The best laid plans…

One year ago, after 35 years of leading teams and growing business, I stepped away from my role as a CEO and semi-retired.

I knew I was not the kind of person to quietly drive off into the sunset in a golf buggy, sipping a martini. I still am relatively young and full of energy.

I wanted to keep my hand in the game and leverage my decades as an entrepreneur, CEO, management consultant and mentor. But I also wanted to step into something more personal and purposeful. I wanted to pay forward to the next generation of leaders.

I’d always loved helping leaders grow and teams thrive, so leadership coaching felt like a natural next chapter.

After a couple of months of work, I had a handful of great clients and had sharpened up my coaching skills at Henley Business School.

I was ready to publicly launch my business…

…And then, life threw me a curveball: I was diagnosed with aggressive bowel cancer.

It was a huge shock. I’d always felt pretty invincible. I exercise regularly, eat well, get at least 7 hours of sleep and have no history of cancer in my family.

The last 9 months of treatment and recovery have been tough:
1 x Emergency surgery
6 x hospital operations
33 sessions of radiation
7 weeks of chemo
12 kg lost
Months of nausea, pain, weakness, and fatigue

Last week, after my latest MRIs, CT scans, scopes and blood tests, my oncologist gave me the all-clear.  For now, the tumour is gone and my body is recovering slowly but steadily. I still have difficult days but I’m on the mend and feeling strong. 💪

This year has also been a time full of gratitude and reflection.
To my family, friends, doctors, nurses and everyone who cared for me — thank you.
And especially to my life partner, Martin, who walked every step of this journey with me.

Not surprisingly, the experience only deepened my commitment to the leadership coaching path. Coaching is about presence, listening, growth, and resilience - all things I had to lean on just to get through this past year.

So for the past few months I’ve been quietly working with some amazing clients to help them transform their businesses, careers and lives.

And today, one year later, I’m officially launching Miles Leadership Coaching: my coaching and consulting business for leaders, entrepreneurs, and CEOs who want to grow themselves as they grow their businesses.

I’d love to hear your stories about how you overcome the curve balls that life has thrown you.