Deep in Thought

Over the past year, I have been researching, questioning and shaping our TREE model—Trust, Resilience, Equity and Empathy—for sustainable leadership . What began as curiosity gradually became conviction: that leadership, change and culture need a fundamentally different approach if organisations are to thrive in today’s world. Many leadership models still reflect outdated assumptions. They were designed for a time when change was linear rather than complex, hierarchies were r

Burnout is not a wellbeing issue. It's a performance, cost, and governance issue. For years, burnout has been discussed as an employee wellbeing concern — important, but often parked in HR or handled with optional benefits. That framing no longer holds. Going into 2026, burnout in the UK workforce represents a material business risk . It is already driving lost capacity, rising absence, higher turnover, lower quality, and avoidable cost — and the conditions that cause it are

A year ago, my life came to a full stop. A catastrophic burnout, triggered by a collision of work, menopause, neurodiversity, caring responsibilities, and unresolved grief, forced me to listen in a way I never had before. What I’ve learned since is simple, but profound: the opposite of loneliness and burnout isn’t rest alone, it’s connection and community. Seven months ago, I left the country to spend six weeks with loved ones, big African skies, the ocean, long walks, writin

Equity is the canopy that protects and propels Deep Inclusive Leadership and sustainable growth. In the TREE leadership model, equity forms the final quadrant of the canopy; the branches and leaves that grow outward from the stability of trust, the strength of resilience, and the connective power of empathy. If empathy helps us understand others, equity ensures that understanding translates into fair action, shared opportunity, and collective growth. But equity, in the TRE

In the TREE leadership model, empathy forms one half of the upper canopy; the branches and leaves where growth, creativity, and expansion occur. If trust and resilience anchor a leader in stability, empathy is what allows them to reach outward, connect, and create the conditions where teams can flourish. Empathy is not softness; it is structural strength. It is the flexible, adaptive, living tissue of leadership that absorbs pressure, nurtures connection, and fuels innovation

Fifty years after the Sex Discrimination Act, women have more opportunities than ever, but less freedom to stop. While AI, burnout and bias are reshaping the meaning of equality at work. I was born in 1975, the year the Sex Discrimination Act became law. It was heralded as a new dawn by both politicians and feminists, the moment Britain promised that women would no longer be held back by their gender in education, work, or everyday life. According to my photo albums, it was

If Trust is the deep root system of the TREE leadership model, then Resilience is the trunk that carries all that underground stability upward into visible, thriving growth. The trunk looks simple from the outside, but anyone who has ever walked through a forest knows it’s doing serious heavy lifting. In leadership, resilience plays that same quiet but critical role. It’s the channel between what keeps us grounded and what helps us flourish. Resilience is built over time, not

At Surface Deep we work hard to help our clients mitigate the risk of burnout at the individual, team and organisational levels. Burnout is the end game when we don't pay attention to our needs and ways of being. We need to build trust, resilience, empathy and equity into the system from strategy to everyday behaviours to ensure healthy, sustainable growth (just like a tree). For next the four weeks we will focus on each of the four elements of TREE, and how each supports th

What muddy pitches can teach us about the next generation of female leaders It’s 9.30 am on a Saturday, and the wind is up, wrestling fiercely with the tie-dye trees that surround the pitch. Parents stand alert on the sidelines, absorbed in the action, shouting concise instructions. A pony-tailed woman sidesteps down the line enthusiastically. Across the field, the girls sprint, pivot, fall, and get back up again.“Keep going!” calls the coach from the sidelines when momentum

“We’re building the kind of workplace we needed when we were burning out.” London, UK — 21 October 2025 Two highly experienced strategists and old school friends, Claudie Plen-McCormack and Mia Serra, are on a mission to change how organisations lead . After decades in high-pressure roles in big tech, media, blue-chip corporations, start-ups and mission-led brands, both women hit the same wall: burnout. The kind that creeps in through constant relocation, caring responsibili

Today, on World Mental Health Day (10th October) , we pause to reflect — not just on mental health as a global issue, but as a deeply...

Every company begins with a story Surface Deep  wasn’t born from a spreadsheet or a market gap. It began as a philosophy—a belief that leaders and teams must go below the surface to unlock their deepest potential. Surface Deep is led by Claudie Plen-McCormack and Mia Serra, old school friends, who found one day as they walked along a riverbank with Mia’s dog, Emily, that as veterans of corporate life and experienced international strategists and consultants…they shared a pass

Tired of networking events that feel surface‑level and all form and no substance? You’re not alone. Most traditional mixers leave us...

At Surface Deep, we talk a lot about psychological safety — and for good reason. It’s one of the most critical conditions for real leadership, team cohesion, and meaningful change.