For thirty-six years I served in the British Army, latterly as Director of People and Operations Manager. Most people picture logistics and command structures when they hear the Army, but my work centred on people. Personnel management, welfare, and planning around real human pressures alongside operational demands. I was responsible for making sure people were looked after, properly organised, and set up to do their jobs well, even when circumstances were far from ideal.

There's a particular kind of pressure that comes from being the person everyone turns to when something needs sorting. You learn to stay calm when others don't. You learn to plan three steps ahead, because reacting after the fact is always more costly. And you learn that the small things, the missed message, the detail nobody thought to check, are usually what causes the biggest problems later.

Leaving that career behind wasn't simple. After thirty-six years, my identity was tied up in being useful in exactly that way, and stepping away meant asking myself a genuinely difficult question: who am I, if not the person holding it together for someone else.

The answer came from an unexpected place. Working alongside founders, consultants and business owners, I noticed the same pattern I'd spent my career solving. Talented, capable people, completely stretched, because they were carrying every operational detail personally, with no one they trusted to share the load.

I started Crosbie Executive Support because I knew I could help. The skills that once kept teams and operations running under real pressure are exactly what your business needs now: someone who manages the people and the process, so you can focus on leading.