Maureen Adams MBA, ACC

Leadership can look confident from the outside — while feeling heavy on the inside.

If you’re an emerging manager or an established leader, you may be carrying a lot: new expectations, bigger visibility, tricky people dynamics, competing priorities, and the pressure to “get it right.” And when your mindset is running on overthinking, multi-tasking or constant proving, leadership quickly becomes exhausting, even when you’re capable.

I work with managers and leaders who want to lead with more clarity, confidence and calm. Not by adding more to your to-do list, but by strengthening the mindset beneath your leadership: how you think under pressure, how you hold boundaries, how you communicate, and how you make decisions when the stakes are high.

For organisations and leadership teams, I help create the conditions where people do their best work: stronger alignment, clearer communication, better collaboration, and cultures that retain good people because they feel seen, challenged and supported.

My coaching is rooted in a simple belief: when people understand what matters to them, play to their strengths, and feel equipped to handle the hard conversations, they don’t just perform better — they lead better. That’s when you see real shifts: less reactivity, more trust, and teams that move forward together.

Alongside my coaching credentials (ICF accreditation and a Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching), I bring lived leadership experience — over 20 years building and leading teams at senior level, shaping strategy, and implementing operational playbooks. I also remain close to leadership realities as a non-executive board member. I understand the pressure points because I’ve been there — and I know what it takes to lead through them with integrity.

If you’re ready to strengthen your leadership mindset, navigate change with more confidence, and create a more aligned way of working, let’s talk. I work with individuals and/or teams.

✅ Book in and let’s talk about what you’re navigating — and what you want to create next for you and/or your team. I’ll be the coach in your corner.
https://go.oncehub.com/MaureenAdams30min

CEO and Founder of Cumulus Coaching Ltd

An executive coaching company whose purpose is to enable individuals, teams, and organisations to transform how they work to create more value through working collaboratively and with a clearly defined purpose. 

I help people at the managerial level to get the best from their teams and to recognise the value of motivation for themselves and others through aligning with their strengths and values

Why it’s so hard to “be strategic” when you’re a manager (and why senior leaders don’t always want you to).

If you’ve ever been told, “You need to be more strategic,”  your first thought might have been, “Sure… but when exactly?”

I work with capable, committed managers and leaders who make decisions all day.  They hold teams together, manage competing priorities, address conflict, deliver results, and set the emotional tone of the room. But they’re often running out of bandwidth.

In theory, strategic thinking is about the bigger picture: direction, priorities, trade-offs, and long-term impact.

In practice, managers often hear “be strategic” as:
📌Take more initiative.
📌Fix the problems before they reach me.
📌Think like a leader… but still deliver everything you’re delivering now.
📌Bring me solutions, not problems.

So they try to squeeze “thinking time” into the gaps between meetings. They keep a notebook of ideas and set intentions.
But then their day unfolds...A resignation, a customer escalation and another “quick question” that isn’t quick.

Strategic thinking isn’t a single moment of brilliance. It’s a mental mode.
It needs space for activities such as connecting patterns and questioning assumptions. (Two factors we explore in coaching)

It includes imagining alternatives and weighing trade-offs, and even 
saying “no” to good ideas so you can say “yes” to the right options.

Most managers I coach are stuck in a double bind:
It’s not that they don’t want to be strategic, but that the cost can feel high.
And when you’ve built your reputation on being dependable, it can feel risky to change how you work.

So, how do you become more strategic without dropping the ball?

Strategic thinking can start small, with behaviours that create leverage.
Here are a few practical shifts that work well in the real world:

Create a protected 30-minute “strategy appointment” each week for yourself as a protected slot. 

Use it to answer three questions:
✅​What is the most important outcome right now?
✅​What am I doing that doesn’t actually support it?
✅​What decision, if made now, would make the next month easier?

This is exactly where coaching helps, not by giving you a generic “be strategic” checklist, but by working with your context, such as where your time leaks are, which decisions you’re carrying unnecessarily and what you might actually stop doing.

So let’s make strategic thinking possible in the reality you’re operating in.

If you’d like support with this, you can book a short session with me.

Maureen Adams ICF ACC

Executive Leadership Coach | Leadership Development for Individuals and Teams | NED and Chair| Business Owner of Cumulus Coaching

It can seem impossible to climb the corporate ladder.

But it represents the pinnacle of leadership and decision-making. 

