PAUL DEVITT
WHO AM I AND WHAT DO I DO?
I am an Executive Coach and Board Adviser.
I help leaders ensure that their businesses succeed in what is an increasingly competitive, uncertain and complex world.
I have many years’ experience of executive leadership as well as coaching. As a client, this means you will be able to quickly home in on the issues that matter and gain the clarity, courage, confidence and capability you need to bring next-level leadership.
This next-level leadership is the key to thriving in an era of accelerating change and to engaging, empowering and inspiring your business to perform better.
To deliver a higher performance that means improved, tangible results such as:
•significant revenue growth
•bigger market share
•improved efficiency
•higher profits
•enhanced client service and experience
•business transformation
•a higher value business
WHAT EXPERIENCE CAN I DRAW ON?
It is particularly helpful that I am able to draw on many years’ executive leadership experience - in both an established enterprise and also a fast-growth start-up/scale-up business.
I also have non-executive director and independent trustee experience.
My 15+ years’ senior executive leadership experience includes having been:
•CEO of a significant international law firm (£170m+ revenues, 1,100+ people);
•a lead Partner for a new, challenger, fast-growth business within the Big 4.
As CEO of the established business I guided it through unprecedented market challenges resulting from the global financial crisis. That included my conceiving and implementing a new vision and strategy to deliver a return to revenue growth while maintaining margin, and coaching and developing numerous individuals as business leaders and Board members to enable higher performance.
As an executive leader of the challenger, fast-growth business, I built, coached and aligned the team and developed and drove strategy execution, quadrupling revenue and significantly improving margin over 4 years.
I also have over 30 years’ experience of strategic transactions as a Corporate/M&A legal adviser to both FTSE and owner-managed enterprises, executing deals and leading advisory teams on more than 100 transactions in total.
My leadership track record includes:
conceiving and executing vision and strategy
successfully taking on a range of new roles and responsibilities
creating the conditions for growth and improved profitability
building, aligning, motivating and empowering teams
developing numerous individuals as business leaders and Board members
coaching to enable higher performance
improving financial discipline and reporting
streamlining and realigning to improve efficiency
revising governance and capital/funding models
articulating and embedding culture and values
ensuring greater inclusion and diversity
enhancing governance and risk and compliance policies and capabililties
successful international expansion into Hong Kong, Qatar, Singapore, Dubai, Oman
non-executive director and independent trustee experience
My transactional advisory experience includes:
British Airways' sale of BA Connect to Flybe
British Telecom’s public takeover of Transcomm
Rolls-Royce’s sale of Michell Bearings to British Engines
Co-op’s £1.65bn acquisition of Somerfield
MyTravel’s £852m hostile bid for First Choice
Assystem Technologies' £281.3m takeover of SQS
Eazy Collect’s sale to The Access Group
Nerudia's sale to Imperial Brands
Assura’s £98.4m share placing to fund acquisitions
CLIENT BENEFITS
CLIENT BENEFITS – WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?
My many years’ experience of executive leadership as well as coaching means that, as a client, you will quickly be able to home in on the issues that matter and gain the clarity, courage, confidence and capability you need to bring next-level leadership.
This next-level leadership is the key to thriving in an era of accelerating change and to engaging, empowering and inspiring your business to to perform better. To deliver a higher performance that means improved, tangible results such as:
•significant revenue growth
•bigger market share
•improved efficiency
•higher profits
•enhanced client service and experience
•business transformation
•a higher value business
WHEN CAN I HELP?
Whenever there is a desire to improve, to seize an opportunity, to rise to a new challenge or to fulfil potential.
Some examples of particular situations where I can help are:
desire to improve performance and effectiveness
significant events e.g. new leadership, new strategy, key transactions, succession
personal or business setbacks
new role, responsibilities or opportunities
need to respond to competitive threats
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
GC, FTSE 250
"Paul has helped me enormously as a coach. His experience at the sharp end of business means that he is ideally equipped to understand the challenges. His combination of empathy, patience and humility have been instrumental in helping me to understand myself better, cope with frustrations and deliver more for my organisation.”
GROUP STRATEGY DIRECTOR, FTSE 250
“Paul is a natural coach and mentor and somebody that I feel privileged to have worked with over a period of years when he was our company's lead legal adviser. I found his insight and clarity of thought not only helpful in addressing the challenges of the moment, but more importantly in helping me to improve my decision making and to develop as a leader. He helped me to identify and focus on the key issues in any given situation and provided a robust sounding board for me to test my thinking and analysis. He also has that rare ability of being able to provide challenge in a direct, straightforward and constructive way, combined with great empathy and humour."
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM MEMBER, PARTNER, BIG 4
“Paul “gets” people and he therefore knows how to help you improve your performance. He is a clear thinker and has a rare skill in that he is able to make the complex simple. He brings a clarity that has significantly improved my ability to navigate both personal and business challenges successfully and is incredibly motivated - with an enthusiasm that is infectious and inspires you to perform better.”
VP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, US TECH BUSINESS
“I can't thank Paul enough for all that he has done for me to get me to this point. He has helped me in securing and preparing for my new role more than I could ever imagine.”
ASSOCIATE PARTNER, BIG 4
“Paul was a great help to me. He has empathy and emotional intelligence, and understood how to get the best out of me which meant I was both motivated and confident to successfully address a number of issues. That resulted in significantly enhanced personal effectiveness and greatly improved team and business performance.”
ASSOCIATE PARTNER, BIG 4
“Paul’s valuable coaching has helped enhance my understanding of my personal and business challenges and has given me the confidence to overcome them. As a result, I have benefitted from rapid career progression, much stronger client relationships and improved collaborative working with my team.”
PARTNER, FAST GROWTH BUSINESS LEADER, BIG 4
“Paul is insightful, passionate and inspiring. He takes the time to listen to people and to really understand what makes them “tick”. But more than that, he then actively coaches in order to help people stretch themselves and achieve challenging goals. Paul brings a huge amount of experience to the table and is thoroughly enjoyable to work with. He’s made a lasting impact on me and my career – I know that he has done this with many, many others. I would highly recommend Paul without hesitation.”
REGIONAL SALES MANAGER, ONLINE MEDIA BUSINESS
“My new job is going very well. Thanks to Paul, I am heading in the right direction. All of the assistance he gave me really has helped me focus on how to approach my new role.”
PAUL DEVITT
Devitt Limited, registered in England and Wales with company no: 12954147
Registered office: 1 Northway, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 1NN
+44 7787 523365