Douglas Board

Douglas Board is a writer and thinker on leadership and an executive coach. Previously he was a senior headhunter. His 2026 book, THE BLINDSPOT: HOW POWER INVISIBLY SHAPES OUR LIVES, predicts that tomorrow's seventeen year olds will understand more about power than today's elite leaders. His 2021 book ELITES: CAN YOU RISE TO THE TOP WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL? has been described by the Financial Times as 'profound, subversive and often very funny'.

His earlier non-fiction work includes two applied research books, CHOOSING LEADERS AND CHOOSING TO LEAD (2012) and, with Robert Warwick, THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP AND KNOWLEDGE (2013). His articles have appeared in the Financial Times and Times Higher Education.

Douglas also explores leadership and social circles of power through satirical fiction. His novels MBA (2015) and TIME OF LIES (2017) take apart the fantasies of business tycoons and post-truth politicians. The novelette THE RATS: A WHITE HOUSE SATIRE (2018) imagined poetic justice for the occupant of the White House.

He is a visiting professor at the University of Chichester and was one of the five non-lawyer members of the King's Counsel Selection Panel, which awards the highest distinction for legal advocacy in England and Wales. Previously he was treasurer of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and chair of the British Refugee Council. He is a graduate of Cambridge and Harvard Universities and in 2010 received a doctorate in the selection of people for senior roles.

'[THE BLINDSPOT is] refreshingly different ... always interesting.' David Smith, Economics Editor, Sunday Times

'[ELITES] is as much a work of social philosophy as it is a business book — an examination of meritocracy, meaning and the “magic tricks” by which a small group sustains itself at the pinnacle of society.' Financial Times

'TIME OF LIES is my book of the moment: Douglas Board is a truly talented satirist and has our Brexit era nailed.' Matthew d'Ancona, columnist, Guardian and Evening Standard.

'MBA is a must-read for anyone who enjoyed Franzen's FREEDOM or Eggers' THE CIRCLE.' Felicity Wood, The Bookseller