June 2026 · Essay
A leadership and communications adviser
Finding and sharing the story of your business to underpin trusted growth.
I help new CEOs find and share the story of their business to underpin trusted growth.
When people start in their new role, they inherit a story. Sometimes it is an accurate reflection of the business, but more often it has become muddled over the years. The impact includes loss of focus, lack of shared direction and competing priorities.
The thesis
That’s where I come in.
I work alongside leaders to dig deep into the heart of the organisation, uncovering its strengths, opportunities and challenges. From that insight, I shape a compelling narrative which, once activated, helps them deliver their strategy with a committed team, loyal customers and responsible suppliers.
This story is built around the business’s heritage and future, goals and purpose, behavioural principles and moral anchors. It reflects the personality, language and assets that make the organisation distinctive. Every part of it has an important role.
A vision of where you’re going and a purpose that explains why it matters. Values that support clarity and unity, and a deep belief that becomes the philosophical heart of the business. Together, they become something more powerful: a shared narrative that reaches hearts as well as minds.
The process
Find the truth. Find the words. Bring it to life.
01
Find the truth
Briefing, conversations, knowledge and research. A full understanding of the needs and the situation.
02
Find the words
Vision, purpose, values and deep belief, expressed in clear, compelling, useful terms.
03
Bring it to life
Actions, measurement, review and renewal, led by a cross-representative values team.
The book · Shortlisted, Business Book Awards
Junk Values. The book at the heart of the work.
Junk Values exposes the patterns that have crept, unchallenged, into the systems and processes of corporate values, and sets out the Active Ethos® method for replacing them with something stronger. It is the foundation of every engagement, masterclass and keynote I deliver.
The book is shortlisted for the 2026 Business Book Awards and is available now through Amazon, Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.
Trusted by
In their words
“Erika has an intuitive understanding for the relevance of ethos and culture in the modern workplace. Working with her helped us to bring our values to life and express them in a way which all our people, customers and suppliers can relate to as practical, demonstrable and sincere.”
Under the bonnet
The niggles that need attention before they become the story.
Loss of focus
An inherited story that has muddled over time
What once held the place together has thinned. The story new CEOs inherit is often an accurate reflection of the business; just as often it has become blurred through years of change.
Lack of shared direction
Teams holding different versions of the truth
Functions, offices and generations each carry their own account of what the business is for. New CEOs feel this before they can name it.
Competing priorities
Saying it well, internally and out
When the story is unsettled inside, customers, suppliers and recruits all feel the gap, and decisions get pulled in different directions.
The work
All services01
Story-build engagement
The core programme. Working with a new CEO and their leadership team to find the truth, find the words, and bring the story to life.
02
Leader's own story · ten weeks
One hour a week for ten weeks. The CEO's own purpose, principles and language, sharpened in parallel. Leadership becomes more certain, more effective, more enjoyable.
03
Leadership off-sites and team activation
Designed and facilitated sessions that move leadership conversations from polite to honest, from honest to useful, with actions embedded into the process.
04
Speaking, masterclasses and ongoing counsel
Keynotes and executive sessions on leadership, communications and trusted growth, and retained advisory for boards and CEOs through change.
Recent thinking
View journalMay 2026 · Media
May 2026 · Essay
Recent podcasts
All episodes
29 June 2026
John Yarham: the value of careers
19 June 2026
Alastair Ruxton: it could be ... values
12 June 2026
John O'Brien: the value of connection
Speaking
Keynotes, masterclasses and panels.
Sessions for founders, leadership teams, boards and family offices on the commercial value of organisational clarity, the architecture of culture during growth, and the work of preserving what makes a business distinctive.
Speaking topics