My Backstory
If you want to get to know me, you should know that most people call me Fishy.
I’ve experienced many highs in my life, which makes sense given my passion for flying and all things aviation. Ironically, it was during my lowest low, when I was grounded, that the idea for the strategic practice I run today first took shape.
Just over ten years ago, I faced a new challenge: a cancer diagnosis. During those six months of treatment, I didn’t just reflect on what I’d achieved but began exploring who I truly was. It became a deep, confronting process, unpacking what defined me, what mattered most, and what was holding me back. Many of those barriers were self-made and had gone unnoticed until then. That experience reshaped how I would show up in the world from that point on.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. After decades spent helping brands stand out and build identities grounded in substance and authentic experience, I realised I had never applied the same principles to my own life. That realisation sparked a new chapter—one where I began exploring personally what I had long understood professionally.
I switched my focus to what truly defined me, what mattered, and what was possible if I didn't hold back, if I didn't give in to judgment, other people's expectations and playing it safe.
That shift didn't just open up a new way of thinking; it kept me moving through the darker moments and pushed me to keep testing my limits.
While still undergoing treatment, I began learning to fly aerobatics—yes, flying upside down. The doctors thought I was mad, but looking forward and up—not back—kept me grounded in purpose and focused on the bigger picture.
I went on to win my first competition just months after finishing treatment and would eventually compete at state and national levels, bringing home gold more than once.
That experience inspired my first keynote, Attitude for Altitude—a story tracing my journey from a small-town kid in the UK who dreamed of flying blimps, to earning my pilot's licence at sixteen, to a life filled with aviation adventures and a whirlwind career in global advertising. I rose to become Chief Strategy Officer of an international network, ran agencies across continents, broke world records, and nearly broke myself in the process before learning what it truly means to sustain peak performance built on a secure sense of self.
I went on to share my story with thousands of people through keynotes and masterclasses. Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the destination—it was part of my own evolution as much as it was about inspiring others to grow. I knew the big idea was still ahead of me.
Today, I help entrepreneurs, leaders, and teams unlock what's possible by drawing on three decades of experience spanning business, aviation, and brand strategy. My background in advertising taught me how the brain shapes identity and belonging, how judgment influences behaviour, and how emotion and reason collide in every decision we make. That understanding of neuroscience and human connection underpins how I help people and organisations show up with clarity, conviction, and substance.
My world records in aviation taught me that almost anything is possible with belief, structure, discipline, and focus. The same principles apply to leadership, growth, and transformation—when we understand how we think, we can change how we show up, connect, and perform.
The challenge, professionalism, and dynamics of flight continue to shape how I think and work. They're the foundation of my approach and a major source of what makes it both distinctive, engaging and effective.
My passion for aviation has taken me to 21 countries and across countless types of aircraft—each flight a new perspective on risk, mastery, and possibility. And yes, I did eventually become a blimp pilot.
Television and advertising projects, passenger flying, record-breaking flights, cutting-edge media stunts, pilot training, and adventure flights have led to epic adventures and new stories, inspiring me and many others to do things that many thought were impossible.
Each time I take to the sky, I face different challenges and gain fantastic learning opportunities.
Flying challenges my capabilities to learn, adapt, and push through perceived and self-created limits. There is no room for clutter, distraction, looking back, or overt complexity, which is perhaps why I have no time for these things in business and life.
Some of my aviation possibilities, records and achievements that I have made possible alongside a fulfilling and adventurous advertising career include:
Commercial Pilot’s Licence
Youngest UK Chief Pilot of a commercial passenger operation
Certifying and flying the largest passenger-carrying balloon in the UK
Guinness World Record for the largest number of skydivers to exit from a balloon, the World's highest toy balloon flight and the World's highest bungee jump
1000 Skydives & 12 hours in freefall
British Skydiving Champion
Gold at NSW State Aerobatics Championships
Silver at Australian National Aerobatic Championships
…to be continued
My strategic practice was founded on the belief that we all have more to give back to the world, and that how we show up really matters if we want to pursue that and what’s truly possible for us and those around us.
There are many things that get in the way of this, both at an individual and organisational level, and growth is only possible when we find our way to the other side of the fear that stops us.
I believe that with the right help and guidance, we can get to where we want to go and beyond much faster than we ever could on our own.
