Toby Sinclair
Toby Sinclair, founder of Real Talk Studio

Toby Sinclair · ICF Professional Certified Coach · Founder, Real Talk Studio

Solving ancient problems with modern technology.

I help enterprises with the human side of AI — the change management, the coaching, the conversations nobody scheduled. I'm not a consultant who read about AI. I build an AI company every day, and I've spent a decade coaching the leaders who have to make change stick.

Founder, Real Talk Studio

An AI simulation platform used by enterprises to build real conversational competence

ICF Professional Certified Coach

A decade helping senior managers lead change people actually follow

Ex-JP Morgan

Ten years in financial trading, so I know what regulated, high-stakes environments demand

An empty office after the AI town hall — the tools are there, the people aren't using them

The gap

Every company is “doing AI.” Few are ready for what it does to people.

The gap isn't technical. It's human: fear, identity, skill, trust, and managers who've never had to lead a change like this. That's the gap I work in.

Done

They bought the licences.

Done

They ran the town hall.

Missing

They still have teams quietly not using it — or using it badly.

How I help

Training, coaching, and the product that proves I do the work

01

AI Enablement Training

Hands-on workshops that take teams from “we should use AI” to actually using it well. Practical, tool-agnostic, and grounded in real workflows — identifying use cases, building judgement about what AI should and shouldn't do, and making adoption a habit rather than a mandate.

For: leadership teams, functions rolling out AI, L&D leaders who need more than a webinar.

Book a training conversation →

02

Coaching Through AI Change

One-to-one and team coaching for leaders navigating AI transformation. The same coaching craft I've practised for a decade, pointed at the hardest change most leaders will face: role anxiety, resistance, restructuring conversations, and leading teams whose work is being redrawn.

For: senior managers, exec teams, and the people carrying the change.

Explore coaching →

03

Real Talk Studio

My company. Teams rehearse feedback, conflict, and high-stakes conversations with AI — before they happen for real. It's also my daily proof: I don't advise on AI from the sidelines, I build with it, sell it, and live its limits.

For: organisations that need verified conversational competence at scale.

Visit Real Talk Studio →

Why me

Most AI advisors have never built with it. Most builders have never coached people through change.

I've done both, at the same time, for years.

Every day I run an AI company — designing with large language models, shipping product, watching where AI genuinely helps and where it quietly fails. Every week I coach leaders through the human consequences: the fear, the scepticism, the skills gap, the conversations they're avoiding.

That combination is the point. When I train your team on AI, it's informed by building a real product. When I coach your leaders through the change, it's informed by twenty years inside demanding organisations — from JP Morgan trading floors to enterprise boardrooms.

You don't need another AI keynote. You need someone who can sit with your people and make it real.

What working with me looks like

Proof, not a keynote

WPP

Case study

Helping WPP's HR and talent leaders get in front of AI — not behind it.

One of the world's largest advertising and communications companies. WPP's people teams face the same question every HR function does right now: will AI happen to us, or through us?

I ran a working session with their HR and talent leaders built around one shift: HR as leaders of AI adoption, not passengers. Together we got hands-on with AI across the work they actually do —

  • Recruitment — where AI sharpens sourcing, screening and candidate experience (and where human judgement must stay in the loop)
  • Employee engagement — using AI to listen at scale and act faster on what people are telling you
  • Data, analysis & reporting — turning the people-data HR already owns into insight leaders act on

The reframe that landed hardest: AI in HR isn't a cost-saving exercise. It's an opportunity engine — for the function's credibility, for the employee experience, and for HR's seat at the transformation table.

Book a session like this →

“Leaders of AI adoption — not falling behind it”

Trained recruitment teams to use Claude through a DEI lens ahead of a major hiring drive

Embedded AI practice into a live leadership programme so managers rehearse hard conversations, not just discuss them

Latest

Recent articles

All articles
Real Talk Studio9 min read

Employee Conflict Resolution Training: The Ultimate Guide for Modern Workplaces

Conflict in the workplace is inevitable. Wherever you have a group of diverse individuals, each with unique backgrounds, distinct communication styles, and competing priorities, friction is bound to occur. While some level of debate can drive innovation, unresolved conflict is a silent productivity killer. It festers, lowers morale, increases turnover, and can even lead to legal complications.This is where employee conflict resolution training becomes not just a "nice-to-have" professional devel

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Real Talk Studio13 min read

45+ Roleplay Ideas for Training (Sales, Support & Leadership)

Sometimes, the hardest part of corporate training isn't the theory, it's the practice. You can teach the "LEAP" method for objection handling or the "STAR" method for feedback, but until a team member actually says the words out loud, it’s just abstract knowledge.This is where roleplay ideas for training become your most valuable asset.Roleplaying bridges the dangerous gap between "knowing what to do" and "doing it under pressure." However, coming up with realistic, non-cheesy scenarios is diffi

Reading

Book summaries for leaders

The ideas I return to: coaching, culture, and how people actually change. Short notes, written from the seat of a practising leader.

Browse the library →