When what made you successful stops being enough
I work with engineers and professionals stepping into leadership, and with the organisations developing them. My work combines mentoring, coaching and practical advice, drawn from more than three decades of leading people in engineering.
Ways to work together
Mentoring and coaching
Developing your emerging leaders
Developing your emerging leaders
For leaders stepping up, and for senior professionals at a turning point. We meet regularly to work on the real situations in front of you. I’ll share what I’ve seen work, and what I’ve seen fail. I’ll also ask the questions that help you reach your own answers. Most experienced people want both, and I’m always clear about which I’m doing.
Developing your emerging leaders
Developing your emerging leaders
Developing your emerging leaders
For organisations. This mentoring is for high-potential professionals, new managers or future leaders, and we'll scope it with you based on what the business needs from them. [Confirm format: one-to-one, small groups, or both.]
Advice on a specific challenge
Developing your emerging leaders
Advice on a specific challenge
For a decision, a transition or an organisational change where you want an experienced, independent view. I’ll help you frame the problem, test the options and come to a considered recommendation.
Why work with me
I spent around 38 years asAs Head of Aurecon’s African Transport Division and later their Global Design Centre, I managed more than 250 people. I know the pressure of delivering technically while leading a team. serving as Independent Engineer on South Africa’s three toll-road concessions, I have worked at the pinnacle of Engineering. Along the way, the work I found most meaningful was helping people grow into leadership. In 2025, I founded Loest Consult to focus on exactly that, through mentoring, coaching, advisory and board work.
I’ve led People at scale.
As Head of Aurecon’s African Transport Division and later their Global Design Centre, I managed more than 250 people. I know the pressure of delivering technically while leading a team at the same time.
I think like an Engineer.
That means understanding any engineering problem as a human problem before solving it, weighing trade-offs objectively, separating signal from noise, and testing a decision before committing. Those habits are just as useful for a career decision or a difficult team as for a structure.
Developing people has always been part of my work.
In 2008, I was the inaugural recipient of Consulting Engineers South Africa’s Mentor of the Year award. As a trained Coach, helping capable people grow into bigger roles is the part of my career I’ve found most rewarding.
I’m outside your organisation.
Our conversations are confidential, and I have no stake in your internal politics. That makes it easier to say what you actually think.
