With dual UK and Dutch citizenship, Angus Mackenzie is equally at home in either culture, giving him an unparalleled ability to work across language and cultural barriers when coaching or translating. When coaching, it’s important that a strong and confident relationship is established very early, and Angus has a background that gives him a head start in working closely and ‘sparring’ with others.

With a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Graduate and Postgraduate Diplomas in Law, he practised law for five years in the City of London, experiencing the cut and thrust of legal argument at the highest levels – a skill he calls on when ‘sparring’ with his language clients, to help them not just speak a second language but to excel in clear and precise communications. He is CELTA trained and has also undertaken a specialised Business English Language Training to Adults course.

After practising law, he moved into Legal Recruitment, serving both the London and Hong Kong markets, before relocating to Amsterdam to work with an international Executive Search firm dedicated to the medical device and pharmaceutical sectors. He continued his career progress by establishing two successive businesses that focused on Executive Search, Recruitment and Interim Management for international finance positions in well-known stock-quoted multinational companies.

This breadth of experience gives Angus a powerful set of tools to engage with individuals and help them move forward, whether that’s in their language development or in their careers. Over 25 years working in industries where soft skills are vital to success means that Angus can both develop skills in others and use his extensive skill set to enable better, deeper and more impactful learning for his clients.

In establishing Straight Talking, Angus has drawn upon his background, education and training, and also looked at the needs being expressed by business people and the business community at large for career coaching and Business English training. His decades of success in several different sectors have given him insight, experience and above all – an instinctive sense of how to work with each individual to achieve the best for them.