Client: Keith O’Shea, Managing Director, Petrochem Ltd.
Industry: Industry Suppliers
Coach: Kevin O’Keeffe
Challenge
Petrochem, founded in 1978 by Keith’s father Mick O’Shea, had grown into a successful supplier of engineering materials to Ireland’s pharmaceutical and industrial sectors. But during the 2008 recession, the business faced significant hardship: their stock value plummeted, sales declined, and layoffs seemed inevitable.
It was then that Mick met Kevin O’Keeffe. Despite the chaos, Kevin posed a radical alternative: “Or you can grow.” Initially met with disbelief, this mindset shift led to one of the most important decisions in the company’s history.
“My father laughed at Kevin at first. But that moment completely changed the course of our business.”
Years later, in 2017, after Mick’s sudden passing, Keith—then a sales rep—was unexpectedly thrust into the role of Managing Director. With no leadership experience and massive expectations, he turned to Kevin once again.
Solution
Kevin helped Keith shift from uncertainty to confident leadership through structured coaching, long-term planning, and deep personal alignment. Together, they focused on:
● Clarifying Keith’s personal goals as the foundation for the business strategy
● Developing a 10-year vision and roadmap for Petrochem
● Expanding the company during downturns, rather than retracting
● Building a resilient management team and company culture
● Helping Keith step out of day-to-day operations and into strategic leadership
“You can’t make a plan for your business until you know what you want for yourself and your family. Kevin helped me realise that.”
From 2017 to today, Petrochem has achieved
Petrochem grew from 60 to over 100 employees, expanding operations across Ireland and entering the UK market with confidence.
Since 2017, turnover has been on a steep upward trajectory—projected to double within just a few years, thanks to clearer strategy and structure.
After stepping into the Managing Director role unexpectedly, Keith O’Shea gained the tools, mindset, and structure to lead with clarity—turning uncertainty into capability.
Keith reduced his work hours from 90+ per week to under 50, proving that business growth doesn’t have to come at the cost of personal health or family time.
With Kevin’s coaching, Petrochem preserved and reinforced its strong internal culture—ensuring that values like honesty, fairness, and transparency scaled alongside revenue.
By building layers of management and systemised operations, Petrochem positioned itself for sustainable growth—no longer reliant on one person at the centre of everything.
Client: James McCormack, Group Managing Director, Western Motors Group
Industry: Automobiles
Programme: 12-Week High-Performance Team Programme
Coach: Kevin O’Keeffe
Challenge
As a second-generation motor business operating across two sites—on the east and west coasts of Ireland—Western Motors Group faced a key challenge: building a consistent team culture across locations where many team members rarely, if ever, met in person.
Despite steady growth, the complexity of managing dispersed teams, evolving roles, and internal expectations meant it was difficult to maintain focus and cohesion.
“We needed help with direction—someone to guide us on what the core items were that would really deliver.”
Solution
James engaged Kevin O’Keeffe in April 2021 to support Western Motors Group with structured business coaching. From day one, Kevin helped the team build a plan rooted in people-first leadership, cultural consistency, and strategic follow-through.
Kevin’s guidance allowed James and his management team to:
“Kevin is a culture vulture—and rightly so. Peter Drucker said it best: ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast.’”
Leaders Involved:
The Challenge
Western Motors operates across multiple locations with large cross-functional teams.
While performance was strong, leadership identified opportunities to:
The group needed structured leadership alignment — not just individual performance improvements.
Cathal Sheridan - Head of Sales (Galway)
Key Focus: Structured Accountability & Record Results
Learning Outcomes
Results
“Structure created accountability — and accountability created results.”
Leadership Insights & Impact
James McCormack – Managing Director
Key Focus: High-Performance Culture at Group Level
Learning Outcomes
Impact at Group Level
“When you engage both heart and brain, performance multiplies.”
Elaine Hoade – Senior Management (Galway)
Key Focus: Engagement as the Foundation of Performance
Learning Outcomes
What She Applied
Impact
“When you focus on trust, safety and clarity — people step up.”
Graeme Dunne – Head of Sales (Drogheda)
Key Focus: Engagement, Wellbeing & Change Communication
Learning Outcomes
What He Applied
Impact
“If you don’t step outside the day-to-day, growth stagnates.”
All achievements of Western Motors Group
A consistent focus on values, fairness, and communication helped unify teams across both the east and west coasts of Ireland—despite limited face-to-face interaction.
Weekly accountability and ongoing reflection ensured that action points set in week one remained relevant and impactful more than three years later.
With Kevin’s guidance, leadership decisions are now made with a clear view of their 3–5 year impact—helping the business grow intentionally, not reactively.
By defining personal goals first, James was able to lead with purpose, ensuring the business was designed to support both company outcomes and personal freedom.
Structured coaching helped reduce day-to-day noise and improved decision quality, with every action weighed against long-term cultural and operational goals.
Through systems, communication, and leadership support, the business built a rhythm that fostered stability, trust, and performance across the group.
