I recently completed the final session of a senior leadership course with the outstanding Catherine Williamson – an experience which has had a profound and lasting impact on both my personal and professional development.

Through our work together, and in her own inimitable style, Catherine has helped me recognise and develop my own strengths and leadership style, which has unlocked new levels of confidence and a way of thinking, which are already influencing how I lead and approach every day.

Whilst it might be the end of the programme, I’m sure it’s not the end of our journey together – thank-you Catherine!

Sensible, wise, affable and with the benefit of having made it through plenty of challenging life experiences, Catherine provides leadership training like no other. A real life version of “Aunt Elle” from The Go Giver Leader, she has a particular ability to tailor her training to the talents, flaws and style of individuals, while also pointing out how others may commonly be wired differently – and the potential pitfalls that may result. Catherine has a detailed knowledge and grasp of what qualities are needed for an ideal workplace culture and is clearly extensively well read on the art and science of leadership. All in all, any time for training sessions that you can get with Catherine is absolutely worthwhile.

Time with Catherine is a gift—whether on a one-to-one basis or in a group setting. Catherine brings her own unique personality to each session, along with a huge amount of energy and warmth that helps you to quickly connect, relax, and explore.

As part of our coaching sessions, she introduced me to practical and insightful learning materials (books, podcasts, profile assessments, and YouTube videos) and combined these with deep, exploratory conversations and reflections. Throughout, Catherine listens deeply and responds with wisdom and honesty.

Catherine has helped me to grow as a leader. She has encouraged me to recognise and build on my unique strengths, to grow further in confidence, and to reframe some of my perceived barriers. It has been a joy to learn from Catherine—a rare gift for which I am truly grateful. If you get the chance to work with her, embrace it and enjoy.

Catherine is a genius at delving deep into your soul and making your strengths shine bright. There were times when I could have called her a mind reader. Catherine has giving me the confidence to embrace my abnormalities and harness them as super powers. I’ll be forever grateful. Thank you!

I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with Catherine. Her ability to create a space where I feel both open and at ease, yet focused and determined, has been transformative. From our first session, Catherine’s passion for what she does has been evident—she brings a warmth and energy that makes every session unique whilst being a productive and safe place for growth.

What truly sets Catherine apart is her commitment to going above and beyond. Her thoughtful personal touches, regular check-ins, and genuine interest in my progress have made this journey so much more than I anticipated. Working with her has not only enhanced my leadership abilities but has also helped me grow on a personal level.

Catherine has a rare gift of blending accountability with empathy, and she inspires a sense of purpose and drive in me that I didn’t know I had. Catherine truly cares and has the insight and passion to bring out the best in you, I wholeheartedly recommend Catherine. My experience with her has been life-changing.

The remarkable quickness with which Catherine grasped my needs and guided me to become a better leader made it clear in our first session that she would have a profound impact on my leadership skills.

Catherine’s colourful personality, compassionate demeanour, and professional personality analysis were extremely helpful in identifying my strengths, defining my goals, and rediscovering my potential.

Catherine, is a wellspring of knowledge with exceptional coaching skills, informative podcast, and an exquisite ability to recommend books . She is the final element any Modern leader requires.

Working with Catherine over the past 18 months has been brilliant. We did a few tests that shone a light on my strengths (that it turns out aren’t always strengths) and how values lead your reactions and decisions. Catherine recommended books along the way that developed thinking and we talked through their meaning and lessons. She also had time to help me navigate a few challenges. Best of all though I really enjoyed getting to know Catherine, reading her book, listening to her podcasts and lots of laughs and shared stories. I was lucky that my manager recommended a coaching programme, I was even luckier to work with Catherine and her advice and ongoing support has benefited me unquestionably. If you can get some coaching from Catherine jump at the chance.

Being coached by Catherine Williamson is an incredible learning experience. Yes, we did some diagnostics and identified my strengths and weaknesses. Yes, she recommended some books that made me think differently about leadership. But alongside that, we had some fantastic conversations where we shared our stories, laughed and cried (well, maybe that was just me. She did talk to me about managing my emotions). And the learning that I still carry with me comes from the wisdom and observations that Catherine shared with me during those conversations that still ring in my ears well over a year later. So, in addition to being an expert in her field, able to provide in-depth analysis, interpretation and recommendation, Catherine is an amazing human being (slash force of nature) whose inimitable approach was, for me, life-affirming and inspirational.

If you need a coach, call Catherine. I feel astonishingly lucky to have had 7 months of coaching with Catherine, which has been transformative, professionally & personally. Working with Catherine didn’t feel like work – you can’t help but warm to her generosity of spirit, quick wit, and sheer energy. But what really makes the difference is her insight: her ability to grasp what you really mean and reflect it back to you in a different light, to guide you to recognise your strengths and build on them and to help you chart a path that’s right for you, whatever the challenges. I really think Catherine could coach anyone, anywhere, but if you are at an inflection point in your career, looking to make big changes and need someone to help you see the wood for the trees and boost your courage, go for it, she’s amazing.

I really enjoyed and benefitted from Catherine’s Executive Coaching. Catherine is professional, while also being her natural flamboyant self, which creates an open and honest environment. She was great at coaching, using her own life experience to develop insightful observations. Thank you.

