Sophie Lawler, CEO of Total Fitness, has launched a leadership coaching business aimed at helping women realise their professional potential.

Called Growth Unbound, it offers one-to-one executive coaching, mentoring, speaking engagements and leadership programmes, with a focus on supporting women to develop the confidence and capability to take on more ambitious roles.

Announcing the launch, Lawler described the venture as work she pursues alongside leading the Total Fitness business, saying it strengthens rather than detracts from her executive role. She credits Total Fitness owners, North Edge Capital, for their foresight and progressive thinking in this regard.

"This work matters," she said. "I believe women can do more than they think.

"This work also matters so much, that I do it as well as my day job – leading the brilliant teams at TeamTF. In fact it makes me better at this. So yes, my side hustle, my hobby, it matters."

One of the courses, called Leading Women, is designed for men who want to evaluate and refine how they manage and mentor female colleagues. 

“I’ve found this to be very powerful,” says Lawler “because nobody has ever done the work to help men understand how to lead women well. It’s natural to believe that leading women team members in the same way as men is helpful and equitable, but it’s not.

“Working with my team members equally, but differently, has really helped all our leaders unlock the potential of their entire teams. 

“It’s no surprise that our gender split has been pretty much 50/50 for years, our organisational trust scores consistently 8.5/10+ and the same for feelings of comfort and authenticity."

Lawler – who has led Total Fitness since 2018 and has become one of the UK's most recognised health club leaders through her work on business transformation and people development – has long championed leadership development within the operator.

She credited The Loft Brand Studio with developing the Growth Unbound brand identity and thanked creative agency 1FitLife for designing the website and producing its photography and video content.

Lawler also acknowledged a wide network of supporters from across the health and fitness sector, including David Langridge, Paul Stobart, Becki Wilson, Baz Moffat, Kate Cracknell and others, for encouraging her to launch the venture.

Growth Unbound's services include executive coaching, mentoring, keynote speaking and its flagship three-day Unbound leadership programme, designed to help women build confidence, develop their leadership style and accelerate their careers.

See Sophie Lawler speak at the HCM Summit 2025 here and secure your ticket for the HCM Summit 2026 here.