Meet Mike
Mike McGregor
📍 Melbourne, Australia
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to understanding people, what drives them, what holds them back, and how they can grow.
Over my 20 years in HR, Leadership and Coaching roles, I’ve had a front-row seat to the complexities of human potential. I saw ambitious professionals excel on the outside while wrestling internally or at home, their limitations rooted in patterns they couldn’t see or shift.
That insight shaped the path I’m on today. I help people go deeper—exploring the inner-world which shapes decisions, behaviours, and outcomes, and bringing that to surface in the form of insights, strategies and action in the physical world.
My Story
Throughout my career, and my own personal evolution, I’ve seen how much more is possible for us all.
My Belief
People, teams and leaders are not stuck because they lack drive or talent, but simply because something is in the way.
My Mission
I help people access more power, passion, and purpose in their lives, careers, and leadership to reach their highest potential.
My Biography
Born in Canada and raised in New Zealand, I’ve always explored the world and our humanity. Now based in Melbourne, Australia. I work with clients globally, bringing a grounded, compassionate, and fiercely practical approach to transformation.
My professional life has been shaped by decades in corporate settings, high-performance businesses, and private consulting, where I worked across Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, and Leadership roles. I’ve spent my career immersed and fascinated by understanding human potential, what drives performance, motivation, and ambition, and what gets in the way.
Beyond the corporate world, I’ve taken unconventional paths; training as a commercial pilot, serving as a police officer, and 15 years practising yoga and meditation, disciplines that have helped me integrate the inner and outer worlds. Since the age of 18, I’ve sought out coaches, guides and specialists whenever needed, always driven by a desire to deepen my understanding and evolve.
For me, success isn’t just about external achievements, it’s about alignment between the inner world and the outer world. That’s the equation I’ve lived by, and it’s the one I help others navigate.
Credentials
23 Years specialising in Human Potential, Performance and Leadership within global organisations and private consulting.
Bachelor of Psychology, Macquarie University, 2027
Bachelor of Counselling, Australian College of Applied Psychology, 2027
Meditation & Mindfulness Teacher, School of Positive Transformation
200 Hour Breathwork Facilitator Certification, Breathwork Australia
Master Coach, Elementum Coaching Institute
International Coaching Federation, Member
Australian Counselling Association, Member
PRINCE2 Practitioner, UK Office of Commerce
Professional Scrum Master (PSM I), Scrum.org
Advanced Diploma of Management, Australian Institute of Management
Certificate IV in HR(, Australian HR Institute
Diploma of Policing, Victoria Police
Commercial Pilot License, CAANZ
The Backstory…
I want to share a small part of my personal story with you. It’s important because our story shapes who we are, and we learn and heal through each other’s stories.
In 2016 I nearly lost the Light. Then I fought for every inch of it back. On the calm, clear morning of Christmas 2016, I awoke at dawn, alone and with a fright. My heart racing, my skin clammy, and a full-body panic gripping me in the pre-dawn light. There was no clear reason for this feeling, and so my terror amplified in the confusion.
The cool, crisp sheets stuck to my sweaty skin as I franticly tried to pull and kick them off. My breath shallow and rapid. I was disoriented and scared. I crawled out of bed and on to the floor, I fell through the floor and through the world itself. Endless falling. Time distorted—seconds felt like hours and minutes passed in a blur. The stillness of the room contrasted with the urgent panic, my ears full of the sound of my rapid breathing and my heart thumping, sweat dripped down my face and back. Was I insane? Was I dying?
I was engulfed in whatever this was. I tried to escape it by moving around, going outside, but the spinning and terror crippled me and I became worried about what other people might think. I felt insane. I found the most peace within a foetal position crying and sobbing on the floor.
This confronting moment had been building for decades, continued intensely through all the bright blue days of summer, and took years and years to heal. This was the bursting of a large emotional boil, that had been accumulating and festering for so long. This moment was my breakdown, and quite literally a breakthrough to a new life. I was 36 years old.
From the age of 12, the colour in my life began to turn to grey.
As a teenager, mum was chronically sick, my family was emotionally disconnected, and school was difficult for me. I watched in disbelief and horror as mum’s dementia took her humanity, withered her body, and stole her love of life. At 16, I escaped home to avoid witnessing the end of this slow-motion horror show. I carried my inner chaos and fear out into the world, alone.
After losing mum, in the next decades I would lose my brother, then dad, and I’d leave a series of failed relationships behind me. In hindsight each relationship was an attempt to seek comfort, and refuge from my inner chaos, a persistent emptiness, and so many unnamed pains.
My response to this was to seek refuge in my mind. I embraced a 'rise and grind' mentality, threw myself into cognitive excellence, drove my career, chased progression, engaged in more than a decade of competitive CrossFit.
I qualified as a Commercial Pilot, became a Police Officer, progressed my corporate career. Yet none of it earned me peace. Then, the morning of Christmas 2016 came to break me loose. At the right time and in just the right way, the loving, healing intelligence within me—and within all of us—applied a pressure I could no longer ignore. Instead of resisting, I began to listen.
From that moment, I started to put the pieces of myself back together. I’d spent more than 20 years breaking and smashing myself into pieces. All to contain and isolate the pain. I had tried to escape my inner chaos by turning the volume of everything up, to drown something else out. I’d disconnected and separated from myself to drown, contain and isolate the pain.
Through support from friends, counsellors and coaches, and my own intuition and self-love, things changed. Over the next decade I went from healing wounds, to fresh new growth, to blooming I had no idea was possible.
I have walked through the valley of my own shadow and I now hold incredible compassion for others encountering this, in it’s unique form, in their lives. It’s important to me to be the helping hand somebody else takes hold in their darkest hours, because I relied on so many of these myself, in so many moments over the years.
With love,
I’d rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.
~Emiliano Zapata
Why Work with Me
Executive Expertise
23 years in global organisations, high-performance firms, and entrepreneurial ventures helping leaders make better decisions.
Evidence-Based Modalities
Practical approaches grounded in neuroscience, psychology and leadership research that improves performance, resilience, and decision-making.
Transformational Partner
Get to the root of the patterns driving decisions and behaviours, creating a new foundation for transformation in life, career, and leadership.
High-Performance Focus
Relentless discernment and a keen eye create an environment for growth and performance. Progress comes from persistent, aligned action.
Honest, Grounded & Real
Engagement is clear and direct, informed by an experienced, seasoned and worldly perspective, where all of life and leadership can be faced honestly.
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