Leadership mentoring · John BruceFree 30mins introduction

LEADERSHIP MENTORING FOR SELF-DOUBT

They trust you
to lead.
You still question
yourself.

You make the decisions. Support the team. Carry the responsibility. Then privately wonder: “Am I really good enough for this?”

Private mentoring with John Bruce for capable leaders who second-guess decisions, over-prepare and feel they have to prove themselves again. Work through the doubt and take your next step with clearer judgement.

Free 30mins introduction ↗

Free 30mins introduction · No obligation · A conversation about fit

INTRODUCTION

Outside the window

Sometimes, when the imposter is at its loudest, I picture myself standing outside my own bay window.

It’s snowing. Inside, a beautiful Christmas tree stands in the corner, its lights glowing softly in the dim room. Decorations surround a cosy fireplace where a warm fire burns. My wife and the kids are together, and I stand looking in at the family I love, yearning to be in there with them.

There is another man inside. He has taken my place.

HOLD THE WHEEL

Self-doubt can come along.
You still get to drive.

John Bruce
Available now on KindleKindle £8.99 · Paperback £12.99 · Hardback £18.99Tap or click to read the introduction

01 / RECOGNITION

What they see.
What you carry.

Self-doubt in leadership can be quiet. It can show up in the things you do to avoid getting it wrong.

01

They see preparation. You fear being caught out.

You rewrite the presentation and check every detail again. Preparing to be challenged starts taking time away from the work only you can lead.

02

They hear agreement. You hold back the challenge.

You spot a risk but wonder whether you have missed something. You leave the meeting wishing you had said what needed saying.

See more situations
03

They see a decision. You keep reopening it.

You ask for another opinion after the evidence is clear. Your team waits for direction while you search for certainty.

04

They see commitment. You struggle to let go.

You take work back rather than trust someone else to deliver it. The pressure builds, and your team has less room to grow.

05

They see your promotion. You feel you have to earn it daily.

A difficult conversation or one piece of criticism becomes a question about whether you belong in the role at all.

Recognise yourself here? You don’t need to wait until you feel completely confident to lead. Start with the situation where doubt is getting in your way.

02 / A DIFFERENT WAY TO LOOK AT IT

Doubt is information.
It isn’t a verdict.

The work is to distinguish a real gap that needs attention from the assumption that you are the problem. Bring one live situation. Examine the evidence, rehearse the conversation and choose what to do next.

Self-doubt can come along.
You still get to drive.

03 / MY METHOD — ARCH

A way to work with doubt.
When it matters.

I use my own method, ARCH, to help you work through self-doubt in the situations you face as a leader. Together, we recognise what you bring, examine the evidence and choose your next step.

Explore the four ARCH steps
A

Accept the feeling

Notice the doubt without treating it as an instruction.

“I’m worried how this will land. I can acknowledge that before I speak.”
R

Recognise your contribution

Identify the experience and preparation you bring.

“I’ve reviewed the delivery risks. That perspective belongs in this discussion.”
C

Check the evidence

Separate what you know from what you are predicting.

“Which risk can I support? What still needs checking?”
H

Hold the wheel

Choose a useful action you can take.

“Before we agree, can we test the assumption behind this deadline?”

One example: challenging a proposal in an important meeting.

Talk through your situation

04 / MEET JOHN

Responsibility doesn’t leave much
room to admit doubt.

Portrait of John Bruce

A practical perspective, shaped by real responsibility.

John progressed from store leadership through regional leadership to European executive roles, including Assistant Vice President roles in Store Operations, Regional Operations and Loss Prevention.

The weight behind the approach

Experience supporting 725 stores across six markets, in a European business with 40,000+ associates and £5.2bn in sales, alongside responsibility for £450m of payroll and expenses.

Today, John is founder of BriefMade and a Non-Executive Director at Wickersley Partnership Trust.

05 / WORK WITH JOHN

The space to think.
The confidence to act.

Choose focused support for what’s in front of you, or a continuing conversation as your next chapter unfolds.

