Testimonials

“Dan’s visual approach to consultancy is beyond just valuable – it is profound, and a major competitive advantage to anyone who enlists his support.

He has, what is in my experience, a unique ability to take any project and break it down into the nuts and bolts, and define with surgical clarity the processes, inputs, throughputs and outputs. The result is that leaders finally get something down on paper that demystifies all the threads in their head.

As an individual, Dan’s insight is matched by his sincerity and professionalism. He is the definition of that cool and calm authority that holds power under control.“

— Scott Gould (International Speaker & Author of ‘Shape of Engagement’)

“Dan is the outside eye for looking inside. Seeing what others do not see, or do not know what to look at.

Being able to be in the moment with people and opening their eyes to see what they need to see (and focus on the right things).”

— Cindy Spelt (International Entrepreneur, Investor & Speaker)

“Dan’s synthesis distilled the 56 pages of almost impenetrable text in to three unambiguous diagrams. The visualisations have had a positive impact on our internal communication and improved our common understanding.

As project coordinator for 13 transnational locations, where most partners are not working in their first language, the visualisations have helped to clarify AYCH which reduces friction and saves time. In turn, the visualisations are enhancing our collaborative working by acting as an accessible ‘touchstone’ in addition to the PAF and the Deliverables Tracker, our other key documents.

As we move towards the final phase of the project, we envisage the visualisations as an integral part of our Consolidation Work Package or legacy phase which will help to inform and influence following projects.

Dan provided excellent first drafts developed through his own synthesis of the PAF. We then worked to fine-tune them with Dan on the Visualisations before translation to the four languages. As the Project Coordinator I was extremely pleased with the final deliverables, the working relationship and the value for money.”

— Oenone Thomas (Project Coordinator for Atlantic Youth Hubs - AA INTERREG EU Project)

“Dan professionalism is underpinned by a passion that is sound in its philosophy and value base. Dan is enthusiastic and dynamic in his approach to projects. His energy can sustain project development through the often difficult forming stages.

Dan is a team player and a respected leader in pushing projects, and making ideas real. Ultimately Dan is a visionary who through meetings and conversations can place ideas into a schematic plan that offers a realistic route to an end goal. His strengths lie in project planning and project management.

This therefore makes Dan a key player in the development of contemporary projects, and is core team player for any team, organisation or business considering the development of dynamic 'Mutuals', or social enterprises.”

— Rishi Bates (Senior Youth Work at Plymouth City Council)

“Dan is a creative entrepreneur. He is an ideas man and is open to opportunity.

He is very supportive and thoughtful of others. Because of these attributes he is gaining a reputation as being a great connector between business and young people and community.”

— Stuart Newberry (Transformational Coach/Trainer and Co-Founder of Coaching Connect)

“I first met Dan Underwood at a coaching event in the autumn of 2010 where we mutually rubbed shoulders with a whole variety of colleagues from varying backgrounds and areas of expertise.

The fascinating thing about our meeting was that we were respectively the youngest and oldest people there! And yet that was the springboard for very many things we have in common. I have coached young people in sport for over 15 years and of course I know that young people in particular get more from listening to and working with their peers than with any other age group. And this is where Dan, with his boundless enthusiasm, bold intensity, and innate understanding of 'what works', really resonates hugely with the young people he works with.

He has an inspiring style of delivery when presenting ideas and topics that has you on the edge of your seat. He's one of those coaches who'll run with what he believes in every inch of the way - very exciting to work with!”

— Peter Wright (Hypnotherapist & Performance Coach)

“Dan is passionate about his work with people of all ages, but especially young people. His knowledge and enthusiasm shine through which shows in the delivery of his workshops and the interest of those attending. He intelligently expresses information and guidance without arrogance.

Dan specialises in the understanding and development of young people. He is innovative in his approach, loyal and hard working. His knowledge and understanding is unmatched in his area of expertise. I recommend him highly.”

— Maggie Currie (Author, Coach & Radio Host)

“Dan has an incredible amount of knowledge, experience and passion for business. He leaves many older and more experienced business people standing and has true entrepreneurial spirit.

I find it very refreshing to work with Dan and he is an inspiration and role model for young entrepreneurs.”

— Tina Sibley (Public Speaking Specialist & Coach)

“I would recommend Dan to anyone and always use Dan's work with me, as one of the best demonstrations of effective mentoring time.

It's rare that you come across a standout character like Dan. I had the pleasure of meeting with Dan four years ago after finishing my work with Future Framework. Dan sat down with me helped me with my professional development. 

