Colm Foster Biography

Colm specializes in working with executives and their teams to improve individual and team effectiveness through both one-to-one and team level engagements. He succeeds in facilitating ‘difficult conversations,’ which often lead to real breakthroughs. His work often involves helping executives to understand and address the self-limiting attitudes and behaviors that impair superior performance.

In 2014, Colm co-authored “Step Up, Lead in Six Moments that Matter” with Henry Evans (forward by Marshall Goldsmith). The book offers insights on the six critical moments when anyone can demonstrate leadership, regardless of their title.

In the area of strategy execution, Colm has helped organizations execute their business plan and ensured that course corrections were implemented appropriately. “I rarely see organizations that lack strategic plans; rather the problem is that the clarity of the plan is severely dissipated as it cascades out throughout the organization.” Strategy-to-Action work is therefore about ensuring that there is a real level of alignment, ownership and accountability throughout the organization.

Colm qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst and Young in Dublin and spent a number of years with Price Waterhouse in Australia. He then spent 15 years working with the Irish subsidiary of a Blue-Chip global FMCG business, acting as finance director, strategy director and customer service director. He has served as operations director for global third parties for the International Division, spending considerable time in Africa, Austral-Asia and the Caribbean.

Since 2005, Colm has worked as performance coach to a number of senior executives in Ireland and in the United States. This work includes, inter alia, talent development, strategy development and execution, high performance teamworking and leadership development.

Colm combines his coaching work with the demands of being father to five wonderful children. He is a sports nut and loves all forms of sporting challenge (he was one of the youngest people in Ireland to be awarded a black belt in Judo). “My non-work goal for this year is to hike Kilimanjaro.” He is also an avid reader who has vowed to keep reading Ulysses until he enjoys it!

Colm is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. Holds an MBA (1st class, winner of Deans List Award for outstanding academic achievement) from University College Dublin, a Masters in Organizational Behavior (1st class) from Dublin City University and a PhD in Leadership and Emotional Intelligence from University College Dublin. Colm is qualified in the use of a wide range of psychometrics including the MSCEIT, Bar-On EQi and EQ360, NEO-PI and MBTI. He is a member of the adjunct faculty of the UCD, Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business where he lectures in strategy, strategy implementation, operations management, finance and organizational behavior.

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