple truth: Change yourself to change your results.

What’s stopping you?

That question has shaped my life more than any other. At 17, the sky was the limit - literally - I was on course to become an RAF pilot. I had that fearlessness of youth. Then my own needs changed, I changed course to go into business. Life happened and things got cloudier. I lost connection with what really made me tick and I became frustrated...

When I realised that feeling fulfilled wasn’t about doing more but about changing something in me, everything shifted. Now I help other leaders make that same transformation, helping them face the hidden barriers that hold them back and move forward with clarity and conviction.

Why work with me?

• Accredited Executive Coach

• Specialist training in leadership psychology and behavioural change

• Real-world experience from Manufacturing to Financial Services leading large teams and navigating high-stakes decisions

  • Led the turnaround of bluecycle.com as Managing Director

  • Directed two major corporate transformation programmes (£100m+)

  • Founded Brisk, an insurtech start‑up to build resilience in small businesses

  • Set up Lead To Change Consulting Ltd in 2024

  • Launched We.Are.Powerful.org in 2025

I’ve faced angry passengers at Madrid Airport; turned around delivery performance for key accounts like Ford, GM, and Honda. I’ve built businesses from scratch and helped established organisations reinvent themselves. Each role taught me the same lesson: transformation is never just about strategy or process - it’s about people. And that starts with ourselves.

Why coaching

In 2018 I qualified as a coach combining my commercial experience with a passion for unlocking hidden potential in people. Through my continuing study of Transactional Analysis and Functional Fluency, my approach goes deeper than surface‑level training. I help leaders uncover what’s really in the way, reset the beliefs that quietly hold them back, and help them step forward with confidence.

The leaders I work with rediscover clarity, protect their credibility, and unlock the potential in themselves and their teams. They are now creating cultures where people thrive and results last.

My own turning point

My career once plateaued. I became the “trouble‑shooter,” moving from one struggling department to the next. I was good at it, but underneath I felt stuck and frustrated.

During a restructure, a COO asked me a question I’ll never forget: “If money was no issue, what would you do?” “Launch a business,” I replied. “So what’s stopping you?”

That challenge — and later, being coached myself — helped me see the beliefs that were holding me back. In 2017 I entered a Hackathon with an idea. Putting myself out there felt like I had nothing to lose. That step changed everything.

Today

I now work as a coach, trainer, and consultant, supporting individuals and organisations to accelerate change and build confident, high‑performing teams where people live their best lives. I live in Norfolk with my wife, our two children, and our Labrador, Lottie.