Are you ready to uncover and deliver your most powerful story yet, one that turns your vision into something people can believe in, buy into and champion?
In a world of clickbait and content overload, we as humans are hungrier than ever for authentic Living Brand stories that inspire, engage, and unite. The best business leaders didn’t just have a business idea. They give people a story to believe in and a culture they want to be part of. They don’t just communicate a vision; they make people feel part of it. A powerful story cuts through the noise, travels through an organisation creating greater clarity from the top, gives meaning to what you do, and turns a business strategy into something people can understand, believe in, and champion.
It creates a shared buy-in to the business culture for team members and stakeholders, and it helps customers see the human value behind your brand. When your story is lived by experience, authentic, consistently told, and reflected in the way you do business, it builds trust, pride, and a sense of belonging. That is the real power of storytelling.
Steve Jobs didn’t simply sell computers; he helped position Apple around creativity and challenging convention while daring to imagine a better world. That story became part of the culture and identity of the business, attracting the world’s best talent, and shaped how people saw Apple from both the inside and the outside. The Apple story was greatly influenced by the invisible support of Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Japanese Soto Zen monk who helped Jobs develop his vision of creating a better world
Howard Schultz built the Starbucks proposition around more than coffee – he created a ‘third place‘ between home and work, centred on community and human connection. It was more than a brand message; it helped articulate the culture and values the business wanted its people and customers to experience. New York consultant Dan Levitan was the invisible support behind Schultz, helping him to craft an engaging Living Brand story, leading the business through some of its greatest challenges.
If you are a business leader, company director, CEO, or member of a management team, it’s time to change your way of thinking. You need more than a plan. You need people to believe in where you’re going, understand what you stand for, and feel part of the culture you are building.
Sean O’Leary is a strategic storyteller, vision architect, award winning designer and coach who has transformed lives and empowered business builders.
Are you ready to stand behind your story?
Understanding the power of storytelling is one thing. Being ready to tell your own story and stand behind it is another. That story needs to come from you and the values that have shaped your business. But that doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. The right support can help you uncover your true story and find the most powerful way to bring it to life, so people can believe in your vision, your culture, and your values.
The complete storytelling skillset
We include your resources and bring the rest to power your vision to life. This may require many different skills. That’s where we come in. A skilled visionary leader helps people see the desired outcome before it has happened, then creates the strategy to get there. We bring together the expertise needed across the entire storytelling cycle, as listed below showing the five building blocks to turn your vision into a powerful Living Brand story.
1: Leadership Power Up: Clarify your mission, purpose, and values. Raise self-awareness and personal power. Upskill in visionary leadership and mindset. Clarify the best holistic business model. Uncover your authentic voice. Peak performance Flow.
2: Culture Foundation: Identify your natural leaders and your Innovation Special Task Force team. Create a culture of unity and adaptability. Build reward systems for extraness. Recognise self-motivated culture. Celebrate sustainability gains.
3: Engaging your People: Identify ambassadors who personify and reaffirm your mission and vision. Value these people by listening to their input. Champion a culture of genuine gratitude. Recognise everybody’s contribution to the overall business goal.
4: Story Publishing: People love to engage with inspiring hero stories of victory against the odds to nourish curiosity about human potential. We craft inspiring human stories that bring your vision to life, communicating a clear engagement roadmap.
5: Choose Media Channel: Strategic Story and Report Publishing. Documentary Video. AI Video Simulation. Branding. Podcast and Public Speaking. Website Magazine. PR. Marketing. Advertising. Social Media. Phone App Wireframe.
You may already have some of these assets and resources. We don’t need to replace them; we can work alongside your existing people and resources. You may require personal or team upskilling, further research, or focused engagement with employees, ambassadors, or experts before your story is ready to be shared. You may also need quality photography, videography, or illustration, or the restoration of precious archive material that brings your history, culture, and values to life.
Introducing 'The Sprint Model'
Have you ever been frustrated by some great ideas falling flat because of difficulty in getting them speedily communicated and tested?
Great ideas need oxygen. They also need momentum. Too many promising business ideas become trapped in lengthy cycles of discussion, evaluation, and indecision. Momentum disappears, teams lose focus, and opportunities move on. The Sprint Model is designed to change that. The key is unlocking the story. Once we understand what you are really trying to achieve, why it matters, and who needs to believe in it, we move quickly. We transform that vision into a compelling Living Brand and bring it to life across various communication formats.
We work with a select number of clients, providing a highly focused strategic support and storytelling service for ambitious CEOs, business leaders, and management teams. The Sprint Model replaces procrastination, uncertainty, and confusion with clarity, alignment, and buy-in. You can decide which individual building blocks above you need or avail of the entire support system.
