Nik Kinley

Consultant, Assessor, Coach.

A renowned leadership and culture expert with over 35 years’ experience, Nik started his career as a forensic psychotherapist, before applying his expertise in assessment and behaviour change to the business world. He thus has the unique experience of having worked with royalty, CEOs, politicians, murderers and children. And the list of leaders he has assessed and worked with includes the CEOs of national banks, the heads of national security, hedge-fund bosses, senior civil servants, and the leaders of children's care homes.

Formerly a Director at the global leadership consultancy YSC, Nik’s background also includes commercial roles and senior HR positions at BP and Barclays. As a consultant, he has worked across every industry and region with some of the world's biggest companies. He has advised boards on leadership strategy and governance, assessing more than 1,200 senior leaders. And he has designed culture and behaviour change initiatives, run development programmes for 1,000s of leaders, and coached CEOs and senior executives in organisations of all types and sizes.

He has published a highly successful series of books on leadership, been interviewed by leading media outlets such as The Economist, appeared as an expert on the BBC, and has lectured at some of the world’s most prestigious business schools, including IMD in Switzerland and University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School.

His most recent book was published in 2024 titled Re-writing Your Leadership Code: How Your Childhood Made You The Leader You Are, And What You Can Do About It - a ground-breaking study of how our early experiences shape our workplace behaviours, which has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. His latest research focuses on how power affects leaders, and what they and organisations can do to manage these effects.

New book coming soon!

Out in 2025

We have an entirely messed-up relationship with power. It is something that almost everyone wants, that promises much and can help us achieve great things. Yet power isn't something we openly talk about or understand, and that’s a problem. While power is an essential part of every leadership role, it is also a difficult and sometimes toxic partner that changes everyone who holds it. And often, in ways that make being a good leader much harder.

Approached carefully, however, the worst of power's negative effects can be avoided and balanced by its positives. This book shows you how.

It reveals what power does to people, and how it both affects them as leaders and the people they lead. And it shows how, in turn, leaders can affect the positions of power they hold, too.

Incorporating the latest neuroscience, the book offers clear lessons for how to successfully manage power. For leaders, it provides practical advice on how to survive having power, avoiding its worst effects. For organisations and institutions, it is about how to ensure that the people who have power are equipped and supported to thrive with it. And for us all, as people who choose and follow leaders, it is about how we can identify those most at risk of falling to power's dark side.

It thus provides a plan for how we can have a healthier relationship with power, so that as individuals we can be better leaders, and as organisations and societies we can be better led.