© 2020 Ally Gordon Coaching
My background
Before becoming a coach, I had over two decades in the thick of it.
I launched, built, and led over 55 hospitality businesses.
From creating concepts directly with Jamie Oliver to becoming Founding Director of Ole & Steen UK, taking the brand from zero to £14m, 250+ employees, and 10 sites in under three years, before selling to private equity.
I've managed P&Ls, navigated investors, built teams, and learned more from the difficult years than the good ones.
But my story isn't just about building and leading businesses.
In 2019, I stopped and took stock of my life, to take full responsibility for myself, my health, my relationships, my idea of success, and what I wanted my life and legacy to look like.
That work changed everything and it's what I bring to every conversation, alongside two decades of leading businesses.
This is not theory; this is lived experience.
I know what is feels like to be the person everyone expects to have the answer.
I know what pressure does to you over time.
And I know what it costs to build something, and what you can quietly lose along the way.
My role is simple. Help you get clear on where you are going and stay in your corner until you get there.
I've managed P&Ls, navigated investors, built teams, and learned more from the difficult years than the good ones.
But my story isn't just about building and leading businesses.
In 2019, I stopped and took stock of my life, to take full responsibility for myself, my health, my relationships, my idea of success, and what I wanted my life and legacy to look like.
That work changed everything and it's what I bring to every conversation, alongside two decades of leading businesses.
This is not theory; this is lived experience.
I know what is feels like to be the person everyone expects to have the answer.
I know what pressure does to you over time.
And I know what it costs to build something, and what you can quietly lose along the way.
My role is simple. Help you get clear on where you are going and stay in your corner until you get there.
What my clients say
FAQ
What to expect from coaching
Executive coaching is a confidential one-to-one partnership designed for founders, executives, and senior leaders. While our work covers performance, leadership skills, and organisational goals, my approach goes further by focusing on the person behind the leader.
We address the hidden patterns, values, beliefs, and blind spots that quietly shape how you handle challenges. Most coaches work just with the leader; I work with the entire person to ensure genuine, lasting growth.
We address the hidden patterns, values, beliefs, and blind spots that quietly shape how you handle challenges. Most coaches work just with the leader; I work with the entire person to ensure genuine, lasting growth.
My coaching is tailored for highly capable, driven founders and senior executives navigating complex organisations, difficult decisions, or the isolation that accompanies seniority. These leaders aren't struggling in a conventional sense, but they often carry unseen weight and lack a trusted circle for high-stakes decisions.
My clients span diverse industries—including technology, finance, and healthcare—and often find themselves repeating the same dynamics or realising their personal lives haven't kept pace with their career success.
My clients span diverse industries—including technology, finance, and healthcare—and often find themselves repeating the same dynamics or realising their personal lives haven't kept pace with their career success.
Engagements start with a complimentary 60-minute conversation to ensure we are the right fit. If we proceed, we agree on specific goals before beginning a bespoke structured 12-session partnership. Throughout, I act as your confidant, sounding board, and thinking partner.
Our sessions provide a trusted space to let your guard down and address the root of your challenges, not just the surface issues. Full support is included between sessions, ensuring guidance is available whenever you need it.
Our sessions provide a trusted space to let your guard down and address the root of your challenges, not just the surface issues. Full support is included between sessions, ensuring guidance is available whenever you need it.
Clients typically arrive seeking clearer decision-making, increased leadership confidence, or tools to manage demanding roles. However, they leave with much more: a deep understanding of their authentic personal brand, a clear roadmap for both their professional and personal lives, and their own distinct leadership style.
Ultimately, we identify and dismantle the hidden patterns and blind spots running the show. You will gain the ability to make decisions from genuine clarity rather than anxiety, and develop a relationship with success that includes a fulfilling life outside of work.
Ultimately, we identify and dismantle the hidden patterns and blind spots running the show. You will gain the ability to make decisions from genuine clarity rather than anxiety, and develop a relationship with success that includes a fulfilling life outside of work.
