top of page
Donal McCarthy

I've Sat in the
Leadership Chair.
I Understand
What Comes With It.

For more than 30 years, I've worked in senior commercial and leadership roles, including at CEO level. I've experienced first-hand the pressure of making difficult decisions, leading people, delivering results and carrying responsibility when there isn't always an obvious answer.

30+
Years Leadership
Experience

FORMER
CEO

300+
Leaders
Coached

Coaching Grounded in the Real World

Why I Became a Coach

I spent much of my career believing performance was primarily about strategy, experience, knowledge and hard work.

​

Over time, I came to understand that what often separates capable leaders from exceptional ones is what happens underneath the surface: how they think, how they respond to pressure, the beliefs they hold about themselves and the decisions they make when the stakes are high.

 

That's what eventually led me into coaching.

Leadership Can Be a Lonely Place

The more senior you become, the fewer people you can speak completely openly with.

​

You're expected to have answers.

 

Your decisions affect other people's careers, livelihoods and futures.

 

You have competing priorities, difficult personalities, commercial pressure and often very little space to step back and think.

 

Sometimes the person everyone else relies on needs somewhere to think too.

​

That's the role I aim to provide.

BUSINESS EXPERIENCE

30+ years in commercial and senior leadership roles.

You understand leadership from inside organisations rather than solely from coaching theory.

PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGY

Understanding the mindset, behaviours, beliefs and emotional patterns influencing performance.

PRACTICAL EXECUTION

Turning insight into decisions, actions, accountability and measurable progress.

Inner Game + Outer Game + Momentum

Who I Work Best With

My clients are typically CEOs, business owners, executives and senior professionals who are already capable and successful but know they could be operating at another level.

You're carrying significant responsibility

​

You're facing an important decision

​

You've lost some confidence or clarity

​

You need to strengthen your leadership presence

​

You're navigating change or transition

​

You know something needs to change but you're not yet sure what

I don't believe successful people need to be "fixed". Often they simply need the right environment, questions, challenge and perspective to see what they can't easily see from inside the situation.

“Donal has a rare ability to create the space for you to think clearly while still challenging you when you need it most.

 

At a time when I was carrying significant responsibility and facing some difficult decisions, his coaching helped me cut through the noise, see the situation differently and become much more confident in the choices I was making.

 

What I valued most was that Donal never imposed his own answers. He asked the right questions, challenged my assumptions and helped me recognise where I was getting in my own way.

 

His senior leadership experience also makes a real difference. He understands the pressures that come with responsibility, difficult conversations and making decisions where there is no perfect answer.

​

I came away not just with greater clarity, but with more confidence in myself as a leader.”

​

Adrian

CEO / Senior Business Leader

Experience & Professional Development

LEADERSHIP & BUSINESS

​

​

  • 30+ years commercial and leadership experience

  • Former CEO

  • MBA

  • BSc

  • Corporate Governance

  • Negotiation, Harvard Business School

COACHING & PERFORMANCE

​

​

  • Master Practitioner in Coaching

  • Master Practitioner in NLP

  • Master Practitioner in Positive Psychology

  • Master Practitioner in Timeline Therapy

  • Performance psychology

  • Results-driven Mindset Programming

My Approach

Clarity over complexity.

Understand what really matters.

​

Challenge with support.

Coaching should make you think differently, not simply make you feel good.

​

Action over insight alone.

Awareness matters, but change happens through action.

​

Progress over perfection.

Sustainable improvement compounds.

​

The whole person matters.

How you think, feel and operate personally inevitably influences how you lead professionally.

​

You Don’t Need to Have All the Answers Before We Talk

You may already know exactly what you want to change.

Or you may simply know that something needs to change.

 

A complimentary conversation is often the best place to start.

bottom of page