Ever feel like you just need an extra brain, or two, or three? That if you had a bit of extra input you could solve a problem faster, or better. Maybe you need a bit of expertise from different disciplines to get some new ideas, or flesh out a plan.
Problem is, that’s easier said than done.
Not with us.
Our model provides easy-to-access, specialist skills when our clients (and other consultants) need them. Our ‘Advisory Team’ model gives you selected experts, ready to roll with a new challenge, and up-to-speed with your business, right when you need it, at a fixed monthly cost.
The skills in Extra Brain form the ultimate leaders toolkit to help you get unstuck, and get on. Our Brains offer: coaching, innovation, strategy, marketing, design, change, finance, tech, supply chain, HR, and legal. We can even help you to build your business on the B Corp framework, in bitesize chunks, and help you to get certified.
Our clients know where to turn, whenever they need more brains on a problem. We help them to share the load and progress.
What We Do
Network of consultants, low overheads, best available talent blah, blah, blah – you’ve heard it all before. In truth, we’re the same. We’re not here to tell you it’s revolutionary, just that it works.
Solo consultants are great, trust us, we’ve been them. We’ve delivered brilliant outcomes for clients on our own BUT sometimes, often in fact, problems benefit from broader perspectives, specialist skills and quite frankly, extra brains.
We’ve got a few different services, designed to suit your needs and all based on recurring observations or requests. If we’re really honest though, we know that products are often a start point and each business has its own context and nuance. We’re happy to create something new, if it works for you, and us.
Services
Brains on tap
Our model has been specially designed to help leaders with ongoing consulting needs to have a larger set of specialists running alongside them at a fixed price. This means they can access these skills, when they need them, with an up-to-date team, without worrying about costs ramping up.
Individual Advisor:
Long-term, Non Executive or Board Advisor roles with one lead consultant.
Extra Brain Advisory Team:
Long-term Non-Executive or Board Advisor roles with one lead consultant + additional specialists with limited, ongoing monthly access, within the price. This service comes in two sizes:
- 4 Brain Team = 1 lead advisor and 3 additional specialists each month.
- 2 Brain Team = 1 lead advisor and 1 additional specialist each month
All Advisory clients can access the network for additional projects or skills. These projects will be costed independently by the consultant for the client, Extra Brain will add a 10% margin onto the costs. We do not charge the consultants additional commission.
Brains to go
Workshops:
We’re lucky enough to have a great location in beautiful Southwold, in Suffolk, to host leadership team events and a host of amazing facilitators to design and run them and we’re also starting ‘Workship Workshops’ on a converted barge in London from Autumn 2022.
Extra Brain Storm:
Have a burning problem or creative roadblock that needs an informed injection of expertise, turned around in days not weeks? 3 or 4 experienced Brains to thrash out a challenge or generate fresh ideas?
The Extra Brain Storm is a 90-minute, facilitated workshop with our most relevant Brains, selected for your challenge. You bring the brief, we run the session, which you’re welcome to join. You leave with ideas, provocations and solutions after a stimulating discussion. We’ll send you a transcript, with the key ideas highlighted, the recording, and an exec summary outlining our solutions. If you want one of the Brains to evolve this further, that’s fine too.
Coming soon: Knowledge Transfer
We’re currently designing a short training programme, around 4 key topics that we believe will help teams to function better – that means your team too!
The topics are: Innovation and creativity, leadership, wellbeing and resillience and ethical business.
More thinking required
One-off projects:
These are self-contained projects which can be dealt with by one or more of the consultants. It’s almost impossible to categorise every type – so far, they have ranged from: being a ‘Pitch Doctor’ for an important win, helping with the strategy for an international launch, transforming an organisations entire value proposition and internal processes, helping to improve customer experience, and defining sustainable roles and structures for critical business teams.
Who
We’re not the first network of consultants, and we won’t be the last, that’s for sure.
Extra Brain only grows its network when it needs new skills, so you won’t find a page of 100 biogs and photos of people who are not actively engaged. If you can see them, we need them on projects. In addition, the Brains want to work with people who excite them, who they genuinely want to spend time with and learn from. Selfishly, we all want to access the minds of great thinkers, have fun and learn along the way, just like you.
We’re creating an inclusive environment, a space for diverse Brains to flourish, collaborate and enjoy. Want to find out if it could be for you?
It’s also crucial to us that our consultants:
- Are successful in their own right (we’re not their salespeople)
- Have a proven track record
- Are happy being brought into a range of client problems and have lateral skills
- Are genuinely collaborative, egos left at the door
- Want the best outcome for the client (our model doesn’t work without this, it requires us to relinquish some control to each other for the best outcome)
- Want to participate (we have working groups currently developing new Extra Brain products together).
