Guillemot is an independent consulting practice working at the intersection of brand, culture, and transformation. We help leadership teams navigate moments of genuine change and transition with honesty, imagination, and a deep belief in the possibility of better.
As a networked practice, Founder & Director Steph Matthews works independently, as a freelance specialist for agencies, or alongside a carefully chosen collective of expert practitioners — joining forces to extend our capabilities as the work demands.
We choose to work with clients who believe their organisations exist to do more than extract value. Leaders who want to leave their teams, their communities, and the wider world in better shape than they found them. We have a particular interest in working with purpose-driven SMEs, budding or fully-fledged B-Corps, and heritage brands navigating a new chapter.
We are not a large firm. We do not take on more than we can give our full attention to. Every project is a genuine partnership, and every engagement begins with deep listening and attention to the moment you're in, right now.
We are based in Chettle, in the heart of Cranborne Chase AONB in Dorset. This landscape inspires how we think about change and what it means to build something that lasts.
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FOUNDER & DIRECTOR
Steph Matthews
Steph has spent 25 years supporting brands and organisations through pivotal transformations. Her work focuses on helping leadership teams shape the strategies and cultures they need to become what they stand for.
Through Guillemot and previous senior roles at leading UK-based and global consultancies - Sparknow (now Hyphae), Interbrand, BrandCap, Yonder Consulting, Dragonfish - Steph has partnered with organisations across sectors, from international NGOs and public institutions to businesses building something genuinely different. Her background is in brand and culture consulting, and she brings a rare combination of strategic clarity, creative instinct, and human depth to every engagement.
Steph is also an ICF-accredited transformation coach (Animas) and a student of applied foresight, systems thinking, regenerative business, and the wisdom of nature-connected practice. She founded Guillemot to bring these capabilities together into something that could go deeper than conventional consulting and that could be in genuine service to the futures we need to build.
Clients have included BGF (formerly Business Growth Fund), British Airways, British Council, Budgens, Coty, Grant Thornton, Hays, International Alert, Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Janus Henderson, King & Wood Mallesons, Musgrave, Network Rail, Ocean Energy Pathway, Pearson, Raspberry Pi, Rosewood Hotel Group, Royal Ballet School, SThree, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), THEUNSEEN, Tennis Wales, University of Cambridge, UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO), Waterloo Uncovered, and Welsh Athletics.
The wider circle
Guillemot has always been a flock at heart.
Our network of trusted collaborators includes futurists, executive coaches, systems thinkers, organisation designers, brand and marketing professionals, fellow anthropologists, and creatives of all kinds. All expert practitioners in their own right, they bring skills and worldviews that complement ours and extend our capacity across the full range of challenges clients bring. Together, we go further than any of us would alone.
If you'd like to explore a collaboration opportunity, we'd love to hear from you.
WHY 'GUILLEMOT'?
The company was named after the extraordinarily brave and resourceful Guillemots who nest on the cliffs of Durlston, near Swanage on the nearby Jurassic Coast. Their "jumplings" leave the nest earlier than most seabirds, and are amongst the deepest divers. Their beautiful, uniquely patterned, conical eggs are cleverly adapted to their environment. It all felt very apt.
Check out John Hegley's wonderful poem, 'Guillemot' for his brilliant take.
