I’m a Board Advisor, Non-Executive Director and author of 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀.

I help organisations unlock value, recover performance and deliver lasting growth.

Many boards I work with are highly experienced in their domain.

I believe that’s also a risk.

Experience shapes our bias. 

I see boards naturally over-index on what feels “known”: 
𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.

For example, technical boards default to technical solutions: 
𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 (𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦).

The real opportunity may be more creative:
𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴, 
𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦, 
𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴.

My role is to help boards rebalance:

→ Discipline 𝘢𝘯𝘥 creativity
→ Governance 𝘢𝘯𝘥 growth
→ Managing risk 𝘢𝘯𝘥 backing bold moves

In practice, that means:

- Bringing an outside-in lens to challenge inside-out thinking
- Understanding if decisions are two-way or one-way doors
- Looking for asymmetric bets with fat-tailed upside

The simple way I frame it:

𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝟭 - 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹
Cost Discipline, Risk Management, Governance
Essential. Protects value. 

𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝟮 - 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
Op. Excellence, Capital Allocation, Technology (inc. AI)
Improves productivity and returns. 
Necessary, but still incremental.

𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝟯 - 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Innovation, Growth Engines, Business Models
This is where trajectories change.

I help boards ensure L1 & 2 are solid,
then move deliberately and confidently into L3 -
with a strategy that is coherent across all three.

A primer on my experience:

- 15+ years across FTSE, private and family-owned businesses
- Investor readiness, sale preparation and due diligence
- Board-level strategy design across multiple industries
- Multi-year transformation leadership and governance
- Carve-outs and stand-ups of standalone businesses
- Business model and operating model innovation

If you’re navigating transformation, turnaround, or seeking bold growth, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, I’d welcome a conversation about how I can help your board drive value.

→ Message me here or reach out at Dan@DanMottram.com

Dan Mottram_

Dennis Geelen

Business Coach | Keynote Speaker | Author of The Happy Accidents newsletter and The Accidental Solopreneur book

I’ve spent most of my career helping people navigate change.

Sometimes that meant working with leadership teams and organizations.
Sometimes it meant coaching solopreneurs who were building something new after an unexpected turn.
And more recently, it’s meant telling true stories that remind us how unpredictable, strange, and meaningful real life can be.

At the core of everything I do is one idea:
people don’t change because of frameworks alone, they change because of perspective.

What I Do

I’m a speaker, author, and consultant who helps individuals and organizations make sense of uncertainty, transition, and unexpected opportunity.

My work focuses on:
 • Leadership and change
 • Human-centered decision making
 • Serendipity, timing, and “happy accidents”
 • Stories that challenge neat narratives about success and control

I’m currently building The Uncanny, a storytelling project exploring true stories that sound impossible but actually happened.

Who I Work With
 • Event organizers looking for keynote talks that are thoughtful, grounded, and story-driven
 • Organizations and nonprofits navigating change, leadership transitions, or cultural shifts
 • Individuals who want practical clarity through focused, one-hour coaching conversations

(I’m no longer actively promoting large programs or long-term coaching, but I still take on select conversations and workshops when there’s a strong fit.)

What I’ve Created
 • Author of The Zero In Formula and The Accidental Solopreneur
 • Host and creator of story-driven newsletters, podcasts, and short-form video content
 • Speaker on topics including change, leadership, serendipity, and starting before you feel ready

Want to Connect?

If you’re reaching out about:
 • Speaking engagements
 • A focused workshop or session
 • A thoughtful one-on-one coaching conversation

Feel free to DM me.

And if you’re someone who loves true stories that make you pause and say, “That can’t be real”…
you’ll probably enjoy what I’m building next.

Founder

Coaching and mentoring to help you start and scale your one-person business.

Seven years ago, I was laid off and decided to try consulting.

What followed looked like a logical path (at least on paper):
- learning LinkedIn,
- building a personal brand,
- writing books,
- starting a podcast and YouTube channel,
- eventually speaking on a TEDx stage.

But somewhere along the way, I noticed something I wasn’t unexpecting.

I wasn’t just doing those things to support my work. I was falling in love with the act of creating itself.

Writing.
Thinking.
Trying to articulate ideas clearly.
Exploring questions that don’t have neat answers.

