Founder of RISE | Connecting Professionals With Top Executive Coaches | Follow for Career & Leadership Insights

If you’re a professional wondering what’s next in your career and want to move forward with clarity and confidence, RISE was built for you.

I’m Tim Thomas, Founder of RISE – a platform that connects professionals with accredited career coaches. It's designed to help you take control of your career and make meaningful progress, whether you’re looking to move up, pivot, or find your next opportunity.

I know what it’s like to reinvent yourself. After leaving a stable job in headhunting, my first business didn’t survive the market upheaval, but it taught me a crucial lesson: resilience matters, but strategy and support matter more.

Since then, I’ve:
→ Built Wealthy Media into a publishing group reaching 10M+ daily readers
→ Led teams across finance, recruitment, and publishing
→ Been featured in MSN, Yahoo, and The Street
→ Founded RISE to help professionals move forward without losing momentum

Today, RISE supports professionals across industries, including banking, law, and tech, with coaches trusted by organisations like Citi, HSBC, and Barclays.

Here’s how you can get started:
🔹 Follow me for insights on leadership, career transitions, and professional growth
🔹 Subscribe to the RISE Newsletter for weekly strategies that work
🔹 Visit our website to schedule your free career consultation or send me a message

You don’t have to stay in a role that no longer fits.

With the right guidance, you can build a career that reflects who you are now and move forward with purpose.

Emotional Intelligence isn’t soft. 
It’s smart leadership.

The most effective leaders don’t command attention; they earn trust. 

They know how to bring out the best in others by the way they communicate.

→ They build confidence instead of fear.
→ They turn mistakes into learning.
→ They create psychological safety and genuine collaboration.

Because leadership isn’t about having all the answers.

It’s about creating the space where others feel safe to speak up, share ideas, and grow.

Which of these phrases do you use most often and which one could you use more?

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Tim Thomas

Founder of RISE | Connecting Professionals With Top Career Coaches | Follow for Career & Leadership Insights

Most leadership problems don’t start in the office.

They start in the mind.

I’ve seen brilliant leaders undone not by strategy, not by skill, but by the one thing they never learned to train: their emotional patterns.

Exceptional leaders all have one thing in common:

They’ve built an emotionally intelligent brain that can hold pressure without collapsing into reactivity, defensiveness, or ego.

These 7 qualities show up again and again:

1️⃣ Pause: They don’t fire back. They think forward.
2️⃣ Safety: People aren’t scared of them, so performance isn’t either.
3️⃣ Awareness: They read the room before the room reads them.
4️⃣ Calm: Chaos doesn’t pull them off center.
5️⃣ Humility: They adjust, apologize, recalibrate – fast.
6️⃣ Presence: They listen like the conversation matters.
7️⃣ Respect: They hold the line without losing the relationship.

Stepping into a bigger role or carrying the weight of your current one can be demanding.

Developing these qualities is one of the most important investments a leader can make.

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Most leadership problems aren’t caused by a lack of intelligence.

They’re caused by a lack of emotional intelligence. 

People aren’t leaving companies, they’re leaving leaders who don’t listen, don’t adapt, and don’t connect.

What we call “unintelligent leadership” today isn’t about competence.

It’s about disconnection:

→ Telling instead of listening
→ Micromanaging instead of trusting
→ Avoiding hard conversations
→ Confusing fear with influence
→ Treating people as tasks, not human beings

The leaders who stand out now, and the ones people actually want to follow, do almost the opposite.

They listen first.
They own mistakes.
They lead with humility.
They hold people accountable and support their well-being.
They create psychological safety and clarity at the same time.

The future belongs to the emotionally intelligent leader.

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Are you leading or micromanaging?

Most leaders don’t become micromanagers because they want to. 

They do it because they care about quality, consistency, and outcomes. 

This week’s carousel covers 12 real indicators you might be micromanaging, and, more importantly, how to back off without lowering standards.

A few reminders worth bookmarking:

🔹 If you need to approve everything, it’s time to set clearer decision boundaries.

🔹 If you’re checking every minute detail, shift your focus to outcomes, not process.

🔹 If you’re requesting constant updates, create a check-in rhythm that allows space and autonomy.

🔹 If you hesitate to delegate, start small — confidence grows on both sides.

