I help women in consulting position themselves for Partner or MD.
From the “do I even want Partner?” question through to being seen as ready, I help you navigate the personal and organisational realities of the path - drawing on my own senior roles in consulting firms and complex client environments.
Start with my free guide, The Partner Track Nobody Prepared You For. An honest look at what's really in your way, and how to get there on your terms.
The Reality
You're brilliant at the work. Clients trust you.
Teams rely on you. Senior leaders know you'll deliver.
But delivery is what got you here - it won't get you there.
To make partner, you need to build commercial credibility, get the right people behind you, show how you contribute to strategic direction and generate revenue in your own name. You know this. What's less clear is how to do it in a way that actually fits who you are.
The advice you've been given - be visible, secure heavyweight sponsors, build your profile - isn't wrong. But the guidance on offer is often modelled on a version of leadership that doesn't feel like you. And following it leaves you second-guessing yourself, performing confidence you don't feel, and wondering why this has to be so exhausting.
The Quiet Barrier
Here's what most coaching and development programmes miss: they focus on the outer game - tactics, visibility, sponsor conversations - without addressing what's happening inside.
At senior levels, the definition of leadership that still gets rewarded was built around men: assertive, decisive, unemotional, direct. A narrow template, inherited from a time when almost no women made partner. But women are raised differently, to be modest, collaborative, nurturing. The 'good girl’.
So we adapt. We work twice as hard. We over-prepare. We suppress our emotions. We become superwoman. And it's exhausting.
And it shows - not in your competence, but in your presence, your voice, how "partner-ready" you appear in the rooms where decisions get made. Because you're trying to be strategic, visible and commercial while also being likeable, careful and not too much. It's an impossible balance.
But here's what no one tells you: adapting is what holds you back - not your natural style. The research is clear: women leading with their full range of traits are rated more effective than men.
You don't need to adapt better. You need to stop adapting and lead as yourself.
That's what I help you do.
“Working with Kathy during my transition into a new firm and leadership role was one of the most impactful investments I made at a pivotal point in my career.
Kathy helped me cut through the noise and focus on what truly mattered, sharpening my strategic positioning, clarifying my leadership narrative, and ensuring visibility with the right stakeholders at the right time.
What sets Kathy apart is her deep understanding of the professional services landscape and the unique challenges women face in leadership. Her advice is both practical and insightful, helping me feel grounded, confident, and in control of my trajectory.
— Michele, Aspiring Partner, BDO.How I work
Traditional coaching can make things worse for women. A focus on goals, action and accountability keeps women stuck in the exhausted superwoman pattern that’s already running.
And even mindset coaching just gives you the knowledge about why you think, feel and behave the way you do. It doesn’t help shift the deep patterns that show up in your body, your voice and your presence under pressure.
My programmes are all based around my unique Firm Identity Framework. It’s a three-phase methodology that helps you decide the level of seniority you want and get there. You’ll understand and shift deeply embodied behavioural patterns that don’t serve you in order to reclaim your natural leadership identity. Using tools from neuroscience and somatics we work on who you want to be as a leader whilst also developing the skills and capabiltities that will take you there.
Phase 1 - Seeing
Seeing how decades of societal and workplace conditioning have shaped the beliefs, behaviours and adaptations that drive how you show up in work and life.
Recognising how that's been damaging your confidence and self-worth.
From this new-found awareness you get absolute clarity on the opportunities that open up at the next level. And what would need to be true at work and home for it to be sustainable.
Phase 2 - Being
Shifting the behavioural patterns and adaptations that no longer serve you, using practical tools from neuroscience and somatics applied to real work-life situations.
Leading in a way that feels more like you: saying what you think, setting boundaries, stopping over-preparing as your default.
You start to think, feel and behave like the woman who can hold the level of seniority you want, even before the title is there.
Phase 3 - Building
Building the senior capabilities that make up your business case for promotion: sponsorship, visibility, influence, strategic direction, revenue generation.
As these capabilities develop and the stakes rise, new patterns surface and you keep unwinding what doesn't serve you.
Your body of work takes shape, with the credible skills to back it up. You relax into knowing you are focused on the right skills in the right way.
A free first step
The Partner Track Nobody Prepared You For is the guide I wrote for the women I kept meeting: brilliant, senior, delivering far more than anyone asked, and still somehow not front of mind when the partner, MD or VP conversations happen.
It's an honest look at why that is, the part nobody explains, and how to navigate it without turning into someone you don't recognise. Not a guide to behaving more like the men around you. A way back to doing it as yourself.
If any of that sounds familiar, it's the best place to start.
Who I Am
I spent 35 years in consulting - with Deloitte, Oracle, CapGemini and EY - leading high-stakes transformation programmes and running a P&L. I reached Director level. I know the pressure, the politics, the unwritten rules - because I lived them.
And I did it the way most women do: by adapting to a version of leadership that didn't quite fit, overworking, and proving myself again and again.
It cost me my health. In 2019, I had a heart attack.
That changed everything. I retrained as a coach, immersed myself in the research - neuroscience, psychology, somatics - and became determined to help women reach the top without the personal cost I paid.
Now I bring all of that together to help senior women in consulting navigate the partnership path in a way that is commercially strong and personally sustainable.
Companies I’ve Worked For and With
Ways To Work Together
Momentum Programme
(3 months)
A small-group programme that takes you through the full Firm Identity Framework.
Understand why progression has felt so hard, let go of the unproductive behavioural patterns that exhaust you and start developing the capabilities your promotion demands - on your terms.
Work with me 1:1
One-to-one coaching shaped entirely around you and where you are in your promotion journey.
The most direct, personal way to do the work, at whatever pace and depth suits you, whether that's a short intensive piece or ongoing support. If you'd rather not work in a group, this is your route
Ascent Programme
(9 months)
For women who want intensive, personal support over a longer period.
Group coaching plus private 1:1, with someone in your corner the whole way: deepening your business case, cultivating sponsors, navigating the politics, and handling the setbacks as they surface.