A FOCUSED CONVERSATION

Leadership session

60 minutes · Online, one to one

Bring one decision, difficult conversation or leadership challenge. Work through it with John and agree a practical next step.

What’s included
  • Preparation around your challenge
  • A private session with John
  • A short action summary

£150 per session

Book session
SUPPORT THROUGH YOUR NEXT CHAPTER

Leadership programme

Six 60-minute sessions · Over three months

A continuing mentoring relationship to help you put decisions into practice, reflect on progress and adjust as you go.

What’s included
  • A clear focus for your programme
  • Preparation and action summaries
  • One email check-in between sessions

£795 for six sessions

Book session

Not sure where to start? Talk it through in your Free 30mins introduction.

Choose a time ↓

Choose a session to view its booking options. Team workshops and organisational programmes are quoted individually.

06 / WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

A clear next step.

01

Free 30mins introduction

Tell John briefly what you’re facing and see whether the approach fits.

02

Bring the real situation

Work through the decision, conversation or transition that needs your attention.

03

Leave with something to use

Receive a written action summary with the next steps you chose.

07 / THE BOOK

Don’t Let the
Imposter Drive.

Self-doubt can come along.
You still get to drive.

John’s book explores the idea at the heart of Hold the Wheel. Available now on Kindle.

Available now on Kindle

Kindle edition available now · £8.99

Kindle £8.99 · Paperback £12.99 · Hardback £18.99

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A FEW PRACTICAL DETAILS

Before we meet.

Who is mentoring for?

Leaders taking on more responsibility, navigating a transition or working through difficult decisions and conversations. The introduction is a chance to explore whether John’s experience fits your needs.

How do sessions take place?

Sessions take place online. Choose a quiet, private space and a reliable internet connection so you can give the conversation your attention.

Will our conversation be recorded?

Only with your separate agreement. You can decline and still attend. John uses PLAUD to help prepare a checked summary, then deletes the audio and transcript from the locations he controls, including the Trash. The summary is retained to support your mentoring. Read the privacy information below for more detail.

What can I expect from mentoring?

A thinking partner, practical perspective and agreed next steps. Mentoring does not provide psychological treatment or guarantee a promotion or a particular business result.

START WITH A CONVERSATION

Let’s talk about your next step.

Free 30mins introduction by video to explore what you need and whether working together feels right.

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Your information

Session recording and summaries

John uses PLAUD to record and transcribe sessions only with your separate agreement before recording begins. You may decline recording and still attend your session. Audio and session content are processed by PLAUD and its service providers to prepare a transcript and draft summary.

John checks the draft and provides a written session summary. After the summary has been completed and checked, John permanently deletes the audio recording and transcript from the PLAUD locations and devices he controls, including the Trash. The summary is a separate record and is retained to support your mentoring; deleting the recording does not delete the summary.

Please avoid sharing confidential information about other people or your employer that is not needed for the session. You can ask John to pause recording at any time.

No analytics or advertising trackers have been added to this site. The site’s hosting service may process technical information needed to serve and secure the page. External LinkedIn and Calendly pages have their own privacy policies.

For questions about an enquiry or your information, contact john@holdthewheel.co.uk.

WORK WITH JOHN

Tell me what’s on your mind.

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Or email john@holdthewheel.co.uk

HOLD THE WHEEL · JOHN BRUCE

Introduction

Outside the window

Sometimes, when the imposter is at its loudest, I picture myself standing outside my own bay window.

It’s snowing. Inside, a beautiful Christmas tree stands in the corner, its lights glowing softly in the dim room. Decorations surround a cosy fireplace where a warm fire burns. My wife and the kids are together, and I stand looking in at the family I love, yearning to be in there with them.

There is another man inside. He has taken my place.

I can see my own life through the glass, but in this picture I no longer belong to it. All that warmth is so close. The room, the family, the life I want to be part of are right in front of me, and I am outside, looking at everything I have lost.

What breaks my heart is the thought that they have someone better now. Someone who deserves to be there. In the cruellest version of the story my mind tells me, the imposter has been right about me all along.

