INTRODUCTION

Julian Humphreys is an Executive and Leadership Development Coach specializing in strategic thinking, leadership effectiveness, and career development.

He is known for asking challenging questions that prompt deep reflection. No one said leadership is easy!

His experience spans the public sector, private sector, and numerous startup entrepreneurs. He has coached leaders in multiple industries, including technology, legal, banking, energy, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, logistics, professional services, and government. His coaching career began with family enterprises, working closely with some of Canada's wealthiest families.

Julian’s approach is evidence-based and draws on the latest insights from neuroscience, as well as his background in psychodynamic psychotherapy. It includes:

• Establishing a high trust relationship
• Gathering data from key stakeholders using a 360 process
• Crafting a personally meaningful, organizationally-relevant development goal
• Identifying a pathway to achieving the goal
• Conducting micro-experiments in behavioural change
• Assessing progress on an ongoing basis
• Celebrating successes and identifying next steps

In doing this work Julian draws on his background and training in existential philosophy, experimental psychology, and psychoanalysis.

This approach is particularly effective when leaders are overly compliant, controlling or protective, if they struggle with stress or anxiety, or have workaholic tendencies that put them at risk of burnout.

Previous Experience

Before becoming a coach, Julian worked in the technology industry, primarily in HR roles. He saw firsthand the growth of a London-based financial services firm from startup to IPO, and later managed change at CGI, Canada’s largest independent IT consulting company, as they doubled in size through the acquisition of Bell Sygma, a Bell Canada subsidiary.

Julian has taught at universities including McGill University, the University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University and Boston University. He is currently on the coaching faculty of INSEAD, which was ranked number 1 in Executive Education globally in 2024.

EDUCATION, TRAINING AND CERTIFICATIONS

Julian has been coaching since 2013 and received the Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential from the International Coaching Federation (ICF) in 2023. This prestigious credential is held by only 3% of ICF-certified coaches worldwide, recognizing the highest standards of coaching competency. He completed his PhD in the Philosophy of Education at University of Toronto in 2010, and completed studies in Communications, Music, and Psychology at Concordia, McGill, and the University of Leeds respectively.

Using interview-based narrative 360s and tools such as the Leadership Circle Profile, Julian gains insights into a leader’s strengths and development opportunities.

In 2015, he became a Certified Professional Coactive Coach (CPCC) and trained in Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching. He was certified in the Leadership Circle Profile and Culture Assessment in 2017. Julian became a Certified Positive Intelligence Coach (CPQC) in 2020. He has been a member of the International Coaching Federation since 2015.

PARTIAL CLIENT LIST

Bayer, BMO Mellon, Carlton Cards, Conservative Party of Canada, eBay, Expeditors, Ferrero, Liberal Party of Canada, Microsoft, Ontario Public Service, Pfizer, PwC, Regional Municipality of Peel, Saudi Aramco

PERSONAL MOTIVATION

Julian is motivated in large part by two formative experiences.

1) He comes from a family of professional musicians and went to top private schools in the UK on full music scholarships. This led him to think early and often about factors influencing high performance.

2) His mother left Germany in 1939 as a result of what can minimally be described as bad leadership in Germany at the time. Seeing the impact of this experience on her decades later led to a commitment to support the development of not just effective but positively impactful leadership in the world.