Our story.

AGL was founded over ten years ago by a remarkable man: Anthony Gordon Lennox, known to many as Ant.

Before AGL, he had worked in television – on Question Time with David Dimbleby – and in politics with the likes of William Hague and David Cameron. It was Ant who came up with the best-remembered line in David Cameron’s famous speech-without-notes at the 2007 Conservative Party conference: …it might be a bit messy; but it will be me.

It was during his period in television, that Ant came to realise how difficult business leaders found it to communicate authentically. He saw time and time again what happened when high profile individuals appeared in front of the camera or behind a lectern.

Too often, the engaging, spontaneous, unique individual he had met in the green room would disappear with the intro music, to be replaced by a masked version of themselves – safer and reliably ‘on message’, but no longer ringing true, or connecting on a simple, human level.

He set up AGL to help them: to help them work out who they really were and what they really stood for; to help them personalise, humanise and dramatise their communication; and to help them become better, more thoughtful and more inspirational leaders.

In the course of his career in television and politics, Ant worked with many master communicators; but it was actually his work with business people and other non-professional communicators that he found the most rewarding. And in the process, he evolved a way of helping people communicate as themselves, with impact, founding the business we are today.

Everything we do remains rooted in the same philosophy – that the best way to help people is through developing confident, authentic self-expression rather than giving them spin or tricks of the trade.

On 7 October 2017, Anthony died after a short illness. We miss him greatly, and always will.

The team at AGL believes in the power of authenticity just as he did; and with the same degree of conviction. We know he would feel proud of how we have continued to grow as a business driven by his vision and his values.

 

Anthony Gordon Lennox
1969-2017

A brief history
1990

Anthony Gordon Lennox begins work in TV and current affairs, in particular as part of the production team on BBC’s Question Time – helping to coach guests to ‘think live’ without the safety of a mask.

2003

Anthony starts work as an independent consultant, offering one-to-one leadership coaching to a small group of senior individuals: government ministers, global business leaders, entrepreneurs, and other well-known people facing into high stakes situations – effectively founding the business we were to become.

2009

AGL is founded in its current form in order to expand our engagements. Our clients had recognised that beyond providing them with direct leadership support, real impact can sometimes only be achieved by instilling mutual purpose and strong communication skills, at scale, in a specific population. This then led to significant engagements in a range of blue-chip global organisations in pharmaceuticals, the media, financial services, telecommunications and beyond.

2011

Since this exciting time, we have grown to become a broad team of people from diverse backgrounds – journalism, law, finance, financial PR, advertising, psychology, the performing arts and media psychology – all with experience on the front line of business and all with a shared belief in the power of the spoken word.

2014

The breadth of what we offer continues to expand over the years. We work with groups as well as individuals; and we write content; and we provide consultancy – right across the spectrum of communication needs a business or individual might have. We also work increasingly with young people and forge a highly productive partnership with City Hall in London – reaching thousands of young people with our work.

2017

On 7 October 2017, Anthony died after a short illness (read his obituary here). We lost a colleague, a mentor and a friend, but we know he would feel proud of how we have continued to grow as a business, driven by his vision and his values.

2018

Our Special Advisory service is founded to deliver concentrated and ongoing support to high profile individuals with a broad range of needs.

Our thoughts

2-min Leadership Masterclass: Make Them Feel (then Make Them Think)
How to Handle Difficult Conversations
What You Meant to Say: A Model of Authenticity Everyone Can Relate To
Reclaiming Authenticity: What is Authentic Leadership & What Is Not?
2-min Leadership Masterclass: How ‘Simple & Concrete’ Beats ‘Clever’
By Andrew Walker
How #MeToo redefined authenticity, teamwork and public trust
By Andrew Walker
Women In Leadership Insights: Bossy vs. Boss
By Andrew Walker
Talking About Authenticity with Silicon Roundabout’s Pioneering Women