John Courtis

John Courtis is ideally placed to write about bluffing in management. He has been doing it for years. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1959 (which conferred absolutely no management competence whatsoever) and was promptly commissioned in the Royal Air Force, spending most of the next three years as accountant officer of a Fighter Command unit on a very remote island. He survived through the good offices of two brilliant sergeants and a devious corporal (see Delegation). From 1962 until...See more

John Courtis is ideally placed to write about bluffing in management. He has been doing it for years. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1959 (which conferred absolutely no management competence whatsoever) and was promptly commissioned in the Royal Air Force, spending most of the next three years as accountant officer of a Fighter Command unit on a very remote island. He survived through the good offices of two brilliant sergeants and a devious corporal (see Delegation). From 1962 until 1967 he was on the finance staff of Ford of Britain, where the foundations of his management skills were laid, mostly by observing others' mistakes. Since then he has been offered (and has accepted) directorships in: Reed Executive Ltd (management selection) Attitude Surveys Ltd (employee communications) Executive Appointments Ltd (headhunting) Deeko plc (manufacturing) The common factor in all these was that at the time he joined each board he knew virtually nothing about its business. He assures us that he has learned something since. He remains head of Courtis & Partners, a selection firm which he does know something about. See less