Vision without execution is hallucination. 20-20’s Strategy for Execution© framework is both simple and practical to apply and produces plans that are agile, affordable, and accountable.
Transforming purpose into prosperity
Les Murray is an executive coach, consultant, and leadership team facilitator with over 30 years’ experience helping organisations achieve clarity, momentum, and growth. He partners with CEOs, MDs, and founders to sharpen vision and strategy, streamline operations, and build senior teams that truly work together.
Les operates at three interconnected levels: organisation, team, and the individual, bringing a rare blend of strategic thinking, systems design, and deep human insight to:
- Design strategy and execution as one integrated process
- Build senior teams which love what they do and really work together
- Inspire leaders who elevate, innovate, and lead with purpose
Les is the author of the No. 1 bestseller Lighting the Blue Touch Paper (2025); A Handbook for Igniting Energy, Clarity, and Performance in the Senior Leadership Team.
Order your copy of the No. 1 bestseller Lighting the Blue Touch Paper (2025); A Handbook for Igniting Energy, Clarity, and Performance in the Senior Leadership Team.
Before you spend another pound on growth, check whether your Senior Leadership Team is helping or hurting enterprise value ... in just 3 minutes
Value erosion does not start in the P&L. It starts in the Senior Leadership Team (SLT).
Take the specially constructed SLT Quiz to discover if your Senior Leadership Team is built to scale and protect value, or undermine it through misalignment, slow decisions, and blurred accountability.
Proven methods that guarantee results
20-20 Services
Business Consulting
Enabling leadership teams to construct and deliver a clearer vision, more dynamic strategy, and secure more engagement in execution that builds a stronger operating culture
Executive coaching
Equipping leaders to achieve their goals by refining instincts, improving judgement and expanding perspectives
Facilitation
Interactive, insightful and transformative workshops that inspire achievable, practical and measurable change
Programmes
Create a clear and compelling business plan that can be implemented by the senior team in 12 weeks
Testimonials
“Les is fantastic and impeccably organised. He is a really wise coach who shares his experience, and points of view, in ways which are extremely helpful to how my business and personal life are developing”
Victoria Sylvester - Managing Director
“Les’s pace, listening skills, clarity of communications, and attention to detail are all impressive and come dressed in high quality dry humour. Les demonstrated high integrity, empathetic style, great insights and gravitas. His work with our team to manage a challenging programme was excellent and exceeded expectations”
Todd Navin - General Manager Finance & Administration
“Les has been a source of wisdom for me as we work our way forward building a new team, restructuring operations, and build for the future. He has an assured manner which combines support and challenge as a good critical friend should. In my 1-2-1s with Les I have been struck by his knowledge and insight, sharp and perceptive questioning, as well as his appetite for holding my feet to the fire!”
Stephen Nickson - Owner & Managing Director
“Les worked with us during a very difficult and challenging time for the dentistry profession. He provided an invaluable sounding board as a strategic advisor “thinking ahead” across a number of different projects.
I value his advice on major decisions. An indispensable member of the team.”
Prof Paul Tipton
Les brought clarity, focus, and a strategic outlook to our senior team. I was particularly impressed by how Les adapted his approach to bring out the best of each team member based on their strengths and weaknesses.
If you want to create greater alignment and impact with your senior team I would highly recommend working with Les.
Paul McCarthy
Les’s experience and guidance helped us double in size again.
Les provides clarity and alignment across all levels of a business by focussing on and unlocking the potential of the Senior Leadership Team.
Paul Buck
“Les gave us a fun filled day and it was only obvious he had worked us hard when we stood back and looked at all the output we had achieved as a team. He got the best from every person in the room with his direct and engaging style that blends sharp wit with very serious subject matter. Absolutely brilliant. An exceptional day”
Nick Taylor - Chief Executive
“A 1-2-1 with Les is the equivalent of an excellent non-executive director who, with an understanding of the business, can “stand back” and give informed, impartial, and very practical advice”
Michael Jefferies - Managing Director
“Les works at pace, professionally, and with minimum fuss to quickly deliver results. He exudes a natural authority and earns respect from those he comes into contact with his sharp mind and warm heart”
Mark Papworth - Group CEO
“Les exhibits a willingness to lead teams on a “new adventure” with good humour, clear thinking, and that all important ingredient – humility. Pure magic”
Lyn Rees - Group CEO
“Les runs a fantastic workshop. Engaging, fun, great stories, practical insights and all delivered in a way which drives engagement and gets the creative juices flowing. Les is the go to guy for making the complex simple, the difficult easy, and putting a smile on people’s faces – exceptional”
Kelvin Coyle - Managing Director
“Our engagement with Les was incredibly fruitful. He engaged with the team, exploring and challenging patterns of work to identify improvement opportunities which we are now implementing that will result in a significantly more effective organisation in future”
Gavin Huxtable - Steam Business Development Director
Case Studies
Facilitation
Marketing Services
From Fluffy Strategy to Hard Results
A “growth team” of aspiring leaders had bold ambitions but struggled to turn the firm’s strategy into tangible results. Too often, plans felt aspirational: high on ideas but low on delivery.