Why shouldn't this be your ambition if you could make a difference?

The barriers I hear as a coach are:
''I'm not sure I fit in at the leadership level.''
''I am not really that strategic.''

You may not have felt a great fit in the past, but leadership roles and senior teams are shaped differently now. 

What was considered an established C-Suite leadership style is changing.

The traditional capabilities of financial, strategic, and operational resource focus remain highly relevant. But when companies today search for top leaders, they also prioritise strong social skills and digital literacy.

To get that into shape, here are three questions you can ask yourself to think yourself into the role:

1. What Sets Me Apart as a Leader?

Reflect on your unique strengths, skills, and values that distinguish you as a leader. Understanding your leadership differentiators is crucial for crafting a compelling personal brand and positioning yourself effectively. 

2. Am I Actively Building Strategic Relationships? 

Evaluate the depth and breadth of your professional network. Ask yourself if you're proactively building connections with mentors, influential leaders, and peers within and outside your organisation. 

3. How Am I Continuously Developing My Leadership Skills? 

Reflect on your commitment to ongoing learning and self-improvement.  Assess whether you're staying abreast of industry trends, updating your skill set, and embracing new knowledge. 

4. Am I strategic?

If you feel unfamiliar with the concept of being strategic, you are not alone. I often find that people who do not recognise themselves as strategic frequently use strategic thinking in their day-to-day work. It is simply a way to understand the reason for the destination or the problem you are trying to solve and to identify a direction of travel. 

The details are in the implementation. The strategy is the focus. If you want to work on this aspect of leadership, I recommend Richard Rumelt's book 'Good Strategy, Bad Strategy.

He maintains that the kernel of a good strategy has 3 elements: a diagnosis, a guiding policy, and coherent action. Add strong social skills to those elements, and you will not only have a strategic plan, but a team willing to work with you to deliver it.

If you can develop a personal narrative that underscores your skills and abilities, you will find that ladder of success not so difficult to climb.

Yes, there will be challenges and hurdles; otherwise, it wouldn't be the defining role that it is. Having those softer emotional intelligence skills and the ability to relate to people at all levels will also help you achieve success.

Many successful people partner with an executive coach to help them unpack their answers to these questions, address their blindspots, and find their focus.

Why not you?

Leadership turnover is rising.

Not because leaders can’t cope, but because they’re thinking more carefully about what comes next.

Recently, I have been quietly helping a number of people move from manager to leader and director level to the C-Suite.

They are all very experienced, and their confidence is high, despite the challenging job market.

The issues they have been dealing with are:

📌Finding the space to think strategically about the next role when delivering day to day

📌Recognising and feeling comfortable talking about their skills and talents naturally.

📌Ensuring the CV and the executive summary showcase their deliverables also reflect their personality, not just what they've delivered, but who they are.

📌Carving out time to do the research on the role and the company while keeping focused on their performance; that's a whole new post in itself!

So we slow down just a little, not do less, but to think more strategically and feel more aligned in our mind, body and emotions so we can optimise the opportunity.

We look at which roles genuinely fit them, where their strengths will land well, and where they have the greatest chance of thriving and not just getting through another interview cycle. There's breadth and a depth to this work rather than a dash to the finishing line

It's work I love because it's forward-looking and energising. I have seen people really successfully lean into their personality rather than an AI version of their technical abilities. But always by understanding the importance of the relationship they are building with the new opportunity.

When you think about it, we invest in support for almost every area of our lives — our health, our homes, our families. Yet careers, which shape so much of how we live and feel, are often left to chance.

This kind of work isn’t just about progress. It’s about why.

Values. Purpose. Self-belief and Self-Awareness of how you may have changed.

The parts of leadership that make you feel human again, not just productive.

And honestly, that’s usually where the real shift begins.

I’m always happy to offer a quiet, thoughtful conversation to help you make sense of what’s next.

The Gicopoulos Group - Strategic Business Turnaround Accelerator

Strategic Business Turnaround Catalysts

➡️Undertaking strategic business turnaround mandates  including planning and implementation/execution with a focus on profitability,  evaluation of BD&L opportunities and coaching for various customers.  

