A reflection on life, learnings, and a transformed approach to coaching since joining Mastered.

Graduating this September, Alastair Young reflects on his life before joining the Mastered programme, his learnings and his transformed approach to coaching.

Before joining the Mastered Programme, I was a partner at the global law firm Dentons. My area of specialism was litigation and arbitration; I represented clients from all over the world in connection with disputes on large infrastructure, construction and engineering projects. As well as developing a disputes based legal practice, I was involved in the leadership and management of the Dentons’ business – I was the Managing Partner of the Dentons’ Middle East business and a member of the Dentons’ ExCo and Board. Many years before this, I was an officer in the British Army, where I served for just under eight years.

I left law in 2023 and after having some time off to travel I started the Mastered Programme. I have always had an interest in resilience and leadership and the combination of the two, particularly as it relates to high performing individuals and teams. My interest in leadership likely stems from my early experience in the Army, where leadership is a core attribute, combined with the application of numerous different and individual leadership styles within the commercial world.

In 2014 I experienced ‘burnout’ for the first and hopefully only time. I stepped back from work for just over four months – I was very fortunate to recover fully and be able to return to Dentons and subsequently go on to hold several senior management positions at the firm.

My coaching and consulting career focusses on leadership, in the widest sense, with a particular focus on the subject of ‘resilient leadership’.

In addition to coaching, I am often asked to talk about resilient leadership, what it means to me, and what I experienced and learned from the events of 2014. What seems to be of particular interest is that I was able to return to the environment in which I was ill. Since then, I have set up a consultancy to provide consulting and coaching support on the subject of leadership – Thorpe Dock . I also work with Henry Marsden and the team at PSFI.

What impact did the Mastered programme have for you? What are some examples of things you have done differently because of Mastered?

My experience of coaching prior to 2023 was mixed – some great, some less so. Through Mastered, I have started to properly understand the extent of the difference high quality coaching can make – a direct consequence of our great tutor (Saverio Grazioli-Venier) and the invaluable contributions of my fellow tutees, who will remain nameless, but they know who they are, and to them I am very grateful.

Since completing the Mastered Programme, I have transformed my approach to coaching. By way of example, I would previously have been too quick to ‘jump in’ with an answer or a solution to a problem – I now understand and really value the advantage that can be generated by saying as little as possible or on occasions (and even better) by saying nothing at all and allowing a coachee to come to their own answer or solution. I hope also that my ability to listen has improved but I will let others be the judge of that!

What was the most valuable thing/(s) you got from Mastered that you are using now?

Confidence that coaching, done well, can make an enormous difference to busy people in a busy and increasingly uncertain world.

Where do you see yourself going in the future?

A combination of consulting and coaching busy executives; speaking to anyone who will listen about resilience and leadership, in the hope that others will be able to avoid happening to them what happened to me in 2014; and travelling and having fun with my wife, Sara.

Anything else you would like to say?

My only regret in connection with the Mastered Programme is that I did not do the course many years earlier as I could have deployed what I learned whilst I was at Dentons – this may well be a regret shared by those that worked with me!

Alastair Young

Current Mastered participant, graduating September 2025.