John Amaechi OBE is an organisational psychologist, Chartered Scientist, New York Times best-selling author, CEO of leadership consultancy APS, and was the first Brit to play in the NBA.
John partners with organisations to help identify and implement ways to increase productivity by improving communication & leadership skills, organisational culture and climate – often where mainstream options have failed.
Born in Boston, USA and was raised in Stockport, Cheshire, attending Stockport Grammar School. He moved back to the United States to play high school basketball in Toledo, Ohio... He went to a ‘starting five’ position on the Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA) in just six years.
John was the first former NBA player to come out publicly which he did in his autobiography Man in the Middle.
Since retiring from NBA basketball, he regularly commentates for CNN, MSNBC, CBC and the BBC. He has also appeared on a shows like BBC Breakfast, The Daily Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, Oprah and many more. Topics have included the impact of depression, interpersonal skills, leadership, team cohesion, emotional literacy and diversity and inclusion on individual and team performance.
John is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the British Psychological Society (BPS), the BPS Division of Occupational Psychology and the BPS Psychological Testing Centre.
He is a Senior Fellow at the Applied Centre for Emotional Literacy, Learning and Research with the well-known academic Dr. Richard Majors.
A few speech topic examples:
- Leadership: “The promises of leadership”
- Living with and leading through disruption: “The new normal”
- Change Management: “Rethinking change – a shared mindset, not a logistical process”
- How to plan for and achieve the improbable: “Achieving the impossible dream”
- Transformation & Courage: “More chance of being hit by a meteor”
- Building and leading teams: Teams and groups are not the same -building, sustaining and leading teams takes a particular set of skills that anyone can learn and employ
- Future world of work: The impact of technology on 21st century leadership: “The future is human”
- Diversity & Inclusion: “Myths of D&I”
- Innovation: “There are prerequisites for innovation – it doesn’t happen on-demand and is a consequence of organisational culture, leadership tone, pragmatic reward and an appetite for failure”
- Wellbeing: “Building a workplace where meeting the ultimate challenges and thriving are not a zero-sum game”
- Anatomy of a Quest: Define your ambition, identify your skills, create a development plan, recruit quest partners, devise your strategy, make commitments, take accountability, award credit and deliver on your promises.