I’m Simon Rhodes, a business leader, leadership coach and mentor, Super-tribe builder, author, former lawyer; and a father. I am the CEO of Red Heart Blue Head Limited. Here’s a bit of my back story. Please note there’s more about Red Heart Blue Head on the About Us page.
My story began…
I’m very grateful that my childhood was a very positive experience. I was fully supported by my family and I made a lot of lifelong friends at school. So, other than being run-over on a School French trip and breaking my hand during an English lesson, I came out pretty unscathed.
I studied for my law and politics degree at Nottingham University. Afterwards, I came South for work and I’ve been here ever since. I qualified as a solicitor and worked as an employment lawyer for 26 years, helping hundreds of businesses to develop diverse and inclusive workforces, positive cultures and more efficient operational performances. I acted as a legal adviser and advocate, but also as a sounding board for ideas and made hundreds of suggestions for improvements.
Growing a business
Between 2009-2021, I was Managing Partner and then Senior Partner at the law firm Trethowans LLP, during which the firm which grew 333% from less than £6M to over £20M and doubled its staff. The growth of the firm was down to the positive and inclusive culture we developed, our investment in the future; and our prudent approach to financial management. The most important thing was the people. Recruiting and retaining good people was key to our growth.
From 2023 to 2025, I was CEO of St. John’s Chambers, a leading regional barristers’ chambers operating out of Bristol. I helped to achieve systems improvements and significant growth as well as nominations for the regional barristers’ chambers of the year from The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners in 2024. Just like Trethowans, the key to St. John’s being so successful is its people.
I’ve also had experience of creating two business events from scratch, served as a trustee, committee chair, event chair and awards host. I’ve been a judge at four separate sets of business awards. I’ve mentored and coached lots of business, sporting and educational leaders, helping them to deliver success for their organisations. I’m passionate about education and learning, which is why I’ve loved helping Senior Leadership Teams in schools and other educational providers.
As a result of my personal leadership experience, I understand what it’s like to lead an organisation, including ones which are complex, regulated and highly competitive.
‘Building Super-tribes’ and Getting ‘Win Ready’
I’m what I call ‘Super-tribal’ by nature, which is probably why I’m so passionate about people, sport and business. Having developed a business myself, I now love helping to grow and develop other organisations, turning them into ‘Super-tribes’. That means taking an organisation that’s divided into separate tribes and bringing them all together as one Super-tribe. I also help organisations to get ‘Win Ready’ by helping them to prepare for their competition, whether that’s in business, sport or something else. I am a lifelong learner, fully committed to my own development, as well as our clients’ development.
What I do now
I now spend my time helping other leaders achieve their maximum potential. I work to support them and by extention their organisations. I work as an outsider, inside other people’s organisations, getting to know them and how they tick. I also provide leadership coaching and mentoring as an objective outsider. There’s always some unfulfilled potential. I like searching for ways to improve a leader’s trajectory and their organisation’s future. My goal is to help turn every organisation into a Super-tribe and get it ‘Win Ready’ so that it’s success now and in the future.
Past, Present and Future
I love hearing an organisation’s back story. Organisational heritage and history are often undervalued. The past can be as important to success as the present and future.
Operating philosophy matters too. What’s its core purpose? What’s it trying to achieve? That leads to the key practical considerations. What’s its current mission? Does that support its purpose? How does it define ‘success’? What expectations are there? Each organisation is unique. That means it has its own path to success, it just needs to find it and stay on it.
The Winning Controllables
Every organisation needs to itemise and prioritise the elements it should retain, as well as those it should remove or adapt. This balancing act is a useful exercise in itself. Many aspects of life and work cannot be changed (the uncontrollables). Other aspects can be changed, but will make things worse (losing controllables). The critical ‘to-do’ list is made up of the elements that can and should be changed to achieve greater success (the winning controllables). The key question is therefore which controllables will make the biggest difference to success? That’s where to start.
Teach and Learn
Every time I help an organisation, I pass on what I’ve learned* and I always learn something new myself from the process. Every experience makes us better than the last time, in one way or another. I love the process of learning something new, working out how to use that knowledge and then passing on what I’ve learned. One of my guiding principles is “Share everything you know*, then you’ll have to learn something else”. That always keeps me hungry to learn more.
Books
I created the concept of ‘Super-tribes’ in 2017 and I’ve written three books about building Super-tribes and getting teams ‘win ready’ since then. I write like I speak, so if you like the books you’ll probably like working with me. Please see the Books page for details. I’ve also written and self-published two novels (using a pseudonym).
Hobbies
Outside work, I love spending time with my family, reading, watching sport, seeing friends, drinking tea and walking our dogs.
More detailed career information about me is available in About Us. You can also watch the short video below.
*Always subject to confidentiality.