Powerful leadership is grounded in competence, guided by clarity, and anchored in integrity.
It creates alignment, builds trust, and ensures accountability becomes a shared reality.
We build the power to lead with clarity, composure, and collaboration—so organisations achieve critical gains in productivity.
Over 20 years in professional people development with major Australian and international companies;
an award-winning, utterly unique, boutique leadership and organisational development firm
founded by Annie and David McCubbin.
Annie is committed to elevating the quality of critical thinking in business and life, focusing on helping women avoid being conned by new-age nonsense and self-help platitudes.
After appearing in major theatre productions and Australian TV dramas, Annie founded COUP with David.
Having trained and coached thousands of women leaders, it became blindingly apparent to Annie that understanding cognitive flaws and unconscious biases can protect our lives from unwelcome drama and ruin.
She became deeply irritated that the benefits of critical thinking are overlooked while New-Age nonsense and pseudoscientific health offerings are widely consumed. She wrote 'Why Smart Women Make Bad Decisions" in 2020 and has just followed this up with "Why Smart Women Buy the Lies.'
As Founder and Managing Director, David has pioneered the adoption of skills and disciplines from dramatic art as effective learning and development mechanisms in dozens of blue-chip corporations across banking, professional services, retail, pharma, telecoms, tertiary education, social housing and government. He has designed and delivered countless development programs for senior leaders and provided executive coaching to C-suite execs, CEO's and senior academics. He founded COUP with Annie in 2001. Since then they have delivered programs across Australasia and abroad.
Our main development modalities
Building your power and ability across the competencies described below; skills that bring career and personal satisfaction. We deliver face-to-face and via online video and utilise a 10:20:70 approach.
Helping you get your thoughts straight; clarity about your business context and goals; your purpose, your personal strategies and tactics, and encouragement to back yourself.
We offer Keynotes, Team-building and Large Group Facilitation and Skills Transfer; Session design and agile media production.
We offer cost-effective production services.
For people needing more focused personal, professional development.
The powers and abilities that underpin effective leadership and help you win at work
The power and ability to be calm and connected when things get challenging
The power and ability to create awareness, understanding and belief
The power and ability to build and lead high performing, high-achieving teams
The power and ability to see clearly, apply critical thinking and make good decisions
If you want to increase your impact and influence book us for a complimentary consultation. We’ll help you:-
2025 – Featured Topic – “Coherence”
Individual Coherence anchors decision-making, communication, and purpose to leadership.
Team Coherence brings alignment, drives collaboration and achievement of shared goals.
Individual and team Coherence can be cultivated and strengthened.
We are surrounded by stories of leadership success and failure. Look behind the headlines to recognise how people rose to the challenge.
The effect of cultivating coherence – in individuals and teams – has been researched and there is reliable evidence supporting the prioritisation of strengthening a coherence mindset and culture.
Over the last two decades, we've worked with many great companies
Today, perhaps more than ever, the difference between genuine integrity and its artificial counterpart is often blurred.
The talk aims to expose the manipulative use of Artificial Integrity in power dynamics across politics, business, and personal relations, offering new perspectives to combat these abuses effectively.”
The Mechanisms of Manipulation: How manipulative tactics are subtly woven into our daily communications and their impact on personal and professional relationships.
The Psychology Behind Artificial Integrity: Understanding why and how individuals use these strategies to gain power and control.
Strategies for Recognition and Resistance: Practical advice on how to recognise signs of manipulation and protect oneself and others from falling victim to it.
Please use this link to view the talk on the TEDx Youtube platform and please, share it with people who will benefit.
Building Strength in your Leadership Pipeline
Building Your Core Leadership Strengths
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