None of this has happened. It is where my mind can take me when the fear of not being good enough becomes the fear of losing everything. I know the scene is imagined. I can still feel the pain of standing outside that window, wanting to be let back into my own life.

I know where that fear comes from now. It took me most of my life to ask. I’ll tell you in Chapter 3, plainly, because for a long time I wasn’t plain about it.

I’m beginning here because I want you to understand the person writing this book. I know what it is to have a life that contains evidence of your worth and a voice inside that refuses to accept it.

My career has taken me through store, regional and European executive leadership. Responsibility grew. My experience grew. The voice found its way into the new rooms with me.

At work, its words were different. Someone would ask for my view, and part of me would be considering whether the view was good enough to reveal. An opportunity would interest me, and then I would begin explaining to myself why they probably wouldn’t want me. Praise would arrive, and I would hand it straight to the team, leaving my own contribution outside the account.

You may never have imagined anything like my bay window. You may simply find yourself rewriting an email late at night, rehearsing a question you ought to be able to ask, or feeling less certain the moment someone more senior enters the room. Your experience is yours. It doesn’t need to resemble mine in intensity to deserve attention.

The connection is what happens next. Doubt can influence the choices we make long before we recognise it as the reason. We stay quiet. We agree too quickly. We keep work that someone else should be learning to do. We work harder at looking ready than at asking what the responsibility actually requires.

I want to help you interrupt that pattern.

The leadership you can grow into

For years, self-doubt appeared in my development plans and in conversations with my leader. We would name it, agree that I would work on it, and return to it again. I approached it with more effort, as though enough effort might finally produce a version of me who never felt exposed.

Understanding something of where those feelings came from changed the way I approached them. I could recognise the feeling when it arrived. I could work with it. I didn’t have to give it the decision.

That is the foundation of this book. You can learn to lead while doubt is present. You can prepare honestly, speak before every word is perfect, recognise your contribution and ask for the support the job requires. You can also learn to notice when the concern points to a real gap or a working environment that needs to change.

The aim is demanding enough without requiring you to become fearless.

Perhaps you’re taking responsibility for a team for the first time. Yesterday you were one of them; today a difficult conversation belongs to you. Perhaps you’ve become a director and the expertise that earned your promotion no longer answers every question. Perhaps you’re already a chief executive, carrying a decision that will disappoint people whichever option you choose.

The scale changes. The responsibilities change. The question I want you to carry through these pages is practical: when you feel uncertain about yourself, how do you decide what to do?

Good leadership needs more than a favourable opinion of your own abilities. It needs attention to other people, a fair reading of the situation and the willingness to act on what you find. You can practise those things. You can become easier to rely on while still having difficult days.

There is something hopeful in that. Your next useful contribution is not waiting for a complete personality change.

How ARCH grew out of my experience

When I looked back over my career, I wanted to understand what had helped me succeed while I was experiencing so much self-doubt. The doubt was part of that career, but so were the contributions I had made and the responsibilities I had grown into. I needed to give those experiences a place in the account too.

As I reflected, I began to recognise common themes in what had helped me move forward. Over time, I drew those patterns together and developed them into my own framework: ARCH.

I hadn’t spent my career following four neatly named steps. The framework came later, through looking back at lived experience and making sense of what had helped. Giving that learning a structure meant I could return to it deliberately and share it with other people.

That is why ARCH matters to me. I know how much doubt can ask of you, even when you are doing well. I also know that a career can grow, and your contribution can grow, while those feelings are still there. You may already have moments in your own experience when you have done something worthwhile despite wondering whether you were capable of it. Those moments deserve your attention.

ARCH is my way of turning that learning into something you can use when the next difficult moment arrives. You can begin understanding what helps you lead long before the end of your career.

Four steps you can use today

Accept the feeling. Make room for the possibility that self-doubt will return. Its return does not mean you have failed, and you do not have to eliminate it before you can lead. Notice the feeling and the behaviour it is tempting you towards, so you can choose what happens next. If it helps, ask whether the fear has an older source, and whether that house has changed.

Recognise your contribution. Identify the relevant experience, preparation and support you bring. Give yourself an accurate place in the picture, alongside the people and resources you need.

