Selfish Thinking Co

The Selfish Thinking Co was founded by Gary Parsons to challenge how leaders think about performance. Its core philosophy, Selfish Leadership, holds that leaders who invest in themselves first perform better and drive stronger results for everyone around them. Selfish Thinking Co provides executive mentoring, delivers workshops, and speaks at events to help leaders lead with more clarity, make better decisions under pressure, and build performance that lasts.

The focus is on the gap between how leaders appear and how they’re actually operating. Many are running at a fraction of their real capacity while performing like they’re at full strength, and it shows up as slower decisions, shorter patience, and teams that feel something is off even if they can’t name it. Through talks, mentoring, and tailored programmes, Selfish Thinking Co helps leaders close that gap, set real boundaries, and build sustainable success without sacrificing the results.

The Selfish Thinking Co works with leaders at all levels, new and seasoned, who are responsible for leading teams and driving organisational success. Its clients are typically time-poor, driven professionals managing decision fatigue and competing demands, who want a practical edge, not a wellness programme.

The work spans leadership development, executive mentoring, and professional speaking, with a growing network of practitioners carrying the Selfish Leadership philosophy into more organisations.

For Gary, the community is what makes Marketing Derby special. Walking into a room, meeting up on a 121, or celebrating successes online, the Bondholder community is a force to be reckoned with. It’s about supporting each other, and Gary values being firmly in the place of working on the collective mission of making Derby a bigger and better place to thrive.

Derby’s future is filled with opportunities for businesses to drive positive change, not just economically, but socially and culturally. As more businesses embrace sustainable growth, the city looks set to evolve into a hub of innovation, collaboration, and genuinely effective leadership.

One key area shaping Derby’s future is a shift in business culture, where leaders start treating their own capacity and decision-making as seriously as their team’s output. Businesses that get this right build environments where people thrive, productivity increases, and retention improves. This cultural shift will also reflect Derby’s commitment to sustainable, long-term growth.

Derby’s future looks set to be shaped by businesses that embrace innovation, inclusivity, and genuinely sustainable performance, making it a city known for its vibrant, progressive growth.

Derby, and surrounding towns (including Belper where Gary lives), scream independent, and whilst many cities have a siloed culture of business, Derby embraces a culture of collaboration and genuine support for each other, including celebrations of success.