Chief Executive, CBC Insurance Ltd I had been in my new role, as CEO of CBC UK Limited (a Lloyd’s insurance broker) for barely six months when I received a call from the then majority shareholder telling me that he wanted to sell the business without delay, along with several other companies which he owned. Despite my protestations, the sale process took off at a rapid rate. A third party agent was appointed, a business profile was hastily put together and I was paraded around to various potential suitors. I had two choices – to cooperate or to resign from my position. At that time, the business was not profitable. It had been run for several years prior to my appointment as a “lifestyle” business by the previous management team. I could see that it had potential, which is why I had agreed to take over the helm. Unfortunately, the various bidding buyers could also see this potential and this was reflected in the offers which followed. The bidders were narrowed down to two final candidates, neither of whom I wanted to work for; both were insistent that the management team remained intact. I felt cornered and helpless. Two candidates inevitably became one successful winner and the due diligence process began. I continued to cooperate and whilst I felt it was inevitable, I was not fully resigned to defeat. I continued to harbour the desire to buy the business myself but was advised by several people in the know that … Read More

It’s true what they say, when you are ready the teacher appears. I am changed because of Andrew. It is that simple. I feel more incredible, fully alive, free and in love with life than I have ever been in my life.  Andrew’s humanity and life experience along with his vast clinical portfolio is a unique combination to assist anyone healing from the deepest life pain. He just gets you right from the start. You are seen and held with such humility that you feel safe enough to let go of all that hurts. I had been in the darkest most painful phase of my life and was feeling mid-life despair, resignation and hopelessness, emotions that I had never before experienced. Andrew’s gentle and supportive hand holding helped me see these emotions as transient and only energy passing through. You learn how to truly transform with him. Fear leaves and you feel you can take on the world.  I have done a lot of self-growth in the past 17 years but nothing touched and released my deepest wounding until I worked with Andrew.   Please kick yourself off the fence you have been sitting on and free fall back into the you that is so wanting to be here. It’s a beautiful place to be, beyond your wildest dreams of who you thought you could be. I am now the me that was always wanting to be here.

Business Alchemy does exactly what it says on the tin … I’ve worked with a number of mentors throughout my career but Andrew stands head and shoulders above the rest.  He brings a unique quality as a mentor with fantastic business acumen and the ability to allow magic to happen!

As a writer, director and producer the film business presents multiple challenges juggling creativity, strategy and business over long arduous periods of development. Andrew’s Business Alchemy and constellation work was a genuine revelation to me – his all-in attitude, his incredible intuition and the fact that he obviously cares about his clients and enjoys helping them was really transformational for me. I don’t just recommend Andrew as someone who can help you gain insight for change, I recommend him for anyone who wants to just reflect and understand themselves better.

This organisation was a large philanthropic company operating in the area of education, training and change management. The key personnel were highly motivated by integrity and spiritual values.  They were focused on aligning the business in all the right ways. However, the business had been stuck for several years, unable to grow and develop. The business was not expanding and new clients were hard to come by. It took several meetings before the core of the problem emerged. Within the individuals and the organisation was an unconscious distrust and contempt for money, particularly what they deemed to be excessive wealth. This was the shadow of their philanthropic endeavours. The more this was explored, the clearer it became that money and profit were seen as “dirty” and undesirable. Following their initial business success, it was easy to see how the brakes on the business had been applied, based upon these unconscious judgements. We worked on re-positioning the value of money, wealth and profit, and the possibilities of expansion for the organisation based upon these values. The executive team could readily grasp that the greater the success and profitability, the larger the outreach of their philanthropy. Although the uplift was slow, due to residual resistance, the organisation began to expand and grow. Twelve months later, it was performing with substantial increased revenue and profitability. The same simple principle can be seen to be operating here: i.e., what is outside of awareness and is unconscious is powerful and drives the behaviour – whether … Read More

This was a SME business originally founded by an innovative and powerful married couple with a number of external shareholders. The company had succeeded in driving revenue at a compound rate of 30% per annum over six years and yet remained unprofitable. This created a great deal of tension within the organisation. At our first meeting, it quickly emerged that the dynamic between the couple, who were chairman and chief executive, was seriously inhibiting the market opportunity and profitability of the business. There had been several attempts to align with private equity to greatly enhance the business and take it to the next level. On each occasion the deal had fallen through at the last moment. When working with the key personnel, after some resistance they saw that there was a massive conscious and unconscious fear of losing control of the business and not wanting to “lose their baby.” Interestingly, as is often the case, the course that they were set on was guaranteed to achieve precisely that. Over the course of the next three months, by bringing these various unconscious fears into awareness, the individuals and company were able to move beyond this. The business rapidly became profitable and developed a number of completely new international markets. As part of this process, we supported a reorganisation of the board, which allowed for better communication and flow at the top of the organisation. It is true in many different contexts that holding on tightly or seeking to control outcomes severely … Read More

