John Adair (Leadership Guru)

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For other people named John Adair, see John Adair (disambiguation).

John Adair is recognized as being one of the most influential authorities on leadership and his work is regarded in line with motivational theorists such as Maslow, McGregor and Herzberg.

1 Early career
2 RMA Sandhurst
3 Working with troubleshooter - the ICI years
4 University
5 Adairs Leadership model
6 Bibliography
7 External links
8 References

[edit] Early career

Adair was born in 1934 and he started his career with National Service in the British Army and became a platoon commander in the Scots Guards serving in Egypt. He then became the only National Serviceman to serve in the Arab Legion as adjutant of Bedouin regiment. At one time he had command of the Jerusalem garrison for a period of several weeks.

On leaving the Army he qualified as a deck hand in the Merchant Navy, he followed this by working in a Hospital operating theatre as a theatre orderly.^[1]

[edit] RMA Sandhurst

Adair secured employment at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as senior lecturer in military history and was an adviser in leadership training. He followed this by becoming Associate Director of the Industrial Society. In 1979 he became Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Surrey.

[edit] Working with troubleshooter - the ICI years

For five years after 1981 Adair worked alongside Sir John Harvey-Jones at ICI and it was here that they managed to turn a major loss making giant which was riddled with bureaucracy into one which made a billions pounds profit, making it a first in British Industry. This was achieved with implementation of a leadership development strategy.^[2]

[edit] University

Adair attended Cambridge University on a scholarship and ahs achieved higher degrees of Master of Letters from Oxford University and Doctor of Philosophy from King’s College London, He also received an award of the title Honorary Professor from the People’s Republic of China in recognition for his research work and contribution to leadership. Adair has been a prolific author with over book titles on the subject of Leadership (some being translated into other languages).

[edit] Adairs Leadership model

Adair describes describing leadership with a model of three circles^[3] as a functional relationship between the three basic variables of:^[4]

The Individual
The Team
The Task

The three overlapping circles representing:

Achieve the task. The task needs a team as one person alone cannot accomplish it.
Build and maintain the team. If the team needs are not met the task will suffer and the individuals will not be satisfied.
Develop the individual. If the individual needs are not met the team will suffer and performance of the task will be impaired.

[edit] Bibliography

Effective Leadership Development. Adair J. CIPD (2005) ISBN 1-84398-133-5
Adairs Leadership Development Activities Tool kit Adair J CIPD (2006) ISBN 1-84398-131-9
John Adair's 100 Greatest Ideas for Effective Leadership and Management (100 Greatest Ideas), Capstone Publishing Ltd (2002) ISBN 1-84112-140-1
How to Grow Leaders: The Seven Key Principles of Effective Leadership Development, Kogan Page Ltd; (Dec 2006) ISBN 0-74944-839-3
Leadership and Motivation: The Fifty-fifty Rule and the Eight Key Principles of Motivating Others, Kogan Page Ltd (2007) ISBN 0-74944-798-2
Effective Teambuilding: How to Make a Winning Team, Pan; 14 Rev Ed edition (1987) ISBN 0-33029-809-7
The John Adair Handbook of Management and Leadership Thorogood; New Ed edition (2004) ISBN 1-85418-204-8
Effective Leadership Pan; New Ed edition (1988) ISBN 0-33030-230-2
The Inspirational Leader: How to Motivate, Encourage and Achieve Success, Kogan Page Ltd; New Ed edition (2005) ISBN 0-74944-456-8
Effective Communication Pan (1997) ISBN 0-33034-786-1
Effective Strategic Leadership: An Essential Path to Success Guided by the World's Great Leaders, Pan; New Ed edition (2003) ISBN 0-33048-787-6
Effective Motivation Pan (1996) ISBN 0-33034-476-5