Positioning & Narrative for Founders & CEOs
I help founders and CEOs find the story only they can tell, then turn it into messaging and thought leadership that builds trust, visibility and business momentum.
Maybe some of this sounds familiar.
You're brilliant at what you do, but you're not widely known for it.
Let's build a personal brand that positions you as a recognised expert and creates the visibility that leads to new opportunities.
The right people don't really understand what makes you different.
Let's uncover what sets you apart and turn it into messaging they remember.
Your work has a reason for being that is not being heard.
Let's uncover the story at its heart and communicate it in a way that inspires your team, connects with clients and gives people a reason to believe in what you're building.
The opportunities you expected aren't finding you.
Let's create a narrative that opens doors, starts conversations and builds trust, visibility and business momentum.
Working with founders & CEOs
I help founders become known for what they truly stand for.
Most people start with messaging. I start with meaning.
Before we write a single word, we uncover what you're really building, why it matters, and what you want to become known for. Once that's clear, everything else gets easier: your positioning, your content, your visibility, your leadership, your business.
Because when your narrative is clear, people don't only understand what you do. They understand why it matters.
Beyond founder work
Two decades across editorial, brand and communications, helping organisations in complex situations find the right language for what they do, means I can also help with:
For leaders who already know what they want to say and need it executed well.
Ongoing ghostwriting, C-suite LinkedIn content and strategy, speeches, opinion pieces and thought leadership, with your voice kept consistent over time.
The story a business tells about itself. Narrative and messaging, brand repositioning and rebrand direction, company profiles and website messaging.
Reports, white papers, case studies, blogs, website copy, interview-led features and impact stories. Editorial craft that turns complex work into content that builds authority and earns attention.
Strategy, editorial and production of newsletter and email programmes, internal and external, that keep clients, partners and staff informed, engaged and connected.
Internal comms strategy and planning, aligned to the culture you're building. A practical roadmap your team can own, values and leadership messaging, and the tools to communicate consistently from the start.
Most good work starts with a conversation about what you're really trying to say.
Start a conversation →Selected work
A selection of the brand, positioning, culture and storytelling work I led at CTG and across the Chelsea Group.
Brand & Positioning
I led the rebrand of a humanitarian staffing company, taking an inherited, meaningless name into a values-led identity. Working with the CEO, our brand agency and my team, I led the strategy, the narrative architecture and the new meaning behind the name, then the rollout across every touchpoint and the company's offices.
Within a year of launch, CTG reached $100M turnover, three years ahead of plan, and went on to quadruple in size.Executive Positioning
I led the work to build the CEO's external profile on real substance, aligning the business to the UN Sustainable Development Goals through Female First, the company's commitment to 30% women in humanitarian roles across the countries it operated in. The work included writing the award submissions, speeches and thought leadership behind it, building her into a recognised voice in her sector.
The positioning behind her UN Global Compact SDG Pioneer and Oslo Business for Peace recognition, and a CTG feature in Harvard Business Review.Culture & Values
My team and I built a values system from scratch for an organisation that had quadrupled across 25 countries. We gathered input from staff across the business, around Africa and the MENA region, surfaced the language they already used, and distilled four values, rolled out through a playbook, ambassador programme, workshops and ongoing content.
Unusually for a values programme, it stuck, entering everyday vocabulary across the company.Reports & Editorial
I held editorial oversight across CTG's reports, built on a simple test: would the people inside the company actually want to pick them up? On the sustainability reports I worked closely with the Sustainability Manager, who compiled them, shaping the structure, the marriage of data and story, and the final edit.
The 2023 report became the centrepiece of CTG's AidEx stand and the company's visual identity for the year. Reporting that didn't die on publication.Brand Architecture
I led this work with the Group CEO, building a values architecture to unite eight independent companies, from field offices to engineering sites to boardrooms. We ran interviews across the group and drew four values, each with a manifesto line, from the language the businesses already used about themselves.
The group's first formal shared identity, grounded in its own people's words.Impact Storytelling
I originated and led a long-form editorial series on a simple premise: the people CTG places are the case for the business. Recurring "day in the life" interviews with consultants in conflict-affected contexts, written with care and paired with photography from the field.
Still running. A body of work that made the people behind humanitarian operations visible.Subjects I work across
I'm also a certified health and wellness coach and an iEQ9 Enneagram practitioner, working separately with individuals on wellbeing, self-understanding and how they show up. It informs how I understand leaders and the pressure they carry.
Wellness Awakening →Whether you need clearer positioning, a stronger leadership voice, or someone senior to hold a complex piece of work, let's talk about what you're trying to say.
vvmcculloch@gmail.com
Cape Town, working with clients worldwide