About Sean O'Leary
As a child growing up on a farm, Sean imagined himself as an inventor in the playground of life, fascinated by ideas and the thought of creating something that could make a real difference in the world. He spend many years working as a consultant to projects exploring new market opportunities, often involving emerging cutting-edge technologies. Many years ago Sean asked a wise mentor, ‘will I invent something of real value’ to which the reply came, ‘yes you will, but it has already been invented”.
Over time he began to recognise that the greatest inventions of all are the solutions that lie unharnessed within peoples minds – the very ideas that could potentially transform their local communities and perhaps, make the world a better place. Sean began to apply his uniquely broad skillset to become a strategic storyteller and vision architect, creating pathways to help bring ideas from within people to life.
For people who are purposefully pursuing their innate path or business ideas, it often hardly seems like work. Such people can face even the sternest of challenges and not get knocked off course. They become unstoppable. Sean draws out the collective creativity from within business leaders and teams so they can innovate and achieve ambitious targets.
Great leaders rarely succeed alone
Behind many successful leaders is a trusted source of support. Sean has been that quiet, often invisible force behind CEOs, business leaders, and sportspeople, helping them find clarity, unlock their potential, and bring the very best of themselves to the story they are leading.
With extensive consulting experience in strategy, innovation, and communication, Sean O’Leary offers a unique storytelling strength. As a coach, he has guided managers and teams to realise their potential – mentally, physically, and socially—helping execute their own innate stories with conviction.
Through a strong marketing skillset, Sean offers support through research, strategy, design, and project execution. With further environmental and sustainability expertise, he designs and delivers holistic business modelling. His experience across business, peak performance, storytelling, design, and communications allows him to see the bigger picture and then move rapidly from vision to story and from story to market.
Qualifications and Skills
– BSc in Industrial Design Engineering – University of Limerick
– Diploma / MSc in Strategy and Innovation – Irish Management Institute / UCC
– Three Diplomas in Holistic Health and Nutrition – Irish Health Culture Association
– National Awards in self-taught competencies: film production, magazine publishing and design
– Shortlisted for the Irish Web Design Awards
– 10 Years as owner/manager of a Design, Marketing and Advertising business
– 10 Years as owner/manager of a Gym and Health Clinic
– 20 Years of continuous study and application in Flow Science and Behavioral Modelling
– Qualified in Horticulture, Permaculture Design, Regenerative Agriculture – Kinsale College
– Skilled in Video Production and AI video creation for test marketing
– Skilled in Wireframe Architecture for App development
Case Studies
Strategic Storytelling, Support, and Coaching
Confidentiality and discretion are of paramount importance as much of Sean’s support work is private in nature. Below are some of the case studies that can be shared and other clients have kindly given permission to privately share video evidence of their success.
CEO SUPPORT
24 months
Arkphire
Dublin, Ireland
Rebranding, Office Design and Staff Training
Facing challenging market conditions and a restrictive legacy culture at A&O Ireland Limited, Sean worked to support the CEO Paschal Naylor in this Irish IT Services business transformation. Sean renamed and rebranded the business as Arkphire, designed and directed upgrades in their corporate offices, developed marketing communications material, and trained staff in health culture for increased productivity. He designed and built Arkphire’s new website to tell the new brand story. Enterprise Ireland subsequently recognised Arkphire as one of the country’s best new export brands. Sean continued his support role for two years until the changes had consolidated. A few years later, Arkphire sold for €150 million.
CFO SUPPORT
18 months
BD Electronics
Malta
Rebranding, Marketing and Growth Mindset
With global headquarters in Malta, BD Electronics supplies components to industries through staff based across 50 countries. As an outlier in the electronics global supply chain, BD was the underdog player. Sean’s brief was to build a true Living Brand and foster a unified culture among a global workforce that rarely met face-to-face. He created structure for engaging online activities and passion-sharing workshops. He introduced a Pathways Programme for staff onboarding and upskiling, which facilitated a highly motivated sales team to earn career acceleration credits. Combined with targeted online advertising, this project built a culture of unity and can-do attitude plus improved productivity. It also supported the engagement with and acquisition of high-value clients.
Video Production
2 months
Oil Exploration
Belize
Video Documentary to Consolidate a Living Story
Sean’s brief was to document the story of the exploration of oil against all odds in Belize, Central America. The story is about a small group of people with limited resources daring to believe they would find oil, even when all the big multinational exploration teams with unlimited budgets over several decades said it could not be done. This inspirational project changed the prosperity of a nation and was the first oil company in the world to win both an Environmental Award and an Education in Business Award. He completed a further biography video on the life of the legendary geologist and oil explorer, Tommy Thompson.
