About Hamish Renton
Leadership coach for senior executives and founders
In early 2025, I noticed something I hadn't prepared for. HRA Global, the consultancy I'd founded and run for eighteen years, was in good hands. The team was capable, our clients were well looked after, and the business no longer needed me in the way it once had. On paper, it was exactly what I'd worked towards. In practice, it left me with a question I couldn't answer: if the business doesn't need me in the same way, what am I for?
There was no shortage of people willing to give me advice. What there wasn’t was anyone to help me think: not about the business, about me. Working that question through properly with a coach changed the shape of my life without my having to abandon any of it, and it’s why I trained as a coach. It also made me wonder how many other people were sitting with similar questions, without really having anyone to think them through with. Those are the conversations I'm drawn to having now.
I first experienced coaching as a client, not a coach
3 decades working with senior leaders
For close to 30 years, I've worked alongside senior leaders in some of the world's most demanding organisations, from FTSE directors and CEOs to founders and leaders in the charity and public sectors. I've led teams of my own, too, so I know senior roles from both sides of the table: the decisions no one else can make for you, the pressure to always have an answer, and how rarely there's time to stop and think about your own position. That experience is as much a part of what I bring as my coaching training.
Influence isn't shared evenly. The decisions senior people make affect a great many lives besides their own. That's why I work with them: not because of the title, but because when someone at the top takes the time to work out what they're for, it shows in how they treat everyone else.
Not advice. Somewhere to think.
Most coaching works on what you do: your goals, habits and performance. My approach is depth coaching, which also looks at who's doing it.
It starts from the idea that the question you bring is rarely just about the job. It's shaped by what you value, what has driven you this far, and the different parts of you that may want quite different things. One part wants to keep building, another wants to stop, and a third isn't sure either is right. Rather than picking a side, we look at what each is telling you, so the decision you make is one you can stand behind.
My training is in psychosynthesis, an approach developed by the Italian psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli, which brings together practical goals with a deeper sense of purpose and will. In practice, that means fewer frameworks and more good questions. It isn't therapy. We stay focused on your goals and the decision in front of you. If what you're carrying needs a therapist, I'll say so plainly and help you find a good one.
The principles behind my work
01
Scepticism welcome
If you’re sceptical about coaching, that’s reasonable. Some of it sadly deserves that reputation. The people I talk to often arrive sceptical, and I’d rather work with that than pretend otherwise.
02
Beyond 'the problem'
Most coaching aims at the presenting “problem”. I’m more interested in the person underneath it, and in the sense that something in you may already know the answer.
03
You have the answers
The approach I’m training in takes that seriously and is unusually practical about it. I won’t have the answers; the working assumption is that you do, somewhere. My job is the right questions. You’ll do most of the talking.
Who I work with
CEO's and Senior Leaders
You've climbed a long way inside an organisation, or carried a big public role perhaps in the NHS, Whitehall or local government, and you're wondering what comes next.
Founders and Business Owners
You built the business, and now it runs without you. Whether you're staying, stepping back or thinking of selling, it's a decision worth making properly.
Charity and Third Sector Leaders
The cause may have shaped your career, and stepping back can feel like letting people down. There's space here for your own question too.
Training and Credentials
My coaching training, the Certificate in Psychosynthesis Leadership Coaching, is accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), and I'm working towards individual accreditation.
I am under regular supervision with an experienced coaching supervisor and follow the EMCC Global Code of Ethics, so everything we discuss stays confidential, as set out in our coaching agreement.
Life beyond the work
Outside of work, I spend a fair bit of time walking. I'm slowly making my way along the 630-mile South West Coast Path, tackling it in stages whenever life and the weather allow.
We're a creative family, and I enjoy painting, sharing my art and getting along to gigs and festivals when I can.
And then there's Newcastle United. My dad took me to my first matches in the early 1980s, and I've been supporting them ever since. Long-suffering goes with the territory.
