About Al Reid

My background

I spent over a decade leading creative studios — building teams, navigating clients, learning what it actually costs to make something good. The kind of work that leaves you knowing exactly how pressure feels from the inside.

In 2014 I stopped running studios and started working with the people who run things. It turned out to be the most interesting work I've done.

Since then I've worked with founders, MDs, and leaders across all sorts of businesses — not a specific industry, but a specific kind of person. Forward-looking. Honest. Interested in doing it well and feeling good about how they got there.

How I work

The approach is coaching-led — which means I ask more than I tell, and I listen more than either. But it's grounded in real-world experience, not just frameworks. I've been in the room. I know what it feels like when things aren't working and you can't quite see why.

Sessions happen over Zoom, in coffee shops, on long walks. And when the problem is knotty enough, at a farm in Sussex — with a fire going, something cooking, and enough space to think properly. Some problems are easier to solve outdoors.

I work one-to-one, and occasionally with leadership teams when a group needs to think something through together. The thread is always the same: get clearer on what actually matters, and work out how to get there.

Moka pot brewing on an open fire in a Sussex field

My other life

I'm also a DJ — 4,400 records and still growing. A photographer. A cyclist. I live in Shoreham-by-Sea on the Sussex coast, which is a good place to think.

The music, the images, and the miles all feed the same thing: paying close attention to the world. Which, it turns out, is also the most useful thing you can do in a coaching session.

The music lives at bigredal.com →