Client: Joseph Daly, Company Director, Daly Industrial Supply Co. Ltd
Industry: Industrial Supplies
Coach: Kevin O’Keeffe
Challenge
Like many fellow business owners, the team at Daly Industrial became deeply absorbed in day‑to‑day operations—so much so that strategy and long‑term growth took a back seat. Leadership found itself constantly reacting rather than proactively steering the business. What they lacked was a fresh, objective perspective to challenge their assumptions and help shape a deliberate future direction.
“Having an external person with experience and knowledge can help have that other voice that you need—coming from outside the business you’re in.”
Solution
Kevin O’Keeffe joined as an external coach and trusted advisor. Over three years of partnership, Kevin guided Daly Industrial through a comprehensive restructuring: clarifying hierarchy, aligning roles to individual strengths, and establishing stronger strategic accountability. This shift enabled leadership to transition from constant firefighting to a forward‑looking operational mindset.
Over the course of three years
Over three years, annual turnover grew significantly—approaching €1 million, nearly double the original figure when coaching began.
Profit margins improved through better structure, pricing, and operational clarity—resulting in healthier cash flow and more confident reinvestment.
The business’s financial stability and planning allowed for a major investment in a new, modern facility, supporting future scale.
Team roles and responsibilities were realigned to individual strengths—reducing bottlenecks and confusion across the organisation.
Leadership transitioned from reactive management to proactive planning—focusing on growth, not just survival.
With Kevin’s ongoing support, the leadership team became more confident, decisive, and aligned—leading with clarity and purpose.
Client: Ocon Chemicals Ltd
Managing Director: Kevin Mulcahy
Programme: 12-Week Leadership Masterclass
Coach: Kevin O’Keeffe
The Challenge
As Ocon Chemicals continued to grow, leadership recognised the need for stronger team alignment and clearer communication across departments.
Kevin Mulcahy was comfortable communicating one-to-one with individual team members, but communicating the big picture vision across the entire organisation was more difficult.
The business needed:
Key Learnings
Through the Leadership Masterclass, Kevin gained practical frameworks to improve leadership and team performance.
Key insights included:
One of the biggest improvements was learning how to simplify complex communication, ensuring that the entire team understood the direction of the business.
Actions Implemented
Following the programme, several improvements were implemented across the business:
These changes helped ensure that every team member understood their role in the wider success of the organisation.
Impact
The changes delivered noticeable improvements:
Kevin noted that when the team could clearly see the bigger picture, engagement and performance improved significantly.
Executive Takeaway
When leadership simplifies communication and aligns teams around a clear vision, performance and engagement naturally increase.
Client: Thomas Horgan & Michelle Budden, Owners, Infinity English College
Industry: Educational Institution
Coach: Kevin O’Keeffe
Challenge
As the owners of a fast-paced educational business, Thomas and Michelle found themselves deeply embedded in the daily operations of Infinity English College. Strategic planning often took a back seat as they focused on running and sustaining the business. Despite having a strong service offering and loyal students, they recognised the need for structure, strategic support, and fresh insight to truly scale the business and improve profitability.
“You’re always busy working in the business… Kevin helped us step back and start working on it.”
Solution
Kevin O’Keeffe partnered with Infinity English College to provide structured business coaching tailored to their growth goals. Through regular coaching sessions and strategic planning workshops, Kevin helped:
● Define a clear vision and measurable growth targets
● Restructure operational processes to reduce owner bottlenecks
● Align team responsibilities with strengths and improve accountability
● Develop financial systems to track performance and manage reinvestment
“The strategies Kevin introduced gave us the structure and clarity we needed to grow—with confidence.”
The transformation has been exceptional over a 3-year period
With stronger planning and systems in place, revenue nearly doubled, reaching just under €1 million per year.
Through more efficient management and smarter decisions, profitability improved, fueling long-term financial stability.
The improved cash flow allowed the founders to reinvest heavily in a modern Dublin premises, setting the foundation for continued growth.
Kevin helped the leadership team become more strategic and less reactive, with clear direction on where the business is going and why.
With a focus on roles, culture, and communication, the team operates more effectively and autonomously.
Infinity is now growing steadily, built on systems, structure, and leadership clarity—not just effort or chance.
Client: Ocon Chemicals Ltd
Managing Director: Kevin Mulcahy
Programme: Business Coaching (4.5 Years)
Coach: Kevin O’Keeffe
The Challenge
As the company expanded, the business required stronger systems, clearer leadership structure, and improved operational processes to support growth.
Historically, much of the business knowledge sat within individuals, which created operational pressure as the team expanded.
Kevin also found himself frequently jumping between priorities rather than completing strategic initiatives sequentially.
What Changed
Through ongoing coaching, Kevin implemented a number of structural improvements across the business.
These included:
This allowed the business to scale without creating operational bottlenecks.
Leadership Development
Beyond business growth, the coaching also improved Kevin’s leadership effectiveness.
Key improvements included:
Kevin noted that one of the biggest benefits was being able to switch off mentally after work and be more present with family.
Executive Takeaway
Sustainable growth does not come from working harder — it comes from strong systems, clear leadership, and focused execution.
Growth Achieved
Over the coaching period:
The business is now positioned for further scaling in the coming years.
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