Facilitation introduced a simple but disciplined process that sharpened accountability, clarified ownership, and ensured follow-through. Actions were tracked, deadlines held, and progress measured against quality and budget expectations. As confidence in the process grew, so did momentum: meetings shifted from talk to traction, and projects once seen as “fluffy strategy” began landing as concrete outcomes with a re-invigorated value proposition, simpler controls, and savings finally realised.
The team not only made visible progress but also built belief in their ability to deliver growth at pace.
Facilitation
Joint Venture
From Deadlock to Dialogue
A joint venture was paralysed by mistrust between partners, leaving decision-making stuck and progress stalled. Meetings were tense, entrenched positions blocked collaboration, and the venture risked collapse.
Through a series of facilitated sessions, creative problem-solving techniques were introduced that encouraged partners to unfreeze rigid thinking, challenge assumptions, and explore alternatives with curiosity rather than suspicion. Structured exercises helped refresh mindsets, while deliberate space for human connection rebuilt a measure of trust.
As partners engaged with a more open mind, decisions began to flow, creating momentum and restoring confidence in the venture’s ability to move forward together and provide leadership to operations.
Facilitation
Pharmaceutical
Designing a Sales Engine for Growth
A strategic selling workshop shifted the commercial team from chasing deals ad hoc to running a disciplined, scalable sales engine. Using creative problem-solving, they mapped and stress-tested a single end-to-end process for identifying, qualifying, and advancing opportunities.
The team agreed a common client engagement approach, clear reporting, and criteria for prioritising opportunities. Resourcing was aligned so effort matched potential value, ensuring focus on the right deals.
The outcome was a unified sales framework which provided one way of working, a common language, and sharper visibility and accountability leading to stronger conversion rates and an exceptional return on a two-day workshop.
Facilitation
Textiles
Growth Strategy and Road Map
A growth strategy workshop gave a B2B business the reset it needed. The leadership team stepped back to re-examine priorities, gaining renewed focus on the product ranges with the greatest potential. Together, they agreed to sharpen their approach to new product development bringing greater rigour, clearer decision criteria, and faster cycles.
The process produced not just ideas but a practical plan and roadmap for execution, ensuring momentum carried forward beyond the 1-day workshop.
The result was a highly engaged team with renewed confidence, improved collaboration, and tangible improvements in the quality and impact of outcomes that lay strong foundations for sustained growth.
Senior Leadership Team Development
Charity
From Alignment to Expansion
A newly formed team needed more than alignment. They needed a strategy that bound them together with shared purpose and clear direction.
Coaching and facilitation helped the senior team focus on building capabilities, designing a roadmap for execution, and shifting attention to the categories with greatest growth potential. The breakthrough came when the team agreed on a bold pivot in category focus, unlocking a new revenue stream so significant that it required the creation of an entirely new division requiring its own dedicated staff.
This case shows how clarity of strategy, disciplined execution, and capability development can transform a team from living in a seemingly endless “forming phase” to become a high-impact growth engine.
Senior Leadership Team Development
IT Services
From Founder Transition to Global Growth
Following the departure of a founding director, the senior leadership team faced a pivotal moment to reset and reform. Together, they revisited and reworked the business strategy, aligning around a refreshed vision with a sharper focus on SAAS opportunities.
Coaching and facilitation helped the team strengthen cohesion, clarify roles, and embrace new ways of working. To support growth, they blended carefully chosen senior appointments with strategic partnership agreements, adding capability and reach.
The result was international expansion built on renewed clarity, stronger leadership, and a scalable model that turned a moment of vulnerable uncertainty into a platform for sustained growth.
Senior Leadership Team Development
Power equipment
From Alignment to Expansion
A newly formed senior team needed more than alignment. They needed a strategy that bound them together with shared purpose and clear direction.
Coaching and facilitation helped the senior team focus on building capabilities, designing a roadmap for execution, and shifting attention to the categories with greatest growth potential. The breakthrough came when the team agreed on a bold pivot in category focus, unlocking a new revenue stream so significant that it required the creation of an entirely new division requiring its own dedicated staff.
This case shows how clarity of strategy, disciplined execution, and capability development can transform a team from living in a seemingly endless “forming phase” to become a high-impact growth engine.
Senior Leadership Team Development
Direct selling
Scaling by Building a True SLT
A fast-growing client realised he couldn’t scale on his own and that he needed a senior leadership team to share the load. The breakthrough was not just appointing leaders, but building trust, clarifying roles, and introducing new disciplines to eliminate favouritism and inconsistency.
Through coaching and facilitation we established clear processes, reliable systems, and KPIs that provided transparent metrics for performance and decision-making. As the team aligned around a shared vision of smoother, scalable operations, confidence grew and collaboration deepened.
The result was a strong SLT, faster decisions, and a robust platform for sustainable growth that turned a personality-driven business into one powered by clarity and discipline that grew sales and profits.
