Who is Sharon? Sharon Kennedy is a business leader and consultant who specializes in helping high-achieving leadership teams reach their goals. With a systemic approach, Sharon works with successful and ambitious individuals who find themselves at a crossroads—where progress seems more difficult than it should be despite their capability and intelligence. By focusing on aligning organizational goals with effective strategies, Sharon guides her clients to greater clarity and collective achievement, emphasizing business-level solutions over individual fixes. Her work is driven by a commitment to turning challenges into opportunities for alignment and business growth. Key Takeaways In this insightful episode, Sharon Kennedy shares her expertise on how leaders and businesses can gain better alignment in their work, especially when navigating complexity and uncertainty. She explains why many high-achieving individuals and leadership teams feel like something is “missing,” even when they’re doing so much right—and how stepping back, gaining clarity, and focusing on systemic coherence transforms both people and organizations. Key topics include: * Identifying the Type of Client Helped: Sharon discusses the kinds of ambitious leaders and teams she works with, who often find their progress harder than it should be and benefit from a systemic, not just individual, approach. * What Clients Have Tried Before: Many have read books, taken courses, or followed common advice, but struggle to see the results because true change requires personal insight and a shift in perspective. * The Power of Lightbulb Moments: Sharon explains that breakthroughs aren’t about doing things “wrong,” but about discovering new ways of seeing challenges and embracing novel solutions. * Sharon’s Process at Engage and Prosper: From open, candid diagnostics to supporting genuine business-wide alignment, Sharon covers her approach to lasting organizational change. * Valuable Takeaways: The importance of identifying areas of repeated friction, why strategy often fails to translate into reality, and why real coherence beats great intentions every time. * Inspiration & Influence: Sharon shares her influences, including Rory Sutherland and Simon Sinek, and reflects on what human behavior teaches us about creativity, bravery, and leadership. * The Killer Question: How do you know when your organization lacks coherence—and what can you do about it? Timestamps Overview * [00:00:31–00:01:15] Introduction of Sharon Kennedy and her background in talent and neuro-inclusion * [00:01:27–00:03:22] The characteristics of Sharon’s ideal clients and her focus on business systems, not just individuals * [00:03:23–00:05:07] What clients have tried previously and why change requires personal insight and self-determination * [00:07:10–00:09:18] Sharon’s process at Engage and Prosper: diagnostics, clarity benchmarking, and identifying points of friction in the business * [00:11:10–00:11:46] Why company values and real behaviors don’t always align—and what to do about it * [00:12:45–00:16:27] Sharon’s personal journey, influences, and what really prompted her approach to leadership coaching and coherence * [00:17:12–00:19:22] The “killer question”: Signs your organization or team lacks coherence, and what key indicators (like repeated unresolved issues) to look for Don’t forget: If you want to connect, ask questions, or get notified about upcoming guests like Maria subscribe to the newsletter here. You only need your first name and email—easy as (coffee) pie! And don’t forget: keep an eye out for next guest. To submit your own questions, subscribe to our newsletter and join the conversation! P.S. Loved this episode? Hit reply and let us know what resonated most _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to our newsletter and get details of when we are doing these interviews live at www.systemise.me/subscribe Find out more about being a guest at : link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/beaguest Subscribe to the podcast at https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/podcast Help us get this podcast in front of as many people as possible. Leave a nice five-star review at apple podcasts : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/apple-podcasts and on YouTube : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/Itsnotrocketscienceatyt! Do You Need a P.A.T.H. to Scale? We help established business owners with small but growing teams: go from feeling stuck, sceptical, and tired of wasting time and money on false promises, to running a confident, purpose-driven business where their team delivers results, customers are happy, and they can finally enjoy more time with their family - with a results-based refund guarantee: if you follow the process and it doesn’t work, we refund what you paid. This is THE P.A.T.H. to scale your business. ————————————————————————————————————————————- Transcript Note, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast. SUMMARY KEYWORDS neuroinclusion, talent development, innovation, education, high-growth sectors, leadership alignment, coaching, confidence building, skill development, business coherence, systemic approach, candidate-to-company pathway, fragmentation, fresh perspectives, clarity, diagnostic tools, Clarity benchmark, employee engagement, operational systems, team behavior, AI integration, onboarding challenges, early career hires, job fit, organizational congruence, company culture, values alignment, productivity, absenteeism, staff turnover, workplace coherence SPEAKER Sharon Kennedy, Stuart Webb Stuart Webb [00:00:00]: Don’t mess me about now. Now is not the time to mess me about. Hi and welcome back to It’s Not Rocket Science, 5 questions over coffee. I’m here with— this is my coffee, by the way. I’m here with, uh, Sharon, and she has got coffee as well in front of her. Sharon Kennedy is a, um, a coach, uh, helping to develop future talent. Uh, she’s, uh, works with people who are looking to develop high potential individuals in innovation, talent development, education. She’s helping people build skills, confidence, and insight necessary to move in the fast-moving, high-growth sectors, particularly interested in people with neuro-inclusion in their development. Stuart Webb [00:01:16]: So Sharon, welcome to It’s Not Rocket Science, 5 Questions Over Coffee, and thanks for being a guest. Sharon Kennedy [00:01:21]: Thanks for having me. Stuart Webb [00:01:24]: So tell me a little— Sharon Kennedy [00:01:25]: Perfect. Stuart Webb [00:01:27]: Let’s, let’s just explore a little bit. So if we’re looking at the sort of the, the person you’re trying to help, what is the, uh, what are the characteristics? What are the— what is it you, you are— you would say are the sort of, um, ideal client, ideal person you’re trying to help with this neuroinclusivity, building their confidence, uh, in this fast-paced environment of education and employment today? Sharon Kennedy [00:01:50]: Well, I suppose it’s— I suppose the first thing to say, and I understand why you’ve positioned it the way you have. But I— as much as I work on an individual level, I really come at it from a business level. That’s what we’re trying to achieve. And so, so the individual leader or individuals in this leadership team are, generally speaking, going to be quite successful and achieving lots of great things, lots of ambition, lots of intelligence, capability, and things like that. It’s more that they’re at a point where it seems harder than it should be. And they’re still pushing forward. And I think really, for me, what I try to do, and, and we as a business, is about helping them find alignment in what they’re trying to achieve and how they’re trying to achieve it. So it’s more of a systemic approach that we take to it. Sharon Kennedy [00:02:38]: So whilst all the things you described are exactly what we also do, you know, clarity, confidence, talent, uh, you know, development, and the sort of candidate-to… Get full access to The Leak at thecompleteapproach.substack.com/subscribe
