Mike first came across Nancy’s book in 2003. It had an immediate impact on his work developing leaders and teams. Mike’s approach to leadership and team development is one that seeks to build results and fulfilment through focusing on strengths. The Thinking Environment is a hugely useful context for that work. Thinking is strongest in a Thinking Environment, and the Thinking Environment, with its principles such as equality and appreciation, provides the perfect setting for identifying and building strengths.
Mike’s career began in the music business in the 1980s where he spent 10 years in creative and managerial roles. This was followed by 10 years in the mental health field developing a number of brand new services, and coaching and training the staff who provided them. For the last 15 years Mike has worked free-lance in coaching, training, leadership and organisational development. In that time he has worked with numerous organisations in a variety of sectors: healthcare, insurance, finance, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, technology, local and regional government and the voluntary sector.
Mike has an MA (Dist) in Coaching and NLP (Kingston University). He is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (Chartered MCIPD), and a member of the Association for Coaching (MAC). He is also the co-author of “The Strengths-Focused Guide to Leadership” published by FT Publishing in October 2014.
With his colleague Kathy Toogood, Mike is a Director of Strengths Focused Leadership Ltd.