​Supporting Mid-Market Leaders: The MorePeople & Sean Sankey Collaboration

In the latest episode of TheMorePeople Podcast, CEO Andrew Fitzmaurice sits down once again with leadership coach and consultant Sean Sankey. Known for his hands-on work with senior teams across sectors, Sean brings a unique perspective on strategy, conflict resolution, and leadership development - built on an unusual career path that spans everything from bouncing at nightclubs to boardroom consulting.

This conversation dives into the challenges faced by mid-market businesses. Companies too often overlooked in the world of leadership development and consultancy, and introduces a new partnership designed to provide practical, tailored support.

The Mid-Market Gap

Sean highlights a major issue in today’s business landscape: the mid-market is underserved.

Large consultancies focus on blue-chip corporates, while startups attract energy and investment. In between sits a wealth of established, resilient businesses, often operating under the radar, with robust performance but limited access to tailored leadership and development solutions.

“There isn’t the same focus for mid-market businesses,” Sean explains. “And yet these companies face enormous challenges - from succession planning to integrating senior hires.”

This is where MorePeople and Sean’s expertise align: bringing targeted support to a vital but overlooked sector.

Four Key Areas of Focus

Rather than offering generic training or coaching, the partnership is launching with four specific interventions that respond directly to client feedback and research:

1. Post-Placement Support

Onboarding senior executives into mid-sized businesses is often underestimated. New leaders face immense pressure, potential imposter syndrome, and the challenge of fitting into established teams. Without the right integration, failure rates are high, wasting both time and money. This support ensures board-level hires succeed from day one.

2. Top Team Alignment

Even strong boards can hit an impasse - whether over structure, strategy, or culture. Alignment sessions help senior teams reset, resolve conflict, and get back to making effective decisions together.

3. Change Leadership

Leading change isn’t like building an Airfix kit. It’s more like rebuilding a plane mid-flight while under attack, as Sean puts it. These programmes equip senior teams with the tools, behaviours, and resilience needed to navigate real-world change, beyond the theory of “change management.”

4. Succession Planning & Tier 2 Talent Development

Succession planning is a recurring topic at MorePeople’s executive dinners, and businesses are increasingly recognising the risks of leaving it unaddressed. The focus here is on developing the next generation of leaders. Helping talented managers transition from “expert in a discipline” to strategic leader, capable of running P&Ls, inspiring teams, and shaping future growth.

Why This Matters

Mid-market businesses are often pragmatic, busy, and resilient, but that same resilience can mean they neglect long-term leadership development. MorePeople and Sean Sankey aim to change that by providing solutions that are:

• Practical - built for real-world challenges, not generic theory.

• Targeted - focused on the exact pain points mid-market leaders face.

• Proven - drawing on decades of consulting, coaching, and industry insight.

As Andrew notes:

“It’s one thing to recognise there’s an issue. It’s another to carve out the time and know-how to address it. These offerings give our clients the tools to take that next step.”

Looking Ahead

With plenty of supporting material, further videos, and consultancy sessions available, this partnership is set to bring real value to mid-market leaders across the agriculture, food, and horticulture sectors.

Stay tuned for more updates, and as always you can catch the full conversation with Sean Sankey on TheMorePeople Podcast.