🔹 And if you’re rewriting work unnecessarily? Accept “good enough” long before perfection.

At RISE, we coach leaders every day who are ready to step out of micromanagement and into true leadership – the kind that inspires ownership, unlocks potential, and scales results.

If you suspect you’re getting in your team’s way (most leaders do at some point), that’s not failure.

It’s your invitation to lead differently.

✔️ If you’re ready to become a leader people want to follow, book your free RISE career consultation with me. (Link in top comments & featured)

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12 Indicators You’re a Micromanager

Most people think promotions come from grinding harder.

They don’t.

Promotions come from thinking like a leader before anyone gives you the title. 

Decisions. Ownership. Calm under pressure. 

These behaviors get noticed far faster than ambition alone.

Here are 10 shifts that move high performers up much faster: 

1. Stop hiding your wins.
Visibility isn’t vanity – it’s strategy. Share your impact, not just your effort.

2. Manage up (not suck up).
Understand your boss’s goals and help them hit them. That’s influence, not flattery.

3. Build depth, not just speed.
 Fast work fades. Smart, strategic work gets remembered.

4. Ask for feedback and actually use it.
High performers ask. Promotable leaders apply.

5. Invest in communication.
How you write, speak, and listen shapes how ready people believe you are.

6. Become the team’s safety net.
Reliability is leadership’s quiet currency.

7. Fix problems that aren’t “yours.”
Initiative separates managers from future leaders.

8. Know your next role better than your current one.
Study the gap. Start closing it now.

9. Get a coach or mentor.
The fastest growth doesn’t come from hustle – it comes from structured reflection.

If you’re ready to accelerate your progression without burning out, that’s exactly what we do at RISE.

Real coaches. Personal matching. Proven results.

🔗 Book your free career consultation (link in comments & featured)

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10 Ways to Get Promoted Faster

The difference between a good leader and a great one isn’t brilliance.  

Its intention.

Good leaders get results because they know the system.

Great leaders elevate people because they understand themselves.

The leaders who stand out (the ones people willingly follow) make deliberate shifts in how they think, communicate, and show up. 

Not dramatic moves. Just better choices, made consistently.

Here are 8 shifts that change everything:

1. Gives feedback → Creates a feedback culture
2. Listens to respond → Listens to understand
3. Delegates tasks → Empowers ownership
4. Solves problems → Builds problem-solvers
5. Stays calm under pressure → Regulates emotions & models EQ
6. Motivates teams → Inspires belief and shared purpose
7. Manages performance → Coaches growth and potential
8. Leads with clarity → Leads with courage and empathy

If you’re committed to rising from good to great, pick one shift and practice it this week.

Leadership grows in the moments most people overlook.

Which shift resonates for you right now?

If you're at a career crossroads, book a free career consultation to find out whether community, training, or coaching is right for you. 

Booking link in comments & featured. 

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When the pressure is high. 

Your team isn’t looking for a “perfect” leader. 

They’re looking for a regulated one.

Your emotional state becomes the culture your team works in.

If you’re anxious, they absorb it.

If you’re steady, they rise with you.

Here are 12 ways strong leaders show up under pressure: 

1. Regulate yourself first
2. Give certainty even when you don’t have all the answers
3. Listen more than you talk
4. Make decisions from data, not anxiety
5. Absorb stress instead of amplifying it
6. Prioritize instead of chasing perfection
7. Overcommunicate expectations
8. Build resilience, not just results
9. Own your mistakes publicly
10. Give your team a sense of control
11. Be ruthless with your calendar
12. Keep perspective: every storm passes

How you show up today shapes what your team believes is possible tomorrow.

If you’re a leader navigating challenge, change, or career transition – you don’t have to do it alone.

Book a free career consultation (link in top comments & featured).

Real coaches. Personal matching. Proven results.

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12 Ways to Lead wtih EI

Forget the values on the wall.

Culture shows up the moment something goes wrong.

After tension, disagreement, or a tough decision, people will either:
 • retreat
 • resent
 • or reset and move forward

Only one of those builds a healthy culture and it has nothing to do with motivational slogans or corporate posters.

Real culture is built (or broken) in the micro-interactions leaders often overlook:

- How you challenge.
- How you clarify.
- How you repair.
- How you close the room so people leave feeling respected, not diminished.

