Professor Nick Barker
Founding Director, Leadership Program, East-West Center
Asia Pacific Director, TomorrowToday Global
About Nick
Expertise
- Global Trends and Futures (disruptive innovation)
- Adaptive Leadership
- Think Like a Futurist
- Crisis Leadership, Resilience and Hope
Professor Nick Barker is Founding Director of the Leadership Program at the East-West Center (EWC) in Honolulu, including the flagship Asia Pacific Leadership Program, now in its 23rd year.
Nick has designed, directed and delivered a suite of award-winning leadership programs at the EWC, including initiatives commissioned by the governments of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, international organisations such as the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank, and private donors including the Freeman Foundation.
The East-West Center was established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations in Asia Pacific and the United States.
Dr. Barker also works as a global leadership consultant in the private sector. He is Asia Pacific Director of TomorrowToday Global, an internationally renowned consultancy specializing in leadership, global trends and the future world of work. Professor Barker has worked with senior leaders from over 75 countries in a wide range of industries. He has consulted for Goldman Sachs across East Asia, advised senior leaders at Nestlé on global futures, presented on leadership at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, and collaborated with the United Nations on leadership development.
Clients include Johnson & Johnson, HSBC, Boeing, Samsung, Aramco, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), L’Oréal, Rolls-Royce, Credit Suisse, Novartis, Caterpillar, Booz Allen Hamilton, Petronas, The Prime-Minister’s Office in United Arab Emirates, Mars, Oracle, Nokia, Barclays, Dubai Port World, Euroclear Bank, Randstad, GEA, BUPA, Dnata, Boehringer-Ingelheim, DSM, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, RSM, Dubai Airports, BSF, Rio Tinto, Chinalco, pladis, MBDA, SES, Olayan, EQUATE, OTP, Genpact, QBE, Cairn, SCG and SPAR. His family manufacturing business, Kentmere Packaging, was founded in 1906.
After working in brand management with Procter & Gamble in Europe and Asia, Nick trained as a cultural anthropologist. He has over 25 years’ experience teaching at leading universities in the United Kingdom, United States and across Asia. Nick has conducted long-term field research in Southeast Asia, as featured in the BBC/Discovery documentary, Beyond Endurance. Professor Barker holds an M.A. in social anthropology from St. Andrews University and a Ph.D. from University of Cambridge. His latest books are Crisis Leadership and Resilience, and Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Dr. Barker was recently appointed the Professorial Chair of Leadership at Universiti Tun Abdul Razak in Malaysia. Prior to this, he was Visiting Professor of Leadership in the International MBA Program at the University of Tsukuba in Tokyo, and Nagoya University, Japan. Nick works with traditional deep-ocean navigators in Hawaii and serves on the Education Board of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, which sailed around the world from 2014-2017 without scientific instruments. Â He also served on the global board of ProSPER.Net at the United Nations, which promotes education for sustainable development, and has advised the Obama Foundation for Obama Leaders.