About Gareth

For over a decade I have been an independent management consultant, working closely with boards and C-suite executives across Europe and the UK. I started my career as an electronics engineer with Schlumberger in Aberdeen, then took an MBA at London Business School, which led to roles with Deloitte in the UK and as a director of consulting in the Middle East. Along the way I founded and sold a software company, started four other ventures, and founded the Bestem Network, which brings together leaders from asset owners, entrepreneurs, technology firms, financiers and advisors.

I have lived and worked in Norway, Azerbaijan, Indonesia and Kuwait, with long assignments in the USA, Holland, France, Russia and Australia. Working across cultures showed me the human traits that hold true everywhere, and how they shape the way people and organisations work.

In the boardroom, and coaching senior leaders one to one, my job is to help people see around corners and look honestly at the beliefs and behaviours holding them back.

Why I am writing this series

I was an engineer. I always thought there was a single right answer. Now I know there is a series of acceptable answers, and mine is only one of them. I still tend to think I have the right one, and I have to hold back the instinct. I am often not correct, and only by listening do I find out.

I also learned that you need other people, and other people don’t lend you their support because you proved them wrong with logic. Bringing people along, and getting the right people on side, matters more than being right. A decision does not have to be optimal. It has to be good enough, and not dangerous.

To technical people these skills look like black boxes, or magic. We call them innate abilities. They are not. They are learnable; they are just never taught. The theory is taught: negotiation, leadership, influence. What is not taught is how you look someone in the eye when you negotiate, or how you project confidence. Many people know the theory and can’t do it, and the theory dies in contact with the enemy. Doing it takes knowing that it matters, and practice.

Where these skills are passed on, it happens by experience: at home, from a parent or a mentor who knows how it is done, or at a school where it is part of the culture. It is experienced rather than taught, which makes it hard to pass on any other way, and by the time you get to work it is late to start. I had a bit of both. My father lectured at a university and my mother was a pre-school teacher. They certainly experienced politics, but it wasn’t where their interests lay. I picked up more of it at school. A few very clever organisations build it in, whether that is building confidence in young consultants or setting a structure and a power dynamic around negotiations in a bank. Most do not.

These books are for technical and science-based people who were never shown. They give the human side of work a structure, and a common language to describe the indescribable, so it can be learned the way you would learn anything else. People at different stages of a career will take different things from them. Writing them is the most useful thing I can contribute right now.

What clients and colleagues say

What sets Gareth apart is his interest in my success as a person as well as my goals for business.

Murray Callander, CEO, Eigen Limited, for whom Gareth was a non-executive director (2024)

He joined our board and guided our team holding us to account and ensuring that the important things were done first.

Dirk Bischof, founder, One Planet Ventures (2018)

I reported to Gareth early in my career at Deloitte and saw him in action with clients: helping them distill complex problems, driving clarity and structure to arrive at a practical, mature roadmap to innovation.

Nishkaam Mehta, CEO, Abound (2020)

Gareth is rare in that not only is he knowledgeable and can apply his knowledge to business scenarios, but also possesses great empathy and understanding of the human condition.

Rupert Clark, worked with Gareth on the same team (2014)

He easily worked across cultures and generated buy-in from staff at all levels and backgrounds.

Fola Esan, worked with Gareth in Indonesia and London (2004)

He motivated and mentored our members to improve their speaking performance.

Jayang Jhaveri, who served with Gareth on a Toastmasters club committee (2004)

Speaking and advisory work

I work as a keynote and after-dinner speaker, a one-to-one coach, and an adviser to boards. To ask about a date or an engagement, use the contact page.