John Knights

Phone:  +44 (0)330 323 0275 

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John is a Co-founder and Chairman of LeaderShape Ltd.

“My purpose is to support leaders on their journey to become excellent Transpersonal Leaders.”

He is an international thought leader in the development of leaders and an experienced coach, mentor and facilitator of individuals (especially Chairs, CEOs and senior managers), teams and peer groups.

Accreditations and Expertise

John has a Senior Executive Coaching Award from The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring, lectured at the University of Oxford on leadership development and was Honorary Lecturer at the University of Chester in the field of Work Based Learning. He is an expert in Transpersonal Leadership which incorporates emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence and neuroscience John also has recognized expertise in culture change, corporate strategy, organizational development, acquisitions and joint ventures, business finance, and marketing and sales. John’s innovations and achievements in the field of Transpersonal Leadership include:

• Lead author and editor of “Leading Beyond the Ego; how to become a transpersonal leader”, the manual on Transpersonal Leadership. Published by Routledge in March 2018.
• The “REAL Transpersonal Leadership” programme (Radical Ethical Authentic Leadership).
• 8ICOL® (8 Integral Competencies of Leadership) defining a complete matrix of rational, emotional and spiritual parameters for leadership excellence.
• LEIPA® (a unique performance accelerator tool that connects emotional intelligence behaviours with leadership styles).
• LOCS © (a proprietary tool that measures the actual and ideal organisational cultures)
• With colleagues, developed a university accredited Master’s programme in Transpersonal Leadership and a Post Grad Cert programme “Organisational Coach-mentoring & Facilitation”.
• Author of The Invisible Elephant and the Pyramid Treasure - a Transpersonal journey (2012), Published by Tomorrow's Company, sponsored by Tata Group, Korn/ Ferry Whitehead Mann and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
• Co-editor and author of Leadership Assessment for Talent Development (2013). Published by Kogan Page, profiles step-by-step how to boost existing talent and, through extensive real-world case studies, highlights the practical application of powerful, bespoke leadership assessment processes.
• Author of Ethical Leadership: How to Develop Ethical Leaders, (2016) published by Routledge

John leads LeaderShape’s programme to develop as a global organisation and works with major corporations, governments, not-for-profits, higher education and SMEs.

Business Experience

John's business experience encompasses a broad range of senior management responsibilities in international corporate environments in the U.S.A., Europe, U.K. and Asia. Senior corporate positions include:

• Corporate VP Combustion Engineering – US based (a Fortune 100 corporation, now ABB).
• Main Board Director, Mitchell Cotts Ltd. – UK based (a FTSE 100 company).
• Worldwide Sales Manager, Alfa Laval – Sweden based (now Tetra Laval).

John lived in Sweden, The Netherlands, Singapore and the USA over a period of 14 years and has been involved in business in more than 50 countries. Over the last 30 years he has also founded a number of companies primarily in the areas of environmental technology and IT.

In addition to his role at LeaderShape he is the founding shareholder of a market leader in the environmental technology sector. Over a number of years he has been Chair or Director of several public-private partnerships in Oxfordshire and is currently a director of Oxfordshire Business First and Oxfordshire International Business Club.

He received his honours degree from Loughborough University in Chemical Engineering and completed the Advanced Management Programme at Columbia University (NY) whilst a VP of Combustion Engineering. He is a fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce,) a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Water Conservators. He is also a founder of the Washington Ethical Leadership Summit.