Chris Nichols
Co-Founder
What’s he like?
Energetic and curious – sees the world in interesting ways and opens other peoples’ eyes to see it differently too.
Chris is always listening and learning. Looking for new connections that might lead to new ways of solving problems, new ways of creating something great.
He is entrepreneurial and innovative. A developer of people – always wanting to help everyone achieve something brilliant together and loves helping leaders and teams to embrace and explore.
Chris is a coach who is fearless in feedback and dares to tell you things you need to hear.
But learning with lots of art and lots of humour – expect poetry and films, artwork and stories – and expect to laugh at the absurdity of how things are.
In one of Chris’ workshops: expect energy, expect action that leads to insight. Expect outcomes you didn’t predict because you’ll look at the world in a way you haven’t before.
Watch Chris become still and silent – when the time is right, you’ll find he makes you pull the world into sharp relief by using mindful focus, that makes you aware of things you haven’t noticed before.
What’s he done?
He’s been at the heart of Whitehall – working in Parliament and closely with Ministers. He knows how government works.
He’s been a New York investment banker with years of experience work on business plans and strategy, M&A and strategic innovation.
Over 20 years as a boardroom facilitator and coach – qualified in psychology and groups.
Co-developed a pioneering way of large group strategy engagement – a participative way to include whole teams and even whole organisations in strategic exploring, insight and creativity.
15 years in top team learning and development – designing and running great leadership experiences for teams and talent in almost every sector working with Ashridge, the world-renowned business school and consultancy and with many other organisations including CASS, Schumacher College, Fordham Business School and many more worldwide.
Academically rigorous and totally practical and unpretentious – teaches on many Masters degree programmes – MBAs, MScs in Sustainability, holistic science, design, future of economics and MSc in horticulture.
He’s worked with the top teams in the military, being a regular guest speaker on senior officer development. He’s advised governments and blue-chip companies. He’s worked in pharmaceuticals and health, in medical research, in high tech and telecoms, in design and engineering, in FMCG and hospitality, in finance and professional services.
And he brings the combination of all this experience and all this research to every project seeing the world through the focus of many different windows.
Why does he bother?
Chris has an unshakable belief in people in the power and potential of people to develop themselves and to change their world for the better.
He believes that better leadership, in better organisations, will lead to solutions and ways of working that lead to a better world.
We face massive challenges – in our environment, in all of our systems that support our way of life. We cannot resolve these challenges from our existing knowledge, we need new solutions based on new ways of seeing and new ways of organising.
Chris’ work is based on a passion to play a part in helping people to develop themselves and their teams to face the biggest challenges of today and tomorrow.
Is he qualified?
Chris is a Fellow of the RSA.
He’s got an armful of degrees and diplomas – including an MBA (Distinction) in strategy and finance and an MSc in Organisational Change and Consulting.
He’s a qualified coach (graduated from the Ashridge Executive Coaching accreditation process) and is qualified by the British Psychological Society to conduct psychological assessment and feedback.
He has trained in many forms of individual and group psychotherapy and personal development, including mindfulness.
He’s written dozens of articles and book chapters and makes his work freely available for all to share.
Some quotes to know him by
“Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there”
Rumi
“It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most responsive to change”
Charles Darwin
“Innovate or Die”
Tom Peters
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