The Compass Method was not developed in a classroom. It was shaped over 25 years of senior leadership in the travel and business sectors, where Abby's strategic leadership, negotiation skills and resilience set her apart. Her track record includes driving company growth, guiding businesses to independence and increasing revenue through strong partnerships and collaboration.As CEO of The Focus Travel Partnership, Abby worked closely with 57 independent business owners. She managed over £1 billion of spend and negotiated contracts with airlines, rail companies and travel technology providers on their behalf. That collective strength allowed smaller organisations to compete with the largest players and punch above their weight.She led Focus's breakaway from its parent company to become a limited company in its own right, grew its membership and steered it through the pandemic. Across her career, from running the largest tour operator in the Benelux region to founding myexec, she has helped organisations move from dependency to independence and position themselves to grow.That experience sits at the heart of The Compass Method, and so do the questions Abby asks every leader:•       Is your organisation positioned to stand on its own and stand out in a competitive market?•       How could the right partnerships strengthen your brand and grow revenue?•       Are your operations and service offering ready for both today's demand and tomorrow's growth?•       What investments are you making now to ensure your business thrives beyond its immediate challenges?Abby's leadership has been recognised with the ITM Resilience Award and The Focus Travel Partnership Special Chairman's Award. Both were for her work during the global pandemic, helping businesses through truly unprecedented challenges.Abby has worked closely with 57 SME business owners, ensuring their supply chains were robust and well-connected. Her ability to negotiate large-scale contracts—including securing £1 billion in contracts—allowed these SMEs to remain competitive within a collective buying group. Through this approach, she has enabled smaller organisations to punch above their weight in the marketplace.Her expertise extends to partnering with organisations within the travel industry, where she has strengthened company offerings while simultaneously building her own brand. Abby's leadership has propelled businesses to award-winning status, as she fosters strong alliances that enhance service capabilities and elevate brand recognition.Throughout her career, Abby has excelled at taking companies from dependency to independence, strategically positioning them to grow revenue and expand market share. By asking critical growth-focused questions, she guides business leaders through transformative strategies:Is your company poised to achieve full independence and stand out in a competitive market?How can you leverage industry partnerships to strengthen your brand and increase revenue?Are your supply chain and service offerings positioned to meet both current demand and future growth?What strategic investments are you making to ensure your business thrives beyond its immediate challenges?Abby’s hands-on approach, combined with her industry knowledge, has earned her multiple awards, including the ITM Resilience Award and the Focus Travel Partnerships Special Chairman's Award, recognising her exceptional contributions during the global pandemic and her commitment to helping businesses navigate through unprecedented challenges.

Conflict, handled well, becomes a catalyst for progress. In senior roles including Managing Director and Director of Business Travel, Abby resolved tensions arising from competing stakeholder interests, intense market pressure and complex operational challenges. During the pandemic, she mediated between TMCs, suppliers and clients, aligning their interests and keeping relationships productive through a period of immense stress and uncertainty. That experience shapes the Behavioural Mastery pillar of The Compass Method, where leaders use DiSC® to understand what drives the people around them and turn friction into collaboration.

Abby's approach to strategy has been shaped by experience at every level. As Managing Director of the largest tour operator in the Benelux region, she saw first hand that even the boldest vision achieves nothing unless it is properly owned, managed and delivered. It reinforced two lessons that have guided her ever since. A business needs a strong and empathetic leadership team, and a strategy is only as good as the discipline behind its delivery.As CEO of The Focus Travel Partnership, she put those lessons into practice, guiding 57 independent travel management companies through one of the most unpredictable periods the industry has known. She led work to redefine business models, open new revenue streams and drive digital transformation, protecting continuity whilst laying the foundations for long term growth.Over the past two years with myexec, Abby has applied the same thinking well beyond travel. She has worked one to one with leaders across telecoms, shipping, education, HR and many other sectors. That breadth matters. The Compass Method is not a travel framework; it is a proven approach to leadership that has delivered results in Abby's own career and in the businesses of the leaders she has supported.Within The Compass Method, this comes to life through Operational Excellence and Delivery Discipline. Lean Six Sigma and PRINCE2® give leaders the rigour to sharpen how their business runs and the structure to turn strategy into results.