Jessica Gregson
She/Her
Non-Exec & Board Advisor
Heidi Florence
She/Her
Sustainability & Business Impact Consultant
Swanage
Don Smith
He/Him
Creative Direction, Innovation & Strategy
Edinburgh/London
Catherine Brown
She/Her
Leadership and Communication Coach and Facilitator
Manchester
From facilitating discussions on difficult topics to mock cross examinations testing strategy and compliance, Catherine uses her forensic approach to get under the surface and uncover what is not being said.
Daniel Gregson
He/Him
Strategy Lead & Board Advisor
London/Suffolk
Victoria Evans
She/Her
Commercial Strategy, Finance Direction
Manchester
Natasha Jones
She/Her
Employment Lawyer & Chief Habit Officer
Manchester
Natasha is also an international bestselling author, with a passion for encouraging and nuturing cultures where work place wellbeing is walked not just talked about.
Robin Bonn
He/Him
Growth Specialist & Coach
London
Jindy Mann
He/Him
Leadership Coach & Advisor
Berlin
Chin Ru Foo
She/Her
Branding, Innovation, Diversity, and Leadership
London
Liam Dystant
He/Him
Sustainability & Change
London
Veronika Bridgman
She/Her
Product and Experience – Strategy & Innovation
London
Annette Gallo
She/Her
US Market Insight & Creative Consulting & Branding
New York
Annette has experience working within Media, Luxury, Hospitality, Fashion, and Arts.
Ben Gotto Smith
He/Him
Marketing & Brand Advisor
Sydney
Simon Wakeman
He/Him
Growth, operational leadership, org design
& change
London
Hugh Goulbourne
He/Him
Commercial Lawyer
Huddersfield
Hugh’s specialism is IT contracts, data privacy and GDPR compliance in sectors from retail to energy with a wide range of commercial contracts including supplier and customer contracts, NDAs and terms and conditions of sale or purchase.
Damian Rees
He/Him
Customer Researcher & Product Design Strategist
Bournemouth
Coming Soon
About
A few more things that it might be useful to tell you.
This isn’t a Co-operative, but it’s inspired by the movement. Consultants and clients will be asked to vote on key decisions about who Extra Brains works with, and how we support purposeful initiatives.
We’re not specifically designed for social enterprises and charities, nor purely for purpose-driven organisations, but we will avoid work that we think has a direct, negative impact on society. Consultants will vote to decide if we take on new clients.
This is worth saying, gently, we’re consultants. We’re not a freelance solution and we don’t take away projects to implement, outside of your business. We help you to set strategy and agree tactics, we can even help your team with implementation; helping them to assess the right partners and even advising them along the way, but we won’t execute stuff on your behalf.
We’re working to improve the diversity of our network to create an inclusive space where everyone can thrive and the talent of people from underrepresented groups is amplified. We encourage our clients to do the same.
Every year, 5% of our profits will go to a cause that we believe is actively supporting one of the 17 UN SDG’s, this could be global or local. Clients and consultants will vote from a selection provided by the founders each year.
What Clients Say
“We’ve found having an objective viewpoint, a robust challenge or just a fresh pair of eyes invaluable in keeping us true to what we do and being able to have the best chance of success. That’s what Jess brings to us and why we work with her.”
Eliot Sykes
Managing Partner, Krow X
“Jess is a seasoned thought leader that provides Tommy with a valuable sounding board and considered direction. Jess can turn her focus to many aspects of the business landscape and gives clear and concise input. She’s equally adept at ‘thinking’ and ‘leading’ as well as the hands-on in the ‘doing’.”
Chris Edwards
Founder, Tommy
“I can whole heartedly say that Jess has been more than just an extra brain. She has been fundamental in unlocking our potential as a business and as individuals and is very much part of our team. We’ve been so lucky to have Jess guiding us and we’ve learned so much in the process that the last three years would have looked very different had she not been involved.”
Peter Johnson
MD, Creature & Co
“When Dan speaks, I listen. I don’t say that about many people.”
Adam Barmby
CEO and Founder,
EAV Solutions.
“(Dan) brings amazing clarity. Takes you through his thinking in a way that means you enjoy the journey and reach the destination smiling – cracked it.”
Donna-Maria Cullen
Executive Director, Tottenham
Hotspur Football & Athletic Co Ltd
“Having an Extra Brain is invaluable to our business and the people who lead it, providing us all with the peace of mind that we have someone to turn to when the going gets tough or there’s a business mountain to climb.”
Josh Bolland
Founder, JB Cole
Our Clients:
