The best idea doesn't always win. The best-communicated one does.
I'm Steve Rackham. I coach people and teams to communicate so they're actually understood, and I help technology companies win in financial services. Here's the story behind both.
I spent two decades at the intersection of enterprise technology and financial services, leading and developing teams — most recently as Global Field CTO for Financial Services at NetApp. Along the way, I helped teams and organisations engage some of the most demanding, regulated buyers in the world.
Over those twenty years I kept noticing the same thing: the best idea in the room doesn't always win — the best-communicated one does. Brilliant people with the right answer would lose it in a crowded slide or a story that never quite landed, while others, no better informed, carried the day simply because they were understood.
That's why I started 3Co Consulting. Everything I do now comes back to one thing — making complex technology land with the people who decide — whether I'm advising a business on its route into financial services, or coaching someone to stand up and be understood.
Two sides of the same skill.
An insider's view of a hard market
Twenty years selling into and alongside financial services — sophisticated buyers, heavy regulation, long cycles. I've sat on the inside as a Global Field CTO, so I know where technology go-to-market plans stall in FSI, and how to build ones that don't.
Credibility earned on the stage
I've delivered keynotes and panels at some of the industry's biggest events, and lived through the high-stakes moments myself. That's what I bring to coaching — not theory, but hard-won experience of what it takes to own a room when it counts.
Trusted on the stage — and to judge others on it.
Some of the places you might have seen me
• Keynote — AWS Summit, New York
• Speaker — AI-for-FSI Summit, Paris
• Judge — Payment Awards 2026
Full talk videos live on the Videos page.
What it's like to work with me.
Straight-talking
No jargon, no fluff. I'll tell you what I actually think — an honest outside read is the whole point of bringing someone in.
Practical
Strategy you can act on and skills you can use on Monday — not a deck that gathers dust.
Personal
You work with me, not a team of associates. Every engagement gets my direct attention.
A little more about me.
Away from work, you'll usually find me on a basketball court — I still play, and I coach junior basketball, which is where a lot of my thinking about teaching, patience and encouragement first took shape. I'm a keen wildlife photographer, I love to travel, and I'm never happier than when I'm cooking for a table full of friends. Different pursuits, but they share a thread with the day job: paying attention, and bringing people together.