Sometimes as business leaders we can almost 'sense' some of the problems we face, but for all sorts of reasons we have blind spots and don’t seem to be able to see them – or their solutions -clearly. What we need is a more experienced person to discuss these issues with and to gain from their insights and expertise – in short, we need a mentor and coach.

An essential element of academy membership is the one-to-one monthly mentoring and coaching sessions from your group chairman. These sessions (normally held at the member’s place of work) allow the highly experienced chairmen to help explore issues that members face in a private and supportive environment with complete confidentiality.

The sessions allow the chairmen to gain an in-depth understanding of a member's business so that they can apply their wealth of experience to help problem-solve, to create new thinking and to stimulate the development of each member's leadership skills.

For many successful business people, being mentored and coached is a critical part of their leadership and business knowledge development, allowing vital issues to be explored and discussed when there is often no one else to turn to who can really help. It is a very close relationship and many mentors also become lifelong friends and confidants.