Biography

Professor Bob Thomson leads the full time MBA module, LeadershipPlus. He is a Senior Tutor for final year undergraduates at WBS, and a Personal Tutor for the WBS Foundation Year programme.

He is an experienced coach and supervisor of coaching. He is accredited as a coach and as a supervisor by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. He set up and ran the Warwick Leadership Programme for academics, administrators and commercial managers and the Warwick Adminstrative Management Programme. He established the University of Warwick's Certificate and Diploma in Coaching. He also acts as an internal mediator, helping members of staff in conflict with one another to find a way forward that will resolve their difficulties.

Before joining the University Bob worked for eleven years as an economist with British Steel and ICI, and then for seventeen years as a management development professional with British Gas, Transco and National Grid. Bob has qualifications in management learning, counselling, coaching, supervision of coaching, and mediation. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Bob has written a number of books on learning from experience and on coaching. His book, Don't Just Do Something Sit There, was published in Chinese under the title, which reflects the notion of Socratic questioning, Modern Midwifery: the art of coaching. His book, How to Coach, was published by Sage in February 2020. His latest book, Coaching from A to Z and Back Again, was published by Sage in January 2023.