Progressive Business Coach for Founders, Teams & Rebels In Corporates | We boost profit & sanity beyond bureaucracy - with self-managing teams, systems & human-centric AI | $50M+ scale-ups & 9-fig exits | Keynote speaker

You’re the brave one, with everything on the line.
Whether you’re starting out, building a team, or scaling to exit, you want a trusted guide riding shotgun.

I deliver clarity in decisions, discipline in delivery, and practical human-centric AI that turns data into insights, automation into time back, and leads into predictable pipeline and revenue.

Ex-CEO & PwC-trained Chartered Accountant, I've led or advised start-up to £50m+ scale ups, 9 figure exits, turnarounds, and AI rollouts for founder-led SMEs/SMBs. £75m funds raised to date. I don’t just coach it. I’ve lived it.

I work with founders, and the leaders they trust.

My no-BS, emotionally intelligent coaching clears the mental, emotional, and operational blocks that hold you back. This unlocks performance across the business.

I call out the bullsh*t, push where others won’t, and hold you to growth—without losing the big picture.

How we do it:

We use my Profit & Sanity framework - a simple Diagnose → Design → Deploy system - to turn plans into outcomes across the following core areas:

Foundations & Systems: Lock in purpose, culture, operating rhythm, and cash discipline. AI can’t be applied to a broken system.

Inclusive Culture: Build environments that harness diverse thinking to fuel innovation and sustainable growth.

AI & Automation: Apply practical tools to grow revenue, reduce cost, and scale what works.

Choose your path:

Content: 
🔔 Follow for straight-talk on leadership, AI, org design, and the emotional side of growth.

Newsletter: 
📨 Subscribe to Founder Group Therapy for disruptive strategies and real-world stories.

Engagements: 
🎤 Keynotes on the future of business in an AI world.

Advisory, Coaching & Fractional: 
💬 1:1 and more involved sessions - based around my profit & sanity framework - tailored to your business; 

🏢 Company-wide programmes fusing AI, cashflow, and practical coaching.

My mission is to remove your blockers and propel you toward durable, compounding growth. While having a life. 

Your revolution - personal and professional - starts here.

You don’t need another genius on your team.
You need someone who finishes what genius starts.

You try to be the big thinker and the finisher.
That’s why you feel stretched, stalled, or stuck in the weeds.

History proves the same pattern again and again 👇🏼

1. Walt & Roy Disney 🎢
Walt imagined worlds.
Roy kept the money and risk under control.
→ Without Roy, Disneyland was a beautiful overdraft.

2. Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak 🍎
Jobs set the bar for meaning and design.
Woz built the boards, circuits, and machines.
→ One raised the vision.
→ One stayed in the lab until it worked.

3. Page & Brin with Eric Schmidt 🔍
Page and Brin explored ideas fast.
Schmidt added systems, hiring discipline, and real structure.
→ Exploration + execution.
→ Research + company-building.

4. Bowerman & Knight (Nike) 👟
Bowerman experimented with soles.
Knight built the brand and supply chain.
→ One tinkered.
→ One scaled.

5. Dalí, Picasso & their dealers 🎨
The artists reshaped culture.
The dealers priced, sold, and defended the work.
→ Art has no impact if no one sees it.

6. Watson & Crick + Rosalind Franklin 🧬
Watson and Crick built bold models.
Franklin produced the images and data that proved them right.
→ Vision + proof.
→ No data, no double helix.

We retell these as stories of lone geniuses.
They never were.

If you’re a founder or leader 🧠
Ask yourself:

1. Which mode do you default to — imagination or execution?
2. Who balances you out?
3. Where are you forcing yourself (or someone else) to carry both roles?

Your next breakthrough may not be a new idea.
It may be the right pairing.

Where do you need to remix the brains in the room?

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📩 Weekly sanity in my Founder Group Therapy newsletter:
 https://lnkd.in/erk_vfQc

Si Conroy

Profit & sanity for founder-led SMEs/SMBs | Ex-CEO, PwC-trained Chartered Accountant | Fix the basics → build systems & teams → layer human-centric AI | Founder Coach & Fractional CFO

Your company’s biggest risk isn’t the market.

It’s your mind.

Most businesses assume leaders see clearly and decide rationally.
Daniel Kahneman* spent decades proving we don’t.

