Oxford Leadership Academy

The Oxford Leadership Academy (OLA) is an international leadership training consultancy with its headquarters in Oxford, United Kingdom. The firm specialises in values-driven leadership development, strategy execution and culture change in complex global organisations. The company aims to improve the social responsibility and ethical commitments of business leaders. It has 900,000 alumni and 215 consultants and associates in 28 countries. [1]

OLA, with its focus on leadership training, is one of the branches of The Oxford Leadership Group (OLG). Another branch of OLG is the Oxford Leadership Limited which license the consultants. [2]

Philosophy

The company supports the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement, a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. Brian Bacon, OLA's president says: The company's consulting processes and approach to leadership development are influenced by the work of Willis Harman, Ken Wilber, Peter Senge, Joseph Jaworski and Margaret Wheatley.

Programmes and services

The main activities of the company are consulting in strategy execution, leadership development and culture change for multinational corporations. It also undertakes pro-bono work in support of non-profit organisations, including Girl Scouts USA and the British Red Cross.

History

The founder of Oxford Leadership Academy (OLA) Brian Bacon first started working with leadership in 1983 when he formed the management consulting branch of the global advertising agency DDB Needham. Through a buy-out in 1990, the branch separated from DDB Needham and became International Pacific Consulting (IPC) which would later be renamed to Oxford Leadership Academy. [3]

IPC worked with several big actors such as McDonald’s during the following years. Charlie Bell, who was the CEO of McDonald’s in 2003 contacted Bacon and his company due to a massive decline in stock market value, from 42 cents to 11 cents. Brian Bacon and his team worked with renewing the public image of McDonald’s and this led to a more focus on the environmental work of McDonald’s, as well as changes to the products and the supply chain. The McDonald’s stock started to recover and doubled in value over 6 months, although this success cannot be solely accredited to IPC. [4]

The CEO, Brian Bacon, served on the WBA Board as Regional Vice-Chair for Europe from 1988–1996. He considers the thought leadership of World Business Academy co-founder Willis Harman, to be a major influence in the work of OLA. In 1996, IPC Worldwide was engaged by Karen Jespersen, then the Danish Minister of Social Affairs, to engage prominent business executives to contribute to the debate on the social responsibility of enterprises and to encourage businesses to take initiatives which are designed to increase the social well-being both of their own staff and the local community in which they are located. More than 250 delegates from international companies and organisations, along with ministers and representatives of 17 governments were invited to discuss new partnerships for social cohesion at a conference on 16–18 October 1997 . This initiative, known as 'New Partnerships for Social Cohesion' involved representatives of international business in a "think-tank' in conjunction with members of the European Commission, the International Institute for Labour Studies (ILO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Japan Institute of Labour and representatives of Danish labour market organisations. This effort resulted in the formation of The Copenhagen Centre, which later became the Danish Centre for CSR in the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency.

Seeking to continue this work further, in 1999 IPC Worldwide joined with Oxford Research in Denmark (representative of Oxford Analytica in the Nordic countries ) to form Oxford IPC Worldwide, a strategic management consultancy firm. In 2000 the company entered into a new phase of growth with major strategy execution consulting assignments for McDonald's (2002–present) and for the Mexican Government. Brian Bacon was a special advisor to Mexico President Vicente Fox from 2000- 2006. On behalf of the Mexican Government Office of Innovation and Quality he led the leadership development and strategic focusing of several Government Ministries and the Cabinet of the President. During this time, the company also supported the EU with the Balkans Stability Pact in conjunction with Swedish Government Agency, International IDEA International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, working closely with Foreign Minister Anna Lind.

The company relocated its headquarters, UK to Oxford in 2005 and became the Oxford Leadership Academy. The founding directors of OLA were Dr Kim Moller, Dr Ron Nahser, Alan Johnson and Brian Bacon. Oxford Leadership Academy opened its offices in UK, Denmark and Hong Kong in 2005; Stockholm, Sweden in 2009; San Francisco, USA in 2010 and Madrid, Spain in 2011.

OLA is engaged in the leadership consulting and training of top management teams for multinational clients including Unilever, Telefónica, AkzoNobel, BASF in 28 countries. it also provides pro-bono leadership training for non-profit organisations including the Girl Scouts USA and the British Red Cross.

Administration

Cyril Legrand is Chief Executive Officer since May 2011. He was previously a senior executive with French multinational Pernod Ricard in Asia before joining Oxford Leadership as Director of Client service in 2009. He is an alumnus of HEC in Paris and Oxford Said Business School.

Dr. Kim Moller is co-founder and President of Oxford Leadership in Nordic Region and Chairman of the Oxford Research, a sister company of Oxford Leadership. He is a strategist and researcher, formerly with Copenhagen Business School.

Brian Bacon is Chairman and Founder of Oxford Leadership Academy. He was previously a Founding Trustee and President of World Business Academy. He was a mentor and strategy advisor to McDonald's CEO Charlie Bell from 2002 to 2005; a special advisor to Mexican president Vicente Fox and the Office of Government Innovation from 2002 to 2006. He was a special advisor to the Swedish Government in the modernization of the Foreign Ministry from 2004 to 2006. He is a former visiting scholar at the International Institute of Labour Studies in Geneva and has been an advisor to the governments of Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Thailand and Sweden.

The Supervisory Board of Oxford Leadership Academy comprises Brian Bacon (Chairman) UK, Andre Bischoff (Commercial Director) UK, Cyril Legrand (CEO) France, Thomas Hurley (President USA), Juan Carlos Murillo (President Mexico), Ken O'Donnell (Vice Chair Latin America) Brazil, Juan Rovira (Vice Chair Iberia) Spain, Dr Kim Moller (President Nordic) Denmark, Lasse Wrennmark (Head of Leadership Training)Sweden, Kazemaru Yukawa-Bacon(Zenergy Academy Division) USA, Dr Erika Kleestorfer (Senior Fellow) Austria.

Awards

In 1997, Brian Bacon was awarded the Willis Harman Award by the World Business Academy, inspired by the work of Willis Harman, a social scientist who articulated the possibility for humankind to transcend the limits of outmoded thinking.

In 2006, Brian Bacon received the INNOVA Award from the Mexican president Vicente Fox,[5] one of only 10 commendations given by President Fox to individuals and institutions who made a special contribution to the Republic of Mexico during the Presidential term of Vicente Fox.

References
  1. "Transforming Business". Oxford Leadership. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  2. "OXFORD LEADERSHIP LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  3. "Approach & History". Oxford Leadership. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  4. Gripenberg, Pia (20 January 2006). "Baconrecept hjälper företag klara problem". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  5. "Lanza Presidente nueva gasolina". Reforma (Mexico). 20 October 2006.
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