Hi, my name is Sally Purdie, and I’m a coach.
That sentence took me longer to write than it should have.
For 20 years, I’ve introduced myself as an engineer – chartered, fellow, the lot. “Coach” is new. Saying it about myself still feels like wearing a coat that isn’t mine.
I changed my bio to “coach” a few weeks ago, which felt brave at the time – but really it was a declaration by stealth. The quiet version of saying it out loud.
I’ve spent the last two days at the Building a Business academy with Henley Business School. The part that landed hardest wasn’t a business model or a marketing plan – it was getting clear on my Why.
Mine turns out to be simple: I want to do work that matters, and I want to help people become who they’re capable of being – in all of it, not just the job. And if I’m going to do that properly, I have to stop hanging back and stick my head above the parapet.
There’s an irony in it. My coachees often tell me I help them reach what they somehow already knew but couldn’t quite get to on their own. That’s exactly what the last two days did for me – I didn’t learn something new, I got access to something I already knew.
So I’m saying it again, feeling slightly like I’m standing under your collective windows with a boombox, asking you to notice me – because you don’t get comfortable first and then act. You act, and the comfort catches up later.
Hi. I’m Sally. I’m a coach.
