Pete Cohen

Why organisations work with Pete Cohen

• A named, co-authored framework (STOP 2 THINK) for the specific moment a leader switches from reactive to intentional response, applied directly inside meetings and high-pressure conversations.
• A coaching track record that crosses elite sport and corporate leadership, including Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 2004 World Snooker title and senior teams at Dell, IBM, Pfizer and Heineken.
• Twelve years as resident Life Coach on ITV’s GMTV plus a presenter slot on Discovery’s “The Coach”, which means he reads a room and a camera in a way few corporate speakers do.
• Twenty plus published titles including “Habit Busting” and “Fear Busting”, giving the keynote content a tested behavioural backbone rather than a one-off thesis.
• A delivery style built for leadership audiences fatigued by abstract wellness content, focused on what to do in the next conversation, not the next quarter.

Biography highlights

• Resident Life Coach on ITV’s GMTV for twelve years.
• Presenter of “The Coach” on the Discovery Channel.
• Author of around 20 books including “Habit Busting”, “Fear Busting”, “Shut the Duck Up”, “Life DIY” and “Sort Your Life Out”.
• Co-developer of the STOP 2 THINK leadership framework with Professor Dr Ray Sylvester.
• Performance coach to Ronnie O’Sullivan, Sally Gunnell, Ellen MacArthur, Roger Black, the Kent Cricket team and Arsenal Football Club.
• Keynote speaker for organisations including Dell, IBM, Pfizer, Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Heineken, Boots, Four Seasons Hotels and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Biography

Most leadership failures under pressure are not failures of intelligence. They are failures of pause. The leader keeps moving when the situation has changed, and the team carries the consequences for weeks. STOP 2 THINK, the framework Pete Cohen co-developed with Professor Dr Ray Sylvester, treats that pause as a trainable leadership behaviour, not a personality trait.

Cohen has spent more than thirty years working at the intersection of psychology, sport and corporate performance. As resident Life Coach on ITV’s GMTV for twelve years and presenter of “The Coach” on the Discovery Channel, he learned to translate behavioural science into language that lands in seconds. The same instinct shapes how he works with executive teams.

His sports coaching list includes Ronnie O’Sullivan in the run-up to his 2004 World Snooker title, Olympic hurdler Sally Gunnell, sailor Ellen MacArthur, and sprinter Roger Black. The corporate list is equally direct: Dell, IBM, Pfizer, Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Heineken, Boots, Four Seasons Hotels and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Across both, the brief is the same. People who already perform at a high level need a way to recover composure inside the moment, not after it.

The published work, around twenty titles including “Habit Busting” and “Fear Busting”, gives the keynote content its behavioural foundation. The STOP 2 THINK keynote is the operating layer on top: simple tools a leader can apply in the next meeting, not the next offsite. That is what senior teams under restructure, transformation or sustained market pressure tend to be looking for, and what most wellbeing programming does not deliver.

Key speaking topics

• Leadership behaviour under pressure
• The STOP 2 THINK framework
• Composure and decision-making in uncertainty
• Behavioural change and habit formation
• Performance psychology
• Resilience for senior teams
• Mindset for leadership in restructure and change

Ideal for

• CEO, COO and senior leadership teams holding decisions through restructure or market shock
• CHROs and people directors briefing leadership development at executive level
• Sales and commercial leaders managing high-pressure performance cycles
• Boards and partner groups looking for behavioural rather than motivational content

Audience outcomes

• A named behavioural pause point leaders can use in the next meeting, not the next quarter
• A clearer read on the difference between reactive habit and intentional decision in their own leadership
• Practical language for coaching their direct reports through pressure moments
• Evidence-grounded confidence that composure is a trainable behaviour, not a personality trait
• A simpler internal vocabulary for decision quality under stress