I had strengths coaching with Catherine over 2 years ago, when I was unsure of where I was headed with my career post covid. Having the knowledge of my strengths gave me the confidence to jump ship out of my previous post as a Senior Academic and retrain as a coach at Cambridge Uni.

I enjoyed the course so much meeting so many people from outside my field and from across the world, and it gave me so much confidence and the courage to start building a new portfolio career with more time to spend with the family. I would like to thank Catherine for her enthusiasm, positivity and highlighting my strengths which was the initial step in this journey for me and I would highly recommend her to others!

Having Catherine as a coach was a real rollercoaster, but worth every minute of the ride. I gained a much better understanding of myself and renewed confidence in my abilities though our time working together. Along the way their were a lot of emotions and difficult topics, but Catherine has an amazing way of communicating and supporting you throughout so you come out the other end a stronger and clearer.

Catherine has amazing energy and enthusiasm for her work and you can’t help but be energised by her. I highly recommend her as a coach and I hope that our paths will cross again in the future.

Absolutely loved working with Catherine this year. Catherine is extremely knowledgeable, intuitive and supportive, with a wealth of real world and invaluable experience.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with Catherine and I believe I have gained a lot from the experience that I have introduced into my work and personal life. Thank you Catherine for your support and guidance.

Catherine is part thought provoker and part cheerleader. My sessions with her have really helped me to understand my strengths and see my weaknesses as opportunities, bringing about a real clarity of purpose that was important to me and that I was struggling to find myself. She has helped me to learn more about myself, develop my personal skills and helped me to feel that I can fulfill my career ambitions.

Working with Catherine provided me with an unbelievable amount of opportunity and increased knowledge at how to progress in a career I’m truly passionate about.

Catherine is a real inspiration and over the time we worked together she really allowed me to reprogram my thinking and really get to understand how I tick. She is so smart, and really understands quickly what is going on and what are the root causes. It’s quite amazing. I can only highly recommend her and thank her for her input into my life.

I was first introduced to Catherine as part of an executive coaching programme. Having experienced such programmes in the past, I thought I knew what to expect… Catherine’s unique style and skills soon corrected my assumptions. I can count on one hand the number of people who have had such a dramatic impact on my life as Catherine. Having worked her magic with some of my team, we then began the journey of self discovery. Catherine is insightful and has the gift of seeing beneath the surface, intuitively exploring paths and avenues that most of us didn’t realise existed. Over the year that I worked with Catherine, I was exposed to a rich and deep level of learning. I shared with Catherine my aspirations for the programme which we achieved and exceeded with great substance beyond my expectations. Over the programme, we explored many areas of self awareness and growth and then progressed into a deeper understanding self purpose and meaning. Catherine has achieved a lot in her life and is an inspiration to those who have had the pleasure of knowing her. She commits fully to her assignments with the genuine motivation of helping people navigate the challenges of life. Catherine’s influence goes far beyond those who she has direct contact with. I hear her wise words repeated in my team and more recently from my family. She certainly succeeds in making the journey of life, meaningful and rewarding.
Thank you.

Being coached by Catherine is life changing. Catherine seems to effortlessly help you understand yourself and your strengths and arms you with new skills to maximise your potential. Every ‘chat’ really resonates and ‘makes sense’ and you find yourself growing professionally and as a person and operating more effectively without even realising it. The sheer magic is that the skills seem to become a natural part of you and you wonder why you never got taught these things earlier. And it’s so much fun. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to be coached by Catherine. Thank-you.

Having been coached before I went into the first session with Catherine expecting the usual coaching routine adopted my many. However, I quickly realised before the session was half way through that Catherine was different than the rest, it was a fun, relaxed and rewarding programe to have been part of that has made me think differently about many things in both my work and personal life. Having recently stepped up to board level Catherine mostly helped me in working out the dynamics and politics of the board room including those of my colleagues, we often found ourselves pulling situations apart and putting them back together having learnt from the good and bad, it’s this experience and learning that I will take forward and will benefit me for the rest of career. I have been trained for many years in my organisation but this has been by far one of the most beneficial parts of my learning.

When I chose Catherine to be my coach it was because her personality was so different from mine and I was looking to give myself a challenge.  Her vibrant personality and up-front style were a world away from the fact-driven, technical world of engineering, or so I thought. 

What she has shown me with considerable wit, charm and earthy common sense is that my challenge is to be myself and to share that with others.  On the way she has shared her own experiences both successful and otherwise, authentically, engagingly and humorously.  She has been challenging but also supportive, insightful and compassionate and left me ‘happier in my own skin’.  It has been both an enormously rewarding and enormously enjoyable experience.  If you have the opportunity to work with Catherine I would strongly suggest that you grab it with alacrity – and hold on!

I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to embark on a life-changing, 6 month Executive coaching course with Catherine Thompson. Catherine loves people and has a great gift for guiding them along the rocky path of self awareness, maximising personal potential and learning to bring the best out in others. Her gentle but firm, insightful and grounded approach is disarming, refreshing and highly effective. Anyone fortunate enough to be coached by Catherine will not look back.