I’m Sophie Appleby, an accredited executive coach, facilitator, speaker and career coach with over 35 years of business experience, including 20 years in senior corporate roles and 15 years of professional coaching.
I work with leaders, teams and organisations to unlock performance through leadership development, culture change and individual career coaching, grounded in neuroscience and emotional intelligence.
As a French-English bilingual and binational, my perspective has been shaped by living and working in France, Slovenia and London, which I have called home for the last thirty years. I’m married to James and a proud mum to two young adults.
My Story and Why Coaching
My corporate career spanned senior marketing, strategy and customer insights roles at some of the world’s leading organisations. It gave me a first-hand understanding of what it takes to deliver results, add value and navigate change.
I also learned that strategy only succeeds when culture and leadership are in sync; they are the real work. As Drucker says, ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast‘. Strategy without culture won’t be executed, they need to work hand in hand.
This belief is what brought me to coaching after redundancy 15 years ago. I do understand what it feels like to transition and what makes a difference.
That journey led me to study emotional intelligence and neuroscience nearly 10 years ago. It gave me science-based frameworks for everything I had observed intuitively, understanding why we feel, think and behave the way we do, and what we can do about it.
We are not difficult, we are driven by brain principles that we need to work with.
I have been deepening that knowledge ever since and spreading the word.
“Sophie helped me adapt effectively to my new role, build confidence about my abilities, develop new skills and effectively deal with a series of significant management and organisational changes. I now feel more resilient and better equipped to deal with unexpected hurdles and to ‘bounce back’ with solutions.” – Planning Partner – Advertising industry
My philosophy
Fulfilment and high performance are two sides of the same coin. The neuroscience research is clear: when people belong, feel valued and fairly treated and when they are in control and have purpose, they do their best work.
In my experience, it requires three elements to work together:
1- The right person, in the right role: When individuals are clear on who they are, what they bring and where they’re headed, they engage fully and contribute at their best.
2- Effective leadership: It is central to performance as leaders build their team, guide them through change, model desired behaviours and decide. Leaders who understand their own style and lead with emotional intelligence, multiply engagement, performance and shape culture.
3- A human-centred culture: Culture is the environment in which people should thrive. When values, behaviours and ways of working are intentionally designed, modelled andrearded, high performance rises.
This is my why, the belief that underpins every piece of work I do, and my coaching approach sets out how I do it.
Qualifications & Supervision
I stay up to date with the latest models and tools so you receive high-quality support:
- Accredited professional executive coach with the Association for Coaching. I adhere to their code of conduct and undergo regular supervision with Rachel Daniel
- Certified in Neuroscience and Leadership Coaching with the Neuroleadership Institute (ICF accredited)
- Certified in Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Coaching/Assessment with RocheMartin (AoC accredited)
- Certified in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – 3-day course approved by the British Psychological Society
- Certified in Hogan Assessment (Relevant)
- Certified in Behavioural Profiling (DiSC)
- Trained in Team Systemic Coaching (ORSC)
- Trained in Mindfulness Stress Based Reduction with the Michael Chaskalson Method
- Qualified group facilitator for senior career change (L’AVARAP). The gold standard and reference in the French market using a co development approach
- French and English speaker
Giving Back
Human-centred workplaces are at the heart of what I do and that belief extends beyond paid work. Over more than two decades, I have been committed to supporting individuals and communities pro bono in different ways:
- Facilitating senior career transitions with L’AVARAP, the French gold standard in co-development and career change
- Mentoring entrepreneurs through The Prince’s Trust Charity and the Centre for Entrepreneurs
- Helping NHS staff and social workers navigate mental health and burnout with Project5 during and after COVID