Ken Whitton – Strategy Coach – Summary Profile

I have over 25 years experience in developing innovative strategies and effective business processes for large organisations – and providing coaching and support to the executives who work in them. I combine a deep understanding of business strategy with 20 years training and experience in the psychology of management. I held several senior leadership roles in large corporates before going freelance in 2001. I now specialise in helping individual executives and management teams create, communicate and implement effective business and personal strategies.

I graduated from Cambridge University in 1981 with a first-class honours degree in economics. I worked for several years as a management consultant, before attending Europe’s leading business school, Insead, in 1988, where I was awarded an MBA with Distinction, coming first in my class.

After business school, I became Director of Strategy for Coopers & Lybrand and in 1994 moved to Kingfisher, the European retail group, also as Director of Strategy. I was responsible for the development of the Group’s overall corporate strategy and for advising the Boards of the eight subsidiary companies on their strategy development and business planning.

In 1998 I was appointed Director of Organisation Development, working on the strengthening of the Group’s internal organisation and business processes. I was also in charge of all senior management development across this $10bn group. I was a Non-Executive Director of Woolworths and Superdrug from 1997-2001.

Throughout this period, I also developed a strong interest in the psychology of personality development and particularly in the psychological factors which determine success or failure in career terms – and fulfilment or anxiety in personal terms – amongst senior managers.

My insights in this area come from my own experience and also from 20 years studying and working with the Centaur model of Leadership Development, a powerful tool for understanding personality types: the important differences in perspective and values that can exist between different people. The model thus provides a route to a deeper understanding of oneself and practical insight into others. I have worked for many years as a coach on the personal development programmes of the Praxis Centre at Cranfield School of Management, where I am a Visiting Tutor.

I left Kingfisher in 2001 and am now freelance. I work as a personal coach to individual executives; as a facilitator of team development workshops; and as a tutor on management development programmes for larger groups.