I have over 20 years experience coaching managers and executives in career and performance development both as a manager myself and with coaching clients. I coach individuals to take positive action on their life and careers on 2 year personal development journeys and short contracts.

I assist leaders and organisations achieve sustainable change by engaging hearts and connecting minds. I started my practice with total quality, high performance work systems and self-managing teams at Procter and Gamble in the late 1980s.

I'm a graduate of the Tavistock Institute's Advanced Organisational Consultation programme, and now combine this with integral development and indigenous wisdom tools. I design and deliver leadership coaching and development programmes, and large group processes which co-create successful change.

I founded the The Wisdom Meme with my partner, Patricia, to combine modern organisational development practices with a body of powerful and practical ancient wisdom tools for the benefit of leaders and organisations aiming to create sustainable change.

We have studied and taught with Elders and Keepers of an ancient body of Earth Wisdom Teachings for over ten years. These Teachings, known as The Origin Teachings of the Delicate Lodge, have been passed down orally for over 35,000 years. They represent one of the many surviving streams of human wisdom that have a direct relevance to the challenging issues facing each of us, our communities and our world today.

We have shared these teachings, in ceremony, with people of all ages, and in community and organisational settings in Europe and the USA, and now we see the value of these teachings in today's businesses.

We also have modern personal and organisational development skills from our time as managers, leaders and internal consultants in large organisations including Procter and Gamble and Northern Rock, together with graduation from the Tavistock Institute's 2-year Advanced Organisational Consultation programme.

Over the last 7 years we have taught on 2-year advanced personal leadership programmes in Austria, Germany, Denmark and UK. Participants in these sophisticated learning journeys of self-knowledge and self-discovery have ranged from senior executives and managers from banks, national and local government, business consultants, coaches and trainers, and business owners to an opera singer and actors.

We are now drawing on this expertise to develop and deliver advanced programmes that help individuals release their inner leader and create sustainable change. The qualities increasingly being called for from leaders in business - vision, inspiration, trust, innovation, collaboration etc - require a 'whole person learning' approach that is rare in current leadership development approaches. This is what we specialise in.

We are part of a growing community of like minded practitioners in the UK, Europe and US. We collaborate to meet clients needs of any scale or location.

what our clients say:

“There is only one way to find out if your faith in someone was justified and that is what everyone else says. Mike is a great talent but when senior colleagues report back that he over achieved then that truly speaks for itself....I can't recommend Mike more highly...” John Caswell, CEO, Group Partners

“Mike is a man of great integrity, a playful spirit, a great executive coach, and a well-balanced, wise person. He helped me establish Community Intelligence in the UK and served with dedication on its first Board of Directors. I can fullheartedly recommend him to anyone who wants to do business with him. George Por, CEO Community Intelligence Ltd

“I have been working with Mike for over three years on a very challenging project - "ki work". You know your real friends when difficulties are shared and mutual trust grows and is strengthened through these challenges. Mike has great depth as a human being, is highly competent in anything that he does, and is a gift to anyone that has the good fortune to work with him.” Michael Wolff, CEO, ki work ltd

"Mike and I first worked together five or more years ago. I had asked the University to provide some coaching support in my role as a senior manager. We worked together for three months; I found the experience transforming. My attitudes to the University and to my colleagues both senior and junior altered markedly. I am, I think, justly proud of some major achievements in shaping the strategy and direction of the University over the last five years. My perception is that I would not have been able to bring these changes about had I not had Mike’s coaching.

"More recently, Mike has helped my team see its way through a complex project. His advice and encouragement were well-received by all the team and the outcome was positive.

"Mike’s approach is challenging and demanding of thought and attention. It is also of the utmost integrity and discretion. I have trusted Mike with some deeply personal information and feelings and have delighted in seeing this trust rewarded in pragmatic advice and practical outcomes." University Dean

"My work with Mike Bell has produced immediate benefits. I now have a clearer sense of what I am aiming to achieve and how best to direct my energy. As a result I feel more in control of my work and less subject to frustration and stress. I would recommend Mike to anyone trying to gain some perspective on their organisational role and who wants to better direct their creative potential in the workplace". Coaching Client

"The experience was the best directors’ offsite meeting we have ever held. I am impressed with the Wisdom Council process. It is simple yet profound. It kept us out of our sometimes-dysfunctional communication styles with each other.

"We worked the issues, we listened to each other, we had more equal participation across the whole group than we typically do with other meeting styles." Bob Johansen, President, Institute for the Future

"The Wisdom Council has really helped us to find the team spirit we needed to get started on this budget. It has lead us all to go deeper into our feelings and thoughts, reveal our true "us" as a team but also as individuals in this team. This has been a great experience we wish we can use again to go the step further." Philippe Bonnet, Account Managing Director, Y&R Europe

"The Wisdom Council offers an extraordinarily powerful system for focusing the mind and encouraging innovative thinking in diverse groups. I was impressed by the beauty and clarity of Mike and Patricia Bell's Wisdom Council workshop, which draws on ancient knowledge but is equally applicable to the modern boardroom, NGO or market focus group.

“Business consultants often claim that 'Management of change is the biggest challenge for organisation'. The Wisdom Council offers extraordinary tools, thinking and approaches which have been used throughout the history of time to make decisions and come to consensus on group vision and action in a non-confrontational and inspiring format.” Brian Davis, Director, Creative Dream Company and senior business journalist for magazines including The Manufacturer, Professional Engineering, Chemical Week and many other publications.

"I first met Mike at a networking event in late 2007. It was after the guest speaker had finished his slot that the chairman asked all the attendees to find tables to sit at and it just so happened that I sat next to Mike – thank goodness I did. It soon became very apparent from what Mike was saying to me that he had a perspective on leadership coaching and ‘personal beliefs’ that I felt I could learn a lot from. We agreed to work together, we signed our respective ‘promise’ sheets and we were off and running. We had 12 sessions in all and I was amazed that although Mike stressed that there was no therapy involved I found on occasions I was opening up some deep emotions from my past that helped to provide a deeper and more understanding relationship of trust for us both to move forward with, and move forward we most certainly did.

“My desire was to find ways that would help me inspire my team of managers more. My learnings from Mike have enabled me to be more inspirational by me having a more honest and engaging relationship with my team of managers. For any person or organisation looking to undertake a deeper and more meaningful learning process with their staff then I would whole heartily recommend to you the ‘teachings’ of Mike Bell and his ‘Wisdom Meme’ Martin K Greenwood Area Director, Royal Bank of Scotland Group

"This one day conference in association with Nap Associates, brought together 120 members of the arts community including practitioners, producers, promoters and the press to look into the question 'What next?' "The breathtaking aspect of this Open Space Forum was the shift towards action and self-help. I can't remember being at a similar forum which, in the end, produced so many concrete possibilities. Time and again, as the same faces have come together, we have rehearsed the same grievances.

"After a morning spent raising the all to familiar issues of concern, the afternoon was given over to planning. Different groups thrashed out viable ways to keep Glasgow in touch with its people. Each group came up with recommendations and a vote was taken, by the whole assembly, on what plans offered positive ways forward." Mary Brennan, Journalist, The Glasgow Herald