If you're leading a team, here’s the real test: How do people feel after a difficult conversation with you?

If you want to strengthen the way you lead under pressure – let’s talk.

👉 Book your free Career Consultation. (Link in top comments & featured). 
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Most people manage down the org chart,

But the real career movers manage up. 

If you want bigger roles, bigger trust, and bigger opportunities, start leading your boss before they ask.

Managing up isn’t about flattery or politics. 

It’s about creating clarity, reducing friction, and helping your organisation move faster by choosing to lead from where you are.

Here are 3 practical ways you can start managing up today:

1️⃣ Anticipate their needs.
Great leaders don’t wait to be told. They see what’s coming, prepare early, and make life easier for the people above them.

2️⃣ Clarify priorities ruthlessly.
Your boss is juggling more than you realise. Ask, “What matters most this week?” Then align your work with that answer. It’s one of the simplest ways to stand out.

3️⃣ Solve – don’t dump.
Don’t bring problems. Bring options. Better yet, bring a recommended path. Decision-makers will trust you faster.

If you want to move up, be seen, and lead with more impact, mastering these skills is non-negotiable.

👉 If you’re ready to accelerate your career, book a free career consultation with RISE. Link in top comments & featured. 

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Thinking about leaving your job… 

But terrified you’ll blow up your life if you do it “wrong”?

Most people treat career change like a dramatic jump off a cliff. 

In reality, the people who actually make it out of corporate and into their own business do it very differently: they follow a plan.

That’s what this 10-Stage Exit Plan is about. 

It walks you through the real sequence I use with clients who want to move from employee to entrepreneur without torching their finances, confidence or reputation:

- Getting honest about the wake-up call (comfort vs fulfilment)
- Doing a skills audit so you know what people will actually pay you for
- Starting a side hustle while you’re still on salary
- Building a financial cushion and choosing a real exit date
- Activating your network, getting your first clients

And making the mindset shift from employee thinking to ownership thinking

Swipe through the carousel, save it, and ask yourself honestly:

Which stage am I actually in right now? (Not the one you wish you were in.)

If you’re serious about exiting your role in the next 6–12 months, don’t try to white-knuckle it alone.

At RISE, we match you with a coach who understands both leadership and life 
outside the corporate walls. Together, you’ll map your version of this plan and turn “one day” into a real timeline.

🔗 Book your free Career Consultation via the link in my bio.
 
Let’s make your exit strategic, not impulsive.

Tim Thomas, Founder, RISE Leadership
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The 10-Stage Exit Plan That Works

Most careers don’t fall apart because of one big mistake.

They erode slowly through quiet compromises, silence, and staying small.

If this hit a nerve, here are 3 actions you can take today to shift your trajectory:

1. Make One Bold Move Before the Weekend Ends
Send the email. Research a new role. Say the thing. Set the boundary.
A single intentional action will shift more than a year of passive frustration.

2. Stop Doing It Alone – Find a Community That Lifts You
Mid-career isn’t the moment to shrink into isolation. Surround yourself with people who challenge your thinking, champion your growth, and remind you you’re not losing it, you’re evolving.

3. Book a Career Consultation with RISE Leadership
Get a straight-talking, high-signal conversation about where you are, why you’re stuck, and the real next steps you’ve been avoiding. 

Your career doesn’t need a rescue mission; it needs a decision.

RISE is here when you’re ready.

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For a lot of professionals, this line hits harder than it should. 

Not because you’re not good at your job. 

Most people aren’t overlooked because they lack talent.

They’re overlooked because their impact is invisible.

Here are a few practical ways to increase your visibility at work:

1. Share “work-in-progress” updates, not polished essays.
One short message a week:
“Here’s what I’m working on → why it matters → what’s next.”
People can’t support what they can’t see.

2. Connect your work to the bigger picture.
When you show how your task ties into a team or business goal, leaders understand your value without you having to “sell yourself.”

3. Ask one clarifying question in meetings.
A simple, grounded question (“What’s the real priority here?”) shows strategic thinking and gets you remembered for the right reasons.

4. Turn wins into shared wins.
Instead of “I did this,” try:
“Here’s what the team achieved this week and the difference it made.”
It signals contribution without self-promotion.

