Kat Sykes is a co-founder of the pioneering Mind Your Business course, developed with research led by a professor at Durham University. The programme was piloted with business owners from across the North East, ensuring it was shaped by real-world insights and challenges faced by founders.
She also runs Gamechanging Outcomes, where she helps organisations lead change more effectively, using behavioural insight, tools like LEGO® Serious Play®, and inventive
stakeholder-engagement techniques to unlock better results.
Kat Sykes, along with her Mind Your Business co-founders, trainer Jason Smith and Durham University Professor Pablo Muñoz, were at Durham University Business School as the programme prepared for its international launch into Denmark.
We caught up with Kat there, speaking to her on the very day of this milestone moment..
EDB: How did Mind Your Business come about? KS: It was born out of the recognition that many new business owners face a hidden struggle, the tension between building a business and protecting their mental health. In fact, business ownership is officially classified as an extreme occupation. In 2022 a research team from Durham University, led by Professor Pablo Muñoz, embarked on a collaborative study with a group of business owners from North East networks including Mint Business Club and Celebrate Difference at The HUB Consett. For 18 months, they explored how experiences of self-worth decline among founders and how these dynamics affect both personal wellbeing and business performance.
EDB: Who is the course aimed at? KS: First and foremost, Mind Your Business is designed for business owners and entrepreneurs — that’s who the course was built around, and all of the research focuses on founders. That said, we also have packages that enable other organisations to deliver and benefit from the course, including business support organisations. In fact, Business Durham was one of the first groups we worked with after our launch in 2024. The model is that organisations supporting business owners can become certified trainers themselves. We also collaborate with coaches and mentors, universities and researchers, as well as schools and colleges, so the impact of the course can reach a much wider community.
EDB: You recently expanded MYB internationally, didn’t you? KS: We did indeed. The research behind MYB is world-renowned and it has always been the plan for the course to be delivered internationally. As a business model, our company MYB Business Development has a partner-based approach, where licensed trainers deliver the course under the Mind Your Business name, backed by the research. We now have partners in the UK, Chile and Denmark, with more on the horizon. In September we started planning delivery of training to 14 trainers in Denmark, for a two-year project which aims to improve healthy capital in business ownership for 20,000 people.
EDB: Tell us about your background… KS: My career has been rooted in understanding people. I began as a primary school teacher, specialising in emotional and behavioural barriers to learning, which gave me a deep respect for how mindset shapes potential. I then moved into construction project management in London, overseeing building projects ranging from £1m to £75m, where the human element in high-pressure environments became starkly apparent. Later I transitioned into digital change roles within the NHS, working to implement complex systems in challenging settings.
EDB: How does that manifest in your own business? KS: I founded Gamechanging Outcomes, where I blend behavioural insight, playful facilitation and project management approaches to help organisations and business owners unlock change that feels human, aligned and sustainable. My strength lies in seeing situations through different eyes, anticipating how people will feel and respond, and designing processes and conversations that bring hidden concerns into the open.
EDB: Tell us about your co-founders… KS: Jase is former military and an experienced organisational safety trainer who brings energy and a practical understanding of how to support business owners on the ground. Pablo brings academic rigour. He led the original research into the challenges business owners face around wellbeing and performance, and continues to ensure the programme is grounded in evidence.
I’m lucky to work alongside these incredible humans on a truly gamechanging training programme.