hello!

Got brilliant researchers who are stepping into leadership roles? Are you a growing leader ready to go from busy to indispensible?

I help talented researchers grow into leaders people listen to and want to follow

Hello, my name is Zoe Fenn and I work with leaders ready to have more influence and impact.

At 30 I found myself in a leadership position. I was proud of the role and eager to learn, but I also felt totally out of my depth. I was managing a team of smart, creative people, many of whom had been doing the job a lot longer than me.

Luckily for me, my company paid for coaching to support me, and it was transformational. I learnt many things:

My belief that I had to be the smartest person in the room was getting in the way of listening to what clients actually needed.
My desire to be liked above all else was leading me to take on my team’s problems as my own, dodge difficult conversations and spend way too much time chatting over coffee.
My tendency to "say yes" to client requests and senior asks was reducing my authority.

Because what keeps many of feeling overwhelmed, isn't lack of effort or skill, it's those quiet beliefs we hold about what leadership is.

I work with leaders to define their value in a leadership context, and make that value visible, so they build trust, become leaders people rely on, and want to follow.

APPROACH

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APPROACH

You are where you are because you are already brilliant. But a leadership role will require new things from you.

This feels hard, not because you lack skill (you definitely don’t lack skill), but because leadership requires you to see yourself and your role at work in a different light. This is hard to do on your own.

Do you find yourself saying things like…

If I say no I am being uncaring / unhelpful

I am too old / young / inexperienced / introvert to…

I am not strategic / creative enough to…

I'll look like I don't know what I'm doing

If the answer is yes, then sounds like we would be a good coaching fit. Working on these assumptions will transform your capacity to lead. You will grow your confidence, reduce your workload and create better results.

Much like a successful brand, you need sound insight in order to grow. As a coach with 15 years experience in the research industry, this is exactly what I do. I call it insight-based growth.

My coaching blends practical leadership models with empathetic lived experience and compassionate challenge, supporting leaders to overcome perceived limits, step into strategic influence, and lead confidently and credibly.

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services

SERVICES

Small-group leadership development for research & insight leaders who want more impact and influence — by making their value visible, leading delivery with authority, and building trust with teams, clients and stakeholders.

Enrolling the Spring Cohort Now.

I run this as a X-Industry programme, and for groups of leaders within an organisation or agency.

3 months | 6 x 90 minute Learn & Test Modules | Real Work Practice | Tracking Progress | Accountability

This is for leaders who recognise that they over-service, over-prepare, over-rescue, over-explain, and know this limits their authority, influence and impact.

I get it, because this was me. I became a leader and I thought I needed to carry everything - put out every fire, say yes to every client request, prepare an intelligent-sounding answer to every possible question a client might ask in a pitch, but this was exhausting, and undermining the influence and authority I was trying to build.

The Trusted Advisor Programme

Full Trusted Advisor Programme Details

the free 'say-it-like-it-matters' challenge

A FREE 2-week challenge in Speaking with Authority

Know your worth
Catch diminishing language
Start communicating without apology / caveat

Runs every 3-4 months. Next cohort 2nd March to 16th March.

Say It Like It Matters Details

If there is something I am trying to work out the approach for I now have a voice in my head telling me “just give it a go” and “what’s the worst that can happen?”

Research Lead, Whitbread

I must admit to being a bit sceptical on how useful the programme would be for me, but it was an absolute revelation. Even now, a year later, I still remind myself of things I learnt

Associate Director, Magenta

ABOUT

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ABOUT

You Burn Bright was set up by me, Zoe Fenn.

I have 15 years of global agency-side experience, held multiple leadership roles and have two coaching qualifications.

I have 15 years of global agency-side experience. As Head of the UK Practice and Head of Insight I led teams through good times and tough times. I worked with brands including Unilever, PepsiCo, GSK, M&S and KFC. I’ve been in homes, salons and street corners across multiple markets, from Manila to Glasgow.

And if I learnt one thing, it was that the brands that shone the brightest were those that knew their value and communicated that consistently through everything they did.

I am a double qualified coach (ICF Accredited), an AQR trainer and MRS member.

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BLOG

annual review 2025 - a year of connection

I’ve been missing it. I think our industry has been missing it. But we’re bringing it back. Connection is absolutely core to what it means to be human and so it was that I set this as my word for the year for You Burn Bright 2025, and I am very glad I did. I realised I needed more human connection. Screens and working from home are efficient, but in overusing these tools I was morphing into heads down, silo-ed, ‘busy’ ways of working that felt distinctly un-me. So I got out

Is the desire for authenticity holding leaders back?

Authentic leadership has been around over a decade now, but it’s a leadership shift I believe we’ve still not got the measure of. What I have observed is that our version of authenticity, instead of freeing us (as it was intended to do), actually restricts us. Authenticity has unintentionally become this armour: A way to avoid doing hard things. An excuse for attitudes or behaviours that make people feel uncomfortable or undermine team performance. A story we tell ourselves

have we misunderstood empowerment?

When I made the transition from running a team of 18 to a team of 30, the biggest thing it made me realise was that I’d totally misunderstood what it looked like to empower my team. I had been operating on the assumption that if my team was happy, then all was well - we would have harmony, no one would leave, the work would be good. How did this assumption lead me to behave? - I was jumping in, solving, fixing, accommodating, pleasing, advising. This felt good in the moment f

Testimonials

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By having honest conversations and running a role play exercise I have been able to have more honest conversations with the rest of my work team to discuss issues and possible solutions which has had a really positive impact on my working environment

Emily, PwC

I had a very positive experience of coaching with Zoe. She helped me clarify my ambitions and priority areas of focus, to frame goals as achievable, and to build habits that better help me manage stressful situations / reframe experiences in a constructive way

Sarah, Google

Testimonials

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Coaching with Zoe has been enormously helpful to me over the past 6 months. It’s helped me think through specific issues I’m facing in my role at work, and also consider my behaviours and role more holistically.Coaching has helped change my relationship with work so that I’ve been able to focus on what I enjoy, and develop in areas that have been more challenging.

Charlotte, Lifestream

When I started coaching with Zoe I was preparing to apply for a leadership role in a new area; I’m a confident person and yet I just couldn’t get started. Talking with Zoe, I realised just how much self-doubt I was masking, even from myself. The coaching helped me focus on the strengths I could bring to the new role, and helped me show-up, as myself, from day one

Caroline, Mondelez International

I had a very positive experience of coaching with Zoe. She helped me clarify my ambitions and priority areas of focus. This helped me to frame goals as achievable, and to build habits that better help me manage stressful situations, including reframing experiences in a constructive way.

`Sarah, Google

I have unlocked new capabilities within myself

`Sesh, Frog

Coaching with Zoe was an incredibly valuable experience. It taught me a lot about my professional blind spots and simple tools to overcome these

Kristen, Ancestry

Testimonials

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CONTACT

If you are a future leader ready to step up, then get in touch to book your free 50 minute taster session

zoe@youburnbright.com

CONTACTS