About

Harsha PereraFor 8 years, I have been bringing together ideas from varied disciplines to support people to find more clarity, confidence and performance in their lives through coaching. The coaching I offer is highly-customised, and my aim is to support you to identify and breakthrough those unique blockages that hold you back in your life and work.

Often, our blockages are psychological and it is in gaining real clarity around them that we uncover new paths forward. And, such clarity comes from a deeper understanding of yourself and how you show-up in the situations in question.

Early years

I have always been interested in what it means to be human in our world. Questions of life and death often filled my mind as a boy growing up in Sri Lanka. I would sometimes close my eyes and imagine falling through the cosmos, wondering what the meaning of life was. Then as a teenager, I became obsessed by the question of what made economically rich countries, rich, and poor countries, poor. Soon, I came to England to read Economics at the University of Cambridge. 

My greatest insight was into how little we really knew. Economic development seemed to have two sides — the actual doing of business (the engine) and policy/regulation (supporting framework). So, after dabbling with the idea of becoming an academic, I eventually joined Morgan Stanley’s infrastructure private equity fund. What better way to understand the doing of business than to be in the thick of it.

Investing career

Investing in and managing companies is quite technical, but it is also very much an art and a people business. For nearly 9 years, I worked in close partnership with management teams of FTSE 250-equivalent private companies at both the board and operational levels. If I had hoped to be in the thick of things, then buying and managing billion dollar companies, with all the accompanying pressures, didn’t disappoint. I was involved in creating and driving business plans in extremely intense environments. And, that called for understanding not just the numbers, but the diverse stakeholders involved and their worlds.

So, over the years, I began to see the different pressures on people. Pressures from both within the workplace and outside of it, and how they intertwined. Slowly, I became much more attuned to the complexities of striving for ‘success’ and ‘excellence’ and their implications for human wellbeing. Thus, I also started to pay much more attention to my own wellbeing.

Music and other interests

Music has always been a source of great inspiration to me. And, I began to spend more and more time playing the guitar, a long-time passion, even with my very demanding job. Jamming was a cathartic process that gave me a real expressive freedom. Around this time, I also became very interested in Chinese martial arts and took up kung fu. I was drawn by how its graceful flow also had within it such power. Kung fu also meant that my not-very-athletic self could get some exercise! I may not have made much progress with my athleticism in the end, but what I began to see over the years are the connections between music, martial arts and meaningful living. It is very much about accessing an inner state of authentic expression.

Over the years, I have continued to discover new passions, including the joys of singing (heavy metal), kite surfing and more recently, tennis. These interests have allowed me to more deeply understand how a state of flow can be accessed,  not only to find peak performance in specific activities, but psychological freedom in life more generally. The domain may change, but the principles are the same. What’s more, these principles apply whether you are a beginner or a master.

Performance and life coaching in London begins

After nearly 9 years, I left finance in 2016 to work as a 1:1 coach based in London, and to pursue my musical and other interests. I wanted to devote myself to disciplines that placed my own wellbeing and the wellbeing of others at their core. I suppose this is where my heart really was even as a child. The child that wondered what life was all about. Coaching, is then a means through which I can use my diverse experiences and ongoing explorations to support you to make the best of yourself in your field and your life. As such, coaching is really a way of life for me — one through which I help you find the clarity and performance that you seek.

I believe that personal change can be quick. Often, all that it takes is the will to look more deeply into yourself and your environment. It is for this reason that I believe in the power of coaching. I offer executive, performance and life coaching, across a range of different areas.

Book a free consultation to find out how coaching can support you.

Accreditations: Executive and Life Coaching London

  • Advanced Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching, Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC)
  • Team Coaching Certificate, Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC)
  • Practitioner Level in Systemic Coaching and Constellations, Coaching Constellations