After the Big Job

Next Move Lab

Six people who ran something. Five weeks. What deserves your energy next, tested rather than guessed.

Wednesdays from 13 January. £750. Six places.

Who it is for. Who it is not.

For

You ran something substantial. A business, a division, a function, your own company. It has ended, or the end is agreed. You could do several things next and can make a case for every one of them. You have not decided which deserves your energy, and you are tired of working it out on your own at the kitchen table.

Six months before a confirmed exit to about three years after. The exit can have been a sale, a succession, a redundancy, your own decision. The group is better for having more than one of those in it.

Not for

One question sorts it. Do you need to decide where to point, or do you know where to point and need the door opened? If it is the second, this is the wrong place. Say so on the form and I will tell you where I would go instead.

Not for outplacement, pension planning or recovery from burnout. Not for anyone who wants introductions rather than a test. Not for anyone in a live dispute that would take over the sessions.

The five weeks.

Two hours on a Wednesday, on Teams, four times. Between the sessions you do about an hour of private work and, in week four, two experiments in the real world. Then a month later we look at what you actually did.

  1. Before

    A short application. A confidentiality agreement. An hour of private pre-work so the first session is not spent on biographies.

  2. 13 Jan

    What actually ended? The role, the title and what the role supplied are three different things. Separate them. What you miss when nobody is watching. What you are relieved never to do again.

  3. 20 Jan

    What must the next shape make possible? Money, by when. Days a week. How much authority you want back, and how much you would be glad to be rid of.

  4. 27 Jan

    What is worth testing? Another big job. Your experience used differently. Something you would not call the next rung. Pick two.

  5. 3 to 9 Feb

    Two tests in the real world. A conversation with someone who would pay. A day living the week you say you want. A meeting you have never sat in.

    Asking a friendly former colleague whether you would be good at it is not a test. It is reassurance.
  6. 10 Feb

    What did reality tell you? What surprised you. What evidence you are trying to explain away. Then ninety days, with the dates you will look again and the reason you would stop.

  7. Mid March

    An hour, a month on. Show the calendar, not the intention. What you stopped, what you started, what changed your mind.

The rules.

  • Nothing is recorded. No AI note-takers, no transcripts, no screenshots.
  • Your own thinking is yours to use. Another person’s story goes no further without their say-so. That is stronger than the Chatham House Rule, on purpose.
  • I keep almost nothing. The application, your email, and whatever you choose to send me. Your worksheets stay with you.
  • I will not sell you anything in the sessions. There is no upsell at the end.

The cost, and how to join.

£750 for the founding group. That is the price for the first time this runs, and I will say so to the next group too. You pay by card once I have confirmed your place. Applications close on Friday 11 December. If I cannot fill five places by then I will tell you and refund you in full.

If you would rather talk first, book thirty minutes with me. We can go through whether the Lab fits where you are, and you can ask me anything about it. Or go straight to the application: eight questions, about ten minutes. I read every one myself and reply within the week, either way. If I think this is wrong for you I will say so and say why.

Apply, or talk first

Eight questions. Nothing you write is shared or published.

Apply for a place Book a conversation

Who you are working with.

Magnus Wood

I have been at the top of a business three times and left three times, not always when I chose. The last time was earlier this year. I am eight months out, so I am not describing this from the other side. I am in it, with five other people who are in it too.

My job in the sessions is to hold the attention and the evidence. To stop the most compelling story taking thirty-five minutes. To ask the direct question without making it an interrogation. To know when someone needs a lawyer, a clinician or a headhunter rather than more of me.

This is Wild Leadership. It starts from After the Big Job. The evidence is Gen X at Work.