Graham Wilson (b Wimbledon, London, 2 April 1958), son of George Wilson (1928-) and Betty Dorothy Wilson (1929-), is a UK-based leadership and organisation development specialist.
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He attended Eggar's Grammar School, Alton, from 1970 to 1976, and then the University of Bristol, from which he graduated with a BSc (IIi) in Geology and Zoology in 1980 and a PhD in Behavioural Science in 1985.
In 1998, he was awarded a Diploma in counselling and psychotherapy from the University of Surrey, and then, in 2001 he was ordained by The New Seminary, Oxford, as an Interfaith Minister and spiritual counsellor.
Graham's initial career was with The Middlesex Hospital and Exxon, before he joined Coopers and Lybrand as a specialist in organisation development. His consultancy career continued until 2003, when he became self-employed, operating under his own name.
Today, he has a portfolio career[1] as a leadership counsellor/mentor, a workplace chaplain, and wedding celebrant.
Working individually, with senior managers, usually meeting on a monthly basis for a prolonged period, Graham combines his understanding of business and organisations generally with his psychotherapy experience to help these leaders be even more effective.
While his “Conversations with Leaders” are entirely confidential, they focus on the interplay between the individual, their role and the organisation, exploring corporate strategy, the leader's tactics and the nature of their human relationships at work.
His clients speak glowingly of him, and he is thought to have been behind the emergence of a number of astute, high impact leaders in the City and elsewhere.
In 2005, succeeding David Welbourn, and along with Susan van Beveren, Graham was appointed by QinetiQ plc as part-time Joint Coordinator of Chaplaincy Services and as a Chaplain to their Farnborough site. In these roles, they help the organisation and its people to develop emotionally, spiritually and ethically, encouraging people to find meaning in their work. They achieve this through dialogue with leaders, convening discussion groups, running personal development workshops, conducting research into work-based spirituality, and a number of other individual and group interventions. With their pioneering approach, Susan and Graham are increasingly recognised internationally as leading a major change in work-based chaplaincy.
Since his ordination in 2001, Graham has become known for devising and conducting spiritually-based blessing ceremonies throughout Europe, for couples with a sense of the spiritual, who do not feel that they are embraced by mainstream religions. While his clients have included some 'celebrities' and 'society' couples under the glare of the media, most of his services are conducted in private with the couple and their friends and families. One couple were quoted as saying; "What was extraordinary was that he [Graham], helped us to understand our own sense of the spiritual and express this to one another and to our families in ways that we hadn't dreamt of. And he did this without once telling us what he believed in or what we should believe in."
Graham is a Trustee and volunteer with a number of charities.
An Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) swimming teacher, since he was 17, and Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS UK) trainer/assessor since he was 18, he currently teaches life-saving and water safety at the Dorking Life Saving Club and is Chair of the Surrey Branch of the Royal Life Saving Society. He holds the RLSS National Beach Lifeguard Qualification, RLSS National Pool Lifeguard Qualification, and their Distinction Award.
An Ambulance Service First Responder himself, he also Chairs the South Central Ambulance Service League of Friends - the only NHS Ambulance Trust league.
He is a Trustee of the All Hallows House Foundation, a charity based in EC3, whose charitable purpose is to improve the health and well-being of those who work and live in the City of London. The charity runs a complementary health clinic known as The Wren because of its location in the restored part of a church designed by Sir Christopher Wren on Idol Lane.
Graham acts as an editor and advisor to the World Council for Corporate Governance.
Whilst at University, Graham began to contribute articles on a broad range of topics mainly, though not exclusively, in the non-fiction arena. He has contributed to popular computing, photography, business, management and general science publications. His first book was published in 1991, jointly written with Prof Tony Bendell and Robert Millar. Since then he has written six other management titles, each of which has been translated widely and sold internationally. He has had three short stories published in relatively obscure literary magazines.
Books
Taguchi Methodology within Total Quality (with A Bendell and RMG Millar) - ISBN 1854230697
Problem Solving and Decision Making - ISBN 0749410051
On Route to Perfection - ISBN 1859070035
Making Change Happen - ISBN 0273602594
Self Managed Team Working - ISBN 0273607146
Problem Solving - ISBN 074943032X
Six Sigma and the Product Development Cycle - ISBN 0750662182
In 1995, Graham was made a Distinguished Fellow of The Institute of Directors, India, alongside Dr Genichi Taguchi, the renowned Japanese industrialist.
In 1993, the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, London, made him a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellow. Through this he travelled to India, Japan and the USA, exploring self-directed working groups. This research was subsequently published by the Financial Times.