➡️Guest lecturer on AI and 5G in life sciences, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

BUSINESS Expertise:

✅Strategy, Portfolio Planning +  Commercialization,  Business Unit Development,  Leadership, Traditional  & Life Science Marketing & Sales, P&L,  BD&L,   Marketing & Sales Management + Training, Pipeline Prioritization,

THERAPEUTIC AREA  Expertise (kindly refer to remainder of profile for detailed specifics): 

✅Conventional & #BIOPharma, Specialty & Orphan #PHARMA including Gene Therapies, #Vaccines, #Medical Devices, #Generics

Business COACHING /Consulting ( ask me about the difference please): 

Analysis & Perspective 
✅Situational,   Commercial,  Leadership,   Organizational,   Financial  

Planning & Implementation 
✅Commercial,  Financial,   Human Resource,  Long Range 
 
Control
✅Accountability / Performance Management,  Succession Planning,  Automation,  Exit Strategies

❤️PASSIONS:   #PeakPerformance  #Philanthropy  #Mindset  #Personal Development  #Pivots

☯️VALUES & CORNERSTONES of my PRACTISE:    #Integrity  #Reciprocity  #Goals  #Accountability   #Results

Strategic Business Turnaound Accelerator, Shaper, Advisor, Consultant, Coach

McGill University

As part of  the McGill University office of Innovation and Partnerships , the MIF is a strategic support mechanism focused on providing to the McGill community the ability to accelerate the development of their invention or company, while facilitating entrepreneurial activity that will advance a technology or product toward real world impact, be it commercial, social, or environmental.

As a RAB member I support a MIF team throughout the year to work through roadblocks, identify priorities, and plan next steps.

Recipient Advisory Board (RAB) member 

Novartis

•	Drove strategic direction and implemented 30+ product portfolio transfers from Alcon. 
•	Maximized brand and market development opportunities with new launches and line extensions.
•	Led integration of two Ophthalmology business units and actively contributed to an optimization 
                team focused on maximizing cross-divisional opportunities including the generic business. 

AWARD: President’s Award of  Excellence for the Integration of the Canadian Alcon and Novartis Ophthalmology Business Units

Marketing Director, Ophtalmology Portfolio

•	Developed and implemented novel Proof of Commercial Concept Pipeline Prioritization model
•	Created global center of excellence for strategic pre-launch planning
•	Developed  and published comprehensive Pipeline Playbook on maximizing pre- launch 
        opportunities within global, matrix, cross-functional teams
•	Led local NPP BD&L evaluations and was a contributing author to a global due diligence report for CV asset
•	Led therapeutic areas teams in: CVRR, Heart Failure, CV Metabolism, Asthma, COPD, MS, NS, Retina, 
         and Rare Diseases. 
 
AWARSDs:
        -    Presidents Award for Excellence in Pre- Launch Planning
        -    Commercial Excellence Award for Pipeline Prioritization

Director, New Product Planning / Pipeline

Pharmascience

•	Led Marketing Strategy and Pipeline Selection to  identify, evaluate and execute on business opportunities, including licensing and strategic alliances
•	Hired an analyst and developed dynamic forecasting models to mitigate risk in pipeline segmentation and licensing opportunities
•	Completed international country and deal-specific alliance evaluations for in-licensing, JV and M&A
•	Led completion of successive 200-day plans with KPIs for sales, marketing and regulatory

Director of Marketing and Strategy -International

Consulting: Sales, Marketing Business Development

Undertook various consulting mandates including strategic planning, evaluation of BD&L opportunities and coaching for various customers.

Principal

Methapharm Inc.

•	Assumed interim GM responsibilities at the outset and inspired and led Marketing & Sales team comprising of Asthma, Critical Care, and Transplantation franchises. 
•	Evaluated & developed recommendations for in-licensing opportunities leading to the acquisition of  3 new pharmaceutical products
•	Created substantial savings by restructuring sales force and other operational positions as well as by carrying out in-house qualitative research on market viability of a line extension for 40 key US hospitals
•	Implemented sustainable price increases across all products while maintaining ~ 70% share of the asthma franchise even > 3 years of generic erosion

Vice President Sales and Marketing

•	Hired, led and inspired cross functional Marketing and Pipeline teams for GSK Vaccines (Hepatitis, 
        Pertussis, Varicella, Malaria, Typhoid portfolios), towards maximum ROI and optimal sales. 
•	Led the annual development and implementation long range strategic & operating plans and P&L
•	Product launches/ Pipeline (NPP):
           - Drove speedier approval of the first ever- Canadian hexavalent vaccine in infant Hep B/Pertussis 
           - Developed strategy and oversaw successful launch of a new 2nd entry varicella vaccine 
           - Oversaw pipeline initiatives (BD&L) and recommended launches for 3 new future vaccines
•	Developed new key account partnership program in travel clinics

