About The Happy Manager

About Phil Higson

Phil Higson is former head of two departments in the University of Chester's Business School (firstly Business, then Marketing, Tourism and Services Management).

He is a published author and active researcher, with 15 years experience in university education as lecturer, course developer, manager, external examiner and consultant. He has worked mainly in UK universities although he has also consulted or taught in France, Russia and Hong Kong.

His current teaching specialisms include strategic management and services management. A former MBA course leader, Phil is also writing research articles and conference papers exploring the role of business schools in workplace management development.

Before becoming an educator, Phil worked in several small and large organisations, in both the UK and Australia. For ten of those years he managed small, retail businesses, each with multiple outlets. This combination of work experience in small and large organisations, in both private and public sectors, has given Phil a wide ranging perspective on work and management. These experiences, added to his academic research and teaching activities, and to his life-long interest in personal development, have all contributed to the creation of the Happy Manager.

About Anthony Sturgess

Anthony Sturgess is the founder, and former head, of the University of Chester's Department of Leadership and Management. He has worked extensively with managers and leaders at all levels, in public, private and voluntary sector organisations, in both service and manufacturing businesses. He has a successful track record for innovative approaches to the development of managers and leaders. These address the practical demands faced by managers but also challenge conventional wisdom, fostering fresh thinking and insight.

He has almost twenty years experience in the teaching, facilitation and coaching of managers and leaders. This experience ranges from individual leadership and management development to leading organisational change. Anthony is trained in action learning and hybrid action learning approaches, experienced in working with real projects and improvement issues in organisations, and has facilitated and supported 360 degree feedback processes for managers and leaders.

Either as Head of Department, Course Leader or tutor, Anthony has supported, taught or directly supervised hundreds of managers and SME owner-managers on MBA programmes. More widely, he has worked within client organisations, using an internal consultancy approach to create tailored development solutions and programmes. These have supported numerous public and private sector organisations to successfully develop their managers, to achieve effective change, and to realise genuine organisational improvements.

Anthony is now an Executive Education Manager at Chester Business School, and is also currently engaged in doctoral research into leadership and management development. He has authored or created numerous training and development tools. These range from published, self-contained, team development programmes to client-focused, web-based management portals. His passion for management and leadership development is matched only by a passion for creating better working environments. The Happy Manager is the result of his experience, knowledge and enthusiasm for finding "a better way to work".