David Adams (poet)



David Howard Adams (born 1943) is an English business and leadership coach specializing in the use of poetry with business entrepreneurs, a technique he pioneered. He has also helped develop several coaching techniques such as "the Box Process", "Disruptive Thinking/Disruptive Marketing", and "Issue Processing".

Early career

 * Chartered accountant 1967
 * Member of The London Stock Exchange 1973
 * Chief executive of Henry Cooke Lumsden 1986
 * Review of Alternative Investment Market 1996

Current career
Adams is a group chairman of Vistage International, a organization specialising in leadership development.

He was inspired to start examining the effect of poetry after receiving a poem his daughter wrote him for his birthday which he said "knocked me out". This, along with hearing David Whyte, helped him rediscover an ability to write. Writing made him recognize the power of the poetic form, in particular the way poetry encapsulates massive and influential ideas in the most succinct of manners.

Adams ensures that his groups remain open by never inviting anybody's competitors or suppliers to the workshops.

Adams has also worked at bridging the gap between British and American entrepreneurs and in the process he has recognized the similarities and differences between the cultures. This has been brought out by the kinds of poetry written.

Despite being one himself, Adams says that Chartered Accountants are unlikely to make good Chief Executive Officers: