Personal Development
Max Atkinson is currently a visiting professor at Henley Management College and runs a consultancy providing training programmes in public speaking and speech writing. He was Paddy Ashdown's speechwriter in 1987, ran workshops for Ronald Reagan's speechwriters and runs workshops for the Royal Shakespeare Company on the art of oratory.
To find out more visit www.speaking.co.uk.
John Bird was born just after the Second World War to a London Irish family in slum-ridden Notting Hill. Homeless at five, he went on to spend three years in an orphanage before, at the age of ten, embarking on a spree of shoplifting, house breaking, vandalism and arson. Periods in jail were followed in his twenties by the birth of three of his children and his metamorphosis into a successful businessman. At the age of 45, using his own life and professional experience, he founded the Big Issue and over the last fifteen years has overseen its development into an international movement which stretches from Tokyo to Totnes.
Dr Edward de Bono is widely regarded as the leading world authority in the direct teaching of creative thinking. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and has had appointments at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and London. He has written 63 books with translations into 37 languages. Dr de Bono is the originator of the term 'Lateral Thinking' and now has a network of 923 trainers in 28 countries around the world teaching his methods in business.
Tim Ferriss gives an immensely popular bi-yearly lecture at Princeton called Drug Dealing for Fun and Profit. He speaks seven languages; holds a world record in tango; is a national Chinese kickboxing champion; and has appeared on a hit TV series in China and Hong Kong. Ferriss's writing has appeared in Maxim, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Blackbelt Magazine and he will be a main character in the upcoming feature-length documentary As Seen on TV, produced by Emmy Award-winner Dan Partland.
To find out more visit www.4hourworkweek.com.
Lynda Field is a trained counsellor, therapist and life coach, with a degree in sociology and social psychology. Her highly popular books include 60 Ways to Feel Amazing (No 3 on ST bestseller list); Self-Esteem for Women (chosen as one of the top titles for the NHS 'Book Prescription' scheme); Just Do It Now; Weekend Life Coach and many others. They have sold more than half a million copies and been translated into more than 20 languages. She gives trainings and workshops internationally and has written for a large number of UK magazines including Cosmo (consultant life coach); Prima (their current life coach); Sugar (their current agony aunt); Slimming Magazine; Good Housekeeping; Psychologies and many others.
Her website address is www.lyndafield.com and she lives in Essex, UK.
Mike Fisher is the founder of the British Association of Anger Management (BAAM). Trained in counselling, psychotherapy, facilitation skills and anger management, he has helped thousands of individuals over the past 17 years achieve clarity and maturity. Highly experienced in the media, Fisher runs workshops in the UK, Ireland, South Africa and the United States.
Judi James is a leading television expert in body language, social behaviour, image, workplace culture and communication skills and has her own four-part body language series on Channel Five called Naked Celebrity. She also appears regularly on programmes such as Big Brother, The Xtra Factor, Newsnight and Sky News and covered the General Election for Five News, with a regular nightly spot.
Judi started her career as a leading catwalk model and trained many big names at her modelling school in Chelsea, Naomi Campbell among them. She has had six novels published, including the bestseller Supermodel and has written eight non-fiction books on subjects such as body language, self-motivation, customer care and stress management. She also writes regular columns for You magazine and Q Magazine and has a celebrity problem page in Zest.
Oliver James trained and practised as a child clinical psychologist and, since 1987, has worked as a writer, journalist and television documentary producer and presenter. His books include Juvenile Violence in a Winner-Loser Culture, the bestselling They F*** You Up and Britain on the Couch, which was also a successful documentary series for Channel 4. He is a trustee of two children's charities: the National Family and Parenting Institute and Homestart.
Susan Jeffers, PhD, is an internationally renowned author who has helped millions of people overcome their fears and heal the pain in their lives.She is also a public speaker, workshop leader and media personality who specializes in the areas of personal growth and relationships.She lives with her husband in Santa Monica, California.
To find out more visit her website at www.susanjeffers.com.
Byron Katie is based in California but travels the globe ceaselessly, teaching to sellout audiences.
Brian Mayne is an inspirational speaker, author and trainer, presenting on an international stage. He has travelled a path that has led from gypsy origins through to high level corporate training and personal development. He has now licensed over 2 dozen independent trainers to teach the Life Mapping technique around the UK, and has recently been featured on Meridien Television's Changing Lives programme.
Sangeeta Mayne has experienced a diverse journey from an achievement based career through a voyage of discovery that has provided a foundation for her current roles as life coach (working with a team of 15 coaches she has trained personally), experiential trainer, mentor and guide.
To find out more visit www.liftinternational.com.
Stephen Mitchell's widely acclaimed translations of the Tao Te Ching and the Bhagavad Gita (Rider 2000) are respected the world over. He lives in California.
Nina Puddefoot is a Master Practitioner and Certified NLP Trainer and development life coach, and regularly contributes to radio, newspapers and magazines.
Gary Quinn is a spiritual teacher, leading intuitive life coach and popular author whose books include May the Angels Be With You and Living in the Spiritual Zone. He is the founder of Our Living Centre in Los Angeles, California, and is in popular demand for seminars and events, frequently appearing in the media in the States and UK.
Jamil Qureshi
Jamil Qureshi works with a host of celebrity sports people, as well as global businesses, and was the official psychological performance coach for the European Ryder Cup team last year. He regularly appears on Trisha and is a resident expert on a new Channel 5 primetime series, Families at War. He is in constant demand in the media.
Srikumar Rao was born in Mumbai, India, and received a degree in Physics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He then moved to the United States and took a doctorate in Marketing from the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. He has worked and consulted with leading American corporations including Warner Communications, McGraw-Hill, Pan Am, Citigroup and GTE as well as international companies such as Reuters and Sony.
His pioneering course Creativity and Personal Mastery is the only business school course that has its own alumni association. His work has received extensive media coverage in countries around the world. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and London Business School and the Louis and Johanna Vorzimer Professor of Marketing at the C. W. Post campus of Long Island University.
Ian Robertson is Professor of Psychology at Trinity College, Dublin. He has a worldwide reputation in neuropsychology and is the author of Mind Sculpture and The Mind's Eye, which have been translated into many languages. His articles have appeared in The Times and the British Medical Journal and he part-wrote and presented the popular Irish TV series Read Write Now.
Yehuda Shinar is a world-renowned life coach who has developed his winning behaviour principles working with all sorts of people across the globe. He has been credited with being highly influential in a number of sporting victories and is currently advising the Scottish Institute of Sport Foundation on changing the nation's negative outlook on life.
A runaway at 16, and a single parent by 18, Tessa worked through life's challenges to become a successful sub-editor at Elle UK. Later in life she gave it all up, moved to America and started from scratch in pursuit of a dream to become a writer, supporting herself by cleaning houses for two years. Joining the Writers' Grotto in San Francisco, Tessa eventually established herself as a respected international journalist working for the world's leading publications. A life-long desire to sing, however, prompted relocation to New York in 1996 and a third successful career that began with a scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music. Jazz legend Mark Murphy said of her: 'She's my next star.' Part of Tessa's personal story has been featured in British Vogue. Anything I Can Do...You Can Do Better, her first book, will be serialised in You magazine.
Ros Taylor, principal author of the best-selling book Confidence in Just Seven Days, is a chartered clinical psychologist and an international trainer and conference speaker. She presented the BBC series Confidence Lab, and appears frequently in print, and on radio and television offering expert advice on subjects ranging from confidence in relationships to anger management.
Perry Wood studied music at the Guildhall School of Music until 1989, when he moved to Exmoor to work with horses. Gradually his career included teaching communication skills to senior executives at e.g. BT, HSBC, Barclays, IBM etc. Kenilworth Press has published his Real Riding (2002) and Practical Horse Whispering (2003). Today Perry Wood lives in Brecon, Wales.
