-Deb Bailey, Coach, Facilitator, Speaker, Author

When I stepped away from my global executive role at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do next, only that I didn’t want more of the same. I created space by completing an MBA, and by the end of my studies, I knew I wanted to start my own Leadership Practice.

I’ve always been passionate about creating a world of work where people know how they contribute and feel genuinely valued.

That led me to focus my Practice on leadership impact, building and sustaining high-performance teams, and helping organisations bridge strategy to execution.

My approach is based on the belief that leadership must be measurable, just like other parts of the business whether it’s finance, projects, customer satisfaction etc.

When we understand our inner game of leadership our strengths, blind spots, motives, and values, we improve our outer game: team outcomes, strategic results, leadership impact, and culture. Measurement brings insight; insight enables action; action drives results.

One of the biggest challenges I see today is what I call the “Busy Olympics.” The world of work has become fast, demanding, and always-on. Technology was supposed to make things easier, but often it just means we’re available 24/7. There’s an unspoken competition to be the busiest, but all this busyness is eroding clarity. And without clarity, it’s hard to prioritise what matters most, at work or in life.

Clarity takes courage and discipline. It means being willing to ask the big questions: Where am I going? What am I here to do? What matters most right now?

When we have that clarity, we’re able to say ‘no’ to the noise and distractions and yes to the things that make the biggest difference.

I believe business success is fundamentally about the quality of its leadership. Yet, we often promote people for their technical skills and expect them to automatically become great leaders.

We hand them teams and say, “good luck,” with little to no development. This sets people up to struggle. The more senior someone gets, the less likely they are to admit they need support, especially if the culture rewards knowing rather than learning.

At its heart, setting a clear mission in business means identifying the problems you solve, who you serve, and why it matters.

It’s about living the organisation’s values, not as posters on the wall, but as behaviours people experience every day. Culture isn’t something dictated from the top; it’s co-created through daily actions and decisions.

Loving what you do matters. When your work aligns with your values and the contribution you want to make, it doesn’t feel like a grind, even on hard days. Much of my work involves helping leaders integrate life and business.

Often, I see people who are achieving outward success, but their personal lives are out of sync. Relationships suffer. Energy drops. The spark disappears.

That’s why I wrote Navigate Your Impact: How to Achieve Goals That Really Matter. It’s a decision-making guide that helps people understand where their time, energy, and money are going, and whether those investments align with the life they want to lead. It’s about tuning out the noise and focusing on what’s truly important.

I love helping leaders get clear, gain confidence, and act with conviction. Impact comes from taking action, not just knowing what to do, but actually doing it.

Leadership isn’t about perfection; it’s about progress. Sometimes our experiments won’t work, but we learn, adapt, and move forward.

In a rapidly changing business landscape, leaders need practical tools, not more complexity. The biggest challenges they face? Knowing what matters, cutting through the noise, engaging others, and aligning strategy with reality.

That includes balancing new initiatives with current capacity, something often overlooked.

Leadership, done well, creates clarity, builds trust, and drives meaningful results. It’s an honour to walk alongside leaders as they navigate their path with impact and purpose.