Dr Elsbeth Johnson
Founder and Managing Director
SystemShift’s founder, Elsbeth Johnson, spent most of her career as an equity analyst and corporate strategist. In her late-30’s, she left business to return to academia, becoming a Professor at London Business School where she taught for five years. While she still teaches – she is now a Senior Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management – she now spends most of her time helping organisations apply the lessons of empirical research to their people and their businesses.
This mix of science and practice, of academic rigour and commercial acumen, is at the heart of everything we do at SystemShift. It is the reason we believe we can help make more of a difference to your business than others – who lack either a true understanding of the science, or the real-world experience of how to apply it. And it’s a mix you’ll also see in all the Faculty and Coaches who make up the SystemShift network.
Examples of our Faculty
Professor Tammy Erickson
Professor Tammy Erickson is a McKinsey Award-winning author and widely-respected authority on collaboration, innovation and on how new generations are changing the nature of work. Currently a Professor at London Business School, this five-time member of the Thinkers50 group, is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review. Tammy’s work on collaboration, innovation and teams is challenging, counter-intuitive and highly practical. She is an in-demand speaker and facilitator and works with SystemShift clients on executive development.
Adam Kingl
Adam Kingl is an expert on how the new generations in the workforce are challenging much of what we believe works at work. His book “Next Generation Leadership: How To Ensure Young Talent Will Thrive With Your Organization” is based on extensive empirical research done while an Executive Director at London Business School. It sets out a road-map for how leaders and organisations need to change if these new employees are to stay motivated and deliver value to the firm.
Dr Rebecca Newton
Dr Rebecca Newton is an organisational psychologist, academic and executive coach. An expert in leadership communication and culture, and a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, Rebecca teaches at The London School of Economics. Prior to her appointment at the LSE, she was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. She is the author of “Authentic Gravitas: Who Stands Out and Why”. Her simple but brilliant IMPACT framework enables everyone to learn how to have more gravitas and so be much more effective at communicating – by choosing clear content and a style more attuned to your audience. She works regularly with SystemShift clients on leadership development.
Jill McCullough
Jill McCullough is a specialist voice and performance coach of international renown, working with actors such as Meryl Streep, Jude Law, Keira Knightley, Judy Dench and Maggie Smith. Most recently, she has worked on the Star Wars and James Bond films and on the Chernobyl TV series. Parallel to her work in the Arts, Jill teaches presence and performance to students and executives – she has taught at Yale and at London Business School. She works with SystemShift clients on how to increase their personal presence and the impact they can confidently have on the people they work with and lead. Whether it’s in a meeting of 12 or a townhall of 200, Jill’s work on body language, posture, breathing and voice will give you the practical tools you need to be more confident and more effective.
Our coaches
Coaches to help you make the impact you want
In some cases, our coaches will work with you in the room, on the day – for example, to help you practise some of the tools we’ll have just taught you. But they will often also follow-up with you - whether individually or with you and your team - to check that what you learned is having the impact you wanted back in the organisation. And because they are familiar with all the frameworks and tools we’ve used with you, they can help you translate these into real-world impact in the work you do.
Equally, if you already have a coach and would like to continue to work with them as you apply these new frameworks and tools, we are happy to work with them so they can give you the help and support you need.