PhD, Strategy, London Business School

Jo Whitehead is a Director of Ashridge Strategic Management Centre, which was formed in 1987 to research issues concerned with the management of multi-business companies. Jo’s interests include research projects, running and providing management programmes and consulting to client companies. His books include Think Again, Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep it From Happeining to You. What you Need to Know About Strategy and Strategy at the Corporate Level.

Jo was previously a Vice President with the Boston Consulting Group, and Assistant Professor at London Business School.

Jo has particular research, consulting and teaching experience with commodity industries, in particular the energy business and in corporate strategy issues.

Philippa Hardman, ACA, MA (Hons), Specialises in working with organisations to help them have better quality discussions about strategy and change. In particular she works with Boards and senior management teams at that point where strategy and change intersect to stretch their strategic ambitions, analyse possible scenarios and think through challenging decisions.

Philippa’s view is that her role is not to provide expert answers, but to facilitate a creative and robust process – providing in-the-moment specialist expertise where needed – that helps produce innovative options, provides challenge, helps stuck thinking, and addresses differences. Her work focuses on increasing the participation of people across an organisation to ensure that any changes are not only achieved but are sustainable.

After working with Volkswagen at its headquarters in Germany, Philippa’s strategy work began with PricewaterhouseCoopers where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant before moving into its media strategy consulting business. 

Chris Nichols was co-director of the Ashridge Masters in Sustainability and Responsibility programme and deputy director of The Leadership Experience. Chris specialises in creative approaches to strategic leadership. His consulting work focuses on boardroom facilitation and top team coaching, and on large scale collaborative engagement within and across organisations to create sustainable strategic action.