Ask any group of executives to define their biggest problem, and most will say ‘communication’: within or between individuals, between departments, between levels, or between the organisation and its customers. Tony specialises in fixing such problems – as a consultant, trainer and coach.

He honed his skills initially in journalism – working around the world for some of the world’s best-known newspapers, including the London Sunday Times, the Toronto Star, the Rand Daily Mail and The Australian. He also edited half a dozen million-selling books for Reader’s Digest, still writes an occasional column for the magazine Professional Consultancy, and is a guest speaker on business-winning for the Institute of Directors.

These days, his clients in the UK and across Europe include ABN-Amro, Barclays Capital, Dell Computers, Freshfields, Invesco Perpetual, Shell Oil, Telewest, and all the Big Four accounting firms.

Breakthroughs get to me. They always have. At the age of 11, I remember flying home for Christmas from boarding school to join my Army parents in Washington DC. The plane was held up by a terrifying blizzard for three days in Gander, Newfoundland, and when I finally got through the barrier to find the family waiting for me, I burst into tears.

My response is quieter these days, and my definition of breakthrough performance has broadened and calmed. In my spare time, for instance, I enjoy making furniture, and take delight in the whisper of a plane as it smoothes and shines a piece of wood.

But when a client laughs out loud as he describes letting go of a destructive life-long habit – or reports that he’s won Board backing for an ambitious plan, or that a relationship has been ‘utterly transformed’ – I feel again that warm prickle behind the eyes.