Dan's ability to analyze and review real life situations was unlike any I’ve seen before and made a dramatic impact on me straight away. After a 2-hour coaching session, I had a lot of data points, learnings, and items to take away and review. This audit was incredibly powerful for my personal development.

As a coach, team member or a leader; Dan earns my highest recommendation.”

— Francesco D’Alessio (Host & Creator of Keep Productive)

“Dan is amazing at understanding people and un-layering the various masks we wear in everyday life, to get to the core of who we are. 

The mentoring sessions I had with Dan a few years ago, really helped me overcome my own limitations and gave me the confidence to go out their in both my professional and personal life and excel, far beyond I could ever imagine.”

— Rakhee Shah (Director of Strategic Partnerships)

“Dan really helped me see how I was portrayed through my CV and cover letter which I hope will aid me in writing them in the future.

The feedback Dan gave me I have found to be constructive and comprehensive.

Dan took the time to really delved into me as a person and I would like to thank him for questioning me and making me really think about myself. I actually feel now that I understand myself better as before I had not need to explain myself to anyone, therefore I had not thought about it too much. 

Dans mentoring I found challenging, however I feel like I learnt the most from it and think that Dan is are an invaluable mentor to both me and the other students at the university.”

— Sarah Kinsman (MBBCh Graduate Entry Medicine at Swansea University)

“Dan welcomed me with a smile and positive body language, did not rush through the things, paid attention to my answers, and were willing to share his experiences. These gave me a good impression of him.

Dan is very enthusiastic and encouraging. I felt that he really want me to relax and maximize my performance. He really read every single word of my CV. I felt that he understand my CV better than me and are keen on getting to know the real me.

Overall, it was a very pleasant experience.”

— Rebecca Jie Tong (BA Hons International Business Graduate (Plymouth University)

“Dan was a very positive mentor. I found Dan’s insight and input extremely valuable. 

Before officially meeting Dan analysed my linked-in page, and highlighted several key areas/traits – those that my employers would look at. By doing this I was able to identify my strengths and weakness. 

From that Dan had created his Mind-Maps that helped me to visualise and understand what I could improve on and how. When we spoke about my aspirations and goals, Dan contextualised and implemented the research. I found Dan’s perspective and input extremely valuable. One question I found you’re asked a lot during interviews or when presenting your work - is why do you do – what you do? Why do you volunteer? Why ‘this’ work and ‘that’ work? Etc.... It can be hard to explain oneself without sounding pretentious, silly or otherwise.

Dan’s methods were interesting, asking me questions, which would lead me to self-access and see the bigger picture in terms of my professional goals. Without Dan’s mentoring looking at personal development through deconstruction I’m not sure I would have found those answers as soon as I did. Doing this enabled me to also identify my strengths and weakness. I was able to self-access and see the bigger picture in terms of my professional goals. 

Dan had a very open manor and seeing Dan’s timeline and applying Dan’s own work to his career was re-assuring. Since following Dan’s advice, I have received a lot more interest from recruiters. Dan also boosted my confidence by suggesting clients, and using me as his own photographer. This provided me with useful experience and contacts which I could utilise, an important part of my professional development. 

Being provided with the opportunity of experience was crucial – especially as for me as this helped me at a time where I struggled with self-esteem. Overcoming a house robbery, which resulted in 5 years worth of work being lost. Without the positive input and determination from Dan, I would probably be on a very different path.  A lot of the advice was simple to follow, only little tweaks, but it is the little things that are often forgotten and yet make the biggest difference. This may seem like over fulfilled praise but Dan’s mentoring and use of his materials made a  huge positive impact on my professional career and lifestyle.”

— Naomi Rosener (Freelance Commercial Photographer)

“The mentoring session was helpful as it made me consider working under certain interests I have. Kind of pushed me towards a possible career path. The visit was an eye-opener, the situation proved to be unexpectedly enlightening, like our first meeting. 

During the session, Dan was receptive to my questions, not many adults do in Plymouth University. It was without a doubt stimulating, intimidating and challenging. To have mentor that ‘sees’ instead of looking through situations was very useful and interesting. I felt confident because it seemed like I could trust Dan’s judgement.

The key areas the session has helped me with... most likely what I should do to personally encourage my life and the choices I continue to make (especially with family obligations).

The 1 to 1 mentoring was very useful because it helped us to brainstorm and it's good to brainstorm. It gives you unexpected ideas. 

