I hope this is the end of this chapter but it is probably worth documenting, as it mentions the BKWSU and one of its most successful evangelistic recruiting tools, the Self Management Leadership course which, we discovered, they had only "licensed" from then adherent Brian Bacon on the basis of passing over any paying, corporate enquiries to him. In the Murli noticeboard (the very voice of God speaking the to Brahma Kumari worldwide), the BKWSU stated that "a separate company had been set up to handle such enquiries" not mentioning, of course, that this company was actually nothing to do with the BKWSU but Brian's. Brian then worked his way through the BKWSU adherents ... no doubt doing good ... but also cherry picking the best and most capable of them to work with him and make some money.
A matter of a couple of years ago, Brian was being touted to "be the one to reveal Baba to the world" and giving dristhi from BKWSU guddis internationally. Then he left the BKWSU, revoked the license to the SML it seems (whilst still using the BKWSU applications of it in his advertising) and got married to a talented and attractive Brahma Kumari.
This company, the
Oxford Leadership Academy, had a Wikipedia page. It got deleted ... AGAIN ... due to, "Unambiguous advertising or promotion" after recently being re-developed by a user
Strategy2009 whose only other edits were to remove the X-Ray's name from the
List of Brahma Kumaris topic.
We never discovered WHY the BKWSU had its license for the SML pulled. I also do not know entirely how much input or cross-fertillisation there was. I certain do see elements of Brahma-kumarism in his public work. We were told that when he went to Jayanti and/or Janki to tell them he was getting married etc, all he was told was, "Its your Karma" and their backs turned on him. But I do not know the whole truth. They are still incorporate
meditation and still
using the Global Retreat as a backdrop.
Over and out for just now perhaps?
Oxford Leadership Academy from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oxford Leadership Academy (OLA) is an international leadership consultancy based in Oxford, United Kingdom. The firm specialises in values-driven leadership development, strategy execution and culture change in complex global organizations. The company has an openly expressed agenda to improve the social responsibility and ethical commitments of government and enterprise leaders.
OLA has operations in 20 countries and offices in Oxford, UK, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Sydney, Mexico City and Sao Paulo.
It also has affiliate firms and Fellows (accredited consultants) in New York, Atlanta, Barcelona, Bangkok, Madrid, Montevideo, Frankfurt, Paris, Halifax, Toronto and San Francisco.
Philosophy and Values
The company is a leader and supporter of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement. Its proprietary consulting processes and approach to leadership development are strongly influenced by the work of Willis Harman, Ken Wilber, Peter Senge, Joseph Jaworski and Margaret Wheatley. The company has an expressed commitment to developing leaders and enterprises that are driven by a purpose beyond products and profit.
Origins and history
The company had its origins in Australia in 1983 when Brian Bacon formed the management consulting arm of global advertising agency DDB Needham. The company supported the implementation of global marketing strategies for the Ford Motor Company, McDonald’s, P&G and Glaxo from 1983 to 1989. Following a management buy-out by Brian Bacon in 1990, the company separated from DDB Needham, and became International Pacific Consulting (IPC).
From 1990 - 2000 the company worked with the microeconomic reform agenda of the Australian Federal Government, mainly on organisational reform in federal government, the national power industry and telecom sector as well as for global clients such as Volvo, Ericsson, Scandia, Pharmacia and Levi’s; and international agencies including the ILO and the United Nations in Geneva and New York.
The CEO, Brian Bacon was strongly influenced by World Business Academy co-founder Willis Harman and served on the WBA Board as Regional Vice-Chair for Europe from 1988 - 1996. The thought leadership of Willis Harman is strongly present in the work of OLA.
In 1996, IPC Worldwide was engaged by Karen Jespersen, then the Danish Minister of Social Affairs to engage prominent business executives to contribute to the debate on the social responsibility of enterprises and to encourage businesses to take initiatives which will increase the social well-being both of their own staff and the local community in which they are located. This initiative, known as ‘New Partnerships for Social Cohesion’ involved representatives of international business in a "think-tank’ in conjunction with distinguished members of the European Commission, the International Institute for Labour Studies (ILO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Japan Institute of Labour and representatives of Danish labour market organisations. This effort resulted in the formation of The Copenhagen Centre, which later became the Danish Centre for CSR in the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency.
Seeking to continue this work further, in 1999 IPC Worldwide joined with Oxford Research in Denmark (representative of Oxford Analytica in Europe) to form Oxford IPC Worldwide, a strategic management consultancy with offices in London, Copenhagen, Bangkok and Hong Kong. In 2000 the company entered into a new phase of growth with major strategy execution consulting assignments for McDonald’s (2002- present) and for the Mexican Government.
Brian Bacon was a special advisor to Mexico President Vicente Fox from 2000 - 2006. On behalf of the Mexican Government Office of Innovation and Quality he led the leadership development and strategic focusing of several Government Ministries and the Cabinet of the President. During this time, the company also supported the EU with the Balkans Stability Pact in conjunction with Swedish Government Agency, International IDEA working closely with Foreign Minister Anna Lindh.
The company relocated its headquarters to Oxford in 2003 and became the Oxford Leadership Academy. The founding directors of OLA were Dr Kim Moller, Dr Ron Nahser, Alan Johnson and CEO, Brian Bacon.
OLA Clients today include Unilever, McDonald’s Corporation, Coca Cola, BP, Telefónica, O2, Sandvik, Akzo Nobel, Vedior, Girl Scouts USA, Nutrimental, Horwath International; also the Australian, Swedish and Mexican Governments and the United Nations Department of Political Affairs as well as several charities and non-governmental organisations.
The Founders
Dr Kim Moller is presently Managing Director of Oxford Leadership in Denmark and Chairman of the Oxford Group. He is a highly regarded strategist and researcher, formerly with Copenhagen Business School. He is best known for his ground-breaking research into corporate social responsibility in conjunction with Harvard Professor, Dr Michael Porter, related to Russia and the competitive advantage of nations.
Brian Bacon is Chairman and President of Oxford Leadership Academy. He was previously a Founding Trustee and President of World Business Academy and is best known for his corporate turnaround work with leading multinationals and as a special advisor to government leaders in organisational reform. He was a mentor and strategy advisor to McDonald’s CEO Charlie Bell from 2002 until his untimely death from colon cancer in 2005. Brian Bacon was special advisor to Mexican President Vicente Fox and the Office of Government Innovation from 2002-2006. He was a special advisor to the Swedish Government in the modernization of the Foreign Ministry from 2004-6.
Brian Bacon is the creator of one of the world's most successful leadership development programs, the Self Managing Leadership™ programme which has over 100,000 alumni from 93 countries. He is a former visiting scholar at the International Institute of Labour Studies (ILO) in Geneva and has been an advisor in innovation and organizational reform to the Governments of Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Thailand and Sweden. Before forming the Needham Consulting Group in 1983, Brian Bacon worked as a strategist for McCann Ericsson. He specialised in the implementation of strategies for companies such as Coca Cola, Goodyear, Philips and News Corporation. He is resident in Oxford, UK and owns a farm in Hawaii with his wife Kazemaru Yukawa-Bacon.
Programmes and Services
The core services of the company are:
• Consulting in strategy execution: Strategic Focusing Process (SFP) is a proprietary process for aligning people and culture with the strategy of the company. Strategic Focusing is used as means for strategy execution and long term culture change based on socially responsible and ethical behaviours. SFP has been widely used in corporate settings such as McDonald’s, Telefónica, Akzo Nobel, Unilever, BP and Ericsson; as well as in Government (Mexico, Sweden and Australia), International Agencies (ILO, UN, International IDEA ) and in non-profit institutions (Girl Scouts USA, Folke Bernadotte Academy)
• Leadership Development and culture change: Oxford Leadership Development Program (OLDP) is an integral leadership development training for senior leaders involving in-depth diagnostics, the Self-Managing Leadership ™ (SML™) Program and follow up coaching support for participants. The OLDP is conducted as an Open Enrolment course and as in-company training for senior leaders of an organization. There are over 100,000 corporate and public sector alumni of the SML™ program across 93 countries.
• Support of Non-Profit organizations. The SML™ program is also licensed to selected non-profit organizations for pro-bono use. Presently the Girl Scouts Arizona-Cactus Pine Council in USA has a license for conducting the Oxford Leadership Youth Program (OLYP); and the Folke Bernadotte Academy has been granted an SML™ license for use as a mediation and dialogue tool in the prevention of violent conflict in international affairs.
The Brahma Kumaris (BKWSU) held a license for a personal development use of SML™ from 1997 to 2007.
Achievements
• In 1997, Brian Bacon was awarded the Willis Harman Award by the World Business Academy. This award was inspired by the work of Willis Harman, PhD (1919-1997) who was a visionary thinker, futurist and social scientist who continuously articulated the possibility for humankind to transcend the limits of out-moded thinking. Harman was Co-founder of the World Business Academy
• In 2006, Brian Bacon received the INNOVA Award from the Mexican President Vicente Fox. This was one of only 10 commendations given by President Fox to individuals and institutions who made a special contribution to the Republic of Mexico during the Presidential term of Vicente Fox. Other recipients of the INNOVA included the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the British Council, the Canadian Embassy in Mexico, Buzan Centres Worldwide, BID, USAID, the Swedish Embassy in Mexico and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation.
• In 2007, following a review of the leadership development programs offered by the world’s leading business schools, the Oxford Leadership Academy was selected by Telefónica to be their long term business partner for their Strategic Culture Change Programme at their newly created Telefónica Corporate University at Parc de Belloch in Barcelona, Spain.
Management
The management team of Oxford Leadership Academy is as follows:
Chairman – Brian Bacon, President & Founder
Deputy Chairman – Andre Bischoff, Commercial Director
Cyril LeGrand – Non Executive Director, China
Juan Carlos Murillo – President, Oxford Leadership Mexico
Lasse Wrennmark – President, Oxford Leadership, Scandinavia
Gia Campari – Senior Fellow, United Kingdom
Miguel Gowland – Relationship Manager, Spain and Latin America
Kate De Ban – Finance and Program Manager
Alice Chilver – Operations Manager
Matthew Harper – Business Development Manager
Affiliations
Oxford Leadership Academy works with several tertiary institutions including:
Tertiary and Educational Affiliates
• Telefónica Corporate University (Spain) • Unindus • Alia Institute • Sripatum University, Bangkok • Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship • Folke Bernadotte Academy • Tomorrow’s Company • CSR Europe
Research & Technology partners
• Covision • The Values Centre • Oxford Research
Affiliate Consulting or Training Firms
• Middle East - Middle East Management Centre • Spain – Augere • Netherlands – IMEC • Netherlands - Future Firm