Check the evidence. Examine this particular concern. What happened? What are you assuming? What supports the prediction, what challenges it, and what still needs to be established?

Hold the wheel. Keep control of your decisions and behaviour. The imposter can come along, but you do not have to let it into the driving seat. Accepting the feeling, recognising your contribution and checking the evidence help you choose your response instead of letting self-doubt choose it for you.

Here is the whole sequence in an ordinary working moment. Your manager asks for an extra report by Friday. You already have two commitments due then. You feel the immediate urge to say yes because you don’t want to look less capable than your predecessor.

Accept: I’m worried about disappointing them, and I’m about to agree before checking.

Recognise: I know the current workload. I can explain the options and involve the people doing the work.

Check: the new report needs information that arrives on Thursday. A shorter version may be possible. A complete version would move another commitment. I don’t yet know what decision the report is meant to support.

Hold: ask that question, then offer a realistic choice. “What do you need the report to help you decide? I can deliver a shorter version on Friday, or the full version if we move the other deadline.”

You may still feel uncomfortable. Your manager may still want everything. But you have put the actual decision into the conversation. You have given the team a better chance than an anxious promise would have done.

Each step has a distinct purpose. Recognising your past contribution helps you see what you bring; it doesn’t prove your current proposal is right. Checking the proposal may reveal a weakness; it doesn’t erase everything you have contributed. Holding the wheel means using that fairer account to stay in charge of what you do next.

Bring one situation with you

Choose a situation that’s already taking up space in your mind. Make it small enough to name. “Become more confident” is difficult to work on. “Tell my manager the deadline needs a resource decision” gives you somewhere to begin.

Write what is due to happen, what you fear it says about you, and what you have been doing as a result. A rough sentence is enough.

The opening chapters will help you understand the pattern and use ARCH. The later chapters take it into meetings, difficult conversations, delegation, mistakes and bigger roles. There is a chapter on carrying executive responsibility when no one can give you complete certainty, and another on the conditions your own leadership creates for others. The final practice plan helps you try the ideas in one recurring situation over four weeks.

Maria, Samir, Ruth, Claire and Elena will appear along the way. They are fictional people whose choices let us examine the method. Maria is learning to manage a store. Samir is leading across locations and later takes on a wider role. Ruth runs field operations for an IT infrastructure provider and is learning how to build authority in others. Claire is the chief executive of a logistics and distribution group, facing a decision with consequences she cannot make comfortable. Elena leads project delivery for that group, on a deadline that depends on people she does not control. None of them is me. I have sat in each of their rooms with the same voice beside me. Their stories are illustrations, not testimonials or evidence that a method guarantees a result.

My first-person accounts describe my own experience. You will hear the uncertainty in them as well as the learning. I still have to put these ideas to work.

You can read from the beginning or turn to the working situation you need today. The short practice pages at the back are there when you want a prompt, rather than another chapter. You can use all of them independently, with a colleague or with a mentor.

When you reach the end, I hope your chosen situation looks more workable. I also hope you have begun to see your own place in it more fairly. The person who has something to contribute is already present, even on a day when they struggle to believe it.

Self-doubt can come along. You still get to drive.

The back cover

Hold the Wheel back cover
Read back-cover text

You’ve earned the responsibility.
Why does it sometimes feel as though
you haven’t?
The next step up brings bigger decisions, harder conversations
and more people depending on you. It can also make a familiar
question louder: What gives you the right to be here?
John Bruce knows that voice. Across twenty-five years in retail
leadership, he learned that self-doubt doesn’t have to disappear
before you can lead well. But you do need to stop it steering your
decisions.
Drawing on lived experience and stories of leaders under
pressure, Hold the Wheel introduces ARCH: a practical four-step
framework to help you accept the feeling, recognise your
contribution, check the evidence and choose your response.
Self-doubt can come along.
You still get to drive.
John Bruce left school at sixteen with no qualifications and rose to European
retail leadership, overseeing operations across 725 stores. Today, he
mentors leaders through Hold the Wheel.
holdthewheel.co.uk