I learned a lot. Informative, particularly (if I recall correctly) the Eric Berne’s Transactional Analysis, understanding the parent, adult and child model. It was engaging and was taught at an appropriate pace. I believe that Dan’s mentoring will evidently benefit the anyone; especially graduate students. 

This mentoring would be useful for students, especially when they're stuck and not sure they've made the right life choices. This would give them the right recommendation and nudge forward.”

— Sharon Wong (BBA & Management Graduate)

“Dan contributed considerably to the enhancement of the level 5 module – Creative Industries at Plymouth University. Dan prepared content to provide students with strategies for self-improvement, resilience, project management and career development.

His sessions were always interactive and engaging allowing students to manage their own learning. Students were improved as a result of Dan’s planning, which was evidenced from feedback and end of module assessment project work. Dan also went above and beyond curriculum needs by offering students one-to-one sessions providing further resilience training and career development.

The module benefited greatly from Dan’s contributions and I thank him kindly for his valuable input and impact that he had on students’ personal and professional development.”

— Karen O’Shea (Lecturer of Information Technology at University of Derby)

“Dan’s involvement with our module (Creative Industries) has left me feeling considerably more confident in my ideas and their possibilities to grow into potential businesses. His use of particular resources (talents and passions sheets) required me to use and apply my knowledge about my own personal and professional traits. This meant that I have now become much more aware of how I can fit in a business.

Dan is clearly very knowledgeable about his position and has the evidence to back this up, however, as a student, this sometimes felt overwhelming and left me slightly confused. Being in a state of confusion did however cause me to think more about my approach to particular areas which perhaps benefitted me in the long run.

The most notable trait of Dan’s that I have picked-up on is his ability to read and identify peoples traits from a conversation. He identified myself as having a ‘passion’ for a particular subject which has definitely empowered me to use this to help further my professional development.”

— Jake Warren (Systems Developer at South Devon College)

“Dan has supported the Advanced Business, Admin. & Finance Diploma students in their first term. He came in initially to give an overview of the experience of the new entrepreneur. The students responded well to his easy style and found it interesting to talk to someone young about 'making it happen'. 

Later in the term, Dan came in during Global Entrepreneurship Week to provide feedback and guidance to the groups' new Christmas business ideas.

I have found Dan’s sessions to be well prepared and crafted to the needs of the students, ensuring that support is focussed on their needs and delivered at timely intervals. Dan has always been professional in his approach and has a warm but probing approach to ensure students think more reflectively and analytically about themselves, and by extension, their businesses.

Dan’s approach to develop complex business ideas into a succinct visual representation helps people with differing learning styles grasp concepts well, while facilitating a strategic approach to business planning.”

— Alison Chapman (Business & Enterprise Tutor at City College Plymouth)

“Dan is a great role model for many young people today. He comes from an unprivileged background that many people can relate to, and takes pride in this. He does well to communicate his past experiences to others and demonstrates that anybody can do what they set them self up to achieve.

He has shown that he can put himself in many situations and make the best out of it, and has many stories to keep others enthused with the points he aims to get across. He uses mutual likes and experiences he can find with a person to build a connection and mutual understanding. 

This is a skill that many mentors and speakers struggle with when engaging with their audience. I found this very unusual when first speaking to Dan but this led to his workshops and sessions becoming more memorable and helpful than those of other mentors and speakers. 

I had 4 sessions with Dan when I was part of the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, and his talks were the most intriguing of them. I'd say this was down to his simple and clean style, and his ability to understand people of different backgrounds, especially young people.

Dan has a great understanding of different types of others and can get to know what a person is like without stereotyping by passively acknowledging their behaviour. He is a great listener and can take many key points away from what others might have to say. He can sometimes tell you things you didn't know about yourself, due to his great judgement of character.

Dan is friendly and likeable. He does well to cope when dealing with groups of students by himself and successfully dealt with individuals who made the sessions more difficult and awkward to handle, by helping them to highlight the positive side of their own negative stories.

Dan's methods aided me to find my own self-esteem at a time when I was not so confident. He has a unique skill for enabling others to build on their existing sense of self-worth. One piece of advice I regularly think about from Dan's sessions is keeping a portfolio of everything I do. His visual methods have inspired me to solve many of my own work-related problems by clearly illustrating systems that seem simple at first, but are often misunderstood by others."

— Tom Carmichael (Store Optimisation Analyst at The Range)