Greater Clarity
Your personal board of directors isn't a corporate board or a panel of advisors. It's composed of people you have grown to deeply respect and would not want to let down.
The Alchemists Circle
Your Personal Board
A confidential Circle of Business Owners, CEOs and MDs who meet as equals around the decisions, challenges and opportunities that matter.
People who understand the responsibility because they carry it themselves.
A private conversation about you, the Circle and mutual fit. Alan replies personally.
A confidential peer-group membership for Business Owners, CEOs and Managing Directors who meet as equals around the decisions, challenges and opportunities that matter.
Our promise
You'll never face the challenges alone.
There is a solitude to being an owner or leader at the top of a business. Some decisions cannot be worked through openly with your team, board, family or advisers.
It gives you an ongoing Personal Board: trusted people who understand the responsibility because they carry it themselves.
The Circle gives you a regular, confidential room where you can bring what matters, hear different perspectives and speak without performing.
Your Personal Board
What your Personal Board gives you.
Greater Decision
Your confidants: the trusted people you turn to for advice and guidance. As your inner circle they give you the clarity and wisdom your partner, your board, your friends and your consultants simply can't.
Greater Action
Strong in their views, yet non-judgemental and compassionate. They ask questions, draw analogies, make dispassionate observations and give focused feedback that builds self-knowledge.
The Circle in practice
How The Alchemists Circle works.
The Alchemists Circle brings Business Owners, CEOs and MDs together as equals around the decisions, challenges and opportunities that matter.
They help you see the situation more clearly, test your thinking, form decisions you trust and remain accountable for what happens next.
Member evidence
What members experienced.
Before joining the group, I would delay decision-making and become obsessive about the detail. I felt things had to be fully perfect before moving forward. The group helped me become more confident and instinctive in my decisions. It really was like having ‘the board you could never afford’ right at your fingertips—people with whom I could discuss issues confidentially. After one year, I merged my business and increased the headcount significantly. I became more ambitious, and the confidence I gained continued to fuel my drive to grow the business. Alan listens carefully before challenging you. His insight and support have stood the test of time.
Patrick McAliskey
Novosco
Relationship included: The Alchemists Circle · Alchemists 1:1 · The Alchemists INside
As CEO of a business whose team had doubled in 18 months, I needed to make sure our vision did not remain in my head. New teams and new leaders were emerging quickly, and I needed to bring them into shaping where we were going. Being part of the Alchemists Circle gave me a regular space for high-honesty, high-respect conversations. Alan knew our business, listened carefully, and I trusted him to steer the conversation well. It helped me identify possible points of resistance, think about how to win hearts and minds, and work through the questions that mattered as we scaled. The Circle helped me keep people involved, motivated and aligned as the business grew.
Stuart Harvey
CEO, Datactics
Relationship included: The Alchemists Circle · Alchemists 1:1 · The Alchemists INside
Stepping away from my business for one day each month initially felt difficult to justify. I came to realise that it was both doable and very worthwhile. It gave me the space to lift my head out of the detail and see the bigger picture. Being part of the Alchemists Circle meant having a highly supportive group around me, offering advice, insight and moral support through personal and business dilemmas. When one member faced a serious difficulty, the rest of the group literally dropped everything and weighed in to help. Alan challenged my thinking through robust testing and one-to-one coaching, while guiding the group so we got the best from one another’s experience. The Circle helped me make clearer and slightly braver decisions about my business.
Dorcas Crawford
Senior Partner, Edwards & Co; Mediator and Founder, The Better Way
Relationship included: The Alchemists Circle · Alchemists 1:1 · The Alchemists INside
At a crossroads, making a tough decision, it is invaluable to have that wealth of knowledge and experience to call upon — making the way forward clear to see.
Dominic Walsh
Chief Executive, Hospital Services Limited
Relationship included: The Alchemists Circle · Alchemists 1:1 · The Alchemists INside
What protects the room
Our Guiding Principles
Unlocking Greater Performance in you, your business and your people.
Clarity : Decision : Action
Active Time Out
High Performance
Safe Space
Collaboration
Your Chair
Alan protects the equality, confidentiality and usefulness of the room.
Alan chairs the conversation so that no one voice dominates and every member can contribute as an equal.
He listens carefully, asks the questions others may miss and connects patterns across the room. He protects confidentiality, encourages honest challenge and leaves ownership of every decision with the person who must act on it.
Begin.
Meet Alan for a coffee.
The first step is a short, private conversation with Alan.
Tell him what has brought you to the Circle and what you are looking for from a Personal Board. Alan will explain how the Circle currently works and explore mutual fit with you.
There is no sales sequence. Your message goes directly to Alan and remains confidential.