# A men’s business group for owner-managers in Milton Keynes at.theboard is a men’s business group in Milton Keynes for owners running businesses of roughly £500k to £5m with five to twenty-five staff. Five men form a circle and stay together for twelve months. Once a month the circle meets in person at the Shire Retreat for a walk and a half day at the whiteboard, and a fortnight later it meets online for ninety minutes. Every man’s challenge goes on the whiteboard every month, and every man leaves with what he said he would do written up in his own hand, with a date against it. The year is built to change the business: more profit and more of it to you, turnover past where you have stalled, sales that do not all run through you, and a business that needs you less. It is run by John Obidipe of Catalyst Growth Coaching. ## What you turn up to You set the targets. Four men doing the same make sure you hit them. Every fortnight, you tell the circle where you have got to with what you set out to do. Every month, you put whatever is pressing on the whiteboard, the five of us work it through, and you leave with the first step written in your own hand. Every few months, the full hour is yours, on the biggest thing you are taking on. - We walk: 60 min, any weather - Coffee is waiting: Delivered to the room - One man, the full hour: 60 min - Two men, half an hour each: 60 min - A fortnight later, online: 90 min - Just you and me: 90 min, every 2 months ## The session format ### We walk, whatever the weather (60 min) All five of you and me, outdoors. You change who you walk beside so you speak to everyone. Saying the hard thing is easier when nobody is looking at your face. ### Coffee is waiting (On arrival) It is ordered ahead and delivered to the room, so nobody loses twenty minutes to a queue. The walk loosens the thinking, the room finishes it. ### One man, the full hour (60 min) The biggest thing he is taking on goes up and stays there until it has a shape and a first step he can take on Monday. He writes that step on the whiteboard himself before he sits down. The full hour comes round to each man roughly every five months. ### Then two men, half an hour each (60 min) Whatever is pressing. Half an hour gets somewhere when four men already know your business, and it ends the same way, with a line in your handwriting and a date against it. ### A fortnight later, online (90 min) The first half hour is all five of you saying where you have got to with what you wrote on the board last time. Four times a year this half hour becomes the numbers round. Then two men take half an hour each on the board. ### Just you and me (90 min, every 2 months) Ninety minutes with the whiteboard, for whatever you are not ready to say in front of the other four yet, and for the pattern I have seen in your decisions since we last sat down. Every man is on the board every month. The full hour is yours roughly every five months. ## The rules of the circle Six rules, and they are the reason it works. Every man signs up to the same ones before his first session. ### You turn up Twice a month, for twelve months. Not when it suits, and not only when the weather is good. ### You bring something real Not the summary. The thing you have been going round in the car. ### You do what you said, or say why not The first half hour of every online session is exactly this. “Not yet, and here is why” counts. ### You wait your turn at the board The first part of every slot is the man on the board and me, questions only. Then the floor opens and you come in. Nobody jumps in early, and I hold the line on it. ### You keep it in the room All of it. That is what makes the rest possible. ### If a man is coasting, the other four say so Out loud, in the room, before I have to. > Four men who will hold you to what you said, and never repeat a word of it outside the room. ### If you drift The rules are what make the circle something you can fail at, which is why it is worth being in. So there is a line, and here is where it is. Miss two commitments in a row without saying why, and you and I have a conversation before the next session, to find out what has changed. A third, or a pattern across a quarter, and we talk about whether the circle is still right for you this year. If the drifting carries on, you step out. You stop paying, you go back on the waiting list to join a later circle when the time is right, and your seat goes to the next man waiting, so the other four keep a circle of five. A missed commitment with an honest reason does not count. Nor does a planned break. Saying why is the rep. ## Who runs it John Obidipe runs at.theboard. He has spent more than fifteen years in organisational consulting and executive coaching, is Gallup-certified in CliftonStrengths, and has coached leaders inside Toyota, Convatec and the University of Oxford as well as owners running firms of £500k to £5m. Every member takes CliftonStrengths when he joins. I will not tell you how to run your business. What I will do is bring what I have seen work and fail in other companies, large and small, and then find the answer with you rather than hand you one. > There is no good reason to solve something with one mind when you can put six on it. ## What owners ask before they join ### Is there a men’s business group in Milton Keynes? Yes. at.theboard is a circle of five male owner-managers in Milton Keynes who meet in person every month at the Shire Retreat and online a fortnight later, for twelve months. It is a business peer group for owners who want to be pushed on their numbers and their decisions, rather than a social or wellbeing group. ### Who is it for? Men who own and run a business in or near Milton Keynes, usually with £500k to £5m turnover and five to twenty-five staff, who are still doing a lot of the work themselves and want four other owners holding them to what they say they will do. Smaller businesses are welcome to book the free hour and talk. ### How often does the circle meet? Twice a month. One in-person half day at the Shire Retreat: a sixty-minute walk, coffee, then the whiteboard, where one man takes a full hour and two men take half an hour each. A fortnight later, ninety minutes online. Each member also has ninety minutes one to one with John every two months. That comes to about six hours a month. ### What does a year in the circle change? The business, in figures you already track: profit and what you take home, turnover past the point where you have stalled, sales that no longer all run through you, a business that can run without you for a fortnight, and what it would be worth to a buyer. Each man writes down at joining what the year has to be worth to him, and the circle holds him to it in month seven and month thirteen. ### How long do I commit for? Twelve months. The circle stays the same five men for the year, because the value comes from people who know your business well enough to notice when you are coasting. ### How much does it cost? £550 a month for members of the first circle, held at that rate for as long as they stay. Later circles pay more. Month thirteen and the quarterly Reset day are priced separately at cost. ### How is this different from a networking group? Networking groups in Milton Keynes meet weekly or fortnightly to pass referrals. at.theboard has no referral target and no selling in the room. Five owners work on each other’s real decisions, and every commitment is written on the whiteboard with a name and a date. ### How does it compare with Vistage or The Alternative Board? Both are established peer advisory options. Vistage groups usually have twelve to sixteen members meeting for a day each month, and The Alternative Board runs monthly advisory boards in Milton Keynes. at.theboard is smaller, five men, with every member on the whiteboard every month, a walk built into each session, and a fixed twelve-month circle. ### How do I join? Start with a free hour at the whiteboard with John on whatever is live in your business. The free hour is open to anyone. A place in a circle is not. If a circle is right for you, you go on a waiting list until John can place you in one where nobody does what you do. The first circle is being selected now. [How at.theboard compares with the other options in Milton Keynes](https://catalystgrowthcoach.co.uk/business-groups-milton-keynes) ## Location In person at the Shire Retreat, Milton Keynes. Online between sessions. Members come from across Milton Keynes and the surrounding area. ## How to join ### It goes on the whiteboard Whatever is live this week, in your words, not the tidy version. ### You leave with something to do We stay with it until it has a shape and something you can act on Monday. ### No pitch afterwards Free whether you join or not. No follow-up sequence. I say what I think as we go rather than saving it up for the end. That includes telling you if what you have is a process problem rather than a judgement one, in which case I will say so and send you off to fix the process. That happens, and it costs me the work, which is fine. Book the free hour: https://catalystgrowthcoach.co.uk/board#book Page last reviewed 21 October 2026