It got my juices flowing.

I’ve realized recently that I enjoy that process as much as (if not more than) the consulting and coaching it originally served.

That realization has eventually led me to a new side project called The Uncanny.

It’s a space where I explore strange timing, coincidence, human behavior, and the ideas and stories that make us question how predictable the world really is.

I talk about that shift (and what it’s taught me) in a short video I just published.

(Sharing it here for anyone who’s curious.)

Speaker | Author | Consultant - Guiding organizations through leadership transitions and complexity

If you are a relatively good employee you can probably relate to this

You get your work done ahead of schedule, that should be a good thing right?
But no, now you have to pretend to be busy.
And it's stressful.

Because if you are seen sitting at your desk and you don't appear to be busy then you are immediately labeled as lazy or unproductive.

This is a real problem and I bet many of you have felt it.

Am I right?

"Oh, I was a bit rude to the cashier today but it was because I had a terrible morning and was late for a meeting, I'm not normally like that."

2 days later... 

"I can't believe how rude that person was to the waiter in the restaurant today."

We live in 2 different moral systems.

Most leadership training gets this backwards.

We teach people how to manage others…
before they know how to manage themselves.

And then we wonder why teams struggle.

There’re some uncomfortable truths we don’t like to acknowledge when it comes to leadership: 

- If you can’t manage your own reactions,
you can’t manage conflict.

- If you don’t understand your own personality, you’ll misread everyone else’s.

- If you don’t take responsibility for your results, you’ll blame your team.

- If you can’t prioritize your own time,
you’ll create chaos for everyone around you.

Contrary to what we like to think, leadership doesn’t start with strategy. 

It starts with self-awareness.

In my 12-week leadership coaching program through Zero In, the first four weeks are entirely about leading yourself.

It’s the foundation for everything that comes afterwards (where we then focus on leading individuals and then leading teams).

In those first four weeks, we dig into personality, stress triggers,
how others actually experience you,
how you respond under pressure,
and how you prioritize what matters.

Because once you can lead yourself…
leading others becomes exponentially easier.

If you’re serious about becoming the kind of leader people actually want to follow,
start there.

No alternative text description for this image

Some of the most damaging leaders I’ve seen weren’t incompetent.

They were unregulated.

Don’t get me wrong, they were smart,  strategic, and experienced.

But they couldn’t manage themselves.

They couldn’t control their reactions in tense moments.

They took feedback personally.

They blamed circumstances when results slipped.

They said “yes” to everything and then created chaos trying to deliver.

And their teams paid the price.

Leadership isn’t just about vision or communication.

It’s about emotional control.
Self-awareness.
Responsibility.
Discipline with your time and energy.

If you can’t lead your own habits, emotions, and priorities, you end up outsourcing the consequences to everyone around you.

And that’s when trust erodes.

Have you ever worked for a leader who struggled to lead themselves?

What did that look like and how did it affect the team?

Not to self: do more videos on LinkedIn 

This one just doesn’t want to slow down
Almost 750K views (so far).

Are you doing videos here?

graphical user interface, application, website

Is it your goals?
Is it your habits?
Is it your purpose?

Or is it actually none of those things?

Is high turnover always a sign of bad leadership?

Some of the best leaders I know are losing their highest performers.

How can that be?

I saw this question on Reddit recently (see image), and it stuck with me.

Because here’s what I’ve seen again and again:
There are great organizations, led by well-meaning, values-driven leaders, doing their best to support their people…who are still losing high-performing employees.

It's not because the culture is toxic or because the manager is incompetent.

It's because the work slowly stops feeling:
• Interesting
• Challenging
• Rewarding

When that happens, high performers don’t usually complain or disengage loudly. They just… leave.

Retention isn’t a culture problem as often as it’s a work design problem.

Over the last year, I’ve been studying this pattern and turned it into a simple framework I call The Motivated Employee, designed to help leaders diagnose why good people are leaving and what to do about it before they walk.

In December, I ran a free webinar on this topic with leaders from several organizations.

👉 If you lead a team (or an organization) and would like a copy of the recording and the accompanying materials, comment “MOTIVATION” or DM me and I’ll send it along.

No pitch. Just something I genuinely believe more leaders need right now.

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