Conscious Leader. Thoughtful Coach. Dynamic Woman.

Caroline Hughes is a highly accomplished global talent and leadership executive, ICF accredited coach and developer of leaders who are committed to building their legacy from a place of authenticity.

She has held many senior leadership positions including Global Head of Leadership Development in CRH plc a FTSE 35 company with 80,000 employees worldwide, Head of Change in the Central Bank of Ireland, and Head of Talent in Bank of Scotland (Ireland) she has experienced first hand that being a leader is an inside-out job and that focusing on goals without more in-depth exploration into drivers of key behaviours, will only lead to short-term outcomes. The real work takes place when we dig deep to answer the question “Why should anyone be led by you?” and "Who do you need to be to lead powerfully every day?"

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Caroline has run highly successful international teams, worked with hundreds of leaders all over the world and has partnered with world leaders such as Duke CE, Centre for Creative Leadership, McKinsey Academy, Accenture to develop innovative leadership programmes. She has also immersed herself in the teachings of the Brené Brown, Steve Hardison, Tony Robbins, Brandon Bays, Michael Neill, Patrick Lencioni, and she is uniquely positioned to support leaders build high performing teams.

Using increased personal awareness as the foundation, she coaches, consults and brings her own methodologies and insights into human behaviour to develop bespoke leadership and executive team development solutions which create high performing teams and culture. She is also well versed in how to navigate various stakeholder needs so that together you can form coalitions for change to the betterment of all.

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Caroline is a dynamic woman with infinite curiosity, she brings her unique insights from her most challenging hikes from all over the world - Kilimanjaro, Base Camp Everest, Annapurna Circuit (Himalaya), Ausangate (Peru) to help clients think differently about who they are being and how by being authentic and human they can be a magnet for others' greatness. 

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One of the experiences which shaped her is that she frequently found herself as a minority female voice in senior leadership forums - "a woman in a man's world". She learned to use her status to stand out and engage others on constructive dialogue around what this is like.  Her track record is in delivering an “I before D” approach to diversity, and believes that diversity conversations must be as inclusive of all genders in order to make progress.  Inclusive behaviours (I) must be embedded at all levels to unlock the true value of Diversity (D).  

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By the end of 2018 Caroline was at the top of her career, and had trained for and trekked to Base Camp Everest in her spare time!  Throughout 2019, in her passion to succeed, she got used to functioning through the tiredness that sleep never seemed to be enough to feel replenished.

Her mind racing, her body feeling a constant state of jetlag, she treated her weekends as time to catch up on sleep, and ignored the signs to stop.  Stopping was simply not in her vocabulary when there was much to be done!  Her strategy was to do a deal a day with her body to do "just one more"...one more meeting, one more flight, one more conference call, one more trip, one more project, just one... 

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Those three little words proved to be a dangerous mantra as she had no idea what she was walking herself into. Her burnout was extensive and in her recovery lead to the biggest transformation of her life, and the establishment of Conscious Leadership Development in 2020 as she was determined to use her skills in leadership development to create the next chapter of her fulfilling career. 

An international speaker at global events in New York, Dublin, London she engages audiences with her candid experience and lessons from senior leadership, burnout and recovery and leading large scale transformation. 

Caroline has often been described as "the ultimate bridge-builder" by her clients, because she invests heavily in her own development, and in so doing she can see beyond the horizon of what initially appears possible. She is certain that in working together:

• She listens deeply to bring out the greatness in you, your teams, and your organisation.

• She creates deep trust so you can experience deep shifts in who you are being.

• She is fully committed to your outcome and doesn’t let herself or her clients off the hook!