Davina Stanley and Gerard Castles have been helping professionals structure their thinking for decades. They started by helping McKinsey consultants in Hong Kong and in Sydney use the Minto Pyramid Principle®. They then worked independently before starting Clarity Thought Partners together in 2010. Sadly, Gerard passed away in March 2025.
Davina Stanley helps leaders and their teams transform their decision-making by communicating better. She blends her consulting, corporate, and education experience to design and deliver programs that transform how teams think, work, and communicate. Having begun her career as a schoolteacher, she retrained and moved into corporate affairs in a multinational company before joining McKinsey in Hong Kong as a communication specialist.
She worked for The Firm in a range of full-time, part-time, and freelance capacities in many countries over 18 years. This involved running some of the earliest online learning programs and helping consulting teams communicate insightfully with clients. She is now based in Seattle, Washington, and helps leaders and their teams globally.
Gerard Castles was a magnificent coach, consultant and communicator. Gerard blended his straight-talking abilities with a sharp intellect and a great sense of humour to help his clients get to the point quickly. Having also begun his career as a teacher, Gerard joined McKinsey in Sydney in 1987, where he was one of the most respected communication specialists globally.
He branched out on his own seven years later to help clients with their communication and change management projects, where he has won awards for the quality of his work. Gerard is about as connected as you can get in Australian business. He has worked with people at every level of business, consulting, and government and was at times referred to in the press as a ‘nameless consultant’ helping ‘so and so’. McKinsey still calls Gerard to help on discrete client projects.
Email us at contact@clarityfirstprogram.com if you would like to get in touch.