A highly successful company of international management consultants called us in as part of an annual routine assessment and enhancement of the business. There was no specific problem to address. As part of our preparation for the first day with this client, which was to involve 35 of their senior partners, we spent 40 minutes engaging with their website. The standout feature for us was the extreme emphasis on integrity and any value aligned with authenticity. It felt that this was unnecessarily exaggerated. We decided to spend the day exploring where the partners individually, and where the company as a whole, were being inauthentic and fake with their clients. The immediate reaction to this was not promising. We asked the assembled group, many of whom were Oxbridge graduates, how many were married or in committed partnerships. More than 80% of those present raised their hands. So we then posed the question of how many of them were, on a regular basis, inauthentic or fake in this relationship. Every hand shot up. We expressed incredulity that they could acknowledge being inauthentic with their beloved, but never with their clients. It took several hours of painstakingly leading this group through different exercises before it became self-evident to everyone present that of course, from time to time, individual executives and the company as a whole were inauthentic or fake with a client. For this particular business, this was a major breakthrough and an important realisation. They began to see that the overemphasis on … Read More

There is much talk about the state of the world at present. We all feel it. The discontent, the avoidance and the destruction. When we think about it, it generally brings up feelings of helplessness. We’re all exhausted to some degree or another. So, we either turn off or become activists. This weekend I was taking a break from all this, along with 11 amazing people, when I graduated to become a Wizard.  Sounds a little ridiculous, I know, particularly as I am a fully-paid up adult and was to be found nowhere near Hogwarts (although the setting was equally as amazing, in a beautiful village by the Thames). Apparently, the title of the two year training, ‘The School for Wizards’, was always intended to be a little tongue-in-cheek, says Andrew Wallas, founder of this brand new way of what I now like to call a ‘User Guide To Being Human’. Some people’s eyes light up when I mention it, they think it sounds magical and are immediately inquisitive. Others just switch off. I guess it depends where you sit in life. As Einstein once said: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle”. I know where I’d rather be, but it’s not always as easy as that. The idea of a ‘User Guide to Being Human’ is not just borne out of the teachings I’ve had from the training itself, but it’s … Read More

I originally approached Andrew at his first book launch and asked whether he would mentor me in certain aspects of my professional and personal life. Andrew was very professional and honest with his initial feedback and we started work almost straight away. In a stressful role I was finding the balance between work and home life a real challenge, this was not for the first time in my career. The non-separation and pressure to work longer hours to always be on the phone or emailing but not feeling fully engaged or able to focus on specific tasks. But this pressure was self-inflicted and not the expectation of peers. These understandings have enabled me to be a better leader. Through time spent with Andrew on a one to one basis he has fundamentally adjusted the way in which I think and approach both personal and professional issues and challenges. Allowing me to trust in an outcome rather than trying to control every element or stage of the process. This has not only been enlightening, but has brought both happiness and success in equal measure. In twelve months, I have consciously and unconsciously seen great changes. Increased productivity in business and improved quality of sleep (not many people can say that with a young family) the changes have become a part of my character…just ask my wife! From an individual who struggled with change or just simply trusting something intangible, Andrew has provided me with the platform that I start each day … Read More

A privately owned estate agent had been struggling to stay afloat for several years. The owner/manager of the business, despite having made severe reductions, was not able to cover his monthly living costs. It was revealed that several years earlier this business had operated as a 50:50 partnership between the existing principal and his friend and colleague. A conflict had arisen that resulted in the other party leaving the business under acrimonious circumstances. After a short exploration, we discovered that while consciously the main protagonist was desperately trying to build a successful business to prove a point to his ex-partner, unconsciously he was furiously aggrieved at the way he had been treated. He was more determined to hold onto the grievance than to create a successful business. We worked with the individual and the company to release and let go of the grievance and wish the ex-partner well. Once this energetic block had been released the business slowly but consistently commenced an uplift in performance and profitability. It is important to understand that both individuals and companies can be consciously completely committed to a particular course of events, while outside of their awareness, there are other unconscious forces consistently undermining and sabotaging the stated objectives.  This is true of all areas in life; what is unconscious (outside of our immediate awareness) is always more powerful and is often running and ruining our lives. Making the unconscious conscious dissipates and punctures these unwelcome blocks to success.