Testimonials

Leadership development/executive coaching testimonials

Reflections from some of my individual and organisational clients

Liz really helped me to look properly at my strengths and weaknesses, encouraging me to make small changes that had a big impact, not only at work but also at home, and helped me to focus in on ways to improve my communication with other members of the team. She was always warm, humorous, practical and patient and I really appreciated her input. I would certainly recommend her to others as a work coach.

Senior children’s book publisher,
Global publishing firm

Thank you for your superlative work yesterday. All of the Board were very complimentary of your process, style and management. These characters have seen lots and they were very impressed.

Fiona Colegrave,
Chair of the Canada-UK Foundation

I wanted to send my sincerest thanks to you for facilitating such a productive and insightful Executive Leadership Team away day yesterday. I felt that the day was a huge success and that your expertise really helped us to think about how we work successfully as a team.

Delyth Morgan,
Chief Executive, Breast Cancer Now

“I found Liz to be a great coach. She allowed me to explain the areas I wanted to focus on and challenged me to break down the issues I was facing. She then suggested practical steps that I could take to address each issue in turn. Liz encouraged me to enjoy the aspects of my new role, seeing challenges in a positive light. I trusted Liz to get me honest and helpful feedback, which I believe she did.”

Christine Young,
Herbert Smith Freehills

I worked with Liz on a year-long coaching programme. Liz is a natural coach and I absolutely always looked forward to our sessions. She asked the right and sufficient amount of questions to help guide me throughout the year. In addition she often recommended valuable tips / books / exercises that really helped me. My third session with her was my absolute best - it really provided me with so much clarity and I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I would definitely work with Liz again. Thank you!

Director,
Big 4 Consulting firm

I sought Liz's help with ironing out some managerial and strategic issues. For every business challenge that I brought to Liz's coaching sessions, I found that her timely and subtle input guided my problem-solving towards solutions that were workable and that I felt I wholly owned. I would therefore highly recommend business coaching with Liz.

Property investor,

I chose Liz as my business coach; she came warmly recommended already, and I was not disappointed. Instrumental to the success of this engagement were: Liz's commitment to setting specific goals, both for the programme as a whole and for every session; her ability to challenge my thinking with simple, ‘light bulb moment' questions and exercises; last but not least, her confidence in adapting her approach to my own style, always keeping the end in sight but never submitting us to a rigid, pre-set agenda.

Karen Topp,
Enterprise Performance Management Consultant, Karen Topp Consulting Ltd

It was striking how much Liz was able to help me to develop a sensible and balanced approach for my company and my leadership role. And it was not just what happened at the session but also the immediate benefit of having a changed perspective at work from the next day. The focus was always on meaningful and fun actions which made the coaching experience very different to other personal development approaches. Well worth every penny.

Director,
Planning and management consultancy

The work we did on planning where I would like to be in the future and what was important to me has really helped to focus my mind, but also the strengths profile and the tips around working my strengths into the interview answers were great.

Laura Veart,
Project Manager (Urban M), Birmingham City University

Meyler Campbell coaching training

Comments from people I’ve tutored on the Meyler Campbell Mastered Programme on business coaching

As my Tutor on the Meyler Campbell Business Coaching Course, Liz was insightful, empathetic, available, intuitive, resourceful, encouraging, generous of time and spirit, supportive, light of touch, intelligent - and just great fun to be with. What's not to like?!

James Wilson,
Commercial Mediator | Leadership Coach | Maritime Lawyer |Former Senior Partner at Ince & Co

Liz is a very effective tutor for the Mastered program - she combines a wealth of knowledge and experience with an eagerness to continue her own learning alongside you. Areas of improvement were clearly (and positively) highlighted to me, and I continually felt encouraged to explore my ideas and to have courage in my own coaching practice. Above all this though, was a sense of fun and enjoyment of coaching that Liz generated.

Elpie Bannister,
Director, Boundless Solutions

'The MC experience has been terrific for me, and in no small part it has been down to the way in which you have supported and tutored us. It is not just a matter of dedication and professionalism, but also of warmth and human connection.'

Eric Curiel,
Former investment strategist, City of London & international

Publishing consulting testimonials

Reflections from some of my publishing consulting clients

The reason I recommend Liz to all of my clients wanting to write a book is very simple. She is the 'real deal' and knows the business book publishing world inside out. As well as her deep expertise, Liz is very warm and approachable. She will always tell you honestly what she thinks, but in a way which helps you take the right action for you personally.

Heather Townsend,
Award-winning author, speaker and coach, voted top 50 influencer on social media for finance and business by Economia Magazine

I recently used Liz to help me pull together a proposal for a technical book that I am going to write. Her input was of really high value in helping me understand what a potential publisher is looking for. She managed to provide her feedback with just the right balance of challenge and support. I would highly recommend her service.

Tony Llewellyn,
Owner, Project Team Coaching

From her wide and deep industry experience, Liz was able to help me at all stages, from identifying target publishing houses, to proposal structure/drafts, to preparing for meetings, negotiations and contract. She steered me away from the errors of inexperience and was notably respectful of author wishes and psychology during the project. With her help, I landed the book deal with only my fourth pitch. I contracted with my dream publisher and my book is now launched.

Martin Tate FBCS,
Decision Evaluation Ltd

Liz has been a great help, going over and above what was expected. She was creative, and has a wealth of knowledge about the publishing industry. Quite frankly, everyone keen on being published must have Liz as a key person in their team.

Carl Reader,
Director, Franchise Surgery Ltd, and Director, D&T Financial

Liz has a deep understanding of business publishing. Not only is she technically excellent, she knows what will sell. I recommend her without hesitation.

Stephen Newton,
Managing Director, DLO Development and author of The Professional's Guide to Business Development, Success as a Coach, The Invasion Game and Grow the Bottom Line

Other testimonials

What people say about working with me.

Liz Gooster is a bundle of creative energy and an adventurer in both business and life itself. Liz brought in a great team to work together inspired by her leadership.

Dave Stewart,
Owner, Weapons of Mass Entertainment

I was privileged to have Liz as my editor at Pearson Education. Having heard many negative stories about working with mainstream publishers, all doubts were dispelled by Liz's approach. She was a delight to work with. Highly professional, always responsive and provided tremendous input to the finished manuscript. Liz wouldn't demand and enforce changes but make intelligent observations and suggestions that made sense. I would highly recommend working with Liz both as a publisher and in her coaching role. The qualities she showed are essential in both fields. The abilities to think, listen and work collaboratively are among her greatest strengths.

Andy Lopata,
Director, H&A Lopata Ltd, Blogger for the Huffington Post

Liz is great to work with and I highly recommend her.

Kevin Kelly,
CEO, Heidrick & Struggles

Liz has been a consummate professional with whom to work. She is creative, disciplined, and executes all work extremely well. Liz is also a wise and experienced advisor and will add value to any professional and personal relationship.

Jim Champy,
Chairman Emeritus, Consulting, Dell Services

I have loved working with Liz, she has proved to be diligent, trustworthy, enthusiastic and a huge amount of fun. She is very respectful of the creative product and was key in bringing our book to life in exactly the way my co-author and I first envisioned it. I would not hesitate to work with Liz again or recommend her to anyone who is thinking of working with her.

Mark Simmons,
Brand strategist, speaker and author

Over the years I have had the opportunity of working with a number of publishers. There is no doubt that Liz Gooster has been the most professional and responsive. I have always found her to be enthusiastic, encouraging and yet ready to give honest and helpful advice. She has also impressed me with her willingness to think creatively when it comes to marketing in what can be quite a conservative industry. It has been a pleasure working with Liz and I look forward to collaborating with her in the years to come.

Shaun Smith,
Founder, shaunsmith + co

Liz is an outstanding publishing executive. Her advice has been critical to the success of the two books I have published under the FT Prentice Hall imprint, and I very much value her editorial skills with respect to content and overall storyline. She is really the complete editor, while at the same time displaying excellent judgement in related commerical areas.

John Gattorna,
Executive Chairman at Gattorna Alignment P/L

Liz is just great to work with. She knows her 'stuff', is very professional, focused, gets results fast with the least possible fuss. Highly recommended.

Bruce King,
MD, Out'a the Box Marketing Ltd and Creator, Grandpa Super Bear

Liz is great to work with: she provides constructive feedback, positive support and encouragement and a good eye for detail.

Andy Milligan,
Partner, Caffeine

Liz brought great skills to the project from start to finish. Having a great deal of knowledge of her market areas, she provides insightful, to-the-point feedback and guidance. She steered and connected all the various parts of her company and me to work together well. Most importantly she brought great warmth, humour and tact to all her work.

Rosie Miller,
Managing Director, RosyFutures

I've worked with Liz on several books, and she has been a really excellent editor and publisher. As a publisher Liz balances creativity and an interest in new ideas with a strong commercial viewpoint. From an editorial perspective Liz is supportive, but critical when work needs to be criticised. The results are always better for her feedback. On top of this, she is great fun to work with!

Richard Newton,
Director, Enixus Ltd and Torn Edge

Working with Liz is always a lot of fun. We've created numerous jacket and series designs with her and always had great results. Working with us designers is challenging at the best of times, giving creative freedom whilst keeping you on track, Liz does all this extremely well and we very much look forward to working with her again soon!

Stephen Taylor,
Director, Heat Design

I have worked with Liz on various projects since 2008 – she is a highly creative person who remains committed to the success of all her projects through to completion - providing direction, challenge and encouragement as and when required.

Andy Bruce,
Chief Executive, SofTools