Simon has over 20 years of experience in organisational development and cultural transformation, advising global organisations and supporting senior leaders through complex periods of change.
NB: Your business seems to be the result of a long journey of discovery. How would you put it?
If I look back, Purposeful Change didn't begin as a business. It began as a question. Ever since I was young I've been fascinated by why people think and behave the way they do. I grew up in a family where stories shaped how we made sense of the world. Later, I studied theatre and psychology. Theatre taught me how humans reveal themselves through tension. Psychology taught me why those tensions exist in the first place.
My early career at the BBC deepened all of that. I was surrounded by brilliant storytellers and journalists who could find meaning in complexity. It was there I realised that most of us are running on scripts we never wrote. Organisations are no different. They succeed or fail not on strategy alone, but on the stories people tell about what is possible, what is safe, and who they need to be to belong.
Purposeful Change emerged from years of exploring those threads. It is my attempt to bring rigour, humanity, and transformation into one space. It has grown to become a global leadership and culture consultancy that helps organisations navigate complexity while developing leaders who can meet the moment with clarity, courage, and compassion.
NB: What's the purpose behind Purposeful Change, and was it easily understood in your early business pitches?
Purposeful Change exists to help people and organisations wake up to the hidden forces shaping their performance. We sit at the intersection of leadership development, culture transformation, and deep personal growth.
In the early days, clients knew they needed help but often couldn't name the real issue. They might have asked for better collaboration or clearer strategy execution, but underneath was something more subtle. People were overwhelmed by pace, stuck in old patterns, or gripped by fear of getting it wrong.
So no, it wasn't always easy to pitch, because we weren't offering a simple technical solution. We were inviting leaders into work that is both deeply human and commercially critical. But once they experienced it, they understood. The results spoke for themselves. Performance improves when people shift their internal narrative. Cultures change when teams learn to see beyond blame. Strategy becomes meaningful when people connect it to purpose rather than compliance.
NB: How do you convey this in presentations?
I try to speak in a way that cuts through the noise. Leaders today are drowning in frameworks and buzzwords. What they need is clarity. I invite them to zoom out, to see the wider system they are part of, and to recognise that change is not something they do to others but a process they move through themselves.
I use simple tools that surface insight quickly. One of these is our signature habits: Press Pause. Zoom Out. Be in Choice. They give people a way to break their reactive patterns and reconnect with awareness and agency.
But most importantly, I tell stories. Transformation happens when people recognise themselves. And when they see that the challenges they face are not signs of failure but invitations to grow.
NB: Is the process very different for smaller groups and larger corporate events? Does it tend to be ongoing or short term?
The principles are the same, but the scale can create equally powerful shifts. In small groups we can go deeper. We explore identity, belief, emotion, and purpose. We help leaders understand not just their behaviours but the internal architecture driving those behaviours.
With larger corporate events we create collective movement. We help hundreds of people see the same picture and build shared language. It is about alignment, momentum, and clarity around what matters.
And while large events can spark momentum, real transformation takes time. Our strongest partnerships are multi-year relationships. With clients like Shell, Nordea, and Sage we run leadership labs, coaching ecosystems, and cultural interventions that evolve over years. Change sticks when it becomes part of how people think, behave, and make decisions every day
But transformation is never a one-off event. Real change happens over time. The deepest work is ongoing. Our most successful partnerships span years. We build leadership labs, learning journeys, culture programmes, and coaching ecosystems that compound over time.
Short term interventions can create sparks. Long term partnerships build capability.
NB: Given the company name, I imagine your purpose changes also. What is your purpose at this moment in time, specific to Purposeful Change?
My purpose evolves as I do, but the core remains constant. I want to help people rewrite the stories that limit them. I want to help organisations do work that not only performs but also strengthens the human beings inside them.
Right now, Purposeful Change is at a point of acceleration. We work with some of the largest and most complex organisations in the world. We are supporting global transformations, shaping leadership culture, and helping senior teams navigate ambiguity with clarity and courage.
At the same time, we are expanding our impact beyond corporate clients. We are building digital tools, reflective journals, AI companions, and leadership communities that make this work accessible to far more people. We want to democratise transformation so it is not reserved for the few.
What have you achieved and how is the future looking?
I am proud of the impact we have had. We have helped leaders unlock performance they didn't think possible. We have supported teams through some of the most complex adaptive challenges of their careers. We have built a reputation for work that is both intellectually rigorous and deeply human.
But we are only just getting started. The world is moving fast. Organisations are being asked to solve challenges that cannot be met by old ways of thinking. People are hungrier than ever for meaning and agency.
Purposeful Change sits right in that space. The demand for transformation that integrates humanity with performance is growing. And we are building the tools, technology, and partnerships to meet it.
Our next chapter is about scale. More leaders. More communities. More accessible tools. More ways for people to grow.
Purposeful Change was born from a lifetime of curiosity. Its future is a commitment to continue evolving, continue questioning, and continue helping people step into who they are capable of becoming.
