I build trust quickly. This is vital because I need to allay people’s perfectly reasonable suspicions about my involvement before they open up and consider their positions.

I know what questions to ask, when to ask them and how to ask them - sometimes I need to be direct, sometimes subtle, but always with respect and empathy.

I have successfully dealt with many difficult people and organisational issues across the globe, often at times of rapid political, economic or business change. With this experience and having lived in the Middle East, I recognise the significance of culture in what I do, both corporate and national.

I take a commercial view. I want to understand the total costs of a dispute, which are not always evident, and the benefits of resolving it, whether reduced spend on litigation, increased focus on business needs or higher service levels to customers and clients.

I have broad and deep leadership experience.  I see disputes from different angles, unravelling human and organisational issues as well as those of management and leadership, all of which can get in the way of resolution. I have a robust understanding of how to remedy such matters.

A client told me I was an orthogonal thinker. I wasn’t sure if this was praise or well-disguised criticism. Orthogonal thinking is a method of approaching problems from unrelated or perpendicular angles to generate new perspectives.

I like being an orthogonal thinker.

“John is not a conventional big-company man, there’s something much more maverick, interesting and subtle.”

I love to wrestle with complex, challenging leadership issues and communicate this love in various ways. And so, it’s a pleasure to be a Professor in the Business School at the University of Stirling and to lecture occasionally at the LSE.

I have an MSc in HR Management from LSE, am an accredited CEDR mediator and have a well-developed support network.

But what I really enjoy is delivering powerful results to those I work with.