I’m John. For nearly 30 years I’ve led high performance teams — in the UK military, in offshore oil and gas exploration, and for the last two decades in software engineering leadership, most recently as an interim manager / coach working directly inside scaling teams.

Somewhere in that last stretch, a pattern kept repeating: teams were not struggling in the main because of technical gaps.

Often it was because something human went unaddressed for too long — a conversation avoided, trust quietly eroded, a manager who didn’t know when or how to step in. I have always been interested in these patterns, not just as a leader trying to work round them myself, but as an area requiring constant self improvement and study.

That took me first into a foundation year of Psychosocial Therapy training, and more recently into an accredited coaching and counselling programme — building real structure around what three decades of leading people had already taught me.

Cloud Thinking follows the same path — coaching built from lived leadership experience, not just theory alone: for leaders building out their own leadership style, and for teams developing the trust that lets them move fast without breaking down.

What colleagues say

“His ability to lead with empathy enables him to earn trust and inspire people even in exceptionally stressful situations.”

Engineering Manager, Amazon (worked with John as a peer)

“John is an excellent mentor… he consistently prioritized the needs of both our team and the rest of engineering.”

Engineering Manager, Zivver (reported to John directly)

“He is fully open and transparent on everything. I really appreciated this — it’s quite unique.”

Director, ABN AMRO (managed John directly)

Full recommendations, with names, are visible on LinkedIn.