Abby's career is defined not only by what she has achieved herself, but by the teams she has built and empowered along the way, several of which have gone on to win awards. Her peers recognise a leadership style that spots talent early and nurtures it to its fullest potential, rooted in the belief that empowered, supported teams are what drive a business forward.Her approach rests on three principles:•       Identifying and nurturing talent: seeing potential in people and giving them the tools, resources and opportunities to grow.•       Empowerment through trust: encouraging teams to take ownership of their roles and decisions, creating a culture where people feel confident to innovate and contribute at the highest level.•       Supportive leadership: coaching and mentoring that goes beyond traditional management, so teams thrive even in demanding, high pressure environments.The result has been consistent growth in performance and output, with teams equipped to meet challenges with confidence and creativity. Within The Compass Method, these principles sit across two pillars. Behavioural Mastery helps leaders understand their people, and Values-Driven Leadership builds a culture of trust, collaboration and recognition that keeps teams moving in the same direction.By fostering an environment of trust, support, and development, Abby ensures that each team member not only excels individually but also contributes significantly to the company’s overall output and success. Her approach involves:Identifying and nurturing talent: Abby has a keen eye for spotting potential in her team members and providing them with the tools, resources, and opportunities they need to grow.Empowerment through trust and autonomy: Abby encourages her teams to take ownership of their roles and make strategic decisions, creating a culture where individuals feel empowered to innovate and contribute at the highest level.Supportive leadership: Abby's coaching extends beyond traditional management; she provides constant mentorship and development opportunities, allowing her teams to thrive in dynamic and high-pressure environments. This management style has led to a consistent increase in business output and overall performance, as her teams are equipped to tackle challenges with confidence and creativity. The success of Abby's approach is further demonstrated by the awards her teams have earned, underlining the fact that empowered teams are not just productive, but capable of achieving extraordinary results.By creating an organisational culture focused on collaboration, development, and recognition, Abby has established a leadership model that directly influences business growth, ensuring her teams are not just talented but actively driving the company towards excellence.​

Abby's leadership is rooted in the power of relationships, and never more so than when the pressure is on. She has a rare ability to recognise when people are struggling and to step in with support and guidance before stress takes hold. That protects not only the individual's wellbeing but the health and resilience of the organisation as a whole.In difficult moments, she leads in three ways:•       Listening: truly hearing the concerns of her team and partners, so they can find clarity rather than feel overwhelmed.•       Consulting: creating an open space where ideas are shared and solutions are built together, which strengthens ownership and morale even in a crisis.•       Collaborating: bringing the right people together so that everyone's skills and expertise are harnessed for a shared outcome.Her most significant test came during the pandemic, when she led 57 travel management companies through the most challenging period the industry has faced. She put crisis management frameworks in place, developed cost saving measures and encouraged members to share knowledge. Together, those steps secured not only their survival but their future growth.Within The Compass Method, this is the essence of Values-Driven Leadership: staying calm, decisive and compassionate under pressure, and leading with integrity when it matters most.In high-pressure moments, Abby employs these key approaches:Listening: Abby understands that listening carefully—especially when stress is high—can make the difference between someone feeling overwhelmed or empowered. By truly hearing the concerns of her team and partners, she helps them find clarity in challenging situations.Consulting: Abby’s leadership is also consultative; she doesn’t simply give orders. Instead, she creates an open space where ideas can be shared, and solutions can be built collaboratively. This creates a sense of ownership within the team and boosts morale, even in crisis scenarios.Collaboration: Abby knows that the best outcomes often arise from teamwork. During stressful periods, she focuses on bringing the right people together, ensuring that everyone’s skills and expertise are harnessed for collective success. One of her most notable accomplishments was leading 57 Travel Management Companies (TMCs) through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, which tested the resilience of the entire travel industry. In this time of crisis, Abby’s leadership shone. She implemented crisis management frameworks, developed cost-saving measures, and fostered knowledge-sharing among industry members, ensuring not only survival but the future growth of the organisations under her guidance.Abby’s ability to remain calm, decisive, and compassionate under pressure has made her a respected leader. She reaches her team and partners through active listening, providing the right support when needed most, and cultivating an atmosphere of collaboration that drives progress—even in the most challenging of times.​

Abby Penston is an accomplished business leader, speaker and host of the Behind the Big Desk podcast, with 25 years of senior leadership experience across travel, engineering and a wide range of other sectors. The creator of The Compass Method and a passionate advocate for effective, inclusive leadership, Abby is available to speak at conferences, industry events and leadership gatherings.Key Speaking Topics Include:•       The Compass Method: how integrating behaviour, operations, delivery and values gives leaders a clear direction and the discipline to follow it.•       Leadership Skills: developing the leadership qualities that drive team performance and organisational success.•       Managing Complex Teams: strategies for leading diverse and complex teams through strong collaboration and communication.•       Navigating Different Demographics: understanding the varied demographics within today's workforce and turning those differences into a business advantage.•       Socioeconomic Differences in the Workplace: how socioeconomic diversity shapes team dynamics and performance, with practical ways to benefit from it.•       Women in Leadership: Abby's own journey, the challenges women face in senior roles, and practical advice for aspiring leaders.•       An Unconventional Path to CEO: lessons in resilience, adaptability and the value of varied experience in shaping effective leaders.Drawing on a career that has spanned continents, sectors and crises, Abby inspires audiences to embrace diversity, strengthen their leadership and find their own clear direction in a complex business world.