Mentoring That Changes
How You Think.
Not What You Do.
Oxford-style 1-1 and small-group mentoring for Asia’s next generation of global leaders. Rigorous debate. Live simulation. Direct feedback. Built for executives who are done with passive training and ready to reshape how they lead.
Not a Course. A Conversation That Changes You.
Sigma’s signature engagement is built around the Oxford tutorial method — the small-group, high-challenge format that has shaped senior leadership in Britain, Europe and Asia for nine centuries. It is not a lecture. It is not an online module. It is a structured, sustained conversation between you and a mentor who will read what you have written, listen to how you argue, and tell you — directly — where your thinking is strong and where it is breaking down.
For the right executive, one term of Sigma mentoring does more than a year of conventional training. This is not a claim. It is a design principle.
The Decade Asian Executives Are About To Lead Will Not Be Kind to Passive Training.
AI governance decisions. Supply-chain fragility. Cross-border M&A into volatile jurisdictions. Board conversations conducted in English by non-native speakers whose careers depend on being understood the first time. The skills that got a generation of Asian executives to senior management will not be the skills that carry them through the next decade. Sigma’s 1-1 and group mentoring is built for the transition — not in theory, but in the specific cultural and commercial registers where it actually has to happen.
Four Phases. One Arc of Transformation.
Scene-Setting & Insight
We open with the latest facts, news and models that frame your topic — AI & digital transformation, brand strategy, global growth & risk, rare-earth supply chains, negotiation. You compare approaches, assess strengths and weaknesses, and prepare to challenge.
Live Simulation
You tackle real business challenges: crisis response, JV negotiation, supply-chain risk, AI-driven organisational change. Short intensives use rapid sprints. Longer formats include 90-minute boardroom scenarios with head-to-head presentations under pressure.
Oxford-Style Coaching
You receive direct feedback from your Sigma mentor — including 1:1 debriefs that identify strengths, blind spots and a practical growth plan tied to your specific business objectives. This is the core of the engagement, not the supplement.
Accountability & Outcomes
Reading primers, short presentations and written tasks keep the focus on doing, not absorbing. Where required, we integrate mini-tests and deliver multilingual, HR-aligned reporting for Asian corporate systems.
Six Curriculum Tracks. Calibrated to Your Role.
Every engagement is individually scoped. Most executives combine two or three tracks.
Leadership & Ethics in the AI Era
Frameworks to lead responsibly through digital disruption — governance, stakeholder integrity, and decision-making under algorithmic uncertainty.
Brand Strategy for Asia-Global
Positioning, reputation architecture, and crisis readiness for regional champions scaling into Western markets.
Negotiation & Influence
Cross-cultural influencing, stakeholder alignment, and board-level persuasion — built on Sigma’s Relational BATNA and game-theory frameworks.
Rare-Earths & Supply-Chain Risk
Industrial dependencies, mitigation strategy, and the geopolitics of materials — for leaders whose growth plans rest on fragile foundations.
Presenting With Impact
Narrative, structure, delivery and Q&A mastery in English and multilingual registers — calibrated to Western, Asian and mixed audiences.
Global Growth & Risk
Scenario planning and decision-making under uncertainty — for executives taking roles that span jurisdictions, currencies and regulatory systems.
Three Delivery Models. One Standard of Rigour.
Every format is built on the same Oxford-style method. What changes is the cadence, the depth, and how the engagement fits into your working life.
| Programme Type | Duration | Delivery | Ideal For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford Experience Intensive Immersive, full-bandwidth, no retreat | 2–3 days | In-person | Corporate teams seeking immediate behavioural shift before a major engagement. |
| Extended Immersion The flagship transformation arc | 5–10 days | Blended (online + in-person) | Senior managers preparing for board or global roles. Compounding impact across modules. |
| Virtual Experience Distributed, sustained, modular | Modular · 6–12 weeks typical | Live online interactive | Distributed cross-regional teams and executives who cannot be removed from role. |
Six Things Our 1-1 Mentoring Does That Standard Executive Coaching Does Not.
Asia-First, Not Asia-Adapted
Designed for Asian corporate realities from the ground up — not a Western coaching model with cultural notes appended. Every framework has been stress-tested across seven markets over 28 years.
Action Before Text
You debate, decide and deliver. Not read, nod and forget. Every session produces a live artefact — a presentation, a negotiation, a position paper — that your mentor critiques in real time.
Oxford-Style Intensity
Sustained, high-challenge, high-accountability mentoring of the kind that has produced senior leadership for nine centuries. The tutorial is not a format. It is a discipline.
Breakthrough Topics
AI governance, ethics under disruption, rare-earths and supply-chain risk, growth strategy, brand architecture. The content reflects the decisions executives are actually making in 2026 — not the ones they were making in 2018.
HR-Ready Reporting
Multilingual assessment aligned to corporate HR systems. JP, ZH, KO rubrics available. Your learning is documented in the language your organisation actually uses.
Measurable Outcomes
Confidence, communication, empathy, results. Defined at the start of the engagement, tracked through it, and verified at the end — through live artefacts, not self-report.
What Changes. By the End of the Engagement.
The Oxford tutorial was never about information transfer. It was about being asked the harder question by someone who knew what you were trying to avoid. That is what Sigma delivers — and it is what Asia’s next generation of global leaders actually need.
— Brendan McMahon · Founder, Sigma Mentoring · Visiting Lecturer, Hertford College International Programme, University of Oxford
Step Into A Classroom That Feels Like The Future.
Every Sigma 1-1 mentoring engagement begins with a 30-minute discovery call — to understand your role, your context, your next decision, and whether Sigma is the right fit. No pitch deck. No commitment.
