Mindfulness-Based Leadership Development

Willie Horton has been working in the field of personal, team building and leadership development since 1996.  Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1958, he rose through Ireland’s financial services industry, holding Senior Management positions with Aviva and Prudential, prior to becoming the youngest banking General Manager in Europe, when he was appointed to the position with Ireland’s ACCBank in 1990.  He was responsible for transforming the bank into one of Europe’s most profitable and preparing it for privatization.

In 1996, he established his consulting practice, based in Dublin, with a focus on the effective development of teams and leaders in large businesses.  Willie has worked with multi-national companies in Europe, US and Africa.   Today, his clients include Pfizer, Deloitte, Nestlé, KPMG, Allergan, Diageo, Stada, ESB, Eir, Horizon, Unilever, Matheson and BDO – where his work includes coaching and mentoring senior executives and the training and development of leadership and functional teams both in the commercial and production environments.  Willie is also much sought-after as an adviser and confidante – having advised a number of Governments and the World Bank – and as a keynote and motivational speaker across Europe.

Willie qualified as an Associate of the Irish Tax Institute in 1980 and as a Certified Accountant in 1981, becoming a Fellow in 1983.  During this time, he practiced tax with KPMG and PwC in Ireland and the UK. He is also a Member of the Marketing Institute of Ireland.  Willie holds a BSc(Hons) Psychology degree from The Open University and is a Registered Member of the British Psychological Society.

A prolific writer – with over 250 personal and leadership development articles published in various magazines, periodicals and syndicated websites – his currently has two books to his name: To Succeed... Just Let Go (Janus, London, 2006) and Normal Crazy People (2011).  Horton regularly appears as a guest on US radio talk-shows and is known for what US radio hosts call his ‘Irish wit and charm’!  In 2008 he launched Gurdy.Net – his personal and leadership development website.

With all that experience under his belt, Willie has been piecing together psyberCoach since mid-2009 – starting with his development of the Mindfulness Measurement Index™, which he first used with his corporate clients in 2010 – and he has spent the intervening time bringing together a vast breadth of psychological and scientific evidence in a way that will enable coaches, consultants and learning and development professionals deliver practical, life-changing advice to their clients.

Willie and his wife, Lisa, have lived in the French Alps since 2002, whilst their three children have embarked on their own careers in France.