David Rooke
BA (Hons), MA

Founder of Harthill

“The good news is we can get wiser as we get older, the bad news is that we may not!

Leadership is a great challenge and an opportunity to make a positive difference – so each of us should work at being the best possible leader we can be. I truly believe, that beyond the cliché, this is a journey that has no end, with only a few signposts along the way, but one we can nevertheless navigate with increasing wisdom. But only if we are ‘awake’. The challenge, mine and yours, is to be awake!”

David co-founded Harthill Consulting and works to develop wise and capable leaders within all organisations

David has led a deeply privileged life. For more than 35 years he has worked with organisations that have been making history and with leaders that have genuinely sought to make a difference.

David co-founded Harthill Consulting Ltd in 1985. Since then he has been working to develop ever more wise and capable leadership within organisations. Inquiry lies at the heart of his work - he believes as contexts and people change, what is useful can only be understood and improved through explorations that move fluidly between the personal, the relational and the systemic. Whilst sound leadership certainly comes from within, its impact should be felt systemically.

Since 1997 his work has focused on what has become known as ‘vertical development’ and in supporting leaders to develop the capacities to survive and thrive in an increasingly complex and challenging world. In recent years his concerns have focused on the environmental challenges of our times and the learnings that our collective decimation of nature might have for a sustainable future.

Never, believes David, have systemic understanding and capabilities been more important.

He is highly regarded for his work, with others, in developing and applying the Leadership Development Framework to leadership and organisational transformations. David has published several books including Personal and Organisational Transformations and has co-written the award winning Seven Transformations of Leadership article for Harvard Business Review. This article has been included for years in HBR's '10 Must Reads' on leadership.