ABOUT THAT PEOPLE THING
THE REAL TEST OF LEADERSHIP IS HOW YOU LEAD UNDER PRESSURE.
When the answers are known, the pace is predictable and business is going to plan, leadership is relatively easy. It’s when things are changing - when old answers stop working, familiar ways of operating start getting in the way and the stakes are high - that leadership really gets tested.
That People Thing works with organisations in those moments. We work alongside leaders in real time: noticing what they can’t see from inside the system, saying what others may not be able to say, challenging habitual thinking and helping them lead at their best when it matters most.
Because experience doesn’t make change any easier. And this moment may demand something new from you.
When performance matters most, you put the best team you can around you.
SMALL TEAM. DEEP EXPERTISE.
That People Thing brings together a trusted group of specialists across leadership, culture, people strategy, digital wellbeing, operations and events.
Blaire Palmer works with people she knows, trusts and has often partnered with for years, bringing together the right expertise for each piece of work.
No cast of thousands. No anonymous delivery team. Just experienced people who know their field and know how to work together.
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Blaire Palmer
Founder | Keynote speaker | Author
Blaire is an expert on the future of leadership and work, with more than 25 years’ experience alongside CEOs, boards and senior leadership teams navigating major change.
A former BBC News producer and author of four books, including Punks in Suits, she has built a career questioning the assumptions most organisations barely notice - about power, trust, hierarchy, performance and what leadership is actually for.
Today, Blaire speaks to leadership audiences around the world while continuing to work inside organisations going through real transformation. That combination gives her an unusually current view of what leaders are wrestling with now, and a sharp eye for how today’s shifts in technology, work and society will show up in tomorrow’s leadership behaviour.
Warm, quick-witted and deeply curious, she has a knack for making complex ideas feel clear, challenging people without making them wrong, and turning a room full of senior leaders into a room full of people asking better questions.
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Ginny Baillie
Leadership & transformation
Ginny was one of the UK’s earliest executive coaches and one of the first ten Master Certified Coaches in Europe. She has worked alongside Blaire for more than two decades on major transformation programmes, including work with AXA, Roche and the Welsh Government.
Her expertise spans leadership, systems thinking and team dynamics. She is particularly good at surfacing what isn’t being said, making complexity manageable and turning good intentions into real action.
Calm, highly experienced and disarmingly direct, Ginny has a way of making the conversation real without making the room defensive.
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Laura Willis
Digital wellbeing, performance and human-centred AI
Laura helps organisations think more intelligently, and humanly, about how technology shapes the way people work.
Her focus is on making sure digital tools actually enhance concentration, creativity, performance and collaboration without quietly creating distraction, overload and burnout in the process.
Thoughtful, evidence-based and deeply practical, she helps you make better choices about how technology is used so it supports the work rather than getting in the way of it.
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Kirsty Duck
People strategy & HR
Kirsty helps organisations make sense of the people and organisational challenges that can otherwise feel huge, messy and difficult to get hold of.
She is particularly good at turning complex questions around people strategy, succession, culture, values and learning into clear, pragmatic decisions leaders can actually use.
Straightforward, practical and down to earth, Kirsty has a gift for making big people challenges feel manageable, giving you the clarity and confidence to move them forward.
When the transformation reaches into the people systems underneath the culture, Kirsty is who we bring in.
BEHIND THE WORK
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Diana Stoney
Speaking & client partnerships
Diana is the point person for Blaire’s speaking engagements, making the whole process - from first enquiry to the event itself - feel simple, calm and well organised.
With years of experience in the speaking world, she knows exactly what to ask, what needs to be clarified and what will make the difference between a decent brief and an exceptional one.
For clients, that means confidence that nothing important will be missed. For Blaire, it means arriving fully prepared and ready to deliver an impact that lasts long after the event.
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Stavroula Dimitriou Fox
Operations & project management
Stav keeps the logistics behind our work moving smoothly, coordinating diaries, delivery details and client liaison so everyone knows what is happening and when.
She is the person making sure busy schedules, moving parts and last-minute changes are handled without becoming the client’s problem.
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Ben Hughes
Finance
Ben keeps the business commercially grounded and well run, overseeing financial management and planning.
He is also a practising artist, which feels entirely appropriate in a business that likes analytical rigour and creative thinking in roughly equal measure.
TRUSTED by
TALK TO US
If you’re planning a leadership event, navigating significant change or trying to understand what’s getting in the way of your strategy, tell us what’s going on and we’ll go from there.