Professor John Adair
Professor John Adair was born in Luton UK and educated at St Paul’s School , London before
undertaking his National Service as an officer in the Scots Guards. He also studied at Hull Nautical College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree. He later obtained a doctorate from King's College London in and a BLitt degree from Jesus College, Oxford. He became a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1966.
After working as the Leadership specialist at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst for 6 years, he later worked for the Industrial Society before becoming Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Surrey in 1979. In this position, he was the world’s first Professor of Leadership. He was also a visiting professor of leadership at the University of Exeter from 1990 to 2000.
Between 1981 and 1986 John worked with Sir John Harvey-Jones at ICI introducing a leadership development
strategy that helped to change the loss-making, bureaucratic giant into the first British company to make a billion pounds profit and has assisted many other Companies since this time. He has acted as a consultant to many
international organisations including, Shell, Mercedes-Benz and Unilever. John is currently advisor on leadership
development to The World Bank. He is currently an Emeritus Fellow of the Windsor Leadership Trust where he regularly speaks on Leadership development programmes and is also an internationally renowned speaker on global leadership issues. Since 2006, he has been Honorary Professor of Leadership by the People’s Republic of China.
undertaking his National Service as an officer in the Scots Guards. He also studied at Hull Nautical College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree. He later obtained a doctorate from King's College London in and a BLitt degree from Jesus College, Oxford. He became a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1966.
After working as the Leadership specialist at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst for 6 years, he later worked for the Industrial Society before becoming Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Surrey in 1979. In this position, he was the world’s first Professor of Leadership. He was also a visiting professor of leadership at the University of Exeter from 1990 to 2000.
Between 1981 and 1986 John worked with Sir John Harvey-Jones at ICI introducing a leadership development
strategy that helped to change the loss-making, bureaucratic giant into the first British company to make a billion pounds profit and has assisted many other Companies since this time. He has acted as a consultant to many
international organisations including, Shell, Mercedes-Benz and Unilever. John is currently advisor on leadership
development to The World Bank. He is currently an Emeritus Fellow of the Windsor Leadership Trust where he regularly speaks on Leadership development programmes and is also an internationally renowned speaker on global leadership issues. Since 2006, he has been Honorary Professor of Leadership by the People’s Republic of China.
In February 2009, Professor Adair was appointed by the United Nations as Professor of Strategic Leadership and is
actively engaged in promoting leadership excellence on the world stage on their behalf.
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