Here are 5 lines every founder, exec and board should treat like operating instructions.

“The world makes much less sense than you think. The coherence comes mostly from the way your mind works.”

Your strategy isn’t reality - it’s a narrative your brain glued together.
Treat every strategy as a test, not a truth.

“The confidence people have in their beliefs is not a measure of the quality of evidence but of the coherence of the story the mind has managed to construct.”

The loudest person often wins because their story is cleaner, not smarter.

Fix this by changing the system, not the people:
 ↳ Pre reads
 ↳ Written bets
 ↳ Silent, blind voting before debate

This strips out ego and forces judgment, not performance.

“A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth.”

Inside companies, repetition turns guesses into “how we do things around here”.

Run monthly assumption audits:
 ↳ List your top 5 “truths”
 ↳ Try to break each one
 ↳ Keep only the survivors

This is how progressive orgs evolve fast - and how traditional teams avoid drift.

“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it.”

You’ve seen this:
One crisis hijacks a whole week.
Then becomes irrelevant a month later.

Create one meeting a week where you cannot talk about this week.
Only systems, bets, direction.
This single ritual upgrades judgment more than any offsite.

“The illusion that we understand the past fosters overconfidence in our ability to predict the future.”

Most retros and board packs quietly overfit to last quarter.
Then the same flawed narrative drives next quarter.

In every review, separate:
 ↳ Facts
 ↳ Interpretations
 ↳ Guesses

Label them. Decisions get clearer instantly.
Behind all this is noise -
the invisible variation in how different leaders judge the same CV, pitch, experiment or performance.

Noise runs your hiring, reviews, promotions and investments - unless you redesign the system.
None of this means humans are broken.

It means:
🧠 Ignore cognitive science and you operate with a buggy OS.
🧠 Design with it and your org - hierarchical or progressive - becomes sharper, calmer and far more accurate.

Cognitive science isn’t a nice to have.
It’s the user manual for judgment.

Which of these cognitive traps is costing your org the most right now - hiring, meetings, or strategy? 👇

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📩 Weekly sanity in my ‘Founder Group Therapy’ newsletter: https://lnkd.in/erk_vfQc

*Daniel Kahneman - Nobel laureate, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, and one of the most cited psychologists on the planet - spent a lifetime proving leaders are far less rational than they think.

You only have one life. 

Choose carefully.

The chart shows you spend more waking hours with your team than with anyone else.

That is not good or bad. 
The question is whether you chose it.

Look at the other lines:
1️⃣ Parents and siblings → time drops fast in your early 20s.

2️⃣ Friends → time fades almost every decade.

3️⃣ Children → time peaks for a short spell, then falls as they leave home.

4️⃣ Alone → time with yourself keeps rising.

Every hour you give to one line comes from another.

The real risk is drifting into these trade-offs without noticing.

I’m not talking about “work–life balance”.

Life moves in seasons:

🌋 Season of obsession → you pour energy into building something that matters.

😌 Season of exhale → you choose more space, more connection, slower days.

Both can be great.
Both can hurt if you sleepwalk into them.

I’ve worked with ultra high net worth founders at both ends:

💼 Some in their 50s, 60s and 70s still work most hours and feel alive doing it → they love what they do.

🌅 Others have stepped back, sold, or shrunk things and now enjoy quiet, planned lives.

The happiest are not the richest.
They are the most intentional.

The least happy did not land where they are on purpose.

Work crept outwards → time with the people they care about shrank.

Only later did they see the cost.

Neither path is wrong.

🏢 You can build a company you live inside of → if you choose that life with open eyes.

🏡 You can design a calmer life → if you choose that with the same intent.

What matters is this:
1️⃣ You know yourself.

2️⃣ You are honest about what you want from this one life.

3️⃣ You decide how you spend your time to match that.

You cannot avoid trade-offs.
You can avoid a lot of regret by choosing on purpose.

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📩 Weekly sanity in my ‘Founder Group Therapy’ newsletter: https://lnkd.in/erk_vfQc

Hiring for “done it before” is how you accidentally exclude the talent who would transform your team.
Click ...more for the data 👇🏼

Diversity of background and thinking isn't just a value statement.

Teams with different lived experiences spot:
⚠ Risks you didn’t see
📊 Opportunities you didn’t consider
🧩 Solutions you didn’t imagine

📈 Deloitte finds teams in diverse, inclusive cultures are 3x more likely to deliver high performance.