A mentor draws on their own experience to guide you — sharing what they did, what worked, what they'd do differently. A coach helps you find your own answers — using questions, challenge and structured thinking to get underneath what's really going on. The best executive coaches do both.
An executive coach acts as a confidential thinking partner, helping you see what you can't see from where you're standing, name the patterns driving your decisions, and make better choices in your leadership, your business, and your life.
For the right person at the right moment, executive coaching is one of the highest-return investments a leader can make, not just professionally, but in terms of the quality and clarity of every decision that follows.
Our initial discovery call is completely free, whilst we explore if we're a good match.
I then develop a bespoke program for each client, a Future Blueprint which is a journey as individual as they are. I don't take a one size fits all approach and my costs are tailored based on our discovery together.
Feel free to contact me for more information.
I then develop a bespoke program for each client, a Future Blueprint which is a journey as individual as they are. I don't take a one size fits all approach and my costs are tailored based on our discovery together.
Feel free to contact me for more information.
A typical coaching program runs four to six months for an initial 12-session engagement. Meaningful change takes time, and this minimum engagement ensures we can properly address the deep-rooted patterns affecting your leadership.
After the initial 12 sessions, many clients transition to monthly meetings to maintain a dedicated thinking space and ensure lasting accountability as new challenges arise.
After the initial 12 sessions, many clients transition to monthly meetings to maintain a dedicated thinking space and ensure lasting accountability as new challenges arise.
Absolutely - the pace is always agreed together, built around your schedule and what the work actually requires. Most clients start with weekly or fortnightly sessions to build momentum or create space for reflection, with the flexibility to increase frequency during intense periods.
My core belief is that this work should serve your life, not consume it. However, I will gently push back if I sense that slowing the pace is a way of avoiding uncomfortable but necessary work.
My core belief is that this work should serve your life, not consume it. However, I will gently push back if I sense that slowing the pace is a way of avoiding uncomfortable but necessary work.
Coaching isn't for everyone; it is for successful leaders who have hit a genuine moment of transition, noticed recurring patterns, and run out of people they can be fully honest with. Often, these individuals carry a heavy internal weight despite external success, and they need a trusted partner to think through high-stakes decisions.
Those who benefit most are willing to look at uncomfortable truths rather than seeking simple external validation. If you are performing well but your life isn't keeping pace, coaching can provide the necessary breakthrough.
Those who benefit most are willing to look at uncomfortable truths rather than seeking simple external validation. If you are performing well but your life isn't keeping pace, coaching can provide the necessary breakthrough.
Yes. Alongside one-to-one executive coaching, I work with teams and organisations through group and leadership team coaching, as well as extended individual coaching across a team.
This helps cohorts align, communicate effectively, and perform at their collective best - while maintaining strict confidentiality between individual's sessions.
This helps cohorts align, communicate effectively, and perform at their collective best - while maintaining strict confidentiality between individual's sessions.
I bring over 20 years of real-world commercial experience to my coaching, having launched, scaled, and led over 55 businesses. When you discuss the isolation of leadership or the weight of a decision, I understand it from the inside, not just from a textbook.
Furthermore, I work simultaneously in both the professional and personal lanes. We tackle career, business strategy, and commercial challenges alongside identity, relationships, health, and what your life actually looks like—a combination that is remarkably rare.
Furthermore, I work simultaneously in both the professional and personal lanes. We tackle career, business strategy, and commercial challenges alongside identity, relationships, health, and what your life actually looks like—a combination that is remarkably rare.
If you are a founder, executive, or senior leader, the core 12-session one-to-one strategic coaching is almost certainly the best place to start. For leadership teams looking to build shared direction and improve communication, group coaching is available.
The best way to find out is simply to have a conversation. I will give you my honest assessment of what would serve you best, and if I am not the right fit, I will tell you.
The best way to find out is simply to have a conversation. I will give you my honest assessment of what would serve you best, and if I am not the right fit, I will tell you.