Professor Adrian Furnham

Adrian Furnham was educated at the London School of Economics where he obtained a distinction in an MSc Econ., and at Oxford University where he completed a doctorate (D.Phil) in 1981. He has subsequently earned a D.Sc (1991) and D.Litt (1995) degree. Previously a lecturer in Psychology at Pembroke College, Oxford, he has been Professor of Psychology at University College London since 1992. He has lectured widely abroad and held scholarships and visiting professorships at, amongst others, the University of New South Wales, the University of the West Indies, the University of Hong Kong and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has also been a Visiting Professor of Management at Henley Management College. He has also been made Adjunct Professor of Management at the Norwegian School of Management (2009)

He has written over 1000 scientific papers and 80 books including The Protestant Work Ethic (1990) Culture Shock (1994), The New Economic Mind (1995), Personality at Work (1994), The Myths of Management (1996), The Psychology of Behaviour at Work (1997), The Psychology of Money (1998), The Psychology of Culture Shock (2001) The Incompetent Manager (2003), The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work (2004), The People Business (2005) Personality and Intellectual Competence (2005) Management Mumbo-Jumbo (2006) Head and Heart Management (2007) The Psychology of Physical Attraction (2007) The Body Beautiful (2007) Personality and Intelligence at Work (2008) Management Intelligence (2008) Dim Sum Management (2008) 50 Psychology Ideas you really need to know (2009) The Elephant in the Boardroom: The Psychology of Leadership Derailment (2010) People Management in Turbulent Times (2009) The Psychology of Personnel Selection (2010) Body Language in Business (2010) Bad Apples (2011) Leadership: everything you want to know (2011) People Management in a Downturn (2011) The Talented Manager (2012) The Engaging Manager (2012) High Potential (2014) The New Psychology of Money (2014). In 2016 he published All in the Mind: Psychology for the Curious. Many have been translated into foreign languages including Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Professor Furnham is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and is among the most productive psychologists in the world. He is on the editorial board of a number of international journals, as well as the past elected President of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences. He is also a founder director of Applied Behavioural Research Associates (ABRA), a psychological consultancy. He has been a consultant to over 30 major international companies, with particular interests in top team development, management change, performance management systems, psychometric testing and leadership derailment. He speaks regularly at academic and business conferences and is noted for his motivational speaking.

He is also a weekly newspaper columnist previously at the Financial Times, now at the Sunday Times. He wrote regularly for the Daily Telegraph and is a regular contributor to national and international radio and television stations including the BBC, CNN, and ITV.

Adrian Furnham was nominated by HR Magazine as one of the 20 Most Influential People in HR. He speaks regularly at academic, business and training conferences around the world being well known as approachable, well-informed and entertaining. He also runs in-house workshops for various blue-chip companies.

His clients include airlines (Emirates, Cathay Pacific, British Airways), Banks (Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse), the military (British Army), the Royal Household, Accountancy firms (KPMG, PWC) speaking on leadership, negotiation, persuasion, assessment and culture.

Like Noel Coward, he believes work is more fun than fun and considers himself to be a well-adjusted workaholic. He rides a bicycle to work (as he has always done) very early in the morning and does not have a mobile phone. Adrian enjoys writing popular articles, travelling to exotic countries, consulting on real-life problems, arguing at dinner parties and going to the theatre. He hopes never to retire.