5. Make your thinking visible.
A quick note explaining a decision you made, a risk you prevented, or a problem you solved gives people clarity they wouldn’t otherwise have.

And if you want help getting seen for the work you’re already doing, RISE Leadership can support you.

Our coaches have been there and done that, and are ready and to match with you and get your career on track. 

Book a career consultation (free), link in top comments & featured. 

Tim Thomas, Founder
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If you want career confidence. 

Stop waiting for it.

You build it one deliberate move at a time.

These are the habits that separate people who hope for opportunities from people who create them.

At RISE Leadership, we see this every day. Leaders who were overlooked suddenly become indispensable. 

People who felt “not ready” discover they’ve been ready for years — they just needed a framework to prove it to themselves.

That’s why we focus on three foundations (see cheatsheet👇):

🔹 Self-Advocacy — Speak clearly about your value, not apologetically.
🔹 Skill Visibility — Your work matters, but only if people can see it.
🔹 Courageous Micro-Moves — Confidence grows through action, not theory.

Small, strategic behaviours. Repeated consistently. This is what builds a career that feels intentional instead of accidental.

If you’re feeling stuck, under-recognised, or unsure how to move from “good” to “undeniable”… you don’t need to figure it out alone.

👉 Book your free Career Consultation and let’s map out the next level of your career with clarity, structure, and momentum. (Link in top comments & featured). 

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Redundancy is never easy

But it can be a turning point, not a dead end.

When our coaches work with clients going through career disruption. 

The goal isn’t to “bounce back.” 

It’s to rebuild with intention. 

To pause, reset, and decide what the next version of success looks like – not the old one.

If you’re in that space right now, here’s the reminder most people need:

You still have value. You still have options. You still have agency.

A strategic reset starts with small steps – clarifying what you want, understanding your market value, reconnecting with your network, and telling your story with confidence rather than apology.

You don’t need all the answers today.

You just need direction, momentum, and support.

If that’s what you’re looking for, we can help.

Real coaches. Personal matching. Proven results.

👉 Book your free career consultation (link in top comments, featured)

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Rebuilding After Redundancy

If good people keep leaving your team. 

It’s not “the market.”

It’s your culture – and culture is leadership.

The pattern is almost always the same:

➡️ High turnover
➡️ People afraid to speak up
➡️ Rising stress
➡️ Cliques and favouritism
➡️ Communication breakdowns

These aren’t random issues.

They’re early warning signs that leadership needs to shift.

Good people don’t leave good leaders.

They leave environments that make it hard to stay.

Toxic culture is fixable  and it starts with small, immediate actions.

The leaders who turn things around act quickly on the fundamentals:

✔️ Run honest exit interviews
✔️ Increase transparency in decisions
✔️ Make it safe to give feedback
✔️ Rotate opportunities and remove favouritism
✔️ Communicate clearly and consistently
✔️ Protect wellbeing by role-modelling it
✔️ Address negative behaviour directly
✔️ Build flexibility into how people work
✔️ Acknowledge effort regularly

They’re the basics — done well, every day.

If you’re navigating culture challenges or want support becoming the kind of leader people want to follow, that’s exactly the work we do at RISE Leadership.

👉 Book a free leadership consultation (link in comments & featured).

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9 Identifiers of a Toxic Work Culture

Influence isn’t about personality or job title.

It’s about whether people feel able to move forward with you.

That’s where emotional intelligence becomes a genuine leadership advantage.

From our latest RISE guide, here are 5 phrases that immediately change the quality of your leadership conversations:

🟦 Empathy
“How do you feel about this?”
A simple question that stops assumptions and opens real dialogue.

🟧 Self-awareness
“I recognise how this affects both me and you.”
Leaders who understand their impact gain credibility quickly.

🟩 Self-regulation
“OK, let’s look at ways to resolve this.”
Stability from a leader creates stability in the team.

🟥 Motivation
“Thank you for all your hard work – we couldn’t achieve this without you.”
Recognition isn’t fluff; it’s fuel.

🟪 Social skills
“By aligning our goals, we can achieve so much more.”
Clear alignment prevents conflict before it starts.

These aren’t scripts.

They’re habits — the kind that separate managers from leaders people choose to follow.

If you want to strengthen your influence and communicate with more intention and authority, RISE can help you get there.