CEO SUPPORT
8 years
Flor Griffin Electircal
Cork, Ireland
Accelerated Growth Through the Underdog Story
Sean delivered on story, brand, marketing, advertising, and showroom design to empower Flor Griffin Electrical’s aggressive retail expansion. From humble beginnings, working directly to support the CEO, he helped the business become Ireland’s largest independent electrical retailer. Together they analysed the immediate financial returns of every advertising spend to turn customer response behaviour into a science. Across six retail sites, they mapped seasonal and weather-dependent purchasing habits, identified monthly spending cycles, and optimised campaign timing to avoid periods of divided consumer attention. This was a game changer in the electrical retail space in Ireland.
Coach
8 weeks
International Banker
London
Health and Career Reboot for Business Executive
The stress of international banking, compounded by an advanced Multiple Sclerosis (MS) diagnosis left this business executive with great difficulty walking and poor general coordination, forcing her out of her high-profile role. Basic daily tasks like cooking and dressing had become profoundly difficult. She relocated from the UK to Cork to undergo an intensive 8-week program with Sean. Through this intensive training camp including physical training, specialised nutrition, behavioural modelling, and mind reprogramming, she left in a state of supreme health and successfully rebooted her executive career. The upgrading of her internal mind story was cornerstone to this successful outcome.
Living Brand
2 months
Lisavaird Co-Op
West Cork, Ireland
Strategy, Storytelling, Design and Publishing
While the Annual Report for Lisavaird Co-Op had traditionally been just a financial document, Sean worked with Denis McSweeney and the team at Lisavaird to showcase the real asset behind the agricultural co-operative’s 100-year success: its people. In 2025, Sean designed and published the report to celebrate their centenary history, then in 2026, focused on their Living Brand story – the inspirational individuals whose combined voices reflect a powerful community ethos and sense of unity within the business. The publication successfully addressed sustainability, investment strategy, culture, community engagement, and passion recognition among its people. This premium, magazine-style production echoes the pride, loyalty, and ownership shared among staff, farmers, and stakeholders across generations at Lisavaird Co-Op.
CEO support
3 months
Farran Technology
Ballincollig, Ireland
Pitch Story to Help CEO Secure €24m SALE
The R&D department at Farran Technology had developed unique IP in airport millimetre-wave scanning technology to detect plastic and ceramic weapons at airports security checkpoints. However, the company had faced difficulty in securing the €4m investment required for product development. As an Industrial Design Engineer, Sean translated their technical data and the CEO’s vision into a 3D demonstration model, integrated it into a virtual airport, and created a lifelike walk-through simulation video. He named and branded the innovation ‘Tadar’ and presented a high-level pitch story to support the CEO to showcase the product’s potential. Now satisfied by the clarity of the story and vision, Smiths Detection acquired the Tadar project for €24m. It has now been installed in airports worldwide.
Coach
2 years
Deirdre O’Reilly
Bandon, Ireland
Journalists life transformation after stroke
After suffering a massive debilitating stroke and spending 18 months in one of Irelands leading rehabilitation facilities, journalist Deirdre O’Reilly was sent home in the belief that little more could be done. Medical consensus suggested she would never walk, talk, or care for herself again. Previously, Deirdre had used her platform as a journalist with Cork’s Evening Echo newspaper to raise millions for struggling communities; now, these communities rallied to fundraise for her special-needs home. Sean worked with Deirdre through a programme which included specialised nutrition, physical exercise, and mind re-programming, coaching her back to greatly improved health and vitality. He helped her to defy all odds to return to independent living – walking, driving, cooking, shopping etc. A video of her transformation and successfully climbing the chapel steps in Bandon went on to receive over 500,000 views on YouTube in a few days.
CEO support
1 year
MirEnglish Language school
Bilbao, Spain
How an Engaging Story Can Accelerate Growth
Until working with Sean, Miren Totorikaguena, CEO of MirEnglish Language School in never really understood the value of taking the time and seeking support to clarify her story and pathway so she could be a more effective leader. She learned to create certainty not just for her team and customers, but most importantly, in her own mind. Sean helped uncover her passion and her ‘why’, and today she feels more driven and motivated to succeed. Her management team now move forward with certainty as they roll out the business story through videos, a brochure, a website, and social media. Sean’s support helped Miren to transition from working in the business to working on the business.
Life Reboot
2 years
Paschal O’Leary
Cork, Ireland
From Serious Illness to Health and Business Startup
Diagnosed with stage 4 lymphatic cancer, doctors told Paschal that his illness was critical. Chemotherapy went well but he was left drained and directionless after years of back-breaking stress. Sean helped get him back on track through a programme that included targeted exercise, diet, and a deeper understanding of mindset and self-expression. He powered Paschal up both mentally and physically to build a new business (Wishing Well), then supported him with marketing and branding. Sean introduced him to Toastmasters, where he later won a top Irish Award, and encouraged him to direct and act in local theatre, which he did very successfully. His wife is delighted with the new upgraded version of Paschal!”