Consulting
Professional Services
From Domestic Success to International Scale-Up
A thriving UK professional services firm had set its sights on North America but needed a clear strategy to compete on a bigger stage. 20-20 partnered with the leadership team to design a disciplined market-entry plan that pinpointed high-value client segments, strengthened systems, and equipped leaders to scale with confidence.
The result: a rapid and successful expansion across North America, securing flagship clients, generating major new revenues, and creating a robust platform for future global growth.
This case demonstrates how ambition, focus, and flawless execution can turn international opportunity into durable success.
Consulting
Healthcare
Funding Growth with Structure and Discipline
In the competitive retail sector, a growing business needed fresh capital and stronger foundations to deliver its growth strategy. The journey began with a successful fundraise and tough debt negotiations that reset the financial platform and provided the headroom to invest in growth.
Key senior appointments brought fresh capability, while new reporting systems provided the transparency to support delegated authority and faster decision-making. Alongside this, a redesigned meeting rhythm operating with sharper agendas and the right cadence created alignment and accountability across the business.
Together, these changes transformed both performance and culture, equipping the company with the leadership, systems, and discipline required to scale with confidence.
This case shows how clarity, alignment, and disciplined execution can turn potential into extraordinary performance.
Consulting
Bio-Tech
From Start-Up to Scale-Up
A high potential biotech was struggling to meet global demand hampered by fragmented operations and immature infrastructure. 20-20 partnered with the leadership team to build a single, scalable global enterprise, aligning structure, systems, and talent to unlock rapid expansion.
The results were explosive: in under three years turnover rocketed tenfold to £37m, with headcount increasing by 200+ FTEs across multiple international hubs. The business gained the capacity and reach to compete and win on the global stage.
This case shows how clarity, alignment, and disciplined execution can turn potential into extraordinary performance.
Consulting
Mini-conglomerate
Business turnaround
A struggling mini-conglomerate of engineering businesses was on the brink crippled by unsustainable debt and sliding performance. 20-20 stepped in alongside the leadership team to engineer a rapid turnaround.
The breakthrough came when the company’s bank agreed to write off £42 million of debt, instantly restoring stability and headroom for growth. With a sharper focus on core markets and reinvigorated management disciplines, the business surged back to life doubling EBITDA in just 12 months.
This case proves that with strong leadership, bold strategy, and informed execution, even the toughest financial challenges can be turned into platforms for transformation
Executive Coaching
Digital Agency
Shifting from Firefighting to Frameworks
This coaching assignment centred on an MD whose entrepreneurial drive had built a successful start-up, but who now faced the challenge of scaling. His mindset was rooted in “hustle” where he fronted a tight-knit band of brothers, but the business had outgrown that model.
Through coaching, he learned to step back from day-to-day firefighting and embrace the role of scale-up CEO: leading through structure, process, and systems rather than sheer energy. The shift unlocked new discipline, clearer accountability, and sustainable growth.
By evolving from founder-hustler to structured leader, he equipped the business with the leadership it needed to thrive at scale going onto double revenue over the next 2 years.
Executive Coaching
Recruitment
Shifting from Firefighting to Frameworks
An aspiring MD needed to step up fast and take on bigger responsibilities, overcome obstacles, and tackle tough conversations. Coaching helped her find her voice: building confidence, enhancing her executive presence, and extending her influence across the business. She learned to frame difficult discussions with impact, not avoidance, and to inspire through vision.
The breakthrough came with OKRs. Piloted in her function, the system drove clarity and accountability and proved so effective it was quickly adopted company-wide.
This journey marked her shift from capable manager to enterprise-level leader, with the confidence, presence, and tools to shape the organisation’s future.
Executive Coaching
Family Business
Balancing Legacy and Leadership
Stepping into a family business that proved more troubled than it first appeared, a new MD faced the dual challenge of reshaping strategy while respecting long-standing relationships and traditions.
Over a 12-month coaching assignment, he learned to adapt his style by developing greater emotional intelligence to build trust, influence, and alignment across the family and wider team. By leaning into tough decisions and evolving the senior leadership group, he reset the firm’s focus and rallied people behind a clear direction.
The result was a decisive turnaround and return to profit, renewed confidence, and a business ready for the next generation of growth. Coaching proved pivotal in balancing hard calls with human connection.
Executive Coaching
Business Services
From “Mr. Fix-It” to Leader of Leaders
At the start, this senior leader was the classic “Mr Fix-It” jumping in to solve problems, carrying the load, and inadvertently holding others back. Strategy was something to deliver, not shape.
Over six months of coaching, he developed self-awareness, learned to pause, lead with questions, and empower his team. As colleagues stepped up and projects were driven by others, he unlocked capacity to focus on higher-level impact. He estimates this shift alone freed up the equivalent of an extra month’s work delivering a 5X ROI on the coaching programme.
The result: a transformation from problem-solver to confident, strategic leader of leaders.
Work Experience