Book a free career consultation to see how our tools, community and coaching can help. (Link in top comments and featured). 

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Most leaders hear. 
Very few listen.

Most people think they’re listening.

But what they’re really doing is scanning for the fastest route, the easiest option, or the answer they already want to hear.

Real listening is different.

Real listening is choosing to slow down long enough to truly understand the person in front of you – what they’re saying, what they’re not saying, and what matters underneath the words.

And here are 3 ways you can become a leader who really listens:

1. Don’t listen for your turn. Listen for their meaning.
↳ If you’re preparing your response while they’re talking, you’re not listening — you’re waiting. Pause your internal script.

2. Reflect back what you heard before adding your view.
↳ A simple, “What I’m hearing is…” creates clarity and psychological safety.

3. Listen with your eyes as much as your ears.
↳ People reveal more in their pauses, posture, and hesitations than in their polished sentences.

What could you do more of?

At RISE Leadership, active listening is one of our core practices.

We’re spending this season talking with professionals who feel stuck, underused, uncertain about their next move, or ready for something bigger but unsure how to get there.

Your stories are shaping what we create next:
✔ New community events,
✔ Deeper support spaces,
✔ Coaching programs built around the realities people are facing right now.

If you’re navigating a career transition or want support finding your next step, we’re here and we’re listening.

📌 Book a free career consultation today. (Link in bio)

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Most people don’t struggle in meetings because they lack intelligence.

They struggle because they react too fast, talk too much, or get pulled off-centre by someone else’s energy.

Emotional intelligence fixes that quietly, and with precision.

Here are three behaviours I see top performers use every day:

1. Pause before you respond.
Those two or three silent seconds are not weakness, they’re control. They stop you from being dragged into someone else’s urgency.

2. Keep the outcome in mind.
When your ego isn’t steering, your communication becomes cleaner, calmer, and far more persuasive.

3. Use words that de-escalate.
A simple “Help me understand” can stabilise a room faster than any perfectly-crafted argument.

These aren’t tricks. They’re habits. 

And once you build them, people start reacting to you differently – with more respect, more openness, and more trust.

If you want to lead with that level of presence, book a free career consultation with me and find out more about the RISE community, coaching and tools. 

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Want to know one of the biggest career killers I see?

It’s not lack of skill.

It’s not lack of ambition.

It’s self-censorship. 

The quiet, subtle habits that keep talented people invisible.

You’ll recognise it if you’ve ever sat in a meeting with something valuable to say… and said nothing.

Or brushed off praise with, “Oh, it was nothing.”

Or over-prepared for days but under-shared when it mattered.

Silence feels safe, but it costs you opportunities, authority, and visibility.

And in leadership, visibility is currency.

Today's cheatsheet down:

🔸 What self-censorship looks like
🔸 Why it quietly damages your career
🔸 And 5 fixes you can use today – not someday

From prepping one key point before every meeting, to using the 5-second rule, to replacing deflection with simple gratitude… these are small shifts that create big momentum.

If your voice isn’t in the room, you’re letting others shape the narrative of your career – and that’s a strategy that never wins.

At RISE, we coach professionals who are ready to step out from the background and into roles where their impact is seen, heard, and valued.

If you’re done hiding in plain sight, it’s time. 

Real Coaches. Personal Matching. Proven Results.

Book your free career consultation today. (Link in top comments & featured.)

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High-performers don’t usually feel like high-performers.

They often feel underestimated.

Most high-performers are so busy delivering that they rarely stop to recognise the traits that set them apart.

From our new RISE guide, here are a few signs you might be operating at a higher level than you think:

🔸 You hold yourself to standards no one else expects of you
🔸 You’re the unofficial “go-to” person
🔸 You anticipate problems before anyone else spots them
🔸 You’re hardest on yourself, even when you’re achieving
🔸 You keep learning without being asked
🔸 You deliver under pressure (but don’t always celebrate the win)

These traits make you valuable.

But they can also make you exhausted – if you don’t learn to direct them with intention.

High-performance isn’t just about working harder.

It’s about aligning your strengths with work that actually works for you, not just what’s expected of you.

If you’re a high-performer wondering what’s next…it might be time to aim higher. 

Book a RISE Leadership Career Consultation and see what we can do for you. (Link in top comments & scheduled). 

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