Meet The Authors
As you look at our photographs below, you will see that we have reached the age where others offer us their seats on buses, and most people would assume that we retired at least a decade ago. So why did we decide to spend two years writing a book about careers in AI Era? The answer is that, rightly or wrongly, we believe that few others have the same breadth of relevant experience. At a time of great collective uncertainty, and when society is ill-prepared for a very different world, we feel we can make a positive contribution.
Dave writes: "I've never been clear about why I chose to spend most of my working life focusing on helping organisations improve. I guess my dad was a strong influence: he left school at 12 and found opportunities, from making clothing for soldiers to establishing an early hire-purchase company.
Then I completed my degree in sociology, which let me specialise in analysing what made some organisations successful while others, apparently similar, languished or failed. In my most recent role, I managed the delivery of a UK Government-sponsored programme to help owners and top managers in small and medium-sized businesses develop the skills needed in a rapidly changing world.
Earlier in life, I worked on film production at the BBC, qualified as a teacher, taught social science to business students, and established the executive training programme at Harrods before joining a national training board charged with bringing the most up-to-date methods for management development to the UK. I discovered the then-emerging field of Organisation Development and the profoundly effective management development method known as Action Learning.
I met Mike Woodcock, and we completed doctoral studies together and wrote our first book, People at Work, which was published in the USA. This was followed by two decades of international work as a top team facilitator before joining the Centre for Research in Innovation Management, where I earned a PhD studying the characteristics of outstanding innovative organisations".
Dave Francis
Mike Woodcock stands out as a rare polymath of the modern era, having achieved exceptional success as a UK politician, serving on the Trade and Industry Select Committee and having high-level attachments to the Royal Navy. He is a serial entrepreneur, substantial landowner, academic, and prolific author.
Over a partnership spanning more than fifty years, Mike and his co-author, Dr Dave Francis, have written some thirty influential books together, as well as books they have written themselves, all of which have been translated into several languages. What makes Mike's life story particularly interesting is his extensive experience and knowledge of politics and public services, the military, natural charities, and his entrepreneurial activities across farming, forestry, rural estates, renewable energy, and property development and management.
He has also served for 50 years as a justice of the peace and held leadership roles in national charities, reinforcing his deep expertise in non-profit governance.
His academic contributions have also been significant, having served as a visiting professor or fellow at several UK universities. He was also vice president of University Associates Inc, and has distributed management materials across the globe. Another enduring legacy is the “blockage” model of self-management development, defining successful management by their willingness to identify and dismantle personal and organisational constraints.
