Working from home or the office…

My long experience as both a business coach and a film and TV director means I can help you communicate and influence better in person or via the webcam.

 

I work primarily in three areas

Emotional intelligence

 

lies at the heart of all my work

Before becoming a business coach I spent 15 years as a BAFTA-nominated director of TV dramas and films. Working with top actors teaches you how nuances in behaviour make a huge difference to communication.

I originally trained as an actor myself, after studying Psychology at Oxford. And for sixteen years I taught Screen Acting at the Drama Centre, where alumni include Tom Hardy, Emilia Clarke, Regé-Jean Page and Gemma Chan. My book ‘From Stage to Screen: a theatre actor’s guide to working on camera’ is a standard text in many of the country’s top drama schools.

 The Two Daniels

 

I draw a lot on the work of psychologist and Nobel laureate, Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow) and Daniel Goleman, the man who popularised the term ‘emotional intelligence’.

Kahneman spent a lifetime exploring the relationship between System 1 – the automatic, intuitive and subconscious functioning of our brains – and System 2 – our conscious, deliberate 'thinking'. His research reveals starkly that most of our decision-making is actually done in the subconscious by System 1.

The more we understand the characteristics and heuristics of System 1, the better we are able to affect the decisions of others.

This includes an appreciation of the role of emotions in behaviour. Greater ability to recognise and manage emotions – both ours and those of others – improves our capacity to have influence.

This is a subject about which Daniel Goleman has written extensively, especially as relates to the work environment.

Far from being inaccessibly highbrow, he offers practical insights in to how to increase emotional intelligence, become more self-aware and better able to influence the emotions and behaviour of others.

 

Experiential Learning

 

Ultimately what counts is what happens in the real world. So I help my clients develop their skills and practise new, more effective influencing in a safe, confidential environment. I also regularly challenge them. I do it with a kindness and a smile but I give people the feedback need rather than telling them what they want to hear.

 
I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand.
— Confucius
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“Over the last 25 years I have been on numerous sales training courses ranging from Overcoming Objectives to Selling To Succeed and I have to say this course was by far the best I have ever attended. I felt it was relevant, to-the-point and fun. It was also helped by the fact that Bill is a superb presenter. I can honestly say I probably learnt more in 8 hours that I have done in all the other courses put together!”

Stephen Ashby
Senior territory manager, Vetoquinol

Clients include