Design
26 years
Barryroe Co-Op
West Cork, Ireland
An iconic Local Farming Community Project
Commissioned to design the inaugural Barryroe Co-Op Calendar, Sean worked with the team at the Co-Op to tell the story of local natural history and the environment. The initiative over the years has showcased local artists and photographers, helping Mike Browne win ‘Irish Photographer of the Year‘ in the first year of the calendars publication. Now running successfully for 25 years, the Barryroe calendar has become a prized, nostalgic Christmas staple for local families and the global Barryroe area diaspora. Sean collaborated closely with the Co-Op’s CFO, a passionate historian, to turn this into a meaningful annual publication.
Coaching
2 years
Daniel Walsh
Ballincollig, Ireland
Behavioural Modelling for mindset in Sport
Daniel Walsh was an ambitious 16-year-old rugby player with a dream of turning professional and playing for Ireland. Sean designed his gym, nutrition, and mind programmes and supported him through the science of Behavioural Modelling to imprint traits and skills of his hero, Australian rugby star David Pocock. Daniel already had a fertile and open mind to absorb ambitious goals and Sean thought him to use his mind to achieve a deeper level of immersion both on the rugby field and in the gym. He went on to play for Munster and the Ireland Under-20s. During a live 6 Nations TV broadcast, the commentator, completely unaware of Sean’s input, remarked that Daniel ‘played like he was the new David Pocock of the Northern Hemisphere’. Daniel went on to play professional rugby with Bury St Edmunds RUFC in the UK.
own businesses
Design and marketing business. Gym and Health Clinic. Restaurant.
Practical marketplace application formed an integral part of my ongoing MBA at University College Cork/Irish Management Institute. While so many professionals today choose a narrow focus and specialise in a singular business area, my passion has always been towards gaining a broad experience range supported by a strong multi-disciplinary skills set.
GRUMPY AND WISE RESTAURANT
CROSSHAVEN CO. CORK. - 2 YEAR PROJECT
Within two years, Sean and his business partner got this 130 seater restaurant and team of 15 in Crosshaven form run down to an incredible success story and a beacon within the hospitality industry today. In an industry plagued by staff quality and retention they excelled, having trained a team of exceptional professionals who not only shared their vision but, each day were individually self-motivated to better our business and service levels as if the business were their own.
Endless social media platform reviews paint a picture of exceptional staff, truly great food in a beautiful atmosphere, validation of our business model.
The venue became a local landmark, the meeting place for a whole community. With this unique people-centred business model and with no advertising, the rapid growth has been noteworthy within the industry, especially in a small village community. With a team that love what they do then the old fashioned word of mouth is all you may need to grow organically.
CORPORATE OLYMPIAN GYM AND HEALTH CLINIC
SARSFIELD ROAD, WILTON, CORK - 7 YEAR PROJECT
Sean’s gym was not a public one, but rather appointment-based private club where clients came on recommendation from either past clients of from medical doctors who themselves had received great support and benefit from completing our programmes.
One group of clients were typically sportspeople looking for peak performance to deliver winning results. Sean’s cutting-edge nutrition and exercise programmes were ahead of their time. The other group were business people who often had health and wellbeing issues as well as wanting to get into shape and regain their zest for life. With his small team of three, they achieved transformational results.
With seven years of continuous research and hundreds of live illness treatment and prevention case studies, this today offers a great depth of knowledge to support my work with elite athletes.
CORPORATE OLYMPIAN MARKETING AND DESIGN AGENCY
DOUGLAS, CORK - 10 YEAR PROJECT
Sean qualified with a degree in Industrial Design Engineering, the closest thing he could find to being an inventor, his passion since I was a young boy. Straight out of college he completed a ‘Start Your Own Business’ programme then set up my own marketing and design business. He self-trained as a graphic designer and won the top award in Ireland in this field for two consecutive years. He continued self-training in magazine publishing, marketing, advertising, web development, film-making and architecture, gaining many industry accolades in all these areas.
While these ten years in marketing and design thought him how to effectively communicate a corporate message, today his work with business leaders and elite sportspeople more involves preparing for a direct relationship between a single person and world market. Here there is no buffer of a PR company, marketing or advertising agency.
His passion in marketing today is to enable people live and speak their truth and brand/message without divide, to guide them in authenticity, passion and conviction – to create a tangible personal connection with their desired audience, one that develops a sustainable engagement.
Get in touch
Contact me today for a chat, let me know what your challenges and requirements may be and I will get back to you with a proposal
Sean O’Leary, Timoleague, Co. Cork. Ireland +353 86 258 1235 hello@seanoleary.design