I learned over the years that I meet my best people in the places I love to be - and I met Rachel at the gym. 6am, lifting weights and pushing through spin sessions with a group of women who showed up every single day. There's something you learn about people when you're doing hard, repetitive things alongside them before the rest of the world is awake. Rachel was serious, sharp, and not a waster of time. When I found out she was thinking about leaving her current role, I reached out. "We should connect," I said, "because it sounds like you have completely the opposite skill set to me and we could be a good combination." She agreed to meet me for coffee. She made no promises.

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She asked good questions. Hard ones, actually, particularly about a leadership training market that's crowded, and what would make us stand out in it. That told me everything I needed to know about how Rachel thinks.

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We come from entirely different professional worlds, with different approaches to how we lead and how we work. But the gym showed us our common ground: we both believe it's sustained, regular practice that keeps you fit and strong -in the gym, and in your leadership.

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That shared conviction is what Discretionary Efforts is built on. The difference between a team that gets the basics done and one that drives genuine outcomes isn't a one-off training day. It's the people who show up committed to the charge, consistently, even on the days they're not feeling it. That's discretionary effort. And it's a skill that can be built.

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Rachel understands how to lead through managers and drive results through activity. Ali understands how people communicate, what changes behaviour, and how to build skills that stick under pressure. Together, we built Discretionary Efforts to do one thing well: give leaders the core skills and knowledge to cultivate the habits that drive results — for themselves, their people, and their organisations.