GSK Vaccines: Group Product Manager 

Merck

•	Managed, hired and inspired sales team of 11 towards surpassing annual sales objectives 
•	Negotiated & secured several 1-3 year provincial contracts for exclusive use of Merck vaccines in 
        the face of multiple competitors
•	Doubled Hepatitis Vaccine share via key travel clinic partnership programs
•	Led task force on National #Standards for Sales Force sizing, productivity, targeting and rewards 
•	Championed and steered new company-wide Employee #Retention Strategy

Regional Business Manager - Vaccines

•	Managed 3 major brands and led launch of VARIVAX II, including an award winning 4-city PR 
            campaign 
•	Coordinated completion of 2 landmark Health Economic studies on varicella and on 2nd dose     M-M-R vaccination helping to secure  a 3-year contract for M-M-R II with the Quebec government for > 500,000 doses 
•	Secured largest one-time pneumococcal vaccination program in the world: > 400,000 doses sold to Ontario and sat on Pneumococcal Immunization Committee reporting to the Ontario Min. of Health - an industry first

Awards: International & National #Awards of #Excellence for pre-launch + launch plans for VARIVAX II

Brand Manager - Vaccines

•	Implemented Cardiovascular Direct to Consumer (DTC) campaign, which served as a model for 
        future company DTCs.
•	Created and implemented promotion plans for 5 therapeutic areas, adapting US worldwide promotion tools

Marketing Communications Manager

Welcome - I’m George & my expertise is tailored to solve your toughest business problems through strategy! 

As a strategic guru/maestro, I provide multimillion-$$ companies with a strategic lifeline to navigate storms & figure out where to direct efforts: Where to play & how to win, especially when hitting revenue roadblocks or needing to grow revenue 2X-10X.

My talents & skills are below, so let's focus on you!

Your Problem:  

You know how your multi-million $$$ business was successful & then revenues hit a wall & flatlined, or headed south, & you don’t know how to grow revenues, a lot.
 
You're struggling to see the path to the next level & instead of being a visionary & working on the business to grow $$$, you work harder in the business & become Chief of Every Little Thing.

You're stuck in the weeds, micromanaging, putting out fires & not preventing them. You work longer hours, your team gets demotivated & loses trust, turnover increases. 

Like quicksand, the more you dig in the deeper you sink.

You rely on old patterns to treat the symptoms &  not the root of the real problem. You need to slow down & check blind spots & gain momentum.

Why trust us to provide direction & throw you a strategic lifeline out of the quicksand of operational overwhelm?

Why we're the perfect fit to fix this problem?

✅Reality + Results vs Theory: With 35+ years of hands on experience we  deliver results in uncertainty & complexity.

✅Distilling the Signal from Noise: Clients chose us because we bring a fresh set of very experienced & unbiased eyes to spot trends others don't. We ask impactful questions, navigate complexities, boil down tons of info & simplify problems to connect dots.

✅Tailored Turnarounds: No off the shelf, band aid, solutions or short cuts going straight to tactics. We turn around businesses using strategic fundamentals to customize transformation or pivots to revitalize your business.

✅Partnering with Us Means: Checking blind spots for perspective + goal clarity, doing a true business review, building/bulletproofing your strategic blueprint with realistic plans that produce tangible results.

Like a secret weapon, our #strategy helps you understand reality & gives you direction to anticipate crises or mine/max out opportunity to future proof your business & thrive in any environment.

We lead on a tailored & structured program, building your business & maybe even the lifestyle you dreamed of so your business runs on auto pilot.

✅Partner with us!

DM / e-mail: George@TheGicopoulosGroup.com or let's meet:

https://calendly.com/georgegicopoulos

taplio

The Battle

Maureen Adams MBA, ACC

George Gicopoulos 🌐 Strategic Business Turnaround Accelerator

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreMaureen Adams MBA, ACC's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Maureen Adams MBA, ACC

George Gicopoulos 🌐 Strategic Business Turnaround Accelerator

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Maureen Adams MBA, ACC's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreMaureen Adams MBA, ACC's LinkedIn Performance