Here are the 4 hiring defaults slowing you down - and how to break them 👇🏼

1. “We only hire people who’ve done it before.”
The risk:
 ❌ Photocopy teams
 ❌ Recycled ideas
 ❌ Predictable decision-making

A Harvard Business Review meta-analysis of 81 studies found almost no link between years of experience and performance in a new role
↳ Your “experience only” filter is screening for privilege, not potential performance.

The upside:
🧠 New mental models → People who see angles you can’t
💡 Better ideas → Collision beats consensus every time
⚠ Fewer blind spots → Crucial in fast-moving markets

2. “Hiring someone with no experience is too risky.”
The real risk:
 ❌ You take a chance but offer no structure
 ❌ They fail, and leadership blames the person instead of the system

Deloitte & HBR research found strong onboarding drives ~80% higher retention and ~70% higher productivity vs. poor systems.

The upside when done well:
🚀 Fast learning → No habits to unlearn
🧩 Curiosity → They ask what your current team didn't
😌 Low ego → Easier to coach, quicker to evolve
🌀 Adaptability → They move with the business, not behind it

3. When “entry-level” secretly means “3 years doing this already”
The risk:
 ❌ You describe unicorns
 ❌ You slow hiring
 ❌ You overpay for the same thinking
 ❌ You shut out whole communities

~27M “hidden workers” in the US are screened out by rigid job requirements (HBS + Accenture).
 ↳ Your fake entry-level roles help keep them locked out.

The upside of true entry-level talent:
🌱 Grow talent → They learn your system first
📈 Real mobility → They can stretch into multiple roles
🧠 Broad understanding → They learn the business, not just the task

4. “No experience” does not mean no potential.
✅ Someone once saw potential in you.
✅ They trained you.
✅ They explained the job.
✅ They set expectations.

And you grew.
Now you’re the one with influence.

Deloitte's latest survey found ~60% of Gen Z and Millennials pick employers for learning & development.
↳ People want to grow, not just earn.

Here’s the upside of backing potential today:
🤝 Loyalty → People remember who opened the door
🔁 Lower turnover → They’re not leaving for a tiny bump
🔥 Stronger culture → Growth-first beats fear-first
🧪 More experimentation → Safety drives innovation, not pressure

The research supports you challenging your hiring biases.

💭 What are you going to change today?

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📩 Weekly sanity in my ‘Founder Group Therapy’ newsletter: https://lnkd.in/erk_vfQc

Nothing kills motivation faster

than seeing laziness rewarded.

McKinsey found that top performers can be 400% more productive than the average employee – and up to 800% in complex roles.

When poor performers coast, you don’t just lose fairness.
You lose your best people.

Here’s the real problem:
High performers and low performers need different support.
Treating them the same drags everyone down.

Below is the simplest way to build two clear paths.

7 ways to develop your good team members:

1. Give them autonomy, not extra work
 ↳ Let them choose how to reach the goal. Don’t load them with more tasks.

2. Rotate them into high-impact roles
 ↳ Short roles like “Sprint Owner”, “Customer Insight Lead”, or “Debrief Host”.

3. Use a simple decision process
 ↳ Gather input.
 ↳ Consult the right people.
 ↳ Make the call.
 ↳ Share the reasoning.

4. Pair them with strong peers
 ↳ Growth comes from equals, not from carrying others.

5. Show a clear path forward
 ↳ Make the next skill and next level visible.

6, Increase challenge, not hours
 ↳ Give harder problems, not heavier loads.

7. Let them fix one broken workflow
 ↳ Ask: What would you redesign first?
 ↳ Then give them room to do it.

7 ways to improve your struggling team members:

1. Make work clear and visible
 ↳ Use simple plans, checklists, or weekly expectations.
 ↳ Confusion is often the real issue.

2. Separate skill issues from system issues
 ↳ Fix unclear workflows before judging performance.

3. Create small, specific commitments
 ↳ “Deliver X by 3 pm” is better than “Improve this week”.

4. Use short, frequent check-ins
 ↳ Five minutes for clarity beats a long, vague meeting.

5. Focus on one skill at a time
 ↳ Remove overwhelm. Build momentum.

6. Let them shadow someone who excels
 ↳ People learn fastest by seeing the work done well.

7. Set a clear improvement window
 ↳ Define the timeframe and support.
 ↳ Standards stay high. Dignity stays intact.

Most leaders avoid this work because no one taught them how to run two paths at once.

But if you want a team that grows instead of stalls?

Build a system that lifts your strongest people and helps your struggling ones rise, without treating everyone the same.

💭 When have you been frustrated by the treatment of a low performing colleague?

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📩 Weekly sanity in my ‘Founder Group Therapy’ newsletter: https://lnkd.in/erk_vfQc

Box someone in and you miss their humanity.
Too quiet. Too loud.
Too foreign. Too old.

Too queer.
Too “not like me.”

But what if we stopped sorting and started seeing?

Because behind every accent is a story.
Behind every call centre voice is a family.

Behind every faith is a fear overcome.
Behind every difference is the same beating heart.

When we unbox others, something powerful happens:
We return to the source.
We remember we are one.

You see - 
It’s not just about diversity checklists or “inclusive” language.

It’s about choosing kindness as a leadership skill.

About treating the cashier, the colleague, the stranger on the bus -
with the same reverence we reserve for our ‘inner circle.’

Whether they grew up in a war zone or a wealthy suburb...
Whether they believe in God, Gaia, or nothing at all...
Whether they’re transitioning, grieving, celebrating, or surviving...

They are us.
We are them.

🌍 We’ve all danced.
💔 We’ve all felt lonely.
🌈 We’ve all longed to be seen.

So next time you feel the urge to divide - 
Pause.
Choose to connect.

🌀 Let’s lead with love.
And build teams where every human belongs.

What’s one stereotype you’ve unlearned recently?
Let’s swap stories.👇

—

♻️ Share this to remind someone that we’re all more alike than we think.

🔔 Follow Si Conroy for fresh takes on leadership, culture, and consciousness at work.

📩 Get weekly clarity and disruption in my ‘Progressive Group Therapy’ newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eTZq6A5D

🎥 ©️ TV 2

AI is eating tasks.
Automation is eating workflows.
Systems are eating whole management layers.

But nothing replaces the inner world
of the people who make your business work.

Which is why the sentiment:
“If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.”
Today, means something very specific.

It’s not about being nice, empathetic, or “good with customers.”
It’s about recognising the forces that quietly drive every choice you, your team, your customers and your investors make:

🧠 Attention under pressure
 ↳ People notice what feels urgent, not what you wish they cared about.

🧩 Meaning-making
 ↳ They remember the moments that confirm their story about you.

⚠ Threat detection
 ↳ Fear of loss outweighs any logical argument.

🎯 Mental shortcuts
 ↳ When time shrinks, bias wins.

💓 Emotional regulation
 ↳ Stress changes judgment more than data ever will.

🤝 Trust calibration
 ↳ Safety determines honesty, not job titles.

🔥 Identity cues
 ↳ People protect who they believe they are - always.

These forces shape:
✅ how employees show up
✅ why customers buy
✅ when investors back you

Once AI standardises the work,
this is the only real advantage left.

You can’t outrun these forces.
You can only design for them.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:
⚙ Reduce friction
 ↳ Make the next step obvious so people don’t have to think twice.

🧭 Make decisions visible
 ↳ Show how choices were made so people don’t fill the gaps with fear.

🕯 Create simple honesty rituals
 ↳ Quick check ins. Clean conflict. Real debriefs.

📌 Build clarity into the environment
 ↳ Clear norms. Clear ownership. Clear constraints.

🤝 Pair humans with AI to protect attention
 ↳ Let tools filter noise so people can stay present.

🎚 Tight where accuracy matters, loose where creativity matters
 ↳ The brain likes certainty in some places and freedom in others.

👐 Give real agency
 ↳ People commit more when they choose, not when they’re told.

Because now that machines handle the easy work,
people are left with the hard work:

❤️ Meaning.
❤️ Focus.
❤️ Courage.
❤️ Interpretation.
❤️ Connection.
❤️ Judgment.

If you don’t understand those in your people, customers and investors…
you don’t understand business in 2025.

You can automate the work - not the human mind.

💬 What is one human pattern in your world that your systems still ignore?

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📩 Weekly sanity in my ‘Founder Group Therapy’ newsletter: https://lnkd.in/erk_vfQc

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