Meet Annette

At no other time in history has organizational leadership been so demanding. Leaders are not only accountable for business performance but for employee well-being & development; Leaders are working in unprecedented levels of complexity, change & uncertainty.

Annette Burns Young’s work in inspiring and igniting courageous and heart-centered leadership is timely and relevant. With over 25 years of leading teams and businesses, she has deep “in the field” experience of organizational life – growth, change, crisis, and transformation.

From early in her leadership life, and today as a coach and facilitator, she has been practicing, studying, and unpacking leadership. As a life-long learner, she trains in and explores various fields that she integrates into her work: organizational systems, psychology, adult development, neuroscience, organizational constellation theory, embodiment, and mindfulness.

She is an Integral Professional Coach; an Integral Facilitator; A NLP Master Practitioner; A GTCI Systemic Team Coach. She works with both Founders and Corporate Leaders and multicultural and international teams.

While Annette works as an executive coach and facilitator to leaders & leadership teams, she and her team also provide scaled coaching and learning solutions to make development accessible to all levels within an organization.

Growing up in “the troubles” in Northern Ireland, books were my escape, my passion, and a tantalising view of a possible future. I read a book from the school library every day from the age of 7 and had an adult library card aged 11. So began a lifelong love of learning, travel and an enduring curiosity about the world and other cultures.

At 19 I travelled alone across the US and after finishing a ski season in Colorado I joined some friends in travelling across Mexico and central America. Travelling alone and then in a war-torn region, made me mature quickly. Having to negotiate at militarised check points; navigate curfews, source food and transport in countries without  much of either sharpened self -leadership skills and made me resilient. I returned to London  to  finish my education, but hungry  for more travel, more experiences that tested my mettle.

A  career in magazine publishing followed. It was fast-paced, highly competitive, and exciting. There was always a new opportunity, a new team, another promotion that I wasn’t quite ready for.  I built my career in both London and Dublin.  My career in publishing could be described a game of two halves  - fast growth then extreme disruption. As I moved from the corporate world to independent publishing to entrepreneurship I got to experience all that business has to offer – fast growth, recession, industry disruption and reinvention. Constant change made me innovative, and wise to the fact that nothing lasts forever and helped  build my nerve for challenge. I was constantly learning and practicing what I learned. I loved it all but rode that dizzy wave to the point of burnout.

Burnout which led to a period of serious illness stopped me in my tracks. 

For the first time, I realised the world wasn’t mine for the taking. It was humbling and I was vulnerable, and during the long slow recovery I realised that enduring success and building the life that I want starts with taking care of myself. For a decade I travelled the world seeking out teaching and knowledge that forged a new way of living; building my resilience mentally, physically, and psychologically. I trained and practiced as a Pilates teacher, trained extensively in yoga, explored nutrition programmes and did mindfulness and meditation training. All of this proved to me that leadership demands not only strategic ability & experience but deep, inner resilience.

Coaching isn’t only my living—it is my way of life.

I have always been coaching:  myself, friends, then colleagues, teams & businesses. I am always fascinated by what is within others that they may not have seen for themselves. From my very first management job, I have been studying leadership. Every day in the field I unpacked what I did, what worked, what didn’t. I read everything I could and observed others as they worked.  I saw how the demands of leadership shifted and expanded from managing performance to developing people and building not just teams, but orchestrating the crucial team dynamic.  That’s what inspired me to set up my leadership consultancy.

We have never expected so much from leaders as we do now. Not only are we expected to achieve business performance in increasingly complexity and challenge, but to build deeper connections between people, teams, and stakeholders. My work is to support leaders in leading with stamina, connection and courage. As a business owner & entrepreneur, I continue to practice and learn myself.

In 2020, I achieved a much-cherished dream… to live in a Spanish culture. So while my work and training take me all over the world, home is the beautiful island of Mallorca.