About

Rich Warmsley

How might we make things work better for everyone? That’s the question that’s driven my work - from leading teams from different backgrounds to create new products and services, to a fascination with where people, technology, business and social trends meet.

In recent years, I’ve focused more on what’s going on when change becomes difficult for individuals and teams - be it small everyday obstacles, big life choices, making the case for innovation, challenging team relationships, dealing with setbacks, or translating personal values into a meaningful career.

Ultimately, it always comes down to how we might need to change our behaviour, and help others to do the same. Because nothing gets better when we’re stuck in the same place, even when we want to move on.

That’s what brought me to coaching. First, working with a coach myself - on areas I knew I needed to develop further. Then exploring how coaching might help my existing work with others. And now coaching is a core part of what I do every day.

From some of the best conversations, I’ve learned more about pinpointing the question we need to tackle, how to explore what’s going on, and what we can do to identify what needs to change. It’s often a remarkably small change that starts the ball rolling towards bigger transformation.

I don’t begin conversations expecting to know everything about your world, nor thinking I will be able to suggest solutions. Our role together is to help you to identify what’s happening, and what you can do next.

As well as coaching, I’m an innovation / service design practitioner and advisor. The connection is setting an ambitious growth direction, that’s true to the individual or organisation, and making the first steps to overcoming the barriers along the way.

Powerful growth can begin, if we Move One Thing at a time.

Training & education

Executive studies

  • International Coaching Federation accreditation pathway, with 3D Coaching

  • University College London (UCL), executive education - neuroscience

  • MHFA England, trained Mental Health First Aider

  • Warwick Business School / Behavioural Insights Unit

  • London Business School, Sustainability leadership

  • University of Cambridge, Inst. for Sustainability Leadership, Business Sustainability Management (2022)

  • General Assembly - 1 year: digital marketing, data analytics, visual design

  • The School Of Life, The Do Lectures (various personal and team development courses)

Undergraduate & postgraduate

  • BA (Hons) Economics, University of Nottingham (European, health, environmental, welfare and public sector economics, econometrics, international trade, and politics)

  • Chartered Institute of Marketing, Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing

Business career

  • 25 years leading teams to create new products, services and ventures, generating £100ms

  • Corporate career working on pioneering innovations, for world class multi-£bn brands, like Boots UK and T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom

  • Decade as growth strategy and innovation practitioner, working with global brands & senior leadership teams

  • Experienced the highs and lows of working with great teams on brilliant ideas that didn’t quite work in practice, as well as the successes

  • Specialisms in practical behavioural insight, sustainable innovation, service design, lean startup, brand marketing, new pricing and subscription models, team design, scale-up innovation labs, and new venture design - more at foroka.com

  • Projects have included connected health, smart home, digital banking, mobile telecoms innovation, omnichannel retail, digital music and TV, consumer goods, transport and travel

  • Leadership team at 2 innovation companies and a major retailer - coaching direct teams and department of 75 colleagues

  • Customer Director of sustainable energy service for electric vehicles

  • Founder of insight, innovation and service design business

  • Developing a new brand to spark better, healthier conversations

Community & interests

Rich is an enthusiastic (if part-time injured) runner, craft beer geek and sometime brewer, live comedy and gig fan, an ageing backpacker, and inconsistent motorcyclist. Living in St Albans, close to London, Rich is volunteer director for the St Albans Film Festival, and during elections will sometimes be found knocking on doors to listen to the local community.

“I loved the structure that Rich brought to our session. He was able to help me articulate the real issue I needed to address from a messy mixture of a number of things I thought I needed to think about.

In clarifying with me what was the biggest and most pressing thing to address he then gave me plenty of time and space to truly think about ways forward.

His bringing me back to my question and reflections of what I had said really helped me to hear what I was finding difficult about the situation and issues I wanted to address and then focus on finding solutions.

In a relatively short space of time I left our session with written notes of how to tackle the issues which I was then able to follow in the next week or so.”