Coaching · Advisory · Workshops
Everyone thinks you’ve got this.
Privately, you’re not so sure.
Transitions are arriving all at once, and the hardest part is the not knowing.
I help you stand steady in it, find your next move, and use your personal power to build
Trust·Growth·Legacy
Free, 30 minutes, confidential, no obligation.
Faried ChopdatCoach · Adviser · Non-Executive DirectorThe crossroads
Life has always been full of transitions. Now they are arriving all at once.
Wars. Rising costs. AI. Institutions that no longer hold. Organisations are being forced to change, and so are the people in them.
- Stepping up
- Restructured
- Made redundant
- Leaving corporate
- Scaling a business
- Facing AI
Whatever your crossroads, the hardest part is the not knowing: what comes next, whether you are making the right call, and who you can say that to. Underneath it all are the questions you can’t say out loud:
Am I still the right person for this? Who am I now?
I can’t take the uncertainty away. I can help you stand steady in it, trust your own judgement again, and decide what to do next.
In every transition, power shifts. Character decides how you hold it. Courage decides what you do with it.
Foundations That Hold
Transitions don’t test what you know. They test who you are.
What holds you through a transition?
Transitions are rarely neat. Sitting with leaders at their crossroads, and standing at my own, I kept seeing the same eight foundations being tested, with mindset running through them all. Sit with each question. Which one stops you?
Mindset
Is the chaos of this transition running you, or are you choosing how you meet it?
In chaos, the mind reaches for threat. But victory is not an outcome; it is a mindset. We cultivate one that is prosperous and triumphant, because how you see the crossroads shapes how you cross it.
Inner authority and stewardship
Whose voice is really making your decisions right now? And when did you last trust your own?
Why it matters
Everyone has a view on the choices in front of you, and the louder they get, the harder it is to hear your own. We find your centre again, so you choose for yourself and hold your power on behalf of others.
Alignment
When the people around you want different things from this change, can you bring them with you without losing yourself?
Why it matters
Change splits people, and you feel the pull from every side. We find the shared direction that holds, even when people disagree.
Confidence
When did you start doubting the person who got you here?
Why it matters
Transitions are full of ambiguity, and certainty rarely arrives in time. We build the confidence to trust your judgement anyway: discerning what you can know, making the best call you can, and letting go of what you cannot control.
Readiness
Are you preparing for what is coming, or hoping you will work it out when it arrives?
Why it matters
Every new chapter asks for something the last one did not. We name it early and prepare for it, so it does not ambush you halfway through.
Capability
What is this transition asking of you that you have never had to create before?
Why it matters
Transitions ask for new thinking, not more of the same, and as AI reshapes work, that means doubling down on what only humans bring. We find the skills, creativity and support this moment needs, so it becomes doable rather than heroic.
Engagement
Have you quietly checked out, and not admitted it, even to yourself?
Why it matters
Checking out is often how we protect ourselves when change wears us down. We reconnect you with what matters, so you, and the people around you, can choose to be all in.
Communication
In all this uncertainty, what do people need to hear from you that you are afraid to say?
Why it matters
Uncertainty makes people go quiet, and leaders most of all. Often we simply do not know what to say, so we reach for words that sound polished and ring hollow. We find your own voice for the hard conversations, honest and human, and build the trust that brings the truth back to you.
Which of your foundations are holding, and which need attention?
Explore the foundations
Get to know me
Different seats. Different lenses.
An insider’s experience, with an outsider’s eyes.
An insider’s experience
- Started as a trainee at Deloitte in 1995. Chartered accountant.
- Led strategic transformation, audit and risk at SABMiller plc across 80 countries, and audit and risk at Travelex across 40.
- Former boards: Grant Thornton UK, Great Western Hospitals NHS FT and WorldSkills UK.
- Independent non-executive director, BSW Hospitals Group: chairing the Group Risk and Assurance Committee, and sitting on the Audit and Remuneration Committees.
- Trustee and board member at Blossom, a charity, chairing its Risk and Finance Committee.
I know how power works at the top table, and what it asks of the people who hold it.
An outsider’s eyes
- Grew up under apartheid, in a country where the law decided which rooms I could walk into.
- Rarely fitted the mould. Found my own way into rooms that were not built for people like me.
- Different when I would rather have blended in, and learned to navigate it on my own terms.
- Recognised in the Financial Times’ 2014 list of the top 100 LGBTQ+ leaders, for my work on inclusion.
It taught me to see what others miss, and to meet people with real empathy.
What that means for you
Most coaches understand people. Most advisers understand strategy and numbers. I read both.
I read the numbers, the strategy and the risk: the hard edges of every decision, and what is at stake when they go wrong. And I read the room: what people feel, what they fear, and what they leave unsaid.
Most leaders need two different people for that. With me, it happens in the same conversation.
Chartered Accountant (SAICA)
Two ways of knowing
Evidence and intuition. Held together.
I trained as a chartered accountant. Logic, reason and evidence are my default. Over the years I learned that the evidence never tells you everything.
With a boardI can tell you whether a control works, and whether the board is telling itself the truth.
With a leaderI can help you read what the data says, and hear what your own inner voice already knows.
Competence builds your career. Character decides what you do with it.
In their words
What changes for the leaders I work with?
Faried’s experience is underpinned by his integrity, razor-sharp intellect, empathy, and unyielding passion for what he does… for me this was a life changing experience.Sennay ZerihunGlobal Account Manager, Technology, Manchester
Faried was truly my north star… His compassionate approach, authentic nature and strategic ability really challenged my thinking, turning problems into viable, practical solutions.Mark ThomasHead of Marketing, Media, London
He was an exceptional listener; picking up on what was said but also unsaid… A year since we started the coaching, I feel like a completely different person.Ameya ShahSenior Finance Director, Media, London
Services
Three ways to work together
Whatever your crossroads, whether you are stepping up, stepping into something new, or leading others through change, there is a way to work together that fits.
Coaching
Transition Coaching, Rising Leaders, and Belonging and Inclusive Leadership. For individuals, teams and organisations at a crossroads.
→02Board and Advisory
Power, held to a standard. Non-executive, advisory and fractional roles for organisations in transition.
→03Workshops and Talks
Facilitated sessions and talks on transition, power, belonging, and judgement in the age of AI.
→How we work together
Bespoke, from the first conversation.
Every engagement is co-designed with you around the crossroads in front of you.
Crossroads Session
Thirty minutes to talk through where you are, what is at stake and whether we are the right fit.
Design
We set your goals, define what success looks like and take stock of your eight foundations.
Coach
A six-session Focus or a twelve-session Sprint, each over three months.
Review
We see what has moved, and make the gains last.
And part of the magic is in the pause: questioning assumptions and exploring alternatives, so every decision is considered, not reactive.
How we work together
Let’s talk
You don’t have to have the answer yet.
You don’t have to figure it out alone. Start with a free, confidential 30-minute conversation, and leave clearer than you came.
Talk through your next move →- WhatsApp+44 7920 085439
- Emailinfo@equarius8.com
- LinkedInFaried Chopdat