Ed Jordan
Senior leaders are asked to perform composure they do not feel, in rooms where every camera, every screen, every quarterly stage event reads their credibility before they speak. Most have been promoted for technical or commercial mastery, not for presence. The gap between what they know and how they land in front of a room is now a strategic problem, not a personal one.
Ed Jordan is a leadership and executive coach who helps senior leaders develop the presence, communication craft and self-leadership that the modern stage, screen and boardroom demand.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Ed Jordan
- He treats executive presence as a teachable craft, not a personality trait, drawing on 25 years in front of cameras and microphones to coach how leaders actually land in a room.
- He pairs that stagecraft with a Gordon Institute of Business Science coaching qualification and a decade inside Innovation, Wealth and High Net Worth Private Banking, so the language is recognisable to senior commercial audiences.
- He has been named Professional Speaker of the Year by the PSA UK and Ireland, an industry-judged award by working speakers, not a marketing claim.
- He works fluently across formats: keynote, executive coaching, on-camera training, moderation and event hosting, which makes him useful when a leadership event needs a single anchor, not a roster.
- His moderating roster includes Steve Wozniak, Biz Stone and Nicolas Sarkozy, evidence he can hold a room with figures more senior than the audience.
Biography highlights
- Certified Business Coach, Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).
- PSA Professional Speaker of the Year, UK and Ireland.
- 25 years as a South African TV presenter (Deal or No Deal, Popstars, Fast Forward, The Wedding Show) and Kaya FM Breakfast Show host.
- Multi-platinum recording artist; performed an original composition at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service.
- Decade inside Financial Services since 2014, in Innovation, Wealth and High Net Worth Private Banking.
- Hosting and moderating credits with Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Deutsche Bank and Investec, including platform conversations with Steve Wozniak, Biz Stone and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Biography
Presence is now part of the job description for senior leaders. Quarterly all-hands events, board updates, investor calls and internal video are not occasional performances. They are the medium through which leadership decisions are received, judged and remembered.
Ed Jordan worked that medium for 25 years before he taught it. As a South African television presenter on Deal or No Deal, Popstars and Fast Forward, and as Kaya FM’s Breakfast Show host, he learned how to hold a room in real time, on camera, without a second take. He is also a multi-platinum recording artist who performed an original composition at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service.
In 2014 he moved into Financial Services, spending a decade in Innovation, Wealth and High Net Worth Private Banking. That gave him fluency with the audience he now coaches. He qualified as a Business Coach through the Gordon Institute of Business Science and built a leadership practice that translates stagecraft into a discipline senior executives can practise.
The work is most useful when leaders inherit a wider remit than the skills that earned them the role. Jordan was named Professional Speaker of the Year by the PSA in the UK and Ireland, and is regularly trusted to moderate platforms with figures including Steve Wozniak, Biz Stone and Nicolas Sarkozy, holding the room when the room is senior.
Key speaking topics
- Executive presence and on-camera communication
- Self-leadership and personal effectiveness
- Leadership development for newly senior leaders
- Purpose and values alignment at work
- Virtual and hybrid communication craft
- Moderation and platform conversation
Ideal for
- CEOs and executive teams preparing for high-stakes platform moments
- Senior leaders moving into broader, more visible roles
- Learning and leadership development heads designing executive programmes
- Internal communications and corporate affairs leaders rebuilding leader visibility
Audience outcomes
- A working method for executive presence on stage, on camera and in the room
- Specific techniques for self-leadership under pressure that hold up in live settings
- A vocabulary for purpose and values that senior commercial audiences will engage with
- Concrete improvements in how leaders prepare for and recover from high-stakes communication moments
Talks
A keynote on activating leadership capacity through Jordan’s Dormant Leadership Gene framework and integrating presence with purpose at work.
Key takeaways:
- A model for treating leadership as a learnable craft rather than an innate trait
- Practical techniques for composure and self-leadership before high-stakes moments
- A language for purpose that translates into senior commercial settings
A practical session on how leaders show up on camera, covering personal setup, on-screen presence and remote audience engagement.
Key takeaways:
- A checklist for setting up a credible on-camera presence
- Techniques for engagement and energy in remote and hybrid settings
- Practice in how leaders read, and are read by, the camera
A four-hour interactive session aligning organisational values and personal purpose, using Life Timeline, Wheel of Life and Ikigai exercises.
Key takeaways:
- A personal purpose articulation each participant leaves with
- A working alignment between personal purpose and organisational values
- A method for leaders to use purpose in everyday decisions