Dr. John Nicholson's career as a consultant began in the Cabinet Office in 1973, when the late Lord Rothschild asked him to devise some means of improving the quality of cabinet ministers' decision making. Later projects have tended to be less ambitious.

Dr. John Nicholson's career as a consultant began in the Cabinet Office in 1973, when the late Lord Rothschild asked him to devise some means of improving the quality of cabinet ministers' decision making. Later projects have tended to be less ambitious.

Between 1973 and 1988, while teaching psychology at the Universities of Oxford, Reading and London, Dr. Nicholson undertook a number of consultancy projects. For example, in 1982 he was asked to investigate the psychological aspects of Jaguar Cars' recovery, and to introduce a new Customer Relations strategy. In 1984, he was invited to assess IBM's International Quality Programme and subsequently worked with IBM on many human resources management concerns, including stress management, entrepreneurship and customer relationships.

In 1985 Dr. Nicholson chaired the first Volvo Conference on Customer Service. Since then he has helped more than 170 organisations, in both the public and private sectors, to change the way in which they organise themselves and manage their people. In 1989, The Sunday Times described John as "the UK's foremost customer care guru", and his company as "the crack outfit in an increasing field". In 1991 The Evening Standard referred to John Nicholson Associates as "pioneers of new business practices in the UK". Such judgements received official endorsement with John's appointment in September 1992 as Special Advisor at the Cabinet Office on the management of change in the public sector, a position he held for two years. He was closely involved in preparing the 1994 Government White Paper, which set out a blueprint for Civil Service reform, and in 1995, played a part in briefing leaders of the NATO task force for Bosnia.

The great majority of Dr. Nicholson's consultancy work, however, has been in the private sector. It includes experience inside more than a third of the FTSE Top 100 companies in the UK. In addition to his consultancy work, John is the author of several hundred articles and eleven books, five of which have been made into television series. Before becoming a psychologist, he worked as a musician.