Michael Jenkins

Michael was born and spent his early years in Malaysia. He graduated from Durham University in Chinese followed by postgraduate studies in Japanese language, politics and economics at Nanzan University, Japan (supported by a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation for International Understanding) after which he worked for Toyota Motor Corporation for four years as a motor analyst in the Overseas Planning Department.

Returning to the UK in 1988, Michael worked at the University of Bath as Director of the Foreign Languages Centre where he established and taught on the UK’s first PG Diploma in Japanese/English/Japanese Interpreting and Translation. In 2001, after two years with INSEAD in France as Regional Director, Japan and Korea, Michael returned to Asia as Director of INSEAD Executive Education in Singapore.

He subsequently took on the role of Managing Director of the Center for Creative Leadership Asia Pacific and in 2009 he joined Roffey Park Institute in the UK as CEO.

He is the author of Expert Humans: Critical Leadership Skills for a Disrupted World published by Emerald Publishing.

Michael is also an associate with CIPD Asia, a certified practitioner with the Entheo Network and an Associate Adjunct Professor (Management and Organisation) at NUS Business School. He is a Partner with The Future Work Forum and a Founding Partner in the SusteneriGroup, a Brussels-based sustainability consulting company.  

Moving back to Asia, Michael joined the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) as CEO in July 2018 where he took an active role championing the research function at HCLI and developing a new model juxtaposing EI (Emotional Intelligence) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) as a catalyst for conversations about what makes for a truly great workplace. He left HCLI to set up a new company with Joyce Jenkins in April 2020.

The UK’s HR Magazine named Michael as one of the UK’s Most Influential Thinkers in Human Resources in 2013 and again in 2016 and he served as a member of the IHRP Board (Institute of Human Resource Professionals) in Singapore from 2018 to 2020. Michael is also a regular contributor at conferences in Singapore and abroad where he specialises in topics such as humanising the workplace, new thinking in leadership development and sustainability.

Joyce is an experienced leadership development facilitator, coach and consultant, with specialist expertise in the intercultural management field and leadership across cultures in Asia. She has worked extensively with leaders across social impact fields in both non-profit and for-profit organisations. She specialises in helping organisations and individuals to develop the global mindsets, perspectives and skills which maximise their success in working across cultures.

Joyce recently coached over 60 leaders across the Asia-Pacific region for the Globalising and Localising of Corporate Asian Leadership (GLOCAL) project; a leadership development and research initiative, which she also helped design, addressing local and global considerations in businesses in Asia.

She has also coached and facilitated programmes for senior leaders and teams in some of the world’s leading businesses and organisations as well as designing and delivering intercultural, diversity and inclusion, business and leadership development programmes as an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) Asia-Pacific, as a Research Associate at INSEAD in Singapore and France and as a member of the Asia Pacific and European Alliance of Leadership Facilitators and Global Executive Coaches.

 A leading expert in the intercultural management field, Joyce served as President of the Society for Intercultural Education Training and Research for Europe (SIETAR Europa) and chair of the SIETAR Europa Board and is currently a founder and board member of SIETAR Southeast Asia. She also teaches Intercultural Coaching and Development at the University of Warwick, UK.

Joyce has provided training and coaching for senior leaders and teams in some of the world’s leading businesses and organisations as well as designing and delivering intercultural, business and leadership development programmes and coaching for a range of clients around the world.

Joyce has over 30 years’ experience of international business and has trained, managed and led teams in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the US. She has lived in Singapore for over 14 years as well as in France, Thailand, China, Japan, Pakistan and the UK. She speaks several languages, including Japanese, Thai and Mandarin Chinese. 

Joyce is accredited to administer and deliver feedback for a number of intercultural, business, 360⁰ assessment and coaching tools, including: Hogan Assessments, The International Profiler (TIP), The Global Leadership Accelerator, The International Preferences Indicator (IPI), The Team Trust Indicator, The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), FIRO-B, The Six ‘I’s of Innovation, Insights Discovery and DISC.

She has a MA in Chinese and Japanese Studies, and an MA in Intercultural Communication for Business and Professional Purposes from the University of London.

Joyce is a member of the Asia Pacific and European Alliance of Leadership Facilitators and Global Executive Coaches, an Associate Consultant with Insights Discovery and a certified practitioner with the Entheo Network.  She is a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). She is an associate and intercultural coach with Cartus and a recipient of the Cartus Intercultural Academy’s highest recognition: the Service Excellence Award. Joyce is a member of Families in Global Transition and a regular speaker at their conferences and events.

Research: Current research interests and publications include: The Future of Global Work, Building International Business and Societal Resilience in an Uncertain Global Environment and Lessons from the Experience of Expatriates during COVID-19 and Third Culture Kids:a Southeast Asian Perspective.

Publications: Joyce has published and edited a number of books and magazines relating to business and leadership. Her publishing credits include the South China Morning Post, IGI Global, Thunderbird International Business Review, Wiley’s Leadership in Action journal and Lead Asia-Leadership News from the Asia-Pacific Region.

Awards: Joyce has won a number of prestigious awards for her work, including the Japan Festival Award for Furthering Understanding of Japanese Culture in the UK and the